I had fun today working on a new blog for work--our team of volunteers is going to write one detailing how we prepare for a room we are hosting at a conference. We hope it is fun and maybe generates some interest. I did all sorts of interesting work and was on the phone a lot this week, when not at dental appointments--eeek, don't YOU ever go over 5 years without going to the dentist, even if you have no insurance and are a single parent (I now have insurance, it will pay a whole one third of the extensive work I need)!! Ka-ching $$$$$
I finished the tie I was working on for my dad, and a cotton/lycra cloche that I crocheted a raffia flower and attached to. Today, it's a black and white scarf out of microfiber. If I stop typing. The tie is really, really interesting.
Photos of all knitting projects are coming, honest.
I also got my hair done. The highlights now have some red in them and look lovely, but she did a number on my bangs, oh eek eek eeek. The closest to the edge ones are real short, but she didn't cut farther back ones. I fear they will continue to fall in my face. I will attempt to glue them down with hairspray until they can grow out. Yum. Women and hair, what can I say???
Anonymous Comment: See, I was right. Writing it on the internet makes one look busy and competent
Friday, April 29, 2005
Monday, April 25, 2005
Proud Mom, Progress
Yesterday my older son participated in a little orchestra at church, which they do once or twice a year. For someone who isn't really "musical" in many ways, I have been surprised at how well he's done in band. He reads music very well and is quite confident in his playing. His low notes really contribute to the sound of the orchestra. Since I will miss his final middle school band concert (have to be at a workshop), I was glad to be able to go to this one.He's also participating in the church play, which I may have mentioned before. It's God's Favorite, by Neil Simon, and he just loves the play. He never would try any of these things at school, so it is nice to have a smaller setting and more compatible people to try out new things like acting. It's stuff like this that make me want to stick with the church community, even with all the "difficult people" issues it has.
In good news, I got most of last week's to do list done, even the dreaded dental appointment. I am not sure why it was so hard for me to go find a dentist--I had gone faithfully the entire time I lived in Illinois. Now I just have to get yet another toe doctor appointment for D, who sure has an ingrown toenail issue, sigh.
It was a rough weekend for me, as issues among volunteers at the organization I work for have deteriorated more. I am separating myself from it and have resolved to work for these folks, and not try to consider myself one of them any more. I am in the middle, and I feel really apart from those on both "sides" of things. Not a fun place to be. Off to work now...
Friday, April 22, 2005
Knitting Progress
I haven't written about my knitting in a while, mostly because I have been waiting to put up pictures of the felted bags I've finished lately. I made two mitred square bags from a class at the LYS. They use that lovely Noro variegated yarn with some festive novelty eyelash on top I made a scarf from a while back, and came out just incredibly cute. I keep having to show them to people every time I go into the store. The triangular one, I think, would have been cuter without the trim (purple and silver)--it was too much. Ah well, live and learn, I'll make more!
I just finished a "Lucy Bag" out of deep red/maroon wool with stripes of leftover winter hat yarns. It was IMMENSE when I finished knitting it, and its long strap was as tall as me. It took just ONE felting session (with too much water, too, which I thought might have slowed it down) to get it the size of a normal purse. And it looks spectacular! Felting sure makes a person feel good. The end result always looks way fancier than the actual product you knitted looked like. I am carrying my current silly knitting project in that bag. I am making (I guess) a baby blanket or something like that out of mitred squares made out of leftover sock yarn. It's like a memory quilt from yarn--all the socks I made Connie and gave away can be remembered in the blanket. I even have a diagonal pattern going (now that I am on row 2). Not sure how this will come out, but it is plain fun. Knitting should be fun.
I am also working on a cloche hat out of weird nubby cotton yarn with a lot of lycra in it that is almost like a rubber band in the amount of stretch it has. I am thinking of giving it to my friend's daughter who is going through chemo and might like a soft hat. I may crochet a flower to put on it. The hat looks rather interesting. Almost not knitted.
