This weather is gross. Granted, we've only been experiencing this weather for two days, but I am already over it. The sky takes on no color - well, actually - did you ever use watercolors when you were a kid? And each time that you used a new color, you washed out your brush in a cup? And then, when you were done, there was that cup of every color of watercolor? That is the sky today. One could be philosophical, I suppose, and suggest that all of those colors are happiness, and that the sky.. blah blah blah, I am not in the mood.
On the bright side, it isn't cold. Considering that it is the end of September in Minnesota, this must be a blessing. In fact, the boys and girls at Weather Underground are suggesting that we'll even have some warm days this week. If only I could take just a bit more vacation. Alas, it is not to be, as three days (sort of) not working have left me a bit behind.
I'm such a slacker blogger... tomorrow life begins again (as it does every quarter), and so will my renewed efforts to bring you most clever insights.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Happy B...... hmmm.
Yes, well - it WAS my birthday. Five days ago, in fact. Alas, there was little time for celebration - I drove several hours Tuesday to get to Green Bay to catalog a collection (we completed it in amazing time, too - 575 books in 18 hours, or nearly 32 books an hour.) After a fun game of Rummy Royal and an even more fun game of Catch Phrase, I headed home Saturday morning. A big thanks to the Bessey family for a fun and relaxing end-of-week stay.
To my great surprise, James hooked up the desktop to our television, along a nonstop stream of media directly into our living room. With a little remote switcheroo, he can move from watching the football to reading commentary about the football game online (I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true - in fact, he's yelling at the tv/internet as I write this post). This left us with a fairly new and extremely empty desk on the upstairs landing. Armed with an extra monitor, keyboard and mouse, I found it to be the perfect opportunity to buy a docking station for home laptop use.
Note: The first docking purchase was actually a Targus model from Bust Buy (not a typo). However, we soon realized that there was no VGA port in the docking station; in other words, there was no way to hook up the monitor. We immediately called Bust Buy to find out whether or not they sold a Targus docking station WITH a VGA port. The answer? "Why can't you just connect the monitor to the laptop? Hmmm.... perhaps it defeats the purpose of the docking station! At the end of the day, we ended up with some very nice help from Circuit City.
The happy ending of this story is that we have our cords neatly tucked away and I can, for the first time in many months at home, see the information on my laptop without finishing my work with a headache. Additionally, the workspace feels a bit more professional... minus the cat playing with a velcro tie at the bottom of the bed.
After setting up the office, we talked our second "get it done before Mom gets here" project, the hanging of the FSU quilt. This lovely piece of usable art has been a private joke between my husband and I for over a year; since it is a clean joke, I shall share it here. Two Valentine's Days ago, we made a pact to spend less than $20 on each others' gifts. I decided to be the clever one and make him a quilt out of his ratty old band shirts from his Marching Chiefs days. Secretly, I was grateful that he could no longer wear them in public. Little did I know that a few pieces of t-shirt and some thread did not a quilt make. Valentine's came and went, and the fabric (now rolling up at the edges and unraveling in some areas) was tucked into my "to sew" box, along with about 10 other projects. So, for our anniversary this year, I pulled my big girl britches up and took the pieces to a quilter that I found through Craigslist, who did a bang-up job fixing my mess. Ta-da. Now, I have the pleasure of hearing a band story every time we walk up the stairs.
Coming soon: Birthday reflections and Miss Allaneous after Green Bay.
To my great surprise, James hooked up the desktop to our television, along a nonstop stream of media directly into our living room. With a little remote switcheroo, he can move from watching the football to reading commentary about the football game online (I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true - in fact, he's yelling at the tv/internet as I write this post). This left us with a fairly new and extremely empty desk on the upstairs landing. Armed with an extra monitor, keyboard and mouse, I found it to be the perfect opportunity to buy a docking station for home laptop use.
