Parallels

The vast majority of my days at work are made up of collecting, analyzing, and grouping data. I need to be super detail oriented, organized, and have a vision for what the end use of all the little bits of data could be. I also need to be able to recognize the valuable  and accurate bits from the 'garbage'. I need to have an incredible amount of patience,  because only a tiny amount my day is spent using the final data for 'fun' things like creating web apps or 3D models - or essentially, creating visuals of our database that the average person will hopefully understand and find useful.

I wouldn't say I love my day job, but it seems to suit me and it pays the bills.

Look! Another picture of me riding a few weeks ago...who says I have no media? Actually, never mind, I still don't. this is the last remotely horsey pic I have left

What does this have to do with riding, you ask? Everything. I normally turn off my work brain the second I walk out the door, but during my lesson last night EC had some interesting input. I was struggling to get a nice left bend, I was struggling to keep pony straight. Basic stuff, and I was starting to worry I'd broken something. EC's input: Remember to ride the horse you want. Essentially, don't worry about it...ride her like she is going super well, don't try to fix things or change your inputs.  The basics are there.  I should not be worried about doing something 'wrong' or making a mistake or messing things up. I just need to concisely ask for whatever it is I want, and I need to expect consistent results. Sure enough, everything fell into place a few minutes later. Further advice: Bridget and I are at a point where we just need to refine things.  The buttons are there and it matters not what combination of them I use. Provided I get an expected and timely response, it doesn't matter if what we're doing is not technically correct as far as a dressage judge is concerned...if it's what I asked for we're happy. 

Think happy thoughts. Same day as above, and off to the beach. we're very lucky to live where we do

In a nutshell, we are at the point where have slowly accumulated and tested most of the data we need to do some fun things. The pieces are there...I just need to have confidence in what I'm looking for, and I need to continue to recognize and sort the valuable bits from the 'garbage', further refining our results. Like my work, the majority of my ride needs to consist of testing and patiently building our little database of knowledge. Eventually, we'll create our 'fun' visual in the form of a dressage test that hopefully even the toughest judge will understand :)

Cool.