My final current project is the necktie out of Diakeito yarn calle Dailent. I can find nothing about this yarn on the Internet. I am knitting two strands together and it is the gauge of sock yarn. I'm using a Knitty pattern that originally was for sock yarn, actually. This yarn has 6 different types of strands: acrylic, cotton, viscose, polyester, ramie and nylon. It is the texture of dental floss. The nylon is shiny. It is dark "manly" colors. I hope to give it to my dad for Father's Day if I finish in time (hopefully will get a lot done on the plane to California in a couple of weeks). This is a MOST unique looking item and when I do finish I hope it photographs well.
Last but not least, I went to the lovely knitting store (LYS as knitters say) last night and talked to the owner's husband. Even though I do not NEED another web gig, I am going to do their site, as I get an exciting employee discount and, well, I think it will be fun. I was relieved to see that the sites Pat liked best were well within my capabilites and agreed with MY web principles. And that all the things Steve had learned in his "marketing your yarn shop" session at a trade conference were things I already knew to do. Whew, we're a good match. After talking to Steve, I helped out with a knitting class for beginners that consisted of women who just showed up, expecting a class, so Pat taught them. They were the cutest young women, all SO thrilled to learn to knit. We had a lot of fun picking yarn for their first real projects, and they all thanked me for being there. What a fun experience!
I just finished a "Lucy Bag" out of deep red/maroon wool with stripes of leftover winter hat yarns. It was IMMENSE when I finished knitting it, and its long strap was as tall as me. It took just ONE felting session (with too much water, too, which I thought might have slowed it down) to get it the size of a normal purse. And it looks spectacular! Felting sure makes a person feel good. The end result always looks way fancier than the actual product you knitted looked like. I am carrying my current silly knitting project in that bag. I am making (I guess) a baby blanket or something like that out of mitred squares made out of leftover sock yarn. It's like a memory quilt from yarn--all the socks I made Connie and gave away can be remembered in the blanket. I even have a diagonal pattern going (now that I am on row 2). Not sure how this will come out, but it is plain fun. Knitting should be fun.
I am also working on a cloche hat out of weird nubby cotton yarn with a lot of lycra in it that is almost like a rubber band in the amount of stretch it has. I am thinking of giving it to my friend's daughter who is going through chemo and might like a soft hat. I may crochet a flower to put on it. The hat looks rather interesting. Almost not knitted.
My final current project is the necktie out of Diakeito yarn calle Dailent. I can find nothing about this yarn on the Internet. I am knitting two strands together and it is the gauge of sock yarn. I'm using a Knitty pattern that originally was for sock yarn, actually. This yarn has 6 different types of strands: acrylic, cotton, viscose, polyester, ramie and nylon. It is the texture of dental floss. The nylon is shiny. It is dark "manly" colors. I hope to give it to my dad for Father's Day if I finish in time (hopefully will get a lot done on the plane to California in a couple of weeks). This is a MOST unique looking item and when I do finish I hope it photographs well.
Last but not least, I went to the lovely knitting store (LYS as knitters say) last night and talked to the owner's husband. Even though I do not NEED another web gig, I am going to do their site, as I get an exciting employee discount and, well, I think it will be fun. I was relieved to see that the sites Pat liked best were well within my capabilites and agreed with MY web principles. And that all the things Steve had learned in his "marketing your yarn shop" session at a trade conference were things I already knew to do. Whew, we're a good match. After talking to Steve, I helped out with a knitting class for beginners that consisted of women who just showed up, expecting a class, so Pat taught them. They were the cutest young women, all SO thrilled to learn to knit. We had a lot of fun picking yarn for their first real projects, and they all thanked me for being there. What a fun experience!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
More on Metaphor
Since I haven't really said too much about myself in this blog, you wouldn't know I spent many years studying linguistics. I specialized in pragmatics (Japanese women's speech to be specific, but whoa have I stopped thinking about THAT for close to 20 years). I always admired the work of George Lakoff, at Berkeley. I am happy to find that I am still admiring his work today, especially now that he is taking is work on metaphor and applying it to US politics. I am finding it also applicable to situations in the organization I work for, which is really fun.
