#jbbsfinalthoughts.com

[joebustillos]

JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 35: What Have These Eyes Seen in the Past 61-Years

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 35: What Have These Eyes Seen in the Past 61-Years

After my 61st birthday and while immersed in Apollo 11 nostalgia I comment about events that I’ve experienced over the course of my 60-plus years life, things ranging from Space to Music to Religion, to Technology to Family. What events have your…

[joebustillos]

jBB's Final Thoughts: FairUse/Copyright Claim in My Favor

JBB’s Final Thoughts YouTube Copyright Claim DailyRandomShit for 2016-05-22

Sometimes the algorithm gets it right. Yeah, I know, right? I just got a message from YouTube that they agree that my use of a Daily Show video clip in my podcast is allowed because if falls under their Fair Use rules. Yay me!

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It's Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 31: Bad UI & How It’s Hurting Tech Usage in the Classroom

Two examples of bad user-interface design that can easily derail tech usage in the classroom. You thinks it’s “meh,” now multiply the pain by 25 unhappy and vocal students on an hourly basis and let’s see how “meh” you feel by the end of the day.

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face - Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 30: Better Online/Better Face-to-Face – Successful Online Dating Stories with Jocelyn & David

This interview was originally recorded Spring 2016. Orlando friends, Jocelyn and David talk about online dating and how it worked out for them. This interview is much longer than my normal five-minute…

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-29_an-unlikely-refuge.mp3

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

Please Subscribe:

YouTube Channel

Twitter Account

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

RSS Reader

Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

All images and screen grabs by Joe Bustillos ©2019

Images used in podcast:

jbbsfinalthoughts29_ds9-dvd-set

jbbsfinalthoughts29_ds9-action-figs

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

There was a time, not very long ago, when I loved someone with every fiber of my being who wasn’t in the position to really return the favor. There was just enough encouragement for me to entertain that our stolen afternoons making out in our cars would some day become an actual “real” relationship. Thus, I insanely kept at it for more than a few seasons, trying to make this love real, even as it became clear that once she was free of her then-relationship that she was not going to be at all interested in making a commitment to being with me. I call this time my period of insanity. I am ever thankful for the two friends whom I routinely unloaded my pent-up frustrations. One of them no longer talks to me. Ugh. The other I seem to have brief flings with about every 10-years. Odd. But one unforeseen refuge during all of this was my binge watching of the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. What? Yeah, not anyone’s first choice.

I already loved the series, given its grittier feel, with none of the main characters really getting along in the first couple of seasons. Given that the series couldn’t really resort to the “alien of the week” scenarios of other Star Trek series, more emphasis fell on the interactions of the main characters and the evolving relationships that developed. Then in the last couple of seasons an unrequited love scenario was explored, just as I was helplessly pining for my own love, and I found myself crying my eyes out as the characters confessed their love and then sacrificed it for higher purposes. I really couldn’t stand it, that they got a taste of what I longed for, and then let it go because they needed to attend to higher callings. Damn it. That was unexpected and difficult to watch. Granted, this was at a time when all it took was a beautiful California sunset to reduce me to tears as I drove home… alone.

Eventually I ran out of episodes, the characters moved on and I hung in there a few more years hoping that our elicit kisses would become something more… Yeah, I was that insane. The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that I was reminded of all of this when I finished binge watching the series again a few weeks ago. I don’t know what insanity the series creators were going through but it really spoke to my unsatisfied passions. Actually, this recent rewatching brought me back to those extended moments of insanity and unrealized desire. Usually I watch sci-fi to escape the pressures of my real life (as an educator), but this was a case where this fictional world tapped into the part of my real life that was completely killing me and I never got what I so desperately longed for. I knew that it wasn’t going to end well for me, but just like the characters in the series, I was going to be okay in this unexpected new reality. I didn’t end up with the girl, but I was going to be okay and there was no saying that the future wouldn’t be even more amazing than what had just happened. Somehow I needed to integrate these experiences into who I was, learn whatever I could from the experience(s) and still work toward my better self. I might not be part wormhole alien running an orbital city in a far distant region of space, but I have to respect the gifts I’ve been given, honor the precious connections I’ve had with my fellow travelers, and share my narrative with other fellow travelers to help them on their own journeys. I was an insane babbling idiot who now babbles a bit less these days. Thank you Deep Space Nine for speaking to my babbling heart and helping me through my period of insanity.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://jbbsfinalthoughts.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

  JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-28_mr-quinbys-final-lesson_perspective.mp3

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

Please Subscribe:

YouTube Channel

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

RSS Reader

Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

All images and screen grabs by Joe Bustillos ©2018 and ©2019

music: Angelique Kidjo clip by Paul Quinby, May 5, 2018

Images used in podcast:

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

1992-07-20 Quinby Camping – 25

2017-12-24_04_Xmas at Mom’s

2018-07-08_Summer-CA-Trip_Super-Mex-with-Mich-n-Paul

2018-05-13_01_Mother’s Day at Matt & Marty’s

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 11

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 10

2018-05-05 Paul Quinby at Angelique Kidjo concert at the theater at the Ace Hotel. Celebrate the good times

Show Script:

JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Joe Bustillos here.