Note: The first docking purchase was actually a Targus model from Bust Buy (not a typo). However, we soon realized that there was no VGA port in the docking station; in other words, there was no way to hook up the monitor. We immediately called Bust Buy to find out whether or not they sold a Targus docking station WITH a VGA port. The answer? "Why can't you just connect the monitor to the laptop? Hmmm.... perhaps it defeats the purpose of the docking station! At the end of the day, we ended up with some very nice help from Circuit City.
The happy ending of this story is that we have our cords neatly tucked away and I can, for the first time in many months at home, see the information on my laptop without finishing my work with a headache. Additionally, the workspace feels a bit more professional... minus the cat playing with a velcro tie at the bottom of the bed.
After setting up the office, we talked our second "get it done before Mom gets here" project, the hanging of the FSU quilt. This lovely piece of usable art has been a private joke between my husband and I for over a year; since it is a clean joke, I shall share it here. Two Valentine's Days ago, we made a pact to spend less than $20 on each others' gifts. I decided to be the clever one and make him a quilt out of his ratty old band shirts from his Marching Chiefs days. Secretly, I was grateful that he could no longer wear them in public. Little did I know that a few pieces of t-shirt and some thread did not a quilt make. Valentine's came and went, and the fabric (now rolling up at the edges and unraveling in some areas) was tucked into my "to sew" box, along with about 10 other projects. So, for our anniversary this year, I pulled my big girl britches up and took the pieces to a quilter that I found through Craigslist, who did a bang-up job fixing my mess. Ta-da. Now, I have the pleasure of hearing a band story every time we walk up the stairs.
Coming soon: Birthday reflections and Miss Allaneous after Green Bay.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Password Hades
Today's lesson, boys and girls: Remember how your passwords are managed.
This morning, I awoke early and decided to be a good little worker bee and login to my e-mail. Mass chaos ensued. My Outlook window kept popping the username/login screen. Now, this would not be a big deal, except that my password is auto-entried and I have not changed my password for my e-mail in at least a year. (A decision that dumps me into IT disfavor, I'm sure). The box kept popping up even after I closed Outlook in frustration.
Since some of our corporate websites are secured with the same password, I tried logging into them as well, without success. Thinking quickly, I attempted a password that our Help Desk staff often use as a "default" when a user is locked out. The default worked. Puzzling, since there was NO reason for me to be locked out (who would want to login as me?)
With the success I experienced logging into the websites, I took my new-found confidence back to Outlook. No such luck: I couldn't even get the cursor to blink in the continuously popping up window. I thought, perhaps, if I went to the online exchange server and changed my password, perhaps the outlook pop up would realize the change and would stop to let me change the password. Silly me, assuming that a machine can deduce.
So I sat pondering and pondering, and an ever-growing panic swept over me. I love Outlook. It is my life. While the Exchange server has its conveniences, I hate that I have to wait for Internet-slowness to load pages and switch gears from calendar to mail to tasks, etc.
AHA! An idea!
I have a password manager on this computer.... maybe, just maybe, the password manager is causing that pop up, since the manager can only assume the password is right since I haven't changed it in its own software. I hunt down my password manager... delete the old password.... and the pop up stops! I am able to enter the new password in, and save it in the password manager with success.
Now.. back to the original question... why did I have to change my password in the first place?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Miss Allaneous, volume 5
Alright kittens: time for the all important (eh, not so much) web roundup:
Corporate Cooking Collaborative - Hats off to this group. Our team participated in this last night and we had a fantastic time designing a menu and creating food. I think we were all a little surprised at just how good the food tasted in the end.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) - One of the best young adult authors of our lifetime, in my opinion. "It seemed to travel with her, to sweep her aloft in the power of song, so that she was moving in glory among the stars, and for a moment she, too, felt that the words Darkness and Light had no meaning, and only this melody was real." A Wrinkle in Time
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette- They are funny. And it's about libraries. Of course there are thousands of blogs about there about library stuff, but this one has more humor than many that I read, and not too much degrading of patrons happens. I like it.
Saint Croix Vineyards - James and I had a kick-tail time at the vineyard this past weekend (although, our visit was woefully short due to husband impatience). It was a grape-smashing weekend, with many, many silly people sticking their less-than-kosher tootsies into buckets of cold, wet, slimy grapes and dancing around like fools to 80s polka fun. However, the tasting was GREAT and we also took a nice side trip into the apple barn with all kinds of local yummies.
