50 Years of Easter Egg Hunt Trauma
3 weeks ago
Monday, December 21, 2009
Continuing...
Hey there, friends, most of my blogging energy is going into my newish gaming blog, Continuing Clockwise. You should go there and read!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Reflections from 9/12/09 DnD Session
There’s a trend of rules interface glitches with the module and standard D&D rules. They aren’t 100% compatible. For some things, it’s minor, such as use of the term ‘bruised’ instead of ‘bloodied.’ For others, it’s potentially more troublesome, such as the rules surrounding pushing there was also a subtle monster design difference for a creature who swallows characters. In the module, swallowed characters could use only melee basic attacks; in similar monsters in the Monster Manual 2, they may also use close burst attacks.
Because that monster got lucky and quickly swallowed 1/3 of the party, the situation seemed potentially dire, especially since the swallowed PC endures ongoing damage, and the only way to escape is by killing the creature. With a larger party, this wouldn’t be so terrible, since the large majority of the fire power is outside of the restriction. In this case, it was a full third of the group’s firepower. When the players panicked a little (mostly the one who’d been swallowed), I panicked a little and quickly lowered the creature’s level by two. I also fudged a die roll when the same creature stunned the other two members of the group in the next round and let the striker off the hook. The players were none the wiser (yay DM screen!). Both were probably the right decisions, but I also think merely reducing the level by one would have been appropriate as well.
I actually like the creature, after the adjustment to allow bursts and will probably add in another next session. Anything with stun affects are risky with small parties, so I’m not certain yet how that encounter will look.
This session included lots of pounding at defenseless things by the party. There was one secret door that they couldn’t unlock (they didn’t find the key, and have no thieving skills), and there was a trapped gelatinous cube at the bottom of a ziggurat. While I wouldn’t want too much of that, it worked out okay. There’s no real reason why they couldn’t pound away at the door and cube, and it allowed the plot to move forward in a relatively realistic way.
Another odd twist about this session resulted from a combination of factors. We had a new player to the group – but probably the most experienced at the table playing a wizard. He appropriately tended to stay in the rear of the small party. There also happened to be several intelligent, sneaky times of monsters this session, so he got picked on more than a little. Now the wizard is out of surges (he was also the one who got swallowed). I really thought his character might die there for awhile, and I didn’t want that to happen; not to a new player.
I’m not entirely happy with the representation of the swamp; there’s something about natural settings that challenge me on the battle map.
Because that monster got lucky and quickly swallowed 1/3 of the party, the situation seemed potentially dire, especially since the swallowed PC endures ongoing damage, and the only way to escape is by killing the creature. With a larger party, this wouldn’t be so terrible, since the large majority of the fire power is outside of the restriction. In this case, it was a full third of the group’s firepower. When the players panicked a little (mostly the one who’d been swallowed), I panicked a little and quickly lowered the creature’s level by two. I also fudged a die roll when the same creature stunned the other two members of the group in the next round and let the striker off the hook. The players were none the wiser (yay DM screen!). Both were probably the right decisions, but I also think merely reducing the level by one would have been appropriate as well.
I actually like the creature, after the adjustment to allow bursts and will probably add in another next session. Anything with stun affects are risky with small parties, so I’m not certain yet how that encounter will look.
This session included lots of pounding at defenseless things by the party. There was one secret door that they couldn’t unlock (they didn’t find the key, and have no thieving skills), and there was a trapped gelatinous cube at the bottom of a ziggurat. While I wouldn’t want too much of that, it worked out okay. There’s no real reason why they couldn’t pound away at the door and cube, and it allowed the plot to move forward in a relatively realistic way.
Another odd twist about this session resulted from a combination of factors. We had a new player to the group – but probably the most experienced at the table playing a wizard. He appropriately tended to stay in the rear of the small party. There also happened to be several intelligent, sneaky times of monsters this session, so he got picked on more than a little. Now the wizard is out of surges (he was also the one who got swallowed). I really thought his character might die there for awhile, and I didn’t want that to happen; not to a new player.
I’m not entirely happy with the representation of the swamp; there’s something about natural settings that challenge me on the battle map.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Isoniazid, Day Three
I've decided not to worry too much about the food... I will be cautious, especially at the beginning, but this is a fundamental quality of life issue, and I'm a Superman. Right?