A week ago, following a very long battle with a respiratory illness my brother-in-law, Paul Quinby, passed away. He had been on a transplant list at UCLA but his illness lessened the chances of a good outcome and he was dropped from the program. He ended up in the ICU just before Thanksgiving. Over the following couple weeks he was visited by family and friends and was able to witness the wedding of his youngest daughter. I didn’t realize how little time he had left. He was moved to a comfort care facility and passed that night, December 8th at 9pm.

On December 4th he made a most amazing Facebook post titled, “Paul Quinby’s Circling the Drain Farewell Tour,”  briefly explaining the circumstances and then saying his goodbyes. Quote:

“I have not always been easy to understand or get along with. I have been often brusque and self-centered. If I have hurt you, I am truly sorry. For those with whom I have not gotten along, I hold no grudge or judgement. That would be a waste of time and energy, when time is short.”

Paul’s classroom was one of the places I did my pre-teacher observations when I began my teaching career (where he noted my need to balance my enthusiasm with classroom control!). So the following passage hits very close to home. Quote:

“If you had a seat as a student in my class, thank you. I hope you sometimes felt the thrill of understanding new things and exploring the world while you were part of our class’s learning family, and that you took that sense of wonder with you. And you should know that you have been my teachers, too, when I remembered to listen.”

When I first heard of Paul’s passing I commented that it was going to take me some time to process this, and apologies to anyone offended by this discussion, but this is one of the ways I think things though, online. I have to laugh, in that I was a real annoyance at times with my constant camera at family gatherings and online posting. That’s one area where I butted heads with Paul, so apologies… truthfully, I’m not sure why I’m always doing the photography thing, etc.

One of the things that I recognized in Paul’s final post is the resolve one may have when one can see the end. While my illness from 2012 to 2014 never reached anything close to a final stage, things were going downhill so quickly that I had to consider what was next as I lost the ability to walk. I don’t doubt that Paul went through all of the stages of anger and sadness and depression over and over again. When I faced my possible curtain call I cried and expressed my appreciation to my then-girlfriend, that if this was where my road was going to end, then it was a pretty good place to go. I was lucky. I got the treatment I needed. But I resolved to learn whatever it was that I could learn from this experience.

One thing that really amazed me about Paul’s post was that he encapsulated his farewell in four short paragraphs. That, my friends is having laser focus on the point of all of this. In the end, what are the important things, and more importantly how do we express them in our daily lives? We can say (and post) all kinds of things, but how do we actually conduct our lives both when we are alone and when we are working with our neighbors? How do we deal with the needs of the moment and experience any sense of the long view.

Growing up religious, one would think that it’s all about the long view, all about the final reward. Alas, my memories as a young Catholic and later Evangelical was mostly feeling all twisted up inside because my flawed humanity crushed me on a daily basis. I may have been forgiven and honestly wanted to do “better,” but there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t seem to be in some failure mode. That didn’t work. It was difficult to appreciate anything when I rarely had the sense of not being a failure. And lest it sound like I’ve gotten over all of that, I was just thinking how I’ve been so overwhelmed these past months by my own expectations for what should be happening in my classroom to the point of illness and exhaustion and how silly that would have seemed to Paul from his perspective. When you care about the day-to-day it can be too easy to see everything as day-to-day and begin to miss the point of it all. I’ve certainly had that experience this school year.

Paul’s passing reminds me of all the things we say are important and generally fail to have enough time for… But then who decides what “enough time” really is? It is what is what it is, and if you are lucky enough to have experienced long hugs from a loved one, the smile of another human briefly connecting with you, the tears of exhaustion and perseverance, and good conversation and a great beer with friends and strangers, what else is there?

Paul said, “So I think it’s time to reflect on the blessing of having spent an incredibly warm, fulfilling and exciting life, with much loved family and friends. You have enriched my life, and I am grateful to you all.”

Paul, I will miss the heated verbal battles, the honest confrontations, the shared meals, beers, and tequila shots and the sense of human connection.

And to you, my dear family, friends and passing online strangers, however you’ve had this in your life, for however much time you’ve had… that’s the point… that’s the perspective that we often lose in the day-to-day grind.

Happy holidays, tell those around you how much you love them. It’s important.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://joebustillos.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 24: What Do People Really Mean When They Say...