That's all I can give you right now. Perhaps a Miss Allaneous on a weekend Internet binge is in store on Sunday... who knows :)
Corporate Cooking Collaborative - Hats off to this group. Our team participated in this last night and we had a fantastic time designing a menu and creating food. I think we were all a little surprised at just how good the food tasted in the end.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) - One of the best young adult authors of our lifetime, in my opinion. "It seemed to travel with her, to sweep her aloft in the power of song, so that she was moving in glory among the stars, and for a moment she, too, felt that the words Darkness and Light had no meaning, and only this melody was real." A Wrinkle in Time
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette- They are funny. And it's about libraries. Of course there are thousands of blogs about there about library stuff, but this one has more humor than many that I read, and not too much degrading of patrons happens. I like it.
Saint Croix Vineyards - James and I had a kick-tail time at the vineyard this past weekend (although, our visit was woefully short due to husband impatience). It was a grape-smashing weekend, with many, many silly people sticking their less-than-kosher tootsies into buckets of cold, wet, slimy grapes and dancing around like fools to 80s polka fun. However, the tasting was GREAT and we also took a nice side trip into the apple barn with all kinds of local yummies.
That's all I can give you right now. Perhaps a Miss Allaneous on a weekend Internet binge is in store on Sunday... who knows :)
Long Days
Today was a long day.
It is the kind of day that lasts two days. Undoubtedly, the stretch of meetings that we've had in the past two days attributed to this feeling of break-less-ness. I even dreamed about work last night. It is an awful thing to think that your peers are in your bedroom. Ever.
Still, long days can be valuable. I enjoy not being plugged in every moment - and while most of us were scrambling during our (few, precious) breaks to check e-mail and get cell phone messages - the deluge of issues and challenges (how did they put it? Fires, I believe) that normally swarm like wasps-on-the-warpath was not so prevalent.
The communication is also valuable. I am not saying that I enjoyed everyone's company, but I did enjoy getting to work with folks out-of-element. It is so easy to gather assumptions about someone when you only ever talk to that person on a phone. You imagine features, demeanor, bad habits, etc. Of course, just as if you are creating an image of a character from a book, the reality is something entirely different (although, I am happy to say, that both my imagination and the reality came closer in one instance than ever before).
What might be most interesting is the perception of achieved outcomes. I am taking the low road by suggesting that if any outcome was achieved, it was that of rebuilding the start of team and setting some boundaries and expectations for the growth and expansion of trust between and among teammates. I would not say that many other outcomes were realized - and, unless this team remains fairly static over the next year - I am not sure goals beyond that of "team" can be realized in this setting. The talk is too general, to guarded, to introductory to cut to the meat and potatoes of the important issues.
I feel like I'm blathering. And it could be because I've had two full days of meeting speak and that can spin anyone into a sort of business-team-leader-committee-group-share-assessment-metric-mantra.
It is the kind of day that lasts two days. Undoubtedly, the stretch of meetings that we've had in the past two days attributed to this feeling of break-less-ness. I even dreamed about work last night. It is an awful thing to think that your peers are in your bedroom. Ever.
Still, long days can be valuable. I enjoy not being plugged in every moment - and while most of us were scrambling during our (few, precious) breaks to check e-mail and get cell phone messages - the deluge of issues and challenges (how did they put it? Fires, I believe) that normally swarm like wasps-on-the-warpath was not so prevalent.
The communication is also valuable. I am not saying that I enjoyed everyone's company, but I did enjoy getting to work with folks out-of-element. It is so easy to gather assumptions about someone when you only ever talk to that person on a phone. You imagine features, demeanor, bad habits, etc. Of course, just as if you are creating an image of a character from a book, the reality is something entirely different (although, I am happy to say, that both my imagination and the reality came closer in one instance than ever before).
