I put on one of my favorite shirts and noticed that it had a bit of a "thin spot". It was too late to change clothes, so I wore it to work that way. When I polled my family and one friend for opinions, they varied from "ready for the gardening/rags pile", "cut off the sleeves and make a short sleeved shirt", "put a sweater over it", and "change your shirt and never wear it again".
The decision became easier by the end of the day when it looked like this.
Since I don't have a sewing machine to hem it for a short sleeved shirt, it went into the garbage that night. You know what that means.....a dreaded shopping trip some time in the future! Either that or an online shopping spree, but sometimes that is difficult for shirts since how they're cut determines a lot about whether they fit correctly or not.
The furnace had a tune-up on Friday, so I decided to leave it on for the season. I think I could have toughed out more days, but I decided I wanted to inhabit all of my house rather than stay in the one room where I have my little oil heater thing. October 18th seems to be a relatively "average" day to turn on the furnace. Last year I had to turn it on earlier because I had guests the weekend our first cold snap came through, and I thought it would be impolite to make them freeze.
Oh, and this summer I turned on my AC in the average range as well - maybe a little bit toward the early side. Once again, I was having some guests (and it was getting real hot and muggy in the house).
In other news, I have some car suggestions from friends and family.
For a boy:
Donald
Clifford (related to my car having a nose on the front)
For a girl:
Peppa (because my car kind of has a 'snout')
Harriett
I still haven't decided if it's a girl or boy, but Uncle Bex is lobbying hard for Peppa, especially after I got a speeding ticket last week. She said Peppa has too much pep!
Besides selling my old car, I also bought a new car. Like most big decisions, this one needed to marinate for at least a year. Last summer I vaguely thought about getting a new car, but then I paid almost $1000 to fix Herman's brakes, so I decided to keep him another year.
This summer I started getting serious. I test drove a whole bunch of cars. Chevy Equinox, Toyota Rav4, Hyundai Tucson, Subaru Outback, Subaru Crosstrek, Subaru Forester, Honda Civic Hatchback, Honda HRV, Honda CRV, etc. I think you get the idea. A decision matrix was involved. It looked like this:
Key learnings were that a checklist of features you're interested in helps prevent surprises that features are missing. It also helps to make sure you check to ensure all the features are present when you test drive. The other key learning is that a test drive can make a big difference on your opinion of a car. It can make a car be quickly struck from the list (not enough pep, seat uncomfortable) or move it quite close to the top of the list (fun to drive). The funnest car to drive of all the ones I drove was the Honda Civic Hatchback and was very tempting. But......"fun to drive" isn't everything, and it didn't quite overcome not having a factory roof rack option. And, it didn't overcome a smaller cargo area compared to my existing car.
What I decided to do was to be a loyal customer and stick with the Mazda family. I bought a Mazda CX-5. So far I like it and it's working out. Not too many surprises other than the salesman telling me AFTER I wrote the check that the dealer couldn't get a roof rack for almost two months. WHAT?!?! I almost returned the car right then. It's prime kayaking season, so a roof rack is essential. He suggested looking into aftermarket options. So I did that a little bit, but the I also checked Amazon and YouTube. The installation video looked relatively uncomplicated, and Amazon could sell me the parts. So I had the parts ordered and installed in less than a week!
Here's the car as I bought it - before the minor operation:
And here it is post operation.
Winking in the sun
The other side.
The roof rack is right at the maximum height where I don't need a stool to put the kayak in the rack. But maybe I'll get a small stool just to make it a little easier. I'll see what stores have that might be convenient.
I was assuming the car was male because my previous two cars have been male. But my one friend thought it was female. What do you think? Male or female? Like usual, name suggestions are welcome. When I looked at the previous suggestions, a few favorites have been put on the list as a starting point:
It's been a big week. A new car was purchased. And I sold my old car (Herman) after driving it for a little over 11 years and 212,000 miles. Remember when I bought Herman? A few memorable times we had were:
The fun naming process (and the interesting suggestions)
Getting his first big dent from a giant cottonwood limb during a wind storm at Mom and Dad's when he was less than six months old. I never had that one fixed - he left today with that first dent still there.
