Today was our first softball game of the season. I'm already injured. Plus, I agreed to play on a Thursday softball league as well. So I'll have double the opportunities to get injured. I wonder if this is a sign that the whole season will go badly? Or does it mean I got my injury out of the way for this summer?
The injury isn't super serious. I got hit in the back between my spine and left shoulder blade by a ball thrown really hard from the shortstop toward the first baseman. But my back intercepted it before the first baseman got it. The shortstop caught a line drive, and I was needing to tag up on first base. As I was turning to go back to first base I could see that I might be in the line of fire, but it all happened so fast it was hard to know what to do other than try to make it back to first and hope it was low enough to not hit me in the head. I'm very thankful it didn't hit me in the spine or the head - that would have been much worse.
I'm also going to try to make sure I ice and take care of this right so it doesn't turn into the kind of escapade that getting hit with a racquetball turned into. I just got myself healthy!
Also, over the weekend while driving I listened to several travel podcasts. A couple were on how to pack light and efficiently. There was also an interesting one on finding your courage when traveling solo. If you have an hour to listen and are interested in that one, let me know what you think. Do you agree with what they say about how travel solo helps you learn about yourself? Do you agree that for introverts it helps you come out of your shell, and for extroverts it helps you learn to be by yourself? Are there other ways to learn the same things without traveling? If you're a regular reader, I think you know I'm not against travel at all. Are they over-selling the value of travel or not?
The website where I found the podcasts (thanks Uncle Bex) is called The Budget Minded Traveler. Here are some links.
Ninja Packing Tips - Pack Light and Carry On:
http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/ninja-packing-tips-pack-light-and-carry-on/
Pack Light and Carry On for Males:
http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/pack-light-and-carry-on-for-males-featuring-travis-sherry-jason-moore-and-nathaniel-boyle/
How to Negotiate with Airlines:
http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/how-to-negotiate-with-airlines-with-sam-cornthwaite/
Connecting People Through the Transformative Power of Travel:
http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/nathaniel-boyle/
Find Your Courage Through Solo Travel:
http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/find-your-courage-through-solo-travel/
When I placed my order at Culver's the other day, I realized it might sound like a strange order to some. I ordered a hamburger without onions, but then I ordered a side of onion rings. And I was the only person in the car.
Last weekend I was in my childhood area for Mother's Day. It was a good weekend and probably the first time in 15-20 years since Mom had all 3 of her daughters home for that day. There was also SM that day, so it was a good day.
Dad shaved his mustache off after having it for 40 years. He looks a little bit different, but at the same time not really. He looks more like my cousins without it.
Other activities included going to a bridal shower for one of my cousin's fiance, playing with my niece (going on a walk and giving a bike ride), and going to see the fancy new pig barn that BIL-Dan and Muggles have.
Here are a couple pictures from the weekend.
BIL-Dan grilling his inch thick pork chops.
Mom and Bill
Bill and Ananias
Photobomber Bill, Muggles, MelBMarvis, and Ananias
Muggles, Bill, Mom, MelBMarvis, and Ananias
BIL-Dan, Bill, and Muggles
Most of the family except my brother and his brood. Even Sully got in on the fun.
Teaching Bill about photobombing early in life.
Pops (sans mustache) and Mom
The new fancy pig barn.
Oh, and my bad travel luck has returned. The plane had mechanical problems in Fargo, so I sat there for an extra hour, which resulted in missing my connection when I got to Chicago. So I rented a car and drove home from there - I got home at 2:00 AM and the next day at work was intense training on electromagnetic compatibility. It took me most of the week to recover from that and halfway catch up on sleep.
Here are a few pictures I've taken recently of some of the spring scenery around here. We had some beautiful sunny weather about a week ago, but the last week has been kind of gloomy. We got all our April showers at the end of the month, and May is starting out with a few too.
Busy eating.
Not scared of me - I probably walked within 10 feet of these guys, and they just sat there.
Remember how a few weeks ago I was on my soap box about how sometimes minorities need someone in the majority to champion them? The Google doodle for today is for Hertha Marks Ayrton. Shame on me, but I had never heard of her. It turns out she was a very distinguished mathematician, inventor, and electrical engineer despite living in England in the late 1800's and early 1900's before women became more accepted as scientists. Check out her biography on Wikipedia and notice that part of how she achieved some of her accomplishments was because other people in the majority helped champion her. What always amazes me about those kind of people is how much they accomplished. I'm in my mid thirties and feel like I haven't accomplished all that much. I suppose that's the danger of comparing amongst ourselves. We all have different talents, skills, and opportunities and live in different periods of history.
Speaking of accomplishments, I have some "old" blog post fodder to catch up on. I did accomplish a few things last fall.