What might be most interesting is the perception of achieved outcomes. I am taking the low road by suggesting that if any outcome was achieved, it was that of rebuilding the start of team and setting some boundaries and expectations for the growth and expansion of trust between and among teammates. I would not say that many other outcomes were realized - and, unless this team remains fairly static over the next year - I am not sure goals beyond that of "team" can be realized in this setting. The talk is too general, to guarded, to introductory to cut to the meat and potatoes of the important issues.
I feel like I'm blathering. And it could be because I've had two full days of meeting speak and that can spin anyone into a sort of business-team-leader-committee-group-share-assessment-metric-mantra.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Miss Allaneous, volume 4
I'm hungry.
This is no shock to many people who know me. I've eaten pretty consistently since leaving the womb. The foods may vary from region to region (with some notable, comfort-food like exceptions), but food is always there.
It's amazing the role that food plays in our lives - and before you go Third World on me, I would suggest that food plays a greater role in the lives of the poor and hungry, then in ours. What is food to you? Depending on the food, I'd say it's many things; a psychological balm; a sensational rush; a chore; a visual feast (if you don't believe the last one, check out Cooking with Amy, or Simply Recipes, or even Tea and Cookies. I enjoy looking at food nearly as much as I enjoy eating it.
Perhaps it is no great surprise, then, that today's websites are about food that I love and the websites that provide me with the inspiration - and tools - that I need to make & eat it. See above for some of my favorite food blogs.
Kowalskis Market - Everyone should have one. When we were in Tallahassee, it was the Fresh Market. It's like shopping in Nordstrom's, but for cucumbers. Every shelf is artwork; the goodness is bountiful. It's hard to explain the happy feeling I get when I see massive fish and thick steaks on piles of crystal ice; then row upon row of every kind of cheese (except the really good European kinds that we aren't allowed to eat here).
St. Paul Farmer's Market - This is my Saturday morning escape. When I was younger, my dad took my family to Ohio, and we went to Cleveland's West Side Market. To this day, I can conjure up the smells of Baklava and butchered lamb when I'm having a rough day. The farmer's market here offers me a piece of that memory in a new way: stalls of locally grown vegetables, farm-raised eggs and meats, and specialties like chocolate, cheese, and honey.
Epicurious - I've been a fan of this website for a while. The recipes are creative and fancy, but you can make them without shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive or rare ingredients. The blog is clever and of course the side articles about entertaining, etc. are worth the read.
Tradewinds Spice Company and Penzys Spices - They are on opposite sides of the Cities but I profess equal love for both. There is something very Old Word, very Marco Polo, about walking into a shop with barrels of spices with scoops; an aroma of pepper and vanilla wafting right up your nose into your tear ducts; of apothecary bottles strewn about, waiting to be filled with a smoky paprika or delicate, expensive saffron (someday, I'll buy it and make up reasons to use it).
Alton Brown - I began watching Food Network in graduate school, and immediately became hooked. My dad was always sick, so my Mom usually cooked very lean in the house (low sugar, low fat). I was suddenly exposed to the food gods: cream, lard, fresh garlic, salt. It was heavenly. And heavy. Anywho, Alton Brown's scientific explanations for how food does it what it does - how mayonnaise even stays together as mayonnaise - as well as the simplified gear for everyday cooking (we had a pasta maker attached to an ironing board for the longest time) made for entertaining, educational cooking. His new show, Feasting on Asphalt, is one of my favorites.
Ok, this made me hungry - off to cook. Tonight: Lemon-Pepper roasted chicken; Garlicky Mashed Potatoes; Corn with Gouda.
-E
This is no shock to many people who know me. I've eaten pretty consistently since leaving the womb. The foods may vary from region to region (with some notable, comfort-food like exceptions), but food is always there.
It's amazing the role that food plays in our lives - and before you go Third World on me, I would suggest that food plays a greater role in the lives of the poor and hungry, then in ours. What is food to you? Depending on the food, I'd say it's many things; a psychological balm; a sensational rush; a chore; a visual feast (if you don't believe the last one, check out Cooking with Amy, or Simply Recipes, or even Tea and Cookies. I enjoy looking at food nearly as much as I enjoy eating it.