Driving to the Cheesy and Corny states countless times
Hitting a deer once (just a small flesh wound - only body work was needed)
Carrying 3 kayaks home from the store (not all at the same time)
Many hours of contemplation about emotions and life. There were some good hours and some dark hours. Like this.
Like Reggie, Herman was sold to a good home. He's going to a single mom in her late 20's or early 30's who needs a "slightly" newer car than she has right now. It would be cool if she could get him to 300,000 miles, but we'll see. There were no tears for Herman's departure today. When I cleaned him out on Sunday I did pause for a few moments to feel nostalgic. It's easier when you know he's going to someone who needs him. And, having a new car helps numb the pain.
Here's Herman a few hours before leaving today. He aged fairly well, although as I gave him a car wash today I noticed how many paint chips he had and even *gasp* a couple small rusty spots. Given how old he is, he still doesn't look too outdated. I chose well if I do say so myself.
I was paid in cash. I think this is the most cash I've ever held in my hand at one time. All of this cash was less than half an inch thick. Imagine how much money is in those bags full of money that you see in the movies!
Tomorrow or Friday I'll post a picture of my new ride once I remember to take a picture out in the sunlight and not in my cramped garage.
Toward the beginning of March, I spent the weekend in the cheesey state scrapbooking with Uncle Bex and Cousin Mowla. It was a good, relaxing weekend with progress made on scrapbooks of course.
As part of that weekend, here are a couple of the interesting videos I saw. This one came from facebook. In the last six months I've learned from my sheepish friends that shearing normally occurs in early spring right before lambing starts. This video caught my emotions because of the lesson, "Now sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. When you find that you're down, well just look around. You're still got a body, good legs, and fine feet. Get your head in the right place, and hey, you're complete."
This other video is more for entertainment value. It's one of those that is so ridiculous it's funny. Marcel the Shell - "For adventure, I hang glide on a Dorito."
Have a good week! Ours started here with rain, snow, and high winds today, but I think we can recover. I spent today taking a long nap as part of recovering from being sick last week.
Over the last 4-6 weeks I've been reading a couple books related to work and research on females in the workplace. And how we all have unconscious bias (we're all a little bit sexist, even females themselves, and we're all a little bit racist, even black people themselves). Someone at work e-mailed me this short Pixar video (see below). It seems related, at least in my mind.
Since I work in a male-dominated profession (engineering), this video has some resonating points for me. And it reminds me of a time in January in the late evening when I was driving and happened upon some conservative talk radio. I didn't recognize the talk show host - it wasn't Rush or Sean Hannity or Mark Levin. It was soon after the State of the Union address, and the host was giving some analysis of that. He was talking about how Nancy Pelosi (and other democrats) didn't applaud and give a standing ovation when President Trump said unemployment for African Americans was down. And that unemployment for other minorities was down. What they did give a standing ovation for was a statistic related to women (can't remember what the exact statistic was). One of the host's points was Nancy and friends were being a bit hypocritical in only cheering for a good statistic for women and not for other minorities. Which I think is a fair point.
The next statement the radio show host made I completely disagreed with. He said that women have already won equality, so nothing more needs to be done. Why are they still fighting? Nancy Pelosi has already been Speaker of the House in the past, so the battle has already been won. Everything is equal now. That is where I disagree. That's like saying "we've had a black president now, so racism no longer exists and we don't need to do anything." Not true - there are many people and pockets of places where there is not racism. However, ask any black person if they have felt discriminated against in the last 2-3 years, and I'm fairly certain they will tell you they have been. Sometimes very openly by people calling them names or threatening them, but often it may be subtle, kind of like in the video of Purl. Often it wasn't anything they said, it was the body language, what they didn't say, what they would stop saying when a certain person walked by, or what they didn't invite you to participate in. Or their insistence on conformance to be accepted rather than appreciating you for your differences. For example, I have black friends (respectable engineers) who say sometimes security follows them through a store.