This was the mail pile at the end of November
This was the mail pile at some point in December. The bad news is the mail pile right now is looking more like the first picture again.
Old kitchen faucet that was leaking underneath the sink.
Installed new kitchen faucet all by myself!
Just because. This makes me laugh because it reminds me of my brother. Are you kittens me?!?
It was a beautiful sunny day here today. Spring is here!
I saw this on facebook the other day. I don't agree with all of it, but I still found it to be inspirational. One thing he says is people don't choose dreams; dreams choose people. I don't think I fully agree with that one. God gave us the freedom of choice for a reason. But we should use that freedom of choice to move forward, not to sit in fear.
While I was on YouTube, I watched a couple other of my favorite videos. Just because they inspire me.
Someday maybe I'll be able to play this song on the piano.
This is a good one too....
Are you all inspired and stuff now? As Dr. Laura says, "Now go take on the day!"
I have big news. I recently paid off my home mortgage loan. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but it probably will when I get the official letter and the refund from my escrow account. Now I suppose I should start saving for a new car so I can pay cash for that when I get around to buying a new one.
Also, somehow I injured my lower back while playing racquetball a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure whether I just turned wrong and wrenched it somehow, or if it's from when I got hit right in the butt with a racquetball going at a high rate of speed. My back was kind of sort of feeling OK a few days after the racquetball incident, and then I went and aggravated it by doing T25 three days in a row. So now I've been on "rest and ice and reducing inflammation" for about a week and a half. It's starting to feel better, so I'm working back into things by doing low impact stuff like yoga. And getting massages.
Also, a couple weekends ago after I returned from The Pass, I drove over to Unca Bex's house for the weekend. Saturday wasn't too strenuous - we went for 3 walks, baked some cookies, and played Ticket to Ride while kinda sorta playing Aggravation at the same time. There were three people for special meeting company for supper and the night.
That evening Father Dan brought out his serious star gazing telescope, and we looked at the moon and saw Jupiter and five of its moons.
Sunday was special meeting. It was special as usual. I even got to see Cuz Windy as an added bonus.
Here are a couple pictures from that weekend.
The moon with the "naked eye" using my 30X optical zoom on my camera.
The moon through Father Dan's super powerful telescope. It was amazing how much detail we could see in the craters and stuff.
Let's just say it takes one to know one. This is the lunch preparation spreadsheet. One sheet where you mark your sandwich fixings, and another page for Lunch Accessories / Other. And it wasn't me who made this. Just saying.
Hola amigos! Last week I traveled down to El Paso and Juarez for work to visit one of our suppliers. A place where hatch peppers abound. That reminds me of a song. Anyway, we stayed in a hotel in El Paso and went across the border to Juarez for day trips. El Paso and Juarez aren't known for being the safest places around, but we didn't experience anything crazy. But we weren't in the tourist part of town.
Actually, it was quite enjoyable. The weather was in the 70's and 80's. We ate good food (including lots of good Mexican food). The hotel had a good breakfast. I wasn't terribly overworked - I even had time to catch some rays by the pool for an hour.
That's really about all I have to say about that except sharing a few pictures.
In case you didn't know, El Paso is in a desert. But....it's the only big city in Texas with mountains according to what I read on the jetway.
We ate here one night - it was very delicious. It's actually east of El Paso in Faben out in the middle of nowhere. Like for real. We thought someone was leading us out to the boonies to steal our stuff and beat us and leave us for dead. But there were still lots of people there on a Thursday night.
One of the best filet mignon steaks I've ever eaten. I know I went wimpy since it was only 6 ounces, but I wanted to sleep comfortably that night. I passed on the 2 lb T-bone steak (The Cowboy), but a couple of the guys we ate with went for it and actually finished it.
We ate here one night too. They have delicious enchiladas. With hatch peppers and verde sauce.
L&J Cafe - the old place by the graveyard. It was a 45 minute wait to get a table even at 7 PM.
Look! There's already a wall between Mexico and the U.S.
Speaking of a wall, I know Donald Trump is saying he's all about building a wall across the whole border. I kind of doubt he's truly serious. He has some business that involves construction, and I think he probably knows it's unrealistic. Personally, I think it's a waste of time and money to try to build a wall across the entire border. Have you been to the Berlin wall museum in Berlin? There's a whole section of the museum dedicated to stories about how people escaped East Germany and escaped the wall. Crazy things like people hiding in the engine compartment of a VW bug. Human creativity, particularly in desperate times, will find a way around or through a wall. That's my two cents on that. Now maybe in large population centers like this it makes sense to screen out the people who aren't truly desperate or screen out the drug runners. A wall across the entire length of the border though is silly.
On the way from Juarez to El Paso, we walked through customs so the van driver could take the quick route through the traffic. It was kind of fun. There is a $0.40 tariff to walk on the pedestrian bridge. It seems like underkill.
