Day 35: For the purposes of this analogy, I am, professionally, a snail farmer.
Just bear with me a second.
I grow and cultivate snails, and have been doing so for the last six years. I'm good at growing snails. I know what they like, and I also can quickly determine why the snails might not live full and rich lives. I'm good at this, and I've been brought here to the local snail farm to check to make sure that we're growing snails correctly.
I'm a snail cowboy.
"Snail Cowboy" is a good name for a thing, now that I consider it...
But I digress.
In the minds of several members of my team, I have been brought here to see if there is any flaw with their snail farming. I'm supposed to check the baby snails to make sure that they're not damaged, and then check that the process that grows the snails is completely correct.
Snails, as you know, eat plants, and sometimes animals, and so my team has given them a rich bed of plants, and sometimes animals, upon which to feed. I have checked the young ones, and they are all set to start their lives. I set a few of them down upon each of the many twisting paths, hoping that they will enjoy the plants, and sometimes animals, that we have left for them to feed upon.
And every single time I do this, I see that someone has put SALT on the path! Every. Single. Time.
Now, will the snails enjoy the plants, and sometimes animals, that we have left for them to feed upon? Certainly! Who can argue with that.
However, I have to keep pointing out the salt.
The snail farmers are annoyed by this, because removing the salt is a LOT harder than adding it, and they will do it if I insist, but ONLY if I insist, and I HAVE to insist, because they're killing the damn snails!
This is more exacerbated by the fact that they can't recognize a dead snail when they see one.
And so, every day, I look carefully at the trails, and find the salt, and point out the salt.
And so, every day, the snail farmers resent me a little bit more.
I'm here to help.
And I'm developing the reputation of being the annoying guy who keeps making them take the salt out.
So I'm a little bummed about that.
On the upside, I had a nice dinner with SubtleMelody, and so I felt a lot less bad as the sun set on yet another day here in Sacramento.
I love all of you, and we should -- each of us -- always remember: every day is an adventure! :)
Tomorrow I get to start playing in a part of the field where I haven't yet seen any salt, and that's going to be fun!
...until I find the inevitable salt, and the dead snails, and the, you know, vampires and whatnot.
I could do this whole thing over with "vampires" instead of snails, but I should probably just go to bed.
Big hugs to all of you!
Just bear with me a second.
I grow and cultivate snails, and have been doing so for the last six years. I'm good at growing snails. I know what they like, and I also can quickly determine why the snails might not live full and rich lives. I'm good at this, and I've been brought here to the local snail farm to check to make sure that we're growing snails correctly.
I'm a snail cowboy.
"Snail Cowboy" is a good name for a thing, now that I consider it...
But I digress.
In the minds of several members of my team, I have been brought here to see if there is any flaw with their snail farming. I'm supposed to check the baby snails to make sure that they're not damaged, and then check that the process that grows the snails is completely correct.
Snails, as you know, eat plants, and sometimes animals, and so my team has given them a rich bed of plants, and sometimes animals, upon which to feed. I have checked the young ones, and they are all set to start their lives. I set a few of them down upon each of the many twisting paths, hoping that they will enjoy the plants, and sometimes animals, that we have left for them to feed upon.
And every single time I do this, I see that someone has put SALT on the path! Every. Single. Time.
Now, will the snails enjoy the plants, and sometimes animals, that we have left for them to feed upon? Certainly! Who can argue with that.
However, I have to keep pointing out the salt.
The snail farmers are annoyed by this, because removing the salt is a LOT harder than adding it, and they will do it if I insist, but ONLY if I insist, and I HAVE to insist, because they're killing the damn snails!
This is more exacerbated by the fact that they can't recognize a dead snail when they see one.
And so, every day, I look carefully at the trails, and find the salt, and point out the salt.
And so, every day, the snail farmers resent me a little bit more.
I'm here to help.
And I'm developing the reputation of being the annoying guy who keeps making them take the salt out.
So I'm a little bummed about that.
On the upside, I had a nice dinner with SubtleMelody, and so I felt a lot less bad as the sun set on yet another day here in Sacramento.
I love all of you, and we should -- each of us -- always remember: every day is an adventure! :)
Tomorrow I get to start playing in a part of the field where I haven't yet seen any salt, and that's going to be fun!
...until I find the inevitable salt, and the dead snails, and the, you know, vampires and whatnot.
I could do this whole thing over with "vampires" instead of snails, but I should probably just go to bed.
Big hugs to all of you!