Month: October 2025

Posted on

Trick or Treat?

Every year, as we drift into the darkest days of fall, pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns, and spooky decor arrive in our neighborhoods. Then, just when you think all is safe, nocturnal, costumed spirits visit our homes with petitions for tricks, or more often, the more desired, treats. They zip from door to door, sharing their fanciful charm and catching fun and festive Halloween vibes along the way.

I’ve been buying candy for the past four weeks. We now have a gigantic mountain of fun- and snack-sized sweets, all ready for our Friday visitors. The stash I have is about 10x what we actually need. I don’t know why, but I instinctively grab some each week. Sometimes it’s the variety, a special deal, or just the delight of having enough to pass around. Yes, they got me!

Do you like Halloween? The history is fascinating! You can trace it back a few millennia to the Celtic festival at the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. They saw this time as a bridge between the living and the dead, believing spirits would roam the earth. To ward off evil spirits, people lit bonfires and wore costumes. Many centuries later, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day (aka All Hallows’ Day), honoring martyrs, which meant that the day before, October 31, would be called Hallows’ Eve. We now call it Halloween. The blend of traditions somehow became the fun and spooky annual event that brings cute, costumed princesses, heroes, goblins, and ghouls to our neighborhoods.

I don’t know about you, but I love it! I can’t wait to see the characters of all ages visiting our home and roaming the neighborhood. It reminds me of my own childhood, doing the same, and the joy of taking my own kids on those fanciful evening visits.

Halloween ushers in a season of traditions, celebrations, and gatherings. Each year adds a ring of memories to our story. Layer upon layer, those previous years show up like ghosts, visiting us and bringing to mind fond and powerful sights, scents, and sounds. Spirits of our past, our departed friends and family, visit us. We remember them. We see them in photos and imagine them sitting in those empty chairs. We savor those precious times and are grateful for the gift of memory that lets those spirits visit us once more.

As we go into this season, I encourage you all to live each day to the fullest. Cherish the fun. Treasure the spirits that visit you. Enjoy the traditions that decorate our days! Life is short, so be sure to buy plenty of candy.

Happy Halloween!

Posted on

The Ocean of Days

They are like waves. Every day rolls in and crashes on the sandy beach of our lives. A gentle swell forms as the sunlight bends over the horizon. The shadows of the night’s slumber deepen and then disappear as the crest of the day roars to life. Noon welcomes the midday cap, foaming and churning as the evening gravity pulls the day’s energy into the afternoon churning surf. Soon, the evening beach catches the breaking swash of the ending day, spreading out the final momentum as the fading sound bubbles across the glistening night sky. The ebb of today retreats to form a new tomorrow. 

At first glance, every day looks the same. They crash upon our lives with a dependable rhythm. We can gaze upon our calendar and even see the forming swells of tomorrow. We can predict the sights and sounds that will be much like today, or yesterday, or the day before. But the truth is, every day is different. Some will come in with a roar, some with a gentle whisper. Each day has a new energy. It may follow the same flow, but the story will be different. It will wash new memories into your life. New encounters. New adventures. New challenges. Every day is unique. It is a gift, a precious experience that will soon fade tonight and begin anew.

Look out into the ocean. Your day is arriving. What does it look like today? How will you meet it? What will it bring? I don’t know about you, but I’m going in! I’m ready. I feel the cool foam of yesterday on my feet and can hear the new crescendo rising. Today’s crest is approaching, and it looks magnificent. I think I’ll take this one, enjoy it, and embrace the energy as it carries me through the joys and trials of today’s story.

Will you join me?

Posted on

The Grid Awaits

My first exposure to TRON was in the 1980s. My brother rented a portable LaserDisc player and brought home a copy of the iconic 12-inch optical disc of TRON. We could barely contain our excitement as we hooked it up to the TV and pressed play. Instantly, we were transported into the Grid. I was hooked.

Until then, tinkering with computers had been a fun hobby and a welcome distraction. But in that moment, watching TRON light up our living room, something clicked. I realized I wanted to make computer science my career. I started applying to college programs and eventually earned a spot in the Computer Science program at the University of Tulsa. During my sophomore year, I experienced a personal TRON milestone when I modeled and animated a Light Cycle on a Sun workstation using C++ and X11 Motif. Later, I converted it to POV-Ray (see https://github.com/jasonacox/lightcycle-povray if you dare).