Is it really "equal" if we've had 230 years of Congress existing, and a little over 4 of those years have had a female as the speaker of the house? Would it become equal if for the next 222 years we have a female as the Speaker of the House? Is it equal now when women make up 25 percent of the Senate and 23 percent of the House, though they comprise almost 51 percent of the U.S. population?
This year at robotics I've also been mulling over what it is I bring to the robotics team as a mentor. I'm the only female technical mentor on the team. There are 2 or 3 moms who help with administrative things or "craft/advertising" things, but I'm the only female mentor helping to work directly on the robot. All the other mentors are white, and many of them are middle-aged. Some of them have talents I admire. One guy is a highly engaging person who makes everything fun and teaches in a very fun style while still being very clear about the technical concepts or goals for a project. He's always dreaming up fun "extra" projects. Another guy brings more of a take charge approach. If kids are wandering around without something to do, he gives them something to do. He has a loud voice and is OK with telling others what to do frequently, so at competitions he can tell the kids to "clean up your trash" in the bleachers before leaving, and they do.
What do I bring? I'm not loud. I don't have the voice to be loud even if I wanted to be. I have a bit of a monotone and tend to be serious if I don't know someone well, so I'm not making every activity "fun". I'm not bossy and I'm not telling the kids what they need to do all the time (although occasionally I will if the situation warrants it). After reflection this season, the conclusion I've come to is I bring diversity and a role model to the team. How will girls on the team aspire to work on the robot if they don't see other women or girls working on the robot? How will girls aspire to become an engineer if they don't know any women engineers? Less than 20% of engineers in the workplace are female. If we ever want to improve that number, I think part of that is to have role models.
When I was younger and growing up in a state that is used to strong pioneer women and has a relatively homogeneous (probably >90% white) culture, I didn't really think about this type of stuff, and I probably didn't believe issues with race and gender still existed. And now I'm approaching middle age. Or you could maybe say I've reached middle age. So this is what middle age is.....realizing you're old and are now the role model rather than the one looking at role models. Middle age is realizing that things are more complicated than you used to think they were. And yet they aren't more complicated. Sure, every story has two (or more) sides, and often the truth is somewhere in the middle between the stories. But it still comes back to understanding that all people have three very basic emotional needs:
I just finished reading "Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks: Everything You Know About Cooling Electronics is Wrong" by Tony Kordyban. You may be thinking, "That sounds kind of nerdy." You would be correct. It is nerdy - because it's about the thermodynamics and heat transfer of electronics. But I think even a non-engineer could enjoy it if you have some basic interest in heat transfer principles. It's written to be a bit Dilbert-esque and has lots of funny jokes and makes tongue-in-cheek jokes about corporate America. At least I thought the jokes were funny.
The examples and advice given in the book are very real-world scenarios and examples, and the author does a good job of relating heat and electronics to real life. The book illustrates well the typical dilemmas in a day (or year) in the life of an electrical hardware design engineer.
For my fellow engineers and science lovers, I recommend this book. For those not deeply interested in science, you may want to give this one a pass. Even though the writing is funny, that may not compensate enough for the technical lessons and details in the book.
As I was driving home from robotics today and was scanning through the radio channels, I heard two older but good songs that I had never really focused on the words before. One was Michael Jackson's "Man In the Mirror". I think lots of times I picture him singing silly songs or singing songs with somewhat obscure lyrics and making strange music videos. This one has one of those classic messages like "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
The other song was "Try" by Pink. Now THAT is a funky music video. But the chorus has some interesting lyrics. Maybe I was just feeling philosophical tonight and I would have thought anything was interesting. "Where there is desire there is going to be a flame. Where there's a flame someone's bound to get burned. Just because it burns doesn't mean you're going to die - you gotta get up and try, try, try."