I am taking the liver / alcohol aspect seriously. So far, so good. Right now my plan is no more than 5 alcoholic drinks per week and no more than one per day. I'm good with structure like that, even when it's self imposed structure. I'm thinking, as a rule, a drink on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then Tuesday and Wednesday (traditional date nights). I really enjoy my wind down after D&D drink, so I may swap around, or I may scale down further.
I drank the last good beers from the fridge on Wednesday, and started the medication on Thursday.
I am taking the liver / alcohol aspect seriously. So far, so good. Right now my plan is no more than 5 alcoholic drinks per week and no more than one per day. I'm good with structure like that, even when it's self imposed structure. I'm thinking, as a rule, a drink on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then Tuesday and Wednesday (traditional date nights). I really enjoy my wind down after D&D drink, so I may swap around, or I may scale down further.
I drank the last good beers from the fridge on Wednesday, and started the medication on Thursday.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Drugs!
A few months ago I had my annual TB skin test from work, and it came up positive. It's not a big deal, but it does mean I have a 1 - 2% chance of contracting 'real' tuberculosis in my life time. If I were to contract the disease, it would be most likely to happen when I was immuno-suppressed for some other reason. If I should (heaven forbid) get cancer, or HIV or be on lots of steroids for some reason, that's when the TB would strike. While I have no reason to worry specifically about those illnesses, life is long, and one never knows. In the back of my head, I always expected cancer to be what gets me, probably because my grandfather died of lung cancer. Of course, he smoked and I don't, so, again, no specific reason to worry.
I decided to start the 9 month antibiotic treatment of Isoniazid, in order to wipe away that chance of getting TB later in life. With this drug comes a few shifts in life style until mid-May, when I conclude the course. First, my doctor suggested I have less than one alcoholic drink per day. This is to protect my liver.
There are also other food and beverages that contain Tyramine that might react badly and cause "very dangerous reactions such as sudden high blood pressure." Soy products are on that list, as are all beers (including non-alcoholic) and wine. Hrmph. My doc didn't seem that worried about the foods and whatnot, but my pharmacist did.
I think I need to do some more research, so I know what's what. I'll report my findings.
I decided to start the 9 month antibiotic treatment of Isoniazid, in order to wipe away that chance of getting TB later in life. With this drug comes a few shifts in life style until mid-May, when I conclude the course. First, my doctor suggested I have less than one alcoholic drink per day. This is to protect my liver.
There are also other food and beverages that contain Tyramine that might react badly and cause "very dangerous reactions such as sudden high blood pressure." Soy products are on that list, as are all beers (including non-alcoholic) and wine. Hrmph. My doc didn't seem that worried about the foods and whatnot, but my pharmacist did.
I think I need to do some more research, so I know what's what. I'll report my findings.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Notes from the Session
During the prep, I developed two primary paths the PCs could take; one would lead to Goodman Games’ Dragora’s Dungeon, the other, to some other, swampy content. I had one NPC advocate one choice, a second NPC wanted the other. While I thought the arguments were fairly balanced, it only took a moment for the decision to be made. On one hand, that’s good because there wasn’t frustration… on the other, there wasn’t the sense of genuine dilemma. These guys are heroes, after all. If there’s an option to solve something themselves, that’s what they’re going to choose.
While I’m pleased with the real option, I’d like to improve my dilemma level.
During the prep, the PCs did some minor bullying of court employees in order to provide themselves with a financial tip. Two of the three succeeded, the last did not, and the transaction ended. This ‘encounter’ was completely unexpected and I think I did a good job of inventing an NPC on the spot and running the interaction which included some skill rolls. The group gained solid advantage, but didn’t succeed completely – it even made sense that the character with the low charisma is the one who failed.
To provide some context, the PCs recently arrived in a small pocked dimension and found themselves in the court of Elwind the Matriarch. In the night, powerful magic hit the castle, sending everyone asleep, except for the two PCs who made their saving throws. Everyone was able to wake except for the highest leaders – the Matriarch, her cabinet members (including Mr. Fromell, the Tiefling minister introduced to the earlier) and the captain of the Zain-kin guard pledged to protect the land.