“I kept dreaming of a world I thought I’d never see. And then one day… I got in.”

My career first took me into Civil Engineering, where I put my skills to work creating CAD software. We modeled the world in ones and zeros. Roads, bridges, detention ponds, and utility systems were all drawn onto a digital canvas. Those models became real-world projections, guiding survey crews with lasers and transits to shape the physical environment around us. Construction crews transformed empty fields into neighborhoods, shopping centers, highways, and bridges.

It was TRON brought to concrete.

Then the internet bug bit me. A friend and I began dreaming up a platform to connect families—a network designed for safe, wholesome communication, learning, and exploration. With the help of supportive investors, we launched our idea and quickly expanded, building multiple datacenters linked across the digital grid. We worked tirelessly to create a place where people could connect, learn, and feel welcome.

It was TRON in business.

As the years passed, my career continued to evolve. New opportunities emerged. New technologies arrived. Entire industries transformed. Yet one thing remained constant: the fascination I felt for the intersection of technology, creativity, and human imagination.

I still remember one particular day when I walked into a new role and spotted a TRON poster hanging on a wall. For a moment, time seemed to fold in on itself. I thought back to that kid sitting in front of a television, staring wide-eyed at a glowing world of light cycles and identity discs. The dreams that movie had sparked were no longer dreams. They had become the path I was walking.

Years later, I even had the opportunity to meet Steven Lisberger, the creator of TRON. For a lifelong fan, it felt surreal. It was one of those rare moments when the story that inspired you and the life you’ve lived somehow intersect.

It was TRON brought to life.

“Bio-digital jazz, man!”

Just this past weekend, I took my family to see TRON: Ares. It was absolutely fantastic. The experience was surreal. If you haven’t seen it yet, make some time to catch it in theaters. For TRON fans, there is so much to love in this script.

As I reflect on my journey, I realize that TRON was never really about computers, light cycles, or the Grid. It was about possibility. It taught me to be bold, to embrace new challenges, and to imagine a world where ideas can become reality.

The movie inspired me and helped shape my life and career. It nudged me toward engineering, entrepreneurship, innovation, and lifelong learning. More importantly, it reminded me that technology is ultimately about people. Behind every system, every network, every line of code, there are human beings creating, connecting, and imagining something new.

Whatever your “TRON” is, I encourage you to chase it. Let inspiration fuel your imagination, your work, and your life. The things that capture our hearts often point us toward the future we’re meant to build.

Your passions matter. Your creativity shapes dreams. Whether you’re building technology, telling stories, creating digital worlds, connecting people, solving difficult problems, or helping fellow travelers along the way, you are part of something extraordinary.

Together, let’s build, dream, and innovate.

The Grid awaits.

“You’re a User. You can do anything!”

End of line.

Posted on

The Gilded Season

The gilded season is upon us! In our neighborhood, the transformation has already begun. The autumn landscape has started its cool, crisp transition into golden yellows, rich browns, and vibrant reds. Nature herself is adorning our part of the world in a lavish royal cloak before settling into her deep winter’s slumber. Slowly, the redshift of fall will bleed into the foliage, trees, and lawns, washing away the summer emeralds and crystallizing the blazing hues of the year’s final sunset days.

During this time of year, nature unspools her tapestry with a breathtaking flourish. A cool, crisp breeze heralds the transition as the emerald city fades, and the world ignites in a golden age. It’s as if the earth itself is donning a lavish royal mantle. Each tree and bush, jeweled in autumn’s opulence, readies itself for winter’s gentle, silent embrace. Slowly, the vibrant memory of summer unravels. Sunsets linger longer on the horizon, their fiery hues crystallizing in the leaves, a final, brilliant coronation before surrendering to the tranquil blues and silver grays of winter’s winds.

This parade of color, a dazzling spectrum over the year’s shoulder, is a spectacle to behold. In these brief, gilded days, the world is radiant, serene, and wistfully beautiful. It reminds us that all things change. Every story, every transition, and every year must come to an end. Our journey around the sun has entered its final act of the year. It reminds us to reflect, to appreciate, and to celebrate the brilliance before it slips quietly beneath the frost. Fall is here. The gilded season is upon us.

It’s time to remember and bid farewell to summer, and to welcome and embrace these new golden days. Take time this week to notice the change, soak in the emerging colors, and prepare yourself for the season ahead. And yes, you may need a jacket.