Perhaps it is no great surprise, then, that today's websites are about food that I love and the websites that provide me with the inspiration - and tools - that I need to make & eat it. See above for some of my favorite food blogs.
Kowalskis Market - Everyone should have one. When we were in Tallahassee, it was the Fresh Market. It's like shopping in Nordstrom's, but for cucumbers. Every shelf is artwork; the goodness is bountiful. It's hard to explain the happy feeling I get when I see massive fish and thick steaks on piles of crystal ice; then row upon row of every kind of cheese (except the really good European kinds that we aren't allowed to eat here).
St. Paul Farmer's Market - This is my Saturday morning escape. When I was younger, my dad took my family to Ohio, and we went to Cleveland's West Side Market. To this day, I can conjure up the smells of Baklava and butchered lamb when I'm having a rough day. The farmer's market here offers me a piece of that memory in a new way: stalls of locally grown vegetables, farm-raised eggs and meats, and specialties like chocolate, cheese, and honey.
Epicurious - I've been a fan of this website for a while. The recipes are creative and fancy, but you can make them without shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive or rare ingredients. The blog is clever and of course the side articles about entertaining, etc. are worth the read.
Tradewinds Spice Company and Penzys Spices - They are on opposite sides of the Cities but I profess equal love for both. There is something very Old Word, very Marco Polo, about walking into a shop with barrels of spices with scoops; an aroma of pepper and vanilla wafting right up your nose into your tear ducts; of apothecary bottles strewn about, waiting to be filled with a smoky paprika or delicate, expensive saffron (someday, I'll buy it and make up reasons to use it).
Alton Brown - I began watching Food Network in graduate school, and immediately became hooked. My dad was always sick, so my Mom usually cooked very lean in the house (low sugar, low fat). I was suddenly exposed to the food gods: cream, lard, fresh garlic, salt. It was heavenly. And heavy. Anywho, Alton Brown's scientific explanations for how food does it what it does - how mayonnaise even stays together as mayonnaise - as well as the simplified gear for everyday cooking (we had a pasta maker attached to an ironing board for the longest time) made for entertaining, educational cooking. His new show, Feasting on Asphalt, is one of my favorites.
Ok, this made me hungry - off to cook. Tonight: Lemon-Pepper roasted chicken; Garlicky Mashed Potatoes; Corn with Gouda.
-E
When No One Pays Attention to You
I don't mean "pays attention" in the whiny, "I-need-a-bottle-or-I'm-going-to-scream" kind of way. As a baby, that's darling, but then one must grow up.
No, today's post is about when you are presenting - or teaching - and no one is paying attention to you . For those of you reading this who are not "teachers", you may think that this does not apply to you, and you could not be farther from the truth. Any given day, you might need to share information with a group (read: three or more) folks who seem less than interested in what you have to say. Perhaps you have already experienced this unfortunate phenomena: the folks at the other end of the board room are texting their friends underneath the table (the friends aren't under the table, the phone is); you hear whispers and giggles in the back of an auditorium; you just know they are playing solitaire on those computers.
I fell pray to the latter form of this most unfortunate anti-listening-itis earlier this week. They were rather brazen about it, actually: I attempted to make a joke about "if you are playing solitaire, you should stop for a second because this information is important", and a girl in the back of the room turned bright red, like I'd caught her leaving the scene of an accident. Of course, it was an accident - my very own 30-car pileup.
So what do you do? Nothing? You can't help their behavior, so you'll ignore it? And it doesn't matter anyway, because as long as you present the information, it's your audiences' responsibility to learn it, and if they choose not to listen, it's their tough luck.
Sorry, Charlie. That kind of attitude is a whopping waste of time. Why go to all the trouble of developing a presentation, only to waste it on Oblivions? Surely you didn't stay up for hours (ok, 1 hour) crafting the PowerPoint with the two-toned background and become nauseated by the smell of toner-copier for nada.