His work also dovetails interestingly into spiritual things--and it was interesting to read a review of a book by Lakoff (Moral Politics) in the most recent edition of UU World, the magazine for members of the Unitarian Universalist church. It talks about how he perceives the conservative and progressive movements in the US as both basing their metaphorical frames on parenting models. The difference is that the conservative movement uses the "strict father" metaphor (the same one used in many religious organizations today), while the progressive movement uses what he calls the "nurturant parent family" (and what the people I hang around with would call "attachment parenting"). I can easily apply this to two factions in the organization I work with, as well--especially in the frustrating fact that the two different "frames" make it really hard to understand each other because their views of common sense diverge:
His work also dovetails interestingly into spiritual things--and it was interesting to read a review of a book by Lakoff (Moral Politics) in the most recent edition of UU World, the magazine for members of the Unitarian Universalist church. It talks about how he perceives the conservative and progressive movements in the US as both basing their metaphorical frames on parenting models. The difference is that the conservative movement uses the "strict father" metaphor (the same one used in many religious organizations today), while the progressive movement uses what he calls the "nurturant parent family" (and what the people I hang around with would call "attachment parenting"). I can easily apply this to two factions in the organization I work with, as well--especially in the frustrating fact that the two different "frames" make it really hard to understand each other because their views of common sense diverge:
"Contemporary American politics is about worldview. Conservatives simply see the world differently than to libarals, and both have a difficult time understanding accurately what the other's worldview is."
I think this really hits on the big problem: we can't understand each other because we don't understand the underlying basis for our disagreements. It takes a lot of talking and listening to get to that point, and we'll never get there if either side refuses to participate.
Other good reading: Don't Think of an Elephant, by George Lakoff. This is a really short book about the elections of last year, but it makes points that are still applicable today and will be for a long time. And they also apply to other things in US culture, and world culture as well.
Knitting Metaphor!
I am on a large knitting email list (which I have never posted on), and the subject had turned to knitting in the media. One member reported a knitting them on a Joan of Arcadia show. Thanks to Lindy for letting me share her description:
There was one particularly poignant moment when Joan, in a fit of frustration and anger, threw the knitting down and it began to unravel. "God" told her that even if she unraveled her scarf it was still there - just in a different form. The message, using yarn and knitting as the metaphor, was that everything in the universe is connected and always will be - even if the form changes.
Ah, how nice it would be to frame current events in knitting terms, rather than in battle terms or the parental model Lakoff describes in his work! That will give me food for thought for a while.
There was one particularly poignant moment when Joan, in a fit of frustration and anger, threw the knitting down and it began to unravel. "God" told her that even if she unraveled her scarf it was still there - just in a different form. The message, using yarn and knitting as the metaphor, was that everything in the universe is connected and always will be - even if the form changes.
Ah, how nice it would be to frame current events in knitting terms, rather than in battle terms or the parental model Lakoff describes in his work! That will give me food for thought for a while.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
This Week's To Do
I need an attitude adjustment--having some impatience rearing its head. So, for this week I will try to:
- not be impatient with people who ask me to do time-consuming things that have very little impact on others
- get some people to help start some of the projects I need to get going
volunteers- translating the community network
interface- organizing the technology room at our upcoming
conference- getting that sligtly irritating new committee up
and running with a diverse selection of- translating the community network
- get travel plans concrete
- not let people with personal agendas drag me in and cause me to spend more time than necessary dealing with their issues...that happened way too much to me last week
- be there to help friends who are having troubles of their own
- enjoy the kids
- make the appointments I need to make
D's toe- dentist--kids
- dentist--me
- vet--dogs
- doctor--
Distributed = Republican?
Tonight I was watching Now formerly with Bill Moyers, and there was an interview with Christine something with a W. (Oh yeah, Todd Whitman...I get it confused with Christine Whitney Sanchez) who used to be in the Bush administration. She was talking about how California should have the right to set higher standards for auto emissions than the US, and how it isn't right for the Bush administration to give in to automaker pressure to not do this (technicality, only the EPA can regulate fuel efficiency and they say any law on emissions really does this). She then said states should always be allowed to set any standard that is higher than the US standard, and what's more, it is in the Republican tradition to let those closest to the source of an issue set the policy--getting away with over centralized government, too much centralization, etc.
Well, how bout that, I thought. All this stuff those in my workplace are being asked to do in the name of distributive systems is not the Commie, Socialist evil those in the more "conservative" faction lead us to believe--it's right up there with Republican founding principles. And now that I think of it, it sounds pretty Libertarian, too, and that's another faction that has been complaining about new ideas about how organizations can function that are being introduced at work.