The Zain-kin are a species of large, military monkey-men; the last known clan of them lives in one of the town’s neighborhoods. As a whole, they are allied with Elwind.
As they prepared to seek out the caster of the spell, I wanted to spare them from another tracking skill challenge, so I offered to send a guide along. Only then they researched the magic as provided for in the module, and the guide became superfluous. The PCs still insisted on having their guide, so I went along with it. I planned to send him home when they reached the mouth of the dungeon, no biggie, I thought.
I didn’t put together, however, that I had planned an encounter of raiding Gnolls from the nearby demon controlled region. I quickly downgraded “Scotch” the Zain-kin guide to minion, added an extra gnoll minion, and made sure that poor Scotch didn’t survive the battle. Problem solved, with only minor complaints that they were issued a defective ape-man.
I also didn’t really expect them to fight the Gnolls. One of the PCs has a fairly high passive perception, so they were able to hear the monsters coming. Since the gnolls had nothing to do with their mission (I included them in order to set up future conflict with that region), I thought they might hide from sight.
One nuts and bolts lesson from this encounter: when I drew the (impromptu) battlemap, I should have positioned the characters better, from a practical standpoint. They started at the bottom center, and the gnolls started in the left edge (all relative to me). This had the affect of making much of my terrain irrelevant and made the outside battlefield seem artificially small. All in all it didn’t matter much, but could have been better. My balance of bushy ‘obscuring’ terrain and 5 and 10 foot rocks worked really well. There was cover, and climbing, and hiding and all that good stuff.
I probably should have accelerated the damage at the end of the fight: the toughest mob, with the most hp was saved until last (wisely on all sides); yet there was no doubt how the battle would end. Gnolls don’t run (as a rule) and the PCs had plenty of firepower; not to mention it was the last encounter of their day. I could have easily increased damage by .5 on all sides when the outcome became assured…
The last big takeaway came when they got to the first encounter area of the module. Even though the book is divided into sections, very often the different sections are encountered simultaneously. For example, in our session, as the PCs rappel down to a ledge, the ropes are cut and rocks are hurled at their heads. No problem, however, in the next section of text, you learn that the ground they have just reached is trapped. The lesson here is that good DMs, like good facilitators, good writers, good managers etc… really need to understand how the parts interact and affect one another. This requires some forward thinking and some time spent paying attention to the details.
While I’m pleased with the real option, I’d like to improve my dilemma level.
During the prep, the PCs did some minor bullying of court employees in order to provide themselves with a financial tip. Two of the three succeeded, the last did not, and the transaction ended. This ‘encounter’ was completely unexpected and I think I did a good job of inventing an NPC on the spot and running the interaction which included some skill rolls. The group gained solid advantage, but didn’t succeed completely – it even made sense that the character with the low charisma is the one who failed.
To provide some context, the PCs recently arrived in a small pocked dimension and found themselves in the court of Elwind the Matriarch. In the night, powerful magic hit the castle, sending everyone asleep, except for the two PCs who made their saving throws. Everyone was able to wake except for the highest leaders – the Matriarch, her cabinet members (including Mr. Fromell, the Tiefling minister introduced to the earlier) and the captain of the Zain-kin guard pledged to protect the land.
The Zain-kin are a species of large, military monkey-men; the last known clan of them lives in one of the town’s neighborhoods. As a whole, they are allied with Elwind.
As they prepared to seek out the caster of the spell, I wanted to spare them from another tracking skill challenge, so I offered to send a guide along. Only then they researched the magic as provided for in the module, and the guide became superfluous. The PCs still insisted on having their guide, so I went along with it. I planned to send him home when they reached the mouth of the dungeon, no biggie, I thought.
I didn’t put together, however, that I had planned an encounter of raiding Gnolls from the nearby demon controlled region. I quickly downgraded “Scotch” the Zain-kin guide to minion, added an extra gnoll minion, and made sure that poor Scotch didn’t survive the battle. Problem solved, with only minor complaints that they were issued a defective ape-man.
I also didn’t really expect them to fight the Gnolls. One of the PCs has a fairly high passive perception, so they were able to hear the monsters coming. Since the gnolls had nothing to do with their mission (I included them in order to set up future conflict with that region), I thought they might hide from sight.
