| Hint for managers |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|02:31 pm] |
When you can pull up labor for your workers, and can find they logged 9 hours on Monday and over 10 on Tuesday, make sure you say something to them on Wednesday. Temper it to their desires - and make sure you know them.
"Thank you" is always good.
"I want you to know, people are noticing your work ethic" is good for those ambitious people.
"So, what can we do to get you out of here on time today?" is good for almost anyone - the ambitious can say they're having too much fun to leave early, the sick can say "yeah, that'd be great. I have some callbacks to make, if someone can help."
In the meantime, I've solved two cases in my flippin' *SPARE TIME* while working these hours. I'm getting better at this job. |
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| Birthday earrings? |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|02:53 pm] |
Do any of my friends know of any earrings that might be 5th grader appropriate that are web browsable?
Bonus gifts for web-browsable confirmation style gifts, which might include similarly-aged appropriate jewelry (but not for the same person). I don't know if there's any Elise-sale going on, and I'm time constrained at the moment, so I hate to ask questions that can be answered "JFBI"... but there, I did. |
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| Help on Wednesday from someone local? |
[Nov. 14th, 2009|09:03 pm] |
Anyone on my friends list available on Wednesday? I have to get to the airport. I'm trying to figure out some method of getting there, or getting parking, or whatever.
Blech. I hate flying, and all its attendant worries. |
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| Managed to get out jogging |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|02:07 pm] |
I've found that I can jog for 22 minutes, in the starting-to-get-cold rain, and with my muscles aching in interesting locations.
I may or may not have mentioned this, but with my new exercises, where I'm working my core muscles, and my legs and hips in new ways, I've noticed that my jogging has changed. Different muscles are engaging, not because I'm trying to run differently, but merely because I am. I think this means I'm learning to engage my hips and legs properly, that I'm strengthening the right muscles to get them all working the way they were meant to. And I'm a lot more active - I feel what's going on in my legs more than I used to.
I was really glad to find that I could still do 22 minutes - it's been a few weeks since I've been jogging more than once a week, and I've been skipping my normal exercise routine from time to time, because life has gotten busy.
And, with a busy life, well, the only time I think to update LJ is when I have a minor exercise victory to report :-). |
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| Thoughts on shamanism |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|10:07 am] |
Last week, something awfully strange happened to me. Well... okay, a lot of strange things happened, and what really marks the changes in my life is that I only consider one of those things to be "strange".
( description/coming out post follows ) |
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| Long week. Long interview. And a reminder that, damn, I kick ass sometimes |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|11:36 pm] |
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It's been a long week. And today, I interviewed for a new position at work. And it was good to remember that, although I'm sometimes faced by some really tough problems, and really tough questions to answer, while I sometimes feel that I just don't quite know what I'm doing, I really do know a lot about this IT stuff after all. |
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| Spam filter dillies |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|09:06 am] |
I was searching through my spam filter, making sure I didn't throw away anything that might be useful. I used to read spam, on occasion, for amusement or outrage value, but I don't bother any more; it's boring to watch people try to use non-letter characters to spell drug names, and such. But I have to check subject lines, and today, well... wouldn't you be disappointed if your day had gone by and you didn't see this?
"If you had a gold fish, you would ask for a bigger instrument." |
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| Everyone needs (more) friends like Pat... |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|08:33 pm] |
Everyone needs more friends like ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kightp. Trust me; they do. Even if they have one like her, they need more.
Like, Saturday, she wants one thing - to get some new shoes. That's all she asks. And when I say we need to get bagels too, she's game for that - she even pretends to be excited about the prospect!
Okay, technically, if she really does enjoy good bagels, and gets to enjoy a turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich, it's not a pretense. But she would have pretended if she had to, and that's the important part.
And then, what might be the ultimate test of friendship arose. I just happened to see a produce market, and I just have to turn around. And she goes along, even though she's not in a big produce mood. But that's not the big test.