Where does this leave me? Even more firmly entrenched in my apparently novel approach of trying to evaluate ideas that are new to me based on their merit, independent of what kind of political folks would advocate it. Of course, I realize you can't really separate your philosophical leanings from what you are learning about. You always interpret new things from your particular cultural context--and there come those problems again.
In other news, I spent all day alone today other than a brief visit to church to sing old hymns with Unitarian lyrics. J.. went away to visit his brother in some desert where they were supposed to kill wild turkeys with arrows, but they had gotten chased off. I guess the Great White Hunter came up empty. I am glad I don't have to eat some freshly dead turkey. At least he's a "good" hunter and all involved in conservation and protecting the wilderness.
I get really down on weekends when the kids' dad comes and entertains them. I sometimes miss the family I had tried to hard to establish and lost. I'm sure everyone's better off now, but I hate having to "share" the kids. I didn't get to go to K's solo and ensemble competition, and he had been SO worried that he had no accompaniment for his tuba solo. It went OK, though, and I am relieved. That's also a problem with all the fun travel I now get to do for work. I miss kid events, like I won't be at their final band concert this year due to a conference. SIGH.
Enough personal stuff! At least I am blogging away.
Well, how bout that, I thought. All this stuff those in my workplace are being asked to do in the name of distributive systems is not the Commie, Socialist evil those in the more "conservative" faction lead us to believe--it's right up there with Republican founding principles. And now that I think of it, it sounds pretty Libertarian, too, and that's another faction that has been complaining about new ideas about how organizations can function that are being introduced at work.
Where does this leave me? Even more firmly entrenched in my apparently novel approach of trying to evaluate ideas that are new to me based on their merit, independent of what kind of political folks would advocate it. Of course, I realize you can't really separate your philosophical leanings from what you are learning about. You always interpret new things from your particular cultural context--and there come those problems again.
In other news, I spent all day alone today other than a brief visit to church to sing old hymns with Unitarian lyrics. J.. went away to visit his brother in some desert where they were supposed to kill wild turkeys with arrows, but they had gotten chased off. I guess the Great White Hunter came up empty. I am glad I don't have to eat some freshly dead turkey. At least he's a "good" hunter and all involved in conservation and protecting the wilderness.
I get really down on weekends when the kids' dad comes and entertains them. I sometimes miss the family I had tried to hard to establish and lost. I'm sure everyone's better off now, but I hate having to "share" the kids. I didn't get to go to K's solo and ensemble competition, and he had been SO worried that he had no accompaniment for his tuba solo. It went OK, though, and I am relieved. That's also a problem with all the fun travel I now get to do for work. I miss kid events, like I won't be at their final band concert this year due to a conference. SIGH.
Enough personal stuff! At least I am blogging away.
Friday, April 15, 2005
I Have Missed You All
I have been trying to post something for a few days, but the ole blogger interface would not let me in. All those treasured thoughts lost forever! I have something I want to share, which a friend got from a woman who attends my church.
quote:
...I, along with several other UU's, and an auditorium full of people of faith attended the informative conference "Whose Faith? Which Morals?: Religion, politics & Values" Co-sponsored by UT's Humanities Institute, Program on Religious Studies, AAIM and the LBJ Library. Following the Texas Freedom Network's Conference on "Religion & the Media" last fall, and looking forward to Live Oak's hosting Fall Conference: "Getting the Message Out, and Getting the Message In," now is a critical time for people of liberal faith to actively engage in the public "morals" debate.
Folks who study and think about this issue, addressing our seeming polarization (polls show US citizens are as in the middle as they have always been - the 'elites' are the ones becoming more polarized and who get media attention - remember, it's NEWS) say we must engage those, especially who's perspectives are different from us. One minister noted that 'conversation' and 'conversion' have the same Latin root. So to engage honestly in conversation, we must be open to be converted - to changing our minds through understanding. There's much more, but among the highlights, Rev. James Forbes of New York's Riverside Church, whose incomparable voice is difficult completely convey, gave a 10-point prescription for curing the malaise and fear being propagated in our country. In short:
1. Cultivate a spirit of trust
2. Regularly participate in a community of faith to overcome isolation and find a sense of purpose and meaning.
3. Renew a vision for a healthy society, and a vocation for our nation.
4. Provide a 'truth serum.'
5. Nuture a mature an enlightened self-interest.
6. Call for a commitment to minimum standards for basic human needs for all.
7. Encourage sacrifice as an investment in a new order of humanity.
8. Invite new citizens into the dialogue.
9. Forgiveness - we need to face our own history, our own Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
10. Love the children - stop playing politics with their future.
I liked this a lot, because it applies to so many areas of my life--the organization I work for, my spiritual community, and the US as a whole.