The last week or so was a rough one. I got "the influenza" - I haven't had a fever in probably close to 10 years, but I had one for about 4 days straight last week. It was just bad enough that I didn't feel good enough to be at work, but it wasn't bad enough that I felt like I could stay home. I lost about 3 pounds, and it took more than a week before I really started to feel like I had my energy back. That really put a crimp in my T25 plans.
The weather has been variable, which is kind of normal for late March / early April. Saturday was an especially roller coaster day. When I went to the Y for yoga around 9:00 AM the weather seemed OK. It was a bit cold and you could tell it had rained overnight, but it wasn't raining then. The yoga instructor made a big mistake and promised no more snow. By the time I left the Y, huge flakes were falling, and the snow was starting to stick. It stayed that way for a few hours, and then the sun came out and melted all the snow. Then by the time I went to bed, the ground was covered with snow again. What a perfect day for a nap and being lazy!
I traveled to Boston for work last week to the National Society of Black Engineers conference. I traveled with several others to work the career fair and interview people at the career fair. It's both rewarding and exhausting. You stand on your feet for about 7 hours talking to people about their resumes and trying to find good candidates. You risk getting sick by shaking the hands of hundreds of people.
Most of the people from my company that were at the conference were engineers, but there were a few human resources people from the company there as well. Let me just say that HR people are much different than engineers. They are very much into hugs. They say that at meetings at work they even give hugs to each other, which is pretty much unheard of in engineering. At least if you're from the U.S. Some Brazilian, Mexican, and Italian engineers can get away with a hug in engineering. Also, black people seem to be much more into hugs. I know what I said was just a bunch of stereotypes, but in general that's what I observed and was told on my trip. The observation may not apply to all.
Our Recruiting Group
Some people ask why I'm going to NSBE given the color of my skin. The main answer is because I'm part of a minority in engineering (women) and believe we need to increase the diversity in engineering, so I help recruit at NSBE sometimes too. Sometimes for a minority to gain traction in an organization, it requires the people in the majority to support them and mentor them and include them in the culture. Here is one interesting article. It's a bit dry and old (from the 80's), but it makes some good points. The content around pages 43 and 44 is interesting.
I know some people (including some of my friends and family) think organizations like NSBE and SWE (Society of Women Engineers) are exclusive and possibly unwarranated, and why does the minority get to discriminate but the majority can't form the Society of White Male Engineers? Actually, any gender or race can join both SWE and NSBE if you support the basic concepts of the organization(s). I think many people in the majority don't understand the isolation that can occur for minorities in the workplace. Isolation produces lack of knowledge about the culture, and lack of knowledge about the culture produces faux pas that can result in the person's performance perception being negative. Probably it takes some kind of significant emotional experience to understand it.
The other topic is related to bias. If someone tells you they don't have any biases (race, gender, socio-economic status, etc.), they are probably lying to themselves. Unless they're Jesus. In most cases we need to be aware of our biases and overcome them. In my career I've known older women who have told me when they first started their career, they had to walk to a different building because the building they worked in didn't have a women's restroom and they were the only female who worked in the building. One of my co-workers in her late 30's told me when she was an intern she had a boss who explicitly told her he didn't believe women should be in engineering, and he didn't know what to do with her, so he wasn't going to assign her any work for the summer. Now not all people in her company felt that way, but there is still bias out there. That's why organizations like SWE started.
To be clear, when we go there to recruit, we don't lower our standards. We're still looking for "top talent". The thing that impressed me this year was the commitment of my co-workers to give advice to those who don't meet the standards so maybe in the future they can meet the standards and become more hireable. Sometimes it breaks your heart to meet someone that you can see has great potential, but that person doesn't meet the criteria of the company, so you have to turn them down with some advice on what to do to try to meet the criteria in the future.
I was trying to think of an analogy / comparison to help a white male understand what it might be like to be the minority. One I could think of is being a Tupperware salesperson. Men use tupperware to store leftovers and maybe store things in their work shop, and let's say there was this great untapped potential for uses of Tupperware by men. So the company hires a man to help sell Tupperware. When he joins the sales group, the rest of the people are females. The entire company's structure and culture is female-centric. They only think about food and kitchen uses and not about work shop and other male uses, and they aren't always keen to hear about the man's ideas on new products. He has some success with selling Tupperware to men, but most women he tries to sell to are a bit wary and wonder why a man is going around trying to sell Tupperware. Why is he being all different and trying to break into their culture? Eventually he becomes discouraged and quits and moves to a different career in sales that is more male-centric like selling tractors.