No, the big test is after we've stopped. And I grab some apples, apples that actually smell like *apples*, rather than "nothing," or worse, that have some chemical-y smell to them. And then I turn around and see a beautiful set of pumpkins.
I pick one up and caress it happily. And when she says that if I cut it in half, scoop out the goop, and put it in the oven, I interrupt her with a horrified look on my face.
"This is my *FRIEND*!" I say.
And she recovers perfectly, admitting that, "...or, you could just take it home, and love it until it rots...."
Willing to take side excursions, and understanding all that is wonderful in this world, and still wise enough to remind her friend that one should never become too attached to ones pumpkins, for they are truly fragile creatures. |
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| Thank heaven for light therapy |
[Oct. 1st, 2009|11:15 pm] |
Yesterday, I was in a really bad state. Everything was going horribly wrong, and everything I did was wrong. Everyone who cared about me was clearly being fooled by my innocuous exterior, and would soon realize what a terrible mistake they'd made.
Really?
No. I know what anxiety and depression are like, so I knew that these weren't honest thoughts of a brain making a reasonable appraisal. But when they popped into my head, they *felt* real.
This is what makes depression (and anxiety, and other stuff) so dangerous and so insidious... it mucks with your perceptions.
I was mostly okay yesterday, but I was not relishing the thought of having to keep fighting those random ugly thoughts. It takes too much engagement, it takes too much conscious effort, and isn't the 25th time of reminding yourself that you're not toxic about the time when it just gets easier to stop reminding yourself?
Today...whew. I realized there hasn't been enough light, and started using my SAD light. And tonight, I'm back to normal. Well, normal for me. Which, well, you know.
So I'm cautiously optimistic. I think the potential crisis was averted. And, if any of my local friends are feeling awful, consider the absence of the sun... it can be surprising how fast, and how hard, SAD can hit. |
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| I can almost imagine it happening... |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|08:20 am] |
I just had this scene play out in my head this morning.
Espresso Fiend: "Well, I'm using the Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, widely accepted as the best in its price range. And I've been practicing my tamping, and I think I've got within 29-31 pounds of weight per tamp. I'm using a flat burr grinder with a powerful motor to get a solidly consistent grind. With fresh water in the Silvia, I extract water from the boiler to make sure that the water I'm using is fresh. And then, the beans, which I roasted 43 hours ago, are poured into the grinder, ground into the portafilter, tamped, and *VOILA*!
Espresso Fiend: "A perfect 2.1 ounce double shot of espresso extracted in precisely 24.8 seconds!"
Interested Observer: "I bet it tastes wonderful."
Espresso Fiend: (looking shocked) "Tastes? Who has time to drink this stuff?" |
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| A bit about me |
[Sep. 19th, 2009|04:58 pm] |
If you wanted to know something about me, you could do worse than seeing this scene.
I was out jogging, annoyed that crosswalks are so badly timed for us joggers, and just bolted across the street, safely ahead of any cars, and ahead of the two folks walking their dog. I had to rest, so I walked along, and spotted, by the side of the road, a four leafed clover.
Hey, what? Coolness... yes, I count to four really good, that is, indeed, four leaves. So I plucked it and turned around to the couple walking the dog and offered it to them. "No, seriously". The woman rather graciously accepted it (it's not easy being gracious when a long haired weirdo suddenly offers you a four leafed clover from out of the blue).
And, of course, now I'm desperately hoping something nice happens for them in the next day or two; wouldn't that just be too totally cool? One day, you're handed a good luck charm, and suddenly something good happens? |
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| Anxiety |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|11:11 am] |
I'm having some anxiety/over-energized feelings and I'm talking about how I feel and how I'm trying to deal. I'm putting it behind a cut-tag because I'm not sure if this might be troubling for some folks.
This is not a plea for sympathy, and please, do not offer any - it will make me feel bad in this moment. It's just me trying to get something down, and share something with the world.