More soon.
quote:
...I, along with several other UU's, and an auditorium full of people of faith attended the informative conference "Whose Faith? Which Morals?: Religion, politics & Values" Co-sponsored by UT's Humanities Institute, Program on Religious Studies, AAIM and the LBJ Library. Following the Texas Freedom Network's Conference on "Religion & the Media" last fall, and looking forward to Live Oak's hosting Fall Conference: "Getting the Message Out, and Getting the Message In," now is a critical time for people of liberal faith to actively engage in the public "morals" debate.
Folks who study and think about this issue, addressing our seeming polarization (polls show US citizens are as in the middle as they have always been - the 'elites' are the ones becoming more polarized and who get media attention - remember, it's NEWS) say we must engage those, especially who's perspectives are different from us. One minister noted that 'conversation' and 'conversion' have the same Latin root. So to engage honestly in conversation, we must be open to be converted - to changing our minds through understanding. There's much more, but among the highlights, Rev. James Forbes of New York's Riverside Church, whose incomparable voice is difficult completely convey, gave a 10-point prescription for curing the malaise and fear being propagated in our country. In short:
1. Cultivate a spirit of trust
2. Regularly participate in a community of faith to overcome isolation and find a sense of purpose and meaning.
3. Renew a vision for a healthy society, and a vocation for our nation.
4. Provide a 'truth serum.'
5. Nuture a mature an enlightened self-interest.
6. Call for a commitment to minimum standards for basic human needs for all.
7. Encourage sacrifice as an investment in a new order of humanity.
8. Invite new citizens into the dialogue.
9. Forgiveness - we need to face our own history, our own Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
10. Love the children - stop playing politics with their future.
I liked this a lot, because it applies to so many areas of my life--the organization I work for, my spiritual community, and the US as a whole.
More soon.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Nice Day; I am in an Office, though
Oh it isn't so bad being in an office (still in Illinois). I can look outside and see cars, a large building full of Baptists (another nonprofit's headquarters), many fire trucks, and usually a couple of geese. The geese get angry a lot and stick out their big goose tongues.
I have many quirky features. One is that I work best in a very stimulating environment. I need lots of stuff to look at, colors I enjoy, and things I like to look at. So, I probably have the most decor-intensive office in this building. There are brightly striped rugs, table cloths and table runners on the walls (all from a very festive Target theme). I have a collection of images of carp (to capture the "crap" and take it away from me), including 2 ceramic carp, size large (one that broke falling off a shelf), 1 wooden goldfish, 6 goldfish cocktail picks that are in one of the table cloths, and a big statue of a carp-esque dolphin that was the only decor item in the least decorated office here--now that guy has nothing in the room that is not black or white, and nothing purely decorative. I have two perky strings of lights. I even got a coordinating pillow yesterday, for my 70s burnt orange guest chairs. I like my office a lot, and it negates some of the negative energy and lethargy this place exudes. Of course, the coughing woman who says her old office made her sick, who is now next to me keeps reminding me of my friend Dave's theory that there is some horrid organism in the walls or ceilings here. Yummy.
To remember for today, from an intense meeting I participated in:
I have many quirky features. One is that I work best in a very stimulating environment. I need lots of stuff to look at, colors I enjoy, and things I like to look at. So, I probably have the most decor-intensive office in this building. There are brightly striped rugs, table cloths and table runners on the walls (all from a very festive Target theme). I have a collection of images of carp (to capture the "crap" and take it away from me), including 2 ceramic carp, size large (one that broke falling off a shelf), 1 wooden goldfish, 6 goldfish cocktail picks that are in one of the table cloths, and a big statue of a carp-esque dolphin that was the only decor item in the least decorated office here--now that guy has nothing in the room that is not black or white, and nothing purely decorative. I have two perky strings of lights. I even got a coordinating pillow yesterday, for my 70s burnt orange guest chairs. I like my office a lot, and it negates some of the negative energy and lethargy this place exudes. Of course, the coughing woman who says her old office made her sick, who is now next to me keeps reminding me of my friend Dave's theory that there is some horrid organism in the walls or ceilings here. Yummy.