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 24: What Do People Really Mean When They Say…

Almost a whole year has gone by since my last podcast. Why does that sound like the beginning of a Catholic confession? I’ll be sharing plans for the blog and podcast and maybe even coming up with a more consistent schedule. Also, video comments from friends…

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

MP3 version:https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/JBBsFinalThoughts_E028_mr-quinbys-final-lesson_perspective.mp3

Please Subscribe:

YouTube Channel

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

RSS Reader

Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

music: Angelique Kidjo clip by Paul Quinby, May 5, 2018

All images and screen grabs by Joe Bustillos ©2018

Images used in podcast:

Paul and Tortoise

1992-07-20 Quinby Camping – 25

2017-12-24_04_Xmas at Mom’s

2018-07-08_Summer-CA-Trip_Super-Mex-with-Mich-n-Paul

2018-05-13_01_Mother’s Day at Matt & Marty’s

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 11

2018-05-05 Paul Quinby at Angelique Kidjo concert at the theater at the Ace Hotel. Celebrate the good times

1992-09-10 Laurel’s Naming Ceremony Day – 10

Show Script:

JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode28: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective

Joe Bustillos here.

A week ago, following a very long battle with a respiratory illness my brother-in-law, Paul Quinby, passed away. He had been on a transplant list at UCLA but his illness lessened the chances of a good outcome and he was dropped from the program. He ended up in the ICU just before Thanksgiving. Over the following couple weeks he was visited by family and friends and was able to witness the wedding of his youngest daughter. I didn’t realize how little time he had left. He was moved to a comfort care facility and passed that night, December 8th at 9pm.

On December 4th he made a most amazing Facebook post titled, “Paul Quinby’s Circling the Drain Farewell Tour,”  briefly explaining the circumstances and then saying his goodbyes. Quote:

“I have not always been easy to understand or get along with. I have been often brusque and self-centered. If I have hurt you, I am truly sorry. For those with whom I have not gotten along, I hold no grudge or judgement. That would be a waste of time and energy, when time is short.”

Paul’s classroom was one of the places I did my pre-teacher observations when I began my teaching career (where he noted my need to balance my enthusiasm with classroom control!). So the following passage hits very close to home. Quote:

“If you had a seat as a student in my class, thank you. I hope you sometimes felt the thrill of understanding new things and exploring the world while you were part of our class’s learning family, and that you took that sense of wonder with you. And you should know that you have been my teachers, too, when I remembered to listen.”

When I first heard of Paul’s passing I commented that it was going to take me some time to process this, and apologies to anyone offended by this discussion, but this is one of the ways I think things though, online. I have to laugh, in that I was a real annoyance at times with my constant camera at family gatherings and online posting. That’s one area where I butted heads with Paul, so apologies… truthfully, I’m not sure why I’m always doing the photography thing, etc.

One of the things that I recognized in Paul’s final post is the resolve one may have when one can see the end. While my illness from 2012 to 2014 never reached anything close to a final stage, things were going downhill so quickly that I had to consider what was next as I lost the ability to walk. I don’t doubt that Paul went through all of the stages of anger and sadness and depression over and over again. When I faced my possible curtain call I cried and expressed my appreciation to my then-girlfriend, that if this was where my road was going to end, then it was a pretty good place to go. I was lucky. I got the treatment I needed. But I resolved to learn whatever it was that I could learn from this experience.

One thing that really amazed me about Paul’s post was that he encapsulated his farewell in four short paragraphs. That, my friends is having laser focus on the point of all of this. In the end, what are the important things, and more importantly how do we express them in our daily lives? We can say (and post) all kinds of things, but how do we actually conduct our lives both when we are alone and when we are working with our neighbors? How do we deal with the needs of the moment and experience any sense of the long view.

Growing up religious, one would think that it’s all about the long view, all about the final reward. Alas, my memories as a young Catholic and later Evangelical was mostly feeling all twisted up inside because my flawed humanity crushed me on a daily basis. I may have been forgiven and honestly wanted to do “better,” but there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t seem to be in some failure mode. That didn’t work. It was difficult to appreciate anything when I rarely had the sense of not being a failure. And lest it sound like I’ve gotten over all of that, I was just thinking how I’ve been so overwhelmed these past months by my own expectations for what should be happening in my classroom to the point of illness and exhaustion and how silly that would have seemed to Paul from his perspective. When you care about the day-to-day it can be too easy to see everything as day-to-day and begin to miss the point of it all. I’ve certainly had that experience this school year.

Paul’s passing reminds me of all the things we say are important and generally fail to have enough time for… But then who decides what “enough time” really is? It is what is what it is, and if you are lucky enough to have experienced long hugs from a loved one, the smile of another human briefly connecting with you, the tears of exhaustion and perseverance, and good conversation and a great beer with friends and strangers, what else is there?

