q. i. f?

I’ve officially taken a seat on the New Green Economy bus. Ended several years as a self-employed carpenter/remodeler about a month ago, and I’ve gone to work for a company in the energy-efficient-building trade. The first step in this direction for me was late last year, with a bit of state-sponsored training that certified me as a ‘building analyst professional’ with the Building Performance Institute, a New York-based organization that has had the U.S. lead in this field for a few years. Now I’m crawling around in people’s attics & crawlspaces every day, examining HVAC & related equipment as if I knew all about it (a lot to learn in this dept.), informing folks that here, here, & here — surprise! — their houses are blowing a lot of the heating & cooling dollars they spend into the outdoors, and developing a new intimacy with expanding foam sealants.

So far, enjoying it all thoroughly. Blogging, though — with reading & what creative exercise there was, generally — has suffered more than I’d like. Hoping to recover something here before long.

By odd coincidence, it falls on the day of a historic presidential inauguration that I put into service here a new pair of Doc Martens. Really got to love the old pair, but for work purposes — after 3 1/2 years — they’re somewhat past worn out. A Christmas gift went to replacing them — not a day too soon. Will the new ones hold up like the old?

I’m not a terribly tuned-in, worldly person, okay — not so clever about paying attention to what other people are paying attention to. I know this. Allow me to come clean now about some ignorance & prejudice I’ve harbored. I’ve had an image of Prince, from high school days (that’s the ’80s) on, as a doe-eyed little fop who just wanted to have his thing fondled, mostly, and found himself better equipped for making that pay off in media than most do. I was dismissive. In that idea of him there’s something true, of course; but on the other hand, I was also learning over time that people who cared about the music saw more in Prince than I did. Still, I never bothered to really bring my settled mental image up against what I was hearing from others.

Well — my image of Prince has finally had occasion to undergo some correction, lately. Is it reasonable to be somewhat in awe of a guy the preening archness of whose sensuality can cast an unpleasant shadow over everything in your awareness, as you watch, up to & including yourself? Reasonable to hold in admiration a guy whose person you know you’d prefer to keep at a distance, despite the fact his public persona conveys no more threat than a puppy’s? — Yes, I’ve decided. Yes, oh yes. Reasonable enough. What a master of his work the man is.

One of the more frequently phone-snapped cars in the Baltimore area, I’m guessing.