To remember for today, from an intense meeting I participated in:
- No one is irreplaceable
- No one should be the only repository of information on a vital project
- People who feel powerless hold on to perceived power way longer than necessary
- Insecure people tend to want to control their environment more than secure people
- Leadership skills take a long time to develop--it's fun to watch a good leader at work.
Comment from Stephanie: Sounds like a really good meeting, Sue Ann. Why don't I get to the interesting and productive ones like that? Hmmm.
Monday, April 4, 2005
From Sunny Illinois
Bad former Illinois resident--I am typing this during the Big Game (this is basketball in case you are not a sporting person). Last time I tried to watch Illinois in a "Big Game" was the Rose Bowl in 1984, right after my mom died. It certainly didn't help our mood at the time to watch a huge blowout and big loss.
So I am in Illinois and managed to put my office back together pretty quickly--had to plug in the phone and the wireless router, had to find the chairs that had left...but that's all, not too bad. I even found cute little presents in the office from my friends who visited after I last left.
The usual frustrations--can't directly send email from Eudora, this blog site would not work at the office, and my friend who was gonna give me a ride (and I hoped take me to get some lunch!) had her car die, and I didn't even hear from her most of the day, wah. Didn't hear from any of my friends, actually, but that was OK, as I was really sick from some bad buffet food last night, and had barely slept last night. When I finally got to my hotel (no reservation made) I was so tired I nearly went to sleep at 6! This hotel is pretty funny now--they redecorated and it is all beige. Not a color in sight. I guess it is supposed to be soothing. But, there's the Internet, so I am happy.
I predict more fun tomorrow!! And hey I got everything done, even though a lot of it required a complicated sending of materials to my assistants. They are real troopers!
Today's highlight was getting to see my old pal Dave, who has gone from someone I was in touch with all the time for a few years to someone I barely hear from and hadn't seen in a year. We both had rough years last year, I guess, especially money-wise. It was nice to at least catch up on him and his family. It's always sad when someone you really care about and with whom you worked closely for a long time drifts away from your life, but that seems to be the way things go so often these days. Friendships are based more on activities than human connections, it seems. Ah, my work organization and the church have probably soured me on this topic.
So I'll stop. I'll go on and on about my kids or something tomorrow.
So I am in Illinois and managed to put my office back together pretty quickly--had to plug in the phone and the wireless router, had to find the chairs that had left...but that's all, not too bad. I even found cute little presents in the office from my friends who visited after I last left.
The usual frustrations--can't directly send email from Eudora, this blog site would not work at the office, and my friend who was gonna give me a ride (and I hoped take me to get some lunch!) had her car die, and I didn't even hear from her most of the day, wah. Didn't hear from any of my friends, actually, but that was OK, as I was really sick from some bad buffet food last night, and had barely slept last night. When I finally got to my hotel (no reservation made) I was so tired I nearly went to sleep at 6! This hotel is pretty funny now--they redecorated and it is all beige. Not a color in sight. I guess it is supposed to be soothing. But, there's the Internet, so I am happy.
I predict more fun tomorrow!! And hey I got everything done, even though a lot of it required a complicated sending of materials to my assistants. They are real troopers!
Today's highlight was getting to see my old pal Dave, who has gone from someone I was in touch with all the time for a few years to someone I barely hear from and hadn't seen in a year. We both had rough years last year, I guess, especially money-wise. It was nice to at least catch up on him and his family. It's always sad when someone you really care about and with whom you worked closely for a long time drifts away from your life, but that seems to be the way things go so often these days. Friendships are based more on activities than human connections, it seems. Ah, my work organization and the church have probably soured me on this topic.
So I'll stop. I'll go on and on about my kids or something tomorrow.
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