One nuts and bolts lesson from this encounter: when I drew the (impromptu) battlemap, I should have positioned the characters better, from a practical standpoint. They started at the bottom center, and the gnolls started in the left edge (all relative to me). This had the affect of making much of my terrain irrelevant and made the outside battlefield seem artificially small. All in all it didn’t matter much, but could have been better. My balance of bushy ‘obscuring’ terrain and 5 and 10 foot rocks worked really well. There was cover, and climbing, and hiding and all that good stuff.
I probably should have accelerated the damage at the end of the fight: the toughest mob, with the most hp was saved until last (wisely on all sides); yet there was no doubt how the battle would end. Gnolls don’t run (as a rule) and the PCs had plenty of firepower; not to mention it was the last encounter of their day. I could have easily increased damage by .5 on all sides when the outcome became assured…
The last big takeaway came when they got to the first encounter area of the module. Even though the book is divided into sections, very often the different sections are encountered simultaneously. For example, in our session, as the PCs rappel down to a ledge, the ropes are cut and rocks are hurled at their heads. No problem, however, in the next section of text, you learn that the ground they have just reached is trapped. The lesson here is that good DMs, like good facilitators, good writers, good managers etc… really need to understand how the parts interact and affect one another. This requires some forward thinking and some time spent paying attention to the details.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Steve McNair's BAC
Steve McNair, the retired NFL quarterback who was shot in his sleep last week, had a blood alcohol content of .16 at the time of his death. Almost every story I've read describes it as 'twice the legal limit.' While it's twice the legal limit to drive, HE WASN'T DRIVING. He was sleeping. While .16 is in the feel-good range of consumption, it isn't remarkable, and doesn't imply any inappropriate behavior.
By phrasing his BAC as 'twice the legal limit' the AP is manufacturing a false connection between Mr. McNair's murder and his ability to drive.
By phrasing his BAC as 'twice the legal limit' the AP is manufacturing a false connection between Mr. McNair's murder and his ability to drive.
Link Light Rail
Seattle's new Link light rail system opened over the weekend, and I made my first commute with it this morning.
I don't live quite close enough to a station to make it simple. Instead, I have to take a bus for about .75 of a mile to connect with a train. I discovered that I can take a normal, non-express bus to the station, get on the Link, transfer in the bus tunnel (no walking required) and arrive in about the same amount of time it would have taken on an express bus.
This isn't all that helpful for the daily, normal commute. I do think this will be very helpful on weekends and times when express buses either don't run or when I've missed the window for them. In a sense, but transferring the the Link, I can convert any normal bus into an express trip, with some relatively minor adjustments.
I'm particularly interested in seeing how the Link will help me get home after sporting events and during snowy weather.
An unexpected benefit is that I feel like I'm in the Warriors movie when I ride the train. I suppose that's a benefit, since it's a good movie. It's not a world I'd like to live in though...
I don't live quite close enough to a station to make it simple. Instead, I have to take a bus for about .75 of a mile to connect with a train. I discovered that I can take a normal, non-express bus to the station, get on the Link, transfer in the bus tunnel (no walking required) and arrive in about the same amount of time it would have taken on an express bus.
This isn't all that helpful for the daily, normal commute. I do think this will be very helpful on weekends and times when express buses either don't run or when I've missed the window for them. In a sense, but transferring the the Link, I can convert any normal bus into an express trip, with some relatively minor adjustments.
I'm particularly interested in seeing how the Link will help me get home after sporting events and during snowy weather.
An unexpected benefit is that I feel like I'm in the Warriors movie when I ride the train. I suppose that's a benefit, since it's a good movie. It's not a world I'd like to live in though...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Listen to Jesus, Jimmy.
In the category of random internet, and also a part of my fascination with odd religion. I honestly can't tell how much of this is parody. Is Jesus trying to lure Jimmy from weed by offering sexual hedonism?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Extra!
I had a chance to help some friends out by performing as an extra for their web series, "Family." You should check it out.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Scale of Useful Numbers
I listened to Freakonomics on audiobook a few weeks ago, and it stimulated some thinking that led to the following analysis:
The usefullness of a number can be evaluated on the following scale, the higher, the better:
1) A number by itself. For example, '5 were spoiled.' What does '5' mean? Well, not much by itself, but it is fairly low, while also greater than '0'... ultimately there's infinite room for uncertainty when a number is presented by itself.