I thought I'd start by stating the obvious - it's a new year! You may have noticed my thankfulness posts got seriously behind last year. I've still been faithfully keeping my log for the whole year so will try to slowly finish out 2018.
The question becomes then what to do about 2019. I'm still planning to keep my own personal thankfulness log, but I think I might not log it here on my blog on a weekly basis like before. I'd prefer to leave more blogging time for whatever comes to my mind. Maybe on a monthly basis I'll talk about a few things that I was especially thankful for.
In 2018 I fell behind on my blogging for a couple reasons. At the end of the year I was trying to do less stuff on the computer to take a break from the screens after spending all day at work. And part of the year I just wasn't feeling up to blogging and work was quite busy and taking a lot of time.
I won't promise I'll be super faithful in blogging in 2019 either, but we'll see what happens.
2018 was a chaotic and tough year. In some ways it was easier than 2017, but in some ways it was harder than 2017. The end was better than the beginning for sure. I spent two weeks of vacation in New Zealand, traveled to China for a week for work, spent a week in Barbados for vacation, went to ND to visit my parents five times, kayaked a whole bunch including joining a local kayaking group, joined a couple three-week exercise and healthy eating support groups, had three different bosses, sat in three different cubicles, worked on 3 different circuit boards plus solved 2 quality issues on 2 other circuit boards, and made progress on resolving some personal emotional stuff.
Oh, and a new year usually means a new robotics challenge. Destination Deep Space. Check it out:
As I'm sure all my informed readers are aware, today was election day. I think what's good about a controversial president is that in some ways it helps people care more about their local politics. They may not be able to have much say in what the president does, but they're taking the opportunity to care about who their other elected officials are. In self-help speak you might say they're focusing on what they can control.
Today there were lots of people out along main street holding their signs to encourage you to vote for their candidates. I even saw one guy who is running for State Senate - he was on the street corner holding a campaign sign himself along with his supporters. It almost made me want to vote for him.
Even though I don't agree with all the philosophies of some of the people running for office, I'm encouraged to see people being passionate about our country's democracy.
Speaking of democracy, I'm reading a book that's about the opposite of democracy. It's making me appreciate the democracy we have. The book is called "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin". I learned about the book several years ago when I visited Ukraine, and I got around to reading it this year. It's not really light bedtime reading. It's quite horrific actually - the number of people in eastern Europe who were killed. The were killed by purposeful starvation, execution style, harsh overwork in gulags, exposure to the elements, etc. I don't think I'm even halfway through the book yet, and all that has happened already. Since my world history teacher was very lax on the teaching part, this book is really improving my knowledge of World War II.
That's all for today. Tomorrow we'll already be halfway through the week - enjoy the rest of it!
Week 28 was back to the grind at work after an enjoyable long weekend for the 4th of July holiday. The weekend was spent back in the corny state. Some things I was thankful for were:
Taking a new step in the financial world
Making a good salary
A beautiful sunset
Fresh vegetable adventures
Laughing
Flexible time at work to run errands
Someone stopping to say "Hi"
A compliment that I inspire others
Nature's impressive lightning show
Supper and games with Father Dan and Mother Mary
Good Sunday morning meeting
Celestial bodies (sliver of moon and Jupiter near each other, plus clear sky to see stars)
Uncle Bex the Activist. Every day is Earth Day.
Part of the vegetable adventure - cabbage and leftover bratwurst.
Kayaking gang in the corny state.
On a lake in Iowa
This tree had been struck by lightning the night before. There were burnt chunks of tree strewn about, and parts of the trunk were still smoldering.