( Read more... ) |
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| Expert breathing help? |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|07:19 am] |
Okay... so I've been exercising a lot more, for various and sundry reasons, and I think I've re-discovered how important proper breathing is.
For those of you who've never exercised, or thought through the matter, it goes like this: your muscles need lots of oxygen to create energy; they literally burn calories for energy (though it's not quite as flashy as when fire burns things for energy). Your heart and lungs are your great limiting factors... not enough oxygenated blood going to your muscles = muscles giving up because they can't handle the load.
Well, I have two problems. One, I don't think I've ever really practiced using my lungs well. I've taken deep breaths, and tried to engage my diaphragm and even the muscles at my sides that one Pilates book says is also helpful for breathing, but I've never really known what I was doing.
And, my posture isn't normally very good. I tend to slouch a bit. Without your lungs standing straight up and down, they haven't got the same capacity to expand vigorously.
Does anyone have any advice, or links, for improving one's breathing capacity? (We can skip the old 50s/60s era advice that suggests a few cigarettes might help.) |
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| Home buying advice? |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|01:55 pm] |
So, let's pretend that I've just started wanting to buy a house.
I've heard it said that first, I should try to get approval for a loan... make sure that if I find The Perfect House, costing exactly $X, that I have approval for a loan that is $(X-Downpayment), plus cash for down payment and for other fees.
But let's pretend I'm doing that. What's the next step? Search for people (like real estate agents) or search for homes? (And - one website I saw suggested that a real estate agent is essentially free - either I have an agent who splits the agency feel, or the seller's agent gets the whole fee, or, if there's no agent, it all goes to the seller. Is this correct?)
Let's say I find a place. Selling price is $X. Is there any way to finagle "The house needs $Y of work; at that point, (some expert - an assessor?) says it'll probably be worth $(X+Y). So, BankPeople, you give me $(X + Y) - Downpayment, and I get $Y worth of work done." Or, is that a bad idea to take to a bank?
I'm asking this because I saw one place that is on a huge chunk of land - I'd love to have that much space, but the house needs "TLC". Which can mean "new paint and carpets," and I'm cool with doing that, or getting it done. But it can also mean "See that paint? You can't strip it off; it's holding up the house. In fact, what you really need here is a new house to hold the shape of the paint before the paint gets old and starts to crack and the whole thing collapses."
Finally - is there a wise person's way of getting an idea of what might need to be done to a home? If I was buying used car, I'd take it to a trusted mechanic and ask them to assess it. Is there a service to do that for houses? I've heard it said that the bank does an assessment (to make sure they're not over-lending) but I doubt that assessor is interested in giving advice to the borrower. |
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| Seared tuna steaks |
[Aug. 3rd, 2009|08:19 am] |
One good way to cook a tuna steak is to heat a cast iron pan up really hot, until the bottom looks like it's coated with white ash. Throw in some oil (be wearing a heavy apron, and it doesn't hurt if you wear glasses, just in case of oil spatters); throw on a tuna steak (gently - again, oil splashes) that you've covered in freshly ground pepper and bits of lemon peel. Let it sear, flip it, let it sear, and then flip again and let it cook.
One bad way to realize you're forced to cook tuna steak this way is to forget you've started pre-heating the pan while you pull your morning espresso... in your underwear.
(No serious damage - some oil spatters on my thigh. And I wasn't prepared to deal with a smokey kitchen.) |
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| Just for the record... |
[Jul. 23rd, 2009|09:30 am] |
...I'd like to say that, if you arrest a famous professor, when it is clear that he was not a danger to himself or others, even if he was being an ass (which I don't consider proven, merely alleged), causing a nationwide bit of chatter about possible racism and abuse of police power, you have, indeed, acted "stupidly".