2) A number with a denomenator, eg, '5 out of 7 were spoiled' aka, 5/7ths. Now we're getting somewhere. At we have some sense of scale. More than half, less than 6/7ths...
3) Even better is a number, with a denomenator, plus a unit. '5 of 7 apples were spoiled.' This tells a fairly useful story. Now, it can also be deceptive because it's still a small slice of reality. How many were spoiled last time? How much of other kinds of things are also spoiled? Is it something special about the apples that are making them spoil quickly, or are we lucky to have two fresh ones...
4) The best combination for understanding something is a number, with denomenator, unit and additional comparisons. For example, '5 of 7 apples were spoiled, but 1 out of 10 oranges were smashed.' Or perhaps, '75 out of 100 patients with this diagnosis will die, but if given a specific drug, 60 out of 100 will die.' If you only had the second part of that example, '60 out of 100 will die' you might think it was a terrible thing, but really it's quite good when compared with the 75 of 100 who would otherwise be expected to pass away.
The mainstream press rarely has the patience to provide useful comparisons of data. We see metrics about accidents, failure rates, and deaths, but rarely are these compared with other baselines, so we can understand the real scale of the problems.
The usefullness of a number can be evaluated on the following scale, the higher, the better:
1) A number by itself. For example, '5 were spoiled.' What does '5' mean? Well, not much by itself, but it is fairly low, while also greater than '0'... ultimately there's infinite room for uncertainty when a number is presented by itself.
2) A number with a denomenator, eg, '5 out of 7 were spoiled' aka, 5/7ths. Now we're getting somewhere. At we have some sense of scale. More than half, less than 6/7ths...
3) Even better is a number, with a denomenator, plus a unit. '5 of 7 apples were spoiled.' This tells a fairly useful story. Now, it can also be deceptive because it's still a small slice of reality. How many were spoiled last time? How much of other kinds of things are also spoiled? Is it something special about the apples that are making them spoil quickly, or are we lucky to have two fresh ones...
4) The best combination for understanding something is a number, with denomenator, unit and additional comparisons. For example, '5 of 7 apples were spoiled, but 1 out of 10 oranges were smashed.' Or perhaps, '75 out of 100 patients with this diagnosis will die, but if given a specific drug, 60 out of 100 will die.' If you only had the second part of that example, '60 out of 100 will die' you might think it was a terrible thing, but really it's quite good when compared with the 75 of 100 who would otherwise be expected to pass away.
The mainstream press rarely has the patience to provide useful comparisons of data. We see metrics about accidents, failure rates, and deaths, but rarely are these compared with other baselines, so we can understand the real scale of the problems.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Marvel to D&D 4th Edition
I'm hoping to get my old, once per year rpg friends to play some D&D 4th edition this summer, and we might try to convert the old Marvel characters into D&D, in order to keep the story going in some way.
As such, I've created a quick table of 4th edition classes by role to help their decision making:
Defender
fighter
warden
paladin
swordmage
Striker
rogue
warlock
barbarian
sorcerer
avenger
ranger
Leader
cleric
bard
shaman
artificer
warlord
Controller
wizard
invoker
druid
As such, I've created a quick table of 4th edition classes by role to help their decision making:
Defender
fighter
warden
paladin
swordmage
Striker
rogue
warlock
barbarian
sorcerer
avenger
ranger
Leader
cleric
bard
shaman
artificer
warlord
Controller
wizard
invoker
druid
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Bookends – More Productive Thoughts
First thing Monday morning, glance over the entire week. Identify key meetings and determine the best time to prepare for them.
At the end of Friday, while doing the weekly report, look forward to next week. See what’s coming up and where to start on Monday.
First thing every morning, glance at the day’s calendar. Make a specific plan for travel, lunch and second breakfast.
Make a list of tasks that need to be completed today.
Clean out the email inbox by deleting, archiving and responding to messages, as appropriate.
At the end of the day, glance over the next day’s schedule. Identify where the day will begin and get a general sense for its shape.
At the end of Friday, while doing the weekly report, look forward to next week. See what’s coming up and where to start on Monday.