Paul said, “So I think it’s time to reflect on the blessing of having spent an incredibly warm, fulfilling and exciting life, with much loved family and friends. You have enriched my life, and I am grateful to you all.”

Paul, I will miss the heated verbal battles, the honest confrontations, the shared meals, beers, and tequila shots and the sense of human connection.

And to you, my dear family, friends and passing online strangers, however you’ve had this in your life, for however much time you’ve had… that’s the point… that’s the perspective that we often lose in the day-to-day grind.

Happy holidays, tell those around you how much you love them. It’s important.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://joebustillos.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 028: Mr. Quinby’s Final Lesson: Perspective JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 28: Mr. Quinby's Final Lesson: Perspective Four paragraphs, the passing of a family member and this fellow educator’s final lesson: perspective.

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

MP3 Version: https://jbbsfinalthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/jbbsfinalthoughts_episode-29_an-unlikely-refuge.mp3

Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

Please Subscribe:

YouTube Channel

Twitter Account

Apple Podcasts/iTunes

RSS Reader

Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

All images and screen grabs by Joe Bustillos ©2019

Images used in podcast:

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness

There was a time, not very long ago, when I loved someone with every fiber of my being who wasn’t in the position to really return the favor. There was just enough encouragement for me to entertain that our stolen afternoons making out in our cars would some day become an actual “real” relationship. Thus, I insanely kept at it for more than a few seasons, trying to make this love real, even as it became clear that once she was free of her then-relationship that she was not going to be at all interested in making a commitment to being with me. I call this time my period of insanity. I am ever thankful for the two friends whom I routinely unloaded my pent-up frustrations. One of them no longer talks to me. Ugh. The other I seem to have brief flings with about every 10-years. Odd. But one unforeseen refuge during all of this was my binge watching of the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. What? Yeah, not anyone’s first choice.

I already loved the series, given its grittier feel, with none of the main characters really getting along in the first couple of seasons. Given that the series couldn’t really resort to the “alien of the week” scenarios of other Star Trek series, more emphasis fell on the interactions of the main characters and the evolving relationships that developed. Then in the last couple of seasons an unrequited love scenario was explored, just as I was helplessly pining for my own love, and I found myself crying my eyes out as the characters confessed their love and then sacrificed it for higher purposes. I really couldn’t stand it, that they got a taste of what I longed for, and then let it go because they needed to attend to higher callings. Damn it. That was unexpected and difficult to watch. Granted, this was at a time when all it took was a beautiful California sunset to reduce me to tears as I drove home… alone.

Eventually I ran out of episodes, the characters moved on and I hung in there a few more years hoping that our elicit kisses would become something more… Yeah, I was that insane. The reason I’m bringing all of this up is that I was reminded of all of this when I finished binge watching the series again a few weeks ago. I don’t know what insanity the series creators were going through but it really spoke to my unsatisfied passions. Actually, this recent rewatching brought me back to those extended moments of insanity and unrealized desire. Usually I watch sci-fi to escape the pressures of my real life (as an educator), but this was a case where this fictional world tapped into the part of my real life that was completely killing me and I never got what I so desperately longed for. I knew that it wasn’t going to end well for me, but just like the characters in the series, I was going to be okay in this unexpected new reality. I didn’t end up with the girl, but I was going to be okay and there was no saying that the future wouldn’t be even more amazing than what had just happened. Somehow I needed to integrate these experiences into who I was, learn whatever I could from the experience(s) and still work toward my better self. I might not be part wormhole alien running an orbital city in a far distant region of space, but I have to respect the gifts I’ve been given, honor the precious connections I’ve had with my fellow travelers, and share my narrative with other fellow travelers to help them on their own journeys. I was an insane babbling idiot who now babbles a bit less these days. Thank you Deep Space Nine for speaking to my babbling heart and helping me through my period of insanity.

Thank you for spending this time with me at JBB’s Final Thoughts. If you want to continue to participate in my outer monologue you can subscribe to my blog at http://jbbsfinalthoughts.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the FOLLOW button where it says “Follow Blog via Email” and enter your email address. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, just search for JBB’s Final Thoughts (and make sure it doesn’t auto-correct to “jobs final thoughts”… damn auto-correct!). Catch you later, enjoy.

  JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 29: An Unlikely Refuge in a Time of Madness New Year and remembering a previous way that I handled out of control love.

[joebustillos]

Copyright Claim in My Favor DailyRandomShit for 2016-05-22 Sometimes the algorithm gets it right. Yeah, I know, right? I just got a message from YouTube that they agree that my use of a Daily Show video clip in my podcast is allowed because if falls under their Fair Use rules. Yay me!