Even if your actions were lawful and justifiable, there was no compelling need to perform the arrest, and it caused problems that could have been avoided by other, more sensible, actions, like having one of the other officers on the scene deal with the troublesome resident while you de-stress.
To dispense with some of the complaints I've seen:
The issue is not whether or not the police should have responded to the reported break-in. The issue was whether or not the police should have arrested a man who wasn't harming anyone, and whose only crime *might* be yelling while in a stressful situation.
Yes, you should be friendly and cooperative with police, but even if you're not, they are still not supposed to arrest you unless and until you are doing more than being upset.
And maybe Gates was "lucky" that he only spent a few hours in jail for the behavior that is alleged by the police. Yes, there are criminals with badges who would have caused him actual physical harm if he was "mouthing off" to them. But if it took significant amounts of luck for him not to be beaten by police, then it's not Gates' alleged mouthing off that was the problem, it's the composition of the police. |
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| Thoughts about blogging and such |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|10:10 am] |
Hilzoy, a relatively well known blogger, is retiring from blogging. She said she started blogging because the country had gone a bit crazy and there was a lot of loss of assumptions of good faith. She wanted to help gather together folks from both sides and discuss things in ways that let essential humanity show through (that's my paraphrasing, at least), and did so, and felt that it's time to move on.
And it's been making me think.
I think the idea - get folks with different views together, and discuss things, can help. And I think it's necessary. At the same time, there's still some craziness in this country, and it bothers me.
I wonder if that might not be the right idea... rather than trying to fight the craziness, maybe it's possible to work the middle. And maybe that's the only way to fight that kind of insanity, because you *can't* change the insane folks. |
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| Local folks - asking about the possibility of a favor |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|09:48 am] |
I've learned about a two week shamanic training thingie going on. Is there anyone who is local-ish and available to board a cat for two weeks? I could hire a cat sitter, but I just barely trust a cat sitter for a week, much less two.
The class is in November, and I'm by *no* means convinced I'm going to go... it's expensive, and it's two weeks of vacation time, and so on. But I'll need to start planning soon. |
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| So I'm sick... |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|02:05 pm] |
I woke up feeling like crap.
And I knew something was hideously, horribly wrong, because I felt like I was feeling sick due to the cold and damp. And, hey, it's *MID-JULY*... so there's no way that....
Sigh.
Okay, soup for breakfast, and a quart of coffee later (I closed the windows and turned on the *heat* for crying out loud!), and I still feel like crap, but at least the chills are under control.
So now I'm in the office, remembering that no good deed goes unpunished, and remembering that there's a reason the gods came up with sick time. |
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| As an occasional watcher of Dr. Who... |
[Jul. 11th, 2009|01:14 pm] |
...I couldn't help but occasionally wonder what the heck a "jelly baby" was. These played an occasional part in some of the old Tom Baker Dr. Who episodes, and every now and again, I just wondered.
Recently, I found UKGoods.com, and found that they sold them. But I needed at least $20 to place an order. So, I ended up having to fill my cart with additional items.
How the heck do you decide what the heck to buy? Well, I was curious about candies, so I restricted myself to sweets, but even then, how do you know what's just plain boring stuff akin to what you can get at a supermarket here in the US, and what's interesting?
I saw a Mars bar, and knew that those are different from what we get in the US so I ordered one of those. And "Fruit Pastilles" which sounded interestingly different. And jam tarts, because if I didn't read of British kids snacking on jam tarts when I was young, I probably should have.
But then my eye landed on something that I just had to buy because it's so indescribably British that I couldn't *stand* it.
"Jammie Dodgers".
You see two words like that paired together, and you just *know* that there's no way on earth anyone in the US could have produced such a thing. I don't know if it's genetic, or a bit of culture that has broken into the collective unconscious; I don't know if it's a strange chip that's implanted in the heads of infants. No one in the US could possibly have come up with *anything* that they would even *dream* of calling "Jammie Dodgers."
I'll have to have them some afternoon... with tea. |
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