First thing every morning, glance at the day’s calendar. Make a specific plan for travel, lunch and second breakfast.
Make a list of tasks that need to be completed today.
Clean out the email inbox by deleting, archiving and responding to messages, as appropriate.
At the end of the day, glance over the next day’s schedule. Identify where the day will begin and get a general sense for its shape.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Productivity
I’ve studied the Take Back Your Life system, and used parts of it, for over a year. The use of Tasks has had mixed results. I never quite got the hang of connecting strategic next actions to projects to meaningful objectives. There are many principles that I found tremendously useful and my own system is influenced by it.
Carve out time to be organized – I carve out some time (usually 30 minutes) every day to keep my email under control and to mentally prepare for the rest of the day. This is when I make sure I have travel time, a plan for eating (including 2nd breakfast), and idea for when I’ll be going home. It’s my way of beginning with the end in mind.
I also have a less rigorous, but still frequent habit of looking ahead at the same things. Will I have time to prepare for important meetings the day prior, or do I need to plan ahead? I have a calendar item for this review as well, which acts primarily as a reminder.
Keep the crap moving: when work can be completed (or at least moved on) in two minutes or less, I do it immediately. I trash what can be trashed, and shuffle the archival stuff into the appropriate reference folder.
Folder organization: I primarily organize my archival folders by project, secondarily by person. Inactive projects have their own folder. I do this to keep the clutter down.
The Physical Part
In lieu of notebooks and calendars, I carry a 1 ¼ inch three ring binder. The front pocket is labeled ‘soon.’ It’s for assorted packets and handouts that I wind up with. Things don’t stay there long, and it’s often empty. The rear pocket is for longer term work related reference sheets.
The first page is my ‘where I need to be and when’ page. Sometimes I’ll hand-write my appointments, sometimes I’ll print out a week’s worth and update it with any changes daily. I often jot down time sensitive ‘to do’s’ here.
The next section is my free form notes space. I use the backs of headed-for-recycling pages, turned over and hole punched. Not only is this environmentally friendly, it’s simple and flexible.
As the pages get filled and become less time sensitive, they go to a section near the back. Eventually those are purged as the notes on the pages become clearly outdated.
Outlook Tasks
I have found tasks useful for tracking big, umbrella issues over time. For example, I have an ongoing task for Greycat’s health, my own personal health (which includes training plan, what races are coming up, etc…), different D&D campaigns that need preparation and/or scheduling. Most of these have a title that is tied to my (somewhat) Meaningful Objectives. There is some value in clearly labeling how a group of tasks is associated with Something Important. In order to do that, those Important Somethings need to be explicit and documented.
I think I’ll focus on using my task list for medium to long term work. It’s a nice way of keeping my eye on the ball, but doesn’t work that well for daily minutiae. Since I already have a weekly rhythm, I’ll start by focusing on the task list on Friday afternoons (briefly) and Monday mornings (with more reflection).
Carve out time to be organized – I carve out some time (usually 30 minutes) every day to keep my email under control and to mentally prepare for the rest of the day. This is when I make sure I have travel time, a plan for eating (including 2nd breakfast), and idea for when I’ll be going home. It’s my way of beginning with the end in mind.
I also have a less rigorous, but still frequent habit of looking ahead at the same things. Will I have time to prepare for important meetings the day prior, or do I need to plan ahead? I have a calendar item for this review as well, which acts primarily as a reminder.
Keep the crap moving: when work can be completed (or at least moved on) in two minutes or less, I do it immediately. I trash what can be trashed, and shuffle the archival stuff into the appropriate reference folder.
Folder organization: I primarily organize my archival folders by project, secondarily by person. Inactive projects have their own folder. I do this to keep the clutter down.
The Physical Part
In lieu of notebooks and calendars, I carry a 1 ¼ inch three ring binder. The front pocket is labeled ‘soon.’ It’s for assorted packets and handouts that I wind up with. Things don’t stay there long, and it’s often empty. The rear pocket is for longer term work related reference sheets.
The first page is my ‘where I need to be and when’ page. Sometimes I’ll hand-write my appointments, sometimes I’ll print out a week’s worth and update it with any changes daily. I often jot down time sensitive ‘to do’s’ here.