Over dinner one night I talked to a guy from HR in my company, and he told me about his non-profit organization called Free Intelligent Conversation. I asked him if he had some standard "starter" questions, and he said one of them is, "If you had 20 minutes to talk to everybody in the world, what would you talk about?" I didn't have to think long - my immediate thought was to talk about Jesus because it's our soul that is most important in this life. Check out his website - the 16 minute Tedx talk video is the guy from the company where I work. I'll embed the video below as well.
Two weeks ago I flew down to Roatan, Honduras for a week of sun and scuba diving with Uncle Bex. For those who like geography, Roatan is an island 36 miles off the eastern coast of Honduras in the Caribbean. It's part of the "Bay Islands" and is well known in scuba diving circles for its good scuba diving. The whole island is basically ringed in a coral reef. Yes, the U.S. Department of State does not recommend traveling to Honduras because of potential violence like kidnappings, carjackings, etc. However, the mostly applies to travel on the mainland. Roatan is fairly safe, and they even speak English there because the island was occupied by the British at one time. Just be careful which ATMs you use as some signs warned against card copying at them.
Here are the highlights of the enjoyable vacation:
Scuba diving
More scuba diving
Even more scuba diving. We dove until our ears couldn't take any more of that kind of exercise!
We are now Advanced Open Water certified. Yay! It took 5 dives to do it: Deep diving, wreck diving, night diving, peak performance buoyancy, and navigation.
We went on a night dive and saw the string of pearls. That was cool. How can bio luminescence not be cool? The lobsters were also out in full force during the night dive.
Snorkeling. There is quite a bit of coral just off the beach, and we saw lots of cool stuff without going deep.
Jumping off the "swinger"
Honduran boyfriends - we got pictures of a couple of them. We didn't get one of the guy who liked my hair and said my face was "muy bonita".
Driving tour of the island
The people we were renting one floor of a house from made supper for us two nights. We ate some delicious risotto, key lime pie, and chicken and rice.
Really, other than all the water activities, mostly we chilled out when we could, so I don't have lots of crazy stories to tell.
Fire dancers on the beach.
Live music at the place where we ate supper the first night (Beachers). Check out his stunt where he's playing his guitar with a beer bottle. Also home of some very good shrimp.
Baleada - a traditional food there. They make the tortilla fresh - even at the gas station.
Cleaner shrimp.
Gold spotted eel. We saw this guy while snorkeling. On one dive I saw two free swimming spotted moray eels, which is very cool. Bex saw a giant green moray eel. I had trouble spotting him though. We saw tons of other cool stuff - lobsters, lion fish, huge parrot fish, huge sea urchins, and so much more.
Our breakfast and supper nook looking over the town of West Bay.
The hot plate where we cooked our breakfasts. Also the exterior door to my bedroom.
The beach at West Bay. It doesn't look very inviting, does it? ;-)
The Rusty Fish - my Honduran boyfriend's place of work. A sign there said, "Don't feed the artists. Buy their art and they'll feed themselves."
"The Swinger" I took a couple jumps off it myself. Some people told us some squid like to hang out underneath it, but we didn't see any there. Bex did see one squid on one of our dives.
Tropical Bex.
The "iron shore". It's made up of old coral that died a long time ago. That stuff is jagged and super sharp.
Hermit crab. We saw quite a few crab under the sea while diving too. The key is to look underneath the rocks and stuff.
Construction zone. Almost everything is done by hand. They mix the concrete on site in those concrete mixers.
Sunset view from our deck.
The dive shop where we did our training and rented our gear. To get from West Bay to West End, quite often we took the water taxi, which is kind of fun and more enjoyable than the road drive.
The dive shop's dock.
See that blue house high up on the hill? Yeah, that's where we stayed.
Because the ocean floor drops off quickly after the reef, the cruise ships leave the island while sailing close to the shore.
The fruit and veggie truck. We bought a few things from him.
On the boat headed to a dive site.
Supper on the beach.
The restaurant had crabs.
MelBMarvis diving and practicing peak performance buoyancy.
Pipe fish. This guy was only 1-2 inches long. The dive master said it was the first one he had seen this year.
A taste of the large variety of coral we saw there.
We saw this turtle sleeping under some coral. The dive site was called "Turtle Crossing".
My boyfriend Diego harassing Bex.
Bex's boyfriend Denver holding her hand with ALL his hands.
On the driving tour - looking toward the west end of the island from the center of the island. The island is about 36 miles x 6 miles.
Oak ridge. It sounds like an uppity suburb in California, but it's actually a city mostly built on stilts that is best navigated by water.
Oak ridge also has mangrove forests with trails through them. We paid for the boat tour. It was fun.
Watusa. They kind of looked like big squirrels without tails.
See the fish that looks like a rock near the bottom of the picture? It's a scorpion fish. We saw two of them the last day we were there when we went snorkeling.
We let Flat MelBMarvis guard the rental while we went out and about. The last day it rained and we saw this rainbow.