It was a short week at work the first week in July - only two days! Then I had some fun going to the cheesey state to see Brudda Jeddles and his family. And going to the corny state to see Uncle Bex. Things to be thankful for:
A two day work week
Taking a minute to stargaze
Fresh cucumbers
Freedom (it was the 4th of July)
Precious time spent with my nieces including playing baseball and playing in the sand box
Bratwurst and potatoes
Dairy free meals
Honest talks with a friend
Spontaneously taking a kayak route
A (relatively) quick drive home
Dark chocolate truffles
Playing Clue....it was Mrs. Peacock in the Conservatory with the Candlestick!
Me and my oldest niece. Found a baby corn while husking.
Had fun playing baseball with my nieces. We stopped for a break and to take a picture with the dog.
Look at these cuties! ;-)
Civil engineers in training. They spent hours making their pools and canals in the sand box.
Me and my brother - family outing to have snow cones at the Sno-Zone.
On to Iowa for some kayaking!
A cormorant and blue heron in the same tree. Not something you see every day.
I was getting close to caught up on my thankfulness weeks, but then I fell off the bandwagon. :-/ Time to get back on since AntEvar even got as far as wondering if I had moved to a different form of social media. Nope.....just not spending as much non-work time at my computer. I've been using my supper time as contemplation time instead.
Week 26....that was the last week of June. It was a week of work followed by a weekend with kayaking guests. I was going to say it was a regular week of work, but it wasn't all that regular since I had to pack my cubicle to move to a different cubicle again. Despite that, it looks like there was lots for which to be thankful.
Some of the thankfulness highlights:
The adventure and excitement of CSA vegetables
Sunshine
Strenuous yoga
Having songs in my head
Help of a friend from work who has a pickup truck
A free afternoon to run errands
Having a great day
Kayaking with friends
Watching the sunset with KarmX
A delicious hamburger
My buddy Gavin - he comes to play in the sand and water while his parents play volleyball with me.
Let the adventure begin. Lots of things I had never cooked before: fennel (like it), garlic scapes (decent if you like garlic), bok choy, swiss chard, and collard greens. Uffda! Good thing Uncle Bex helped me cook and eat a few of those things. Also, if the only way to cook a vegetable so it's edible is to fry it in bacon grease, I have doubts about that being a real, quality vegetable.
Cornhole tournament at work. Also the guy who has a truck and helped me take some stuff to recycling.
I was at 'vention this past weekend in the corny state. There were lots of good messages. And a good reminder in the form of this poem. Basic research on the internet says either Robert J Burdette wrote this in the late 1800's or early 1900's. Or else Lauretta P. Burns wrote it in the 1970's. I'm consulting with the Library of Congress to try to find out for sure. Most of the websites I found that gave credit didn't seem super reliable. I'll update this post if I find out for sure. Some websites title this poem "Broken Dreams". Others call it "Let Go And Let God".
As children bring their broken toys With tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God Because He was my friend. But then instead of leaving Him In peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help With ways that were my own. At last I snatched them back and cried, “How could you be so slow” “My child,” He said, “What could I do? You never did let go.”
Have a good week - what is left of it. These kinds of weeks can sometimes feel like they take forever even though they're shorter than normal. Even though today felt like Monday, sometimes the rest of the days in the week can crawl by.
The third week in June was week 25. It was the week after I returned from Dagmar. From my log, it seems like it was a quiet and good week in Lake Wobegon. Some thankfulness highlights:
A cool breeze off the big lake
Air conditioning (must have been hot that week)
A better perspective and feeling more positive
Fresh vegetables and adventures in cooking them
Feeling like making jokes
Having a house not prone to flooding during heavy rain
A reminder about life being short
Progress seen on yard work
Delicious grilled food
Going for a bike ride
And a few pictures from the "ordinary days" of the week to help illustrate things:
The vegetable adventure - my CSA (Community Support Agriculture) half share. Getting my hippie on with fresh, organic vegetables every week. After this summer I might be crunchy enough to move to Oregon.
Freshly weeded flower beds bring a nice feeling of satisfaction.
I took a bike ride around town and stopped at the little city bandstand to listen to the city band play their Sunday evening concert.