The next section is my free form notes space. I use the backs of headed-for-recycling pages, turned over and hole punched. Not only is this environmentally friendly, it’s simple and flexible.
As the pages get filled and become less time sensitive, they go to a section near the back. Eventually those are purged as the notes on the pages become clearly outdated.
Outlook Tasks
I have found tasks useful for tracking big, umbrella issues over time. For example, I have an ongoing task for Greycat’s health, my own personal health (which includes training plan, what races are coming up, etc…), different D&D campaigns that need preparation and/or scheduling. Most of these have a title that is tied to my (somewhat) Meaningful Objectives. There is some value in clearly labeling how a group of tasks is associated with Something Important. In order to do that, those Important Somethings need to be explicit and documented.
I think I’ll focus on using my task list for medium to long term work. It’s a nice way of keeping my eye on the ball, but doesn’t work that well for daily minutiae. Since I already have a weekly rhythm, I’ll start by focusing on the task list on Friday afternoons (briefly) and Monday mornings (with more reflection).
Friday, May 01, 2009
Lifehacker: Credit Card Limits
Apparently, it's best to keep your balance for individual credit cards under 25% of the limit. In this part of the credit score calculation, it doesn't matter what your total ratio is, or whether you pay off each month.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Notes on Facilitation
Many sparkly things have distracted me from the blog lately; Facebook and Twitter are two examples. My work has ramped up, so I've been dedicating notable bandwidth to my professional growth. Below are some personal observations spawned from some recent facilitations:
*********
4/16/09 – 2 Day General Surgery Clinic Prep facilitated work:
The Ground Rules worked well; it felt good to have them for the stakeholder tie-in, it was nice to refer them to the ‘team’s rules of the room.’
I definitely should have focused more on the data. I needed a different plan: PO didn’t have time to enter what we had until late the night before; I decided to enter it the morning of the event, then print fresh charters. All night long, this bugged me. Especially because I wasn’t sure that she had done it at all. I probably should have called PO at the end of the day at made a better, more timely plan. Then, when I did open the data file, I wasn’t familiar with the format since it had been created by one of my cohorts. It should have been plug and play by that point.
We also didn’t have a good number to compare the target with; the information was available, but we hadn’t worked it out and shown it to our PO and Sponsor. Once we hit the event, it was too late; particularly because there was no data consultant in the room with us.
During the stakeholder tie in, I thought I was clear about the type of input we needed; in spite of this, some members focused on more fundamental issues with the event.
One major learning was to not assume alignment with people not in the room. It turned out that leadership had two different visions for what the event’s focus. This would have come out during an Assessment meeting; since we didn’t have one of those, we wound up hearing about it from team members during the morning of day 2. Not okay.
Levering my sense of humor and spontaneity helped me connect with the team. I genuinely believe that they work better when they like you, and when they’re having fun. Even though we had some unfun times, there was enough positive to keep them productive.
How could it have been more fun? We needed some kind of ice-breaker up front, maybe something quick and fun like the questions M2 often asks (M has done it too).
“Problems and Opportunities” doesn’t really fit with A3 problem solving. A3 is all about focusing deeply on the problems, and then thoughtfully shifting to the repair. My use didn’t work at all. We probably could have done fishbone to identify the burstlike ‘problems’ to dig into with the 5 Whys.
I think if we’d had better wording at the problem identification step, the ‘5 Whys’ would have been smoother and more useful.
Trying to get 7 people with no A3 experience to try and write a problem statement together was a disaster. What if the team were given the problem statement and asked to confirm it based on observations from earlier in the day?
I liked the drawing that they did; on a whole I think the 3 Actuals phase worked really well. Two folks confirmed the steps that we’d identified during a previous session, 2 identified wastes, 3 more drew (one pacer style, the other two just capturing process)
4/20/09 – Facilitation of General Surgery / Transplant patient handoff A3
I didn’t feel particularly good about this facilitation, but I received compliments and positive feedback. I think, maybe I sensed some struggling on behalf of the group that I assumed to be caused by my facilitation. Perhaps they struggled a bit because it was a challenging topic, not because of poor facilitation. I see that the two are different: just because they struggle doesn’t mean it’s because of the facilitation. Now I need to work on identifying one from the other.
