September 2013 – ScrumOfOne

Honeymoonlanding

Don’t do it.

Getting married and moving in the same month? Yeah, take it from me, kids: don’t do it.

Especially if you’re moving into a place where the previous tenants left it in a state that was… less than desired, such that you’re applying elbow grease to a welcoming layer of grime in places. Yes, I chose this place as our new home since it was available, in our price range, larger, and walkable to a great number of centers of activity in Cambridge – killer & quiet location.

To apply a Scrum lense, it’s been an interesting exercise in Product Ownership. We moved in while still dealing with our wedding planning, so after some initial settling, we put further nesting on pause to deal with the wedding …aaaaand now we understand why folks plan weddings for a living.

(That said, ours kicked ass. Biggest reason it all came together? Friends who pulled more than their fair share of logistics, like moving tables, setting chairs, manning the bar, solemnizing, and running the three-legged races. Want to have a low-key, high-fun, close-knit, kick-ass wedding? Have great friends.)

Speaking of planning, our honeymoon was wonderfully unplanned. We stayed local, slept 14 hours the first night back, which meant we woke up to… boxes, which meant we couldn’t help but clean and unpack and paint the place. On our freakin’ honeymoon. Not my ideal, but again, an interesting exercise in Product Ownership and balancing priorities.

Good thing I’m extending this honeymoon. Indefinitely.

ScrumOfTwo

You go to a wedding. You chat up the peeps. You talk small-talk: the weather, them Yankees, the Ebola virus. You are offered a beer. You take it: mmMMmm! You then ask what was in it: good stuff. You are asked what you do for a living. You take note of the crowd. You make a decision.

You …point out the ceremony is starting.

At some point, there is a… reading?

And now, a reading from the Central Little Dogma, by Taco Bell MSG, the Taco Bell Motivational Speaking Group.

Life is like a burrito.

Life is like a burrito where you have full control of what you put inside your burrito. You can put in the tastiest components, the most delicious ingredients. Or, you can put in shiiit. It is up to you. You have full control of what you put inside your burrito.

Some people say life is like a circle… which is valid: just look down the length of the burrito, and the burrito model of life still holds.

Some people say life comes in stages… which is also valid: it is generally recommended to eat burritos one at a time, so again, the burrito model of life still holds.

Now, it is not only important what you put inside your burrito, how much and the quality, but what is also important is who you share your burrito with.

Ever since eating was invented, it has evolved to be best enjoyed as a communal sport, so who you bring to the table is as important as what you bring to the table. For just as you may be having some burrito of that special somebody, you must think about the burrito you yourself will be sharing.

There is a quote by Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker, that, when lightly para-phrased, goes,”You are the average of the five burritos you eat most frequently.” Beyond the notion of, “You are what you eat,” this noted burrito aficionado succinctly serves us a recipe for how you are shaped by how you have your meals.

Indeed, it is a beautiful thing to see two ravishers of the burrito, together partaking in the mystery of alimentary bliss that is complementary burritos.

You are slightly confused, yet happy for the couple.

You are also suddenly craving Mexican food, which ~~we’re~~ they’re not serving at the wedding.

Hello Again, Genesis

I’m in the midst of settling into a 2-bedroom apartment in Cambridge from a 1-bedroom apartment in Boston’s Back Bay. We moved last weekend, with the freakin’ rest of the world, or at least what felt like it in this college-dense area of the planet.

So, I’m busy.

But I’m not too busy to notice that my concept of a ScrumOfOne was born out of the combination of moving to that Boston pad (aaaaall the way across the river) and being single, and how now, while I’m very happily not single, I’m once again moving to a new abode.

Boxes and bags abound, up to my eyeballs in a neatly compartmentalized chaos, and affronted by entropicly evolved states of the floor in most rooms, a prioritized list manifests more easily.

Hello again, genesis.