After the flub earlier in the week, I made a decision never to allow that garbage to happen again during a presentation. I am hereby adopting the following (long) mantra:
1. I will arrive for my presentations energetic and passionate about my topic and presentation goals; I know that my information is valuable to every person in the room.
2. I will prepare thought-provoking questions to ask from the gate, to engage my listeners in a two-way conversation that sparks interest in my topic.
3. I will break my listeners into pairs or groups to work on small projects related to my topic, in part to instill the value of my instruction and in part to gather my thoughts for the next stage of my presentation.
4. I will make every attempt to eliminate distractions during presentations: including, if need be, politely requesting that all computers and cell phones be turned off.
5. I will set up environmental controls in advance of the event, including adjusting window blinds to eliminate wandering eyes and temperature to avoid sleepers and complainers.
6. I will not provide handouts in advance, serving only to make noisy interjections and distract from my opening content. I will distribute them during the presentation at the appropriate sections, or after the presentation.
7. I will address especially difficult audience members politely but directly, and request changes in attitude or action, or removal from the room.
8. I will sequester the support of management (or, in this event, instructors) to help manage the room and assist with questions.
9. I will not downplay the information that I'm providing as "lame", "library-ish", "book-ish" or "what you might consider boring" to try to relate to my audience.
10.I will leave confident that I've given my best presentation, ever cautious of changes that I can make to improve for the next time.
No, today's post is about when you are presenting - or teaching - and no one is paying attention to you . For those of you reading this who are not "teachers", you may think that this does not apply to you, and you could not be farther from the truth. Any given day, you might need to share information with a group (read: three or more) folks who seem less than interested in what you have to say. Perhaps you have already experienced this unfortunate phenomena: the folks at the other end of the board room are texting their friends underneath the table (the friends aren't under the table, the phone is); you hear whispers and giggles in the back of an auditorium; you just know they are playing solitaire on those computers.
I fell pray to the latter form of this most unfortunate anti-listening-itis earlier this week. They were rather brazen about it, actually: I attempted to make a joke about "if you are playing solitaire, you should stop for a second because this information is important", and a girl in the back of the room turned bright red, like I'd caught her leaving the scene of an accident. Of course, it was an accident - my very own 30-car pileup.
So what do you do? Nothing? You can't help their behavior, so you'll ignore it? And it doesn't matter anyway, because as long as you present the information, it's your audiences' responsibility to learn it, and if they choose not to listen, it's their tough luck.
Sorry, Charlie. That kind of attitude is a whopping waste of time. Why go to all the trouble of developing a presentation, only to waste it on Oblivions? Surely you didn't stay up for hours (ok, 1 hour) crafting the PowerPoint with the two-toned background and become nauseated by the smell of toner-copier for nada.
After the flub earlier in the week, I made a decision never to allow that garbage to happen again during a presentation. I am hereby adopting the following (long) mantra:
1. I will arrive for my presentations energetic and passionate about my topic and presentation goals; I know that my information is valuable to every person in the room.
2. I will prepare thought-provoking questions to ask from the gate, to engage my listeners in a two-way conversation that sparks interest in my topic.
3. I will break my listeners into pairs or groups to work on small projects related to my topic, in part to instill the value of my instruction and in part to gather my thoughts for the next stage of my presentation.
4. I will make every attempt to eliminate distractions during presentations: including, if need be, politely requesting that all computers and cell phones be turned off.
5. I will set up environmental controls in advance of the event, including adjusting window blinds to eliminate wandering eyes and temperature to avoid sleepers and complainers.
6. I will not provide handouts in advance, serving only to make noisy interjections and distract from my opening content. I will distribute them during the presentation at the appropriate sections, or after the presentation.
7. I will address especially difficult audience members politely but directly, and request changes in attitude or action, or removal from the room.
8. I will sequester the support of management (or, in this event, instructors) to help manage the room and assist with questions.
9. I will not downplay the information that I'm providing as "lame", "library-ish", "book-ish" or "what you might consider boring" to try to relate to my audience.
10.I will leave confident that I've given my best presentation, ever cautious of changes that I can make to improve for the next time.
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