Week 24 was the second week in June. I made a last minute purchase of an airline ticket and went to Dagmar for 'vention for a couple days. I didn't get to be there for the whole time, but it was very nice just the same to see family and friends. Some of the things I was thankful for that week were:
Laughing at work
A hymn in my head in the morning
A friend giving a different perspective
A good morning greeting
Virtual Friday
People who make me laugh heartily
Feeling welcomed and loved and trusted
God speaking in 'vention right away
Prairie beauty
Fun hanging out with women my age
Dad (it was Father's Day)
Hearing a western meadowlark singing
Early in the week I spent several hours getting the front third of my flower beds looking pretty good.
It was special to see my dad on Father's Day, which I don't think I had done for a very long time.
It's your usual Sunday morning. Just browning 70 pounds of hamburger for lunch.
One of my favorite views.
This picture doesn't do the sunset we saw justice. It was awesomely beautiful for maybe 5 minutes, and then the bright colors faded. It was a good reminder to stop and appreciate nature's beauty when we see it.
On to the first week of June already! It was a normal work week during which I was thankful for:
Firsts of the summer (beach volleyball, riding my bike)
Eggs (easy cooking)
Cool nights, sunny days with clear blue sky
Encouraging verses (I Kings 19, James 5:7-11)
Inviting someone over spur of the moment
Spending hours outside on yard work
An e-mail from a friend
An inspiring chapter in a leadership book
Dark chocolate
Me, J-Kac (a.k.a The Jesson), JP, and Jarrett. There are three other women on the beach volleyball team (these guys' wives), but they weren't volunteering to be in the picture. And.....I don't always wear long sleeves to beach volleyball, but when I do, I wear all black.
This is a smoothie done right. It was bright green, but it tasted like peanut butter and chocolate. Spinach is a good base since it doesn't have a strong taste.
Week 22 was Memorial Day and the days following it. Another 4-day work week, but for some reason it seemed like the days moved extra slowly. Some things to be thankful for despite that were:
Helping Mom and Dad
Fresh groceries
No flight delays
Playing hymns on the piano
A good meeting after the meeting
Cheerful people
Reminder to count my blessings
Something interesting outside my comfort zone
Someone who makes jokes
A good talk with a good friend
Plus a couple memorable pictures of some weekend travel fun.
Kayaking season is in full swing.
Meet Father Dan, griller of the famous "Danburger".
The last week of May included part of the Memorial Day weekend. I bought a last-minute ticket that week to fly back home to see Mom and Dad. Some things I was thankful for:
God knows our hearts
Keeping my cool at work one day
Stopping to appreciate the beauty of the mist
The beauty of green spring grass
Strength for the day from God
A walk to the pier during lunch in sunshine and 80 degree weather
Reading a psalm before work
Browsing at REI (one of the few places I like to shop)
Having fun installing vinyl
Seeing my nephew and niece
Enjoyable mist/fog
Cutting vinyl with Dad. Later we installed it in the house they're re-doing.
One of the first nice days this spring to do a pier walk at lunch time.
I'll post more about Memorial Day in a different post.
Week 20 was the middle of May. I think it was a regular work week. Looking at the thankfulness log, I see lots of good things that I was thankful for. However, I seem to remember it was a week of highs and lows. Some good things happened, but there was also a fair bit of rain and some struggles with not feeling motivated. But here's some of the good things that happened that week.
My legs and back not hurting for the first time in weeks
Someone making me smile
Salvation
Yoga stretches that targeted just the right spots
Hearing messages I needed at Bible study
Finishing something that had been looming over my head
Being able to easily schedule an eye appointment
Seeing someone express similar emotions to ones I'm feeling
Having will power to eat more vegetables
Processing a mountain of receipts
Finding motivation to exercise
Oh, and I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the first time. A new adventure in vegetables. I feel like a genuine hippie since it's even advertised to be organic.