I also felt uncomfortable because I wasn’t personally clear on the process. I’ve never witnessed it, and I don’t really know the players directly involved. Since I’m not expected to be a content expert, I think that’s mostly okay; it is more difficult to keep up with the discussion if the content is completely (or even somewhat) new.
I’m also unfamiliar with facilitating a group through A3 completion. With that, I’m generally unclear on how groups and A3’s go together. I’m most comfortable coaching individuals through A3 Problem Solving, and having them go and talk to other interested parties. It makes sense to bring people in and to make it directly collaborative; mostly I’m still getting familiar with the pieces and how they can fit together.
4/23/09
I also need to focus on keeping the energy up when I’m facilitating. With my hubish nature, I often use the group’s energy to get me going; that can’t be counted on, especially when I’m with other mellow or hubish folks.
How can I do that? Experience will help, knowing the content helps, knowing what to do with the content also helps. If I don’t have to use bandwidth to think about that, I’m freer to crank up my volume.
*********
4/16/09 – 2 Day General Surgery Clinic Prep facilitated work:
The Ground Rules worked well; it felt good to have them for the stakeholder tie-in, it was nice to refer them to the ‘team’s rules of the room.’
I definitely should have focused more on the data. I needed a different plan: PO didn’t have time to enter what we had until late the night before; I decided to enter it the morning of the event, then print fresh charters. All night long, this bugged me. Especially because I wasn’t sure that she had done it at all. I probably should have called PO at the end of the day at made a better, more timely plan. Then, when I did open the data file, I wasn’t familiar with the format since it had been created by one of my cohorts. It should have been plug and play by that point.
We also didn’t have a good number to compare the target with; the information was available, but we hadn’t worked it out and shown it to our PO and Sponsor. Once we hit the event, it was too late; particularly because there was no data consultant in the room with us.
During the stakeholder tie in, I thought I was clear about the type of input we needed; in spite of this, some members focused on more fundamental issues with the event.
One major learning was to not assume alignment with people not in the room. It turned out that leadership had two different visions for what the event’s focus. This would have come out during an Assessment meeting; since we didn’t have one of those, we wound up hearing about it from team members during the morning of day 2. Not okay.
Levering my sense of humor and spontaneity helped me connect with the team. I genuinely believe that they work better when they like you, and when they’re having fun. Even though we had some unfun times, there was enough positive to keep them productive.
How could it have been more fun? We needed some kind of ice-breaker up front, maybe something quick and fun like the questions M2 often asks (M has done it too).
“Problems and Opportunities” doesn’t really fit with A3 problem solving. A3 is all about focusing deeply on the problems, and then thoughtfully shifting to the repair. My use didn’t work at all. We probably could have done fishbone to identify the burstlike ‘problems’ to dig into with the 5 Whys.
I think if we’d had better wording at the problem identification step, the ‘5 Whys’ would have been smoother and more useful.
Trying to get 7 people with no A3 experience to try and write a problem statement together was a disaster. What if the team were given the problem statement and asked to confirm it based on observations from earlier in the day?
I liked the drawing that they did; on a whole I think the 3 Actuals phase worked really well. Two folks confirmed the steps that we’d identified during a previous session, 2 identified wastes, 3 more drew (one pacer style, the other two just capturing process)
4/20/09 – Facilitation of General Surgery / Transplant patient handoff A3
I didn’t feel particularly good about this facilitation, but I received compliments and positive feedback. I think, maybe I sensed some struggling on behalf of the group that I assumed to be caused by my facilitation. Perhaps they struggled a bit because it was a challenging topic, not because of poor facilitation. I see that the two are different: just because they struggle doesn’t mean it’s because of the facilitation. Now I need to work on identifying one from the other.
I also felt uncomfortable because I wasn’t personally clear on the process. I’ve never witnessed it, and I don’t really know the players directly involved. Since I’m not expected to be a content expert, I think that’s mostly okay; it is more difficult to keep up with the discussion if the content is completely (or even somewhat) new.
I’m also unfamiliar with facilitating a group through A3 completion. With that, I’m generally unclear on how groups and A3’s go together. I’m most comfortable coaching individuals through A3 Problem Solving, and having them go and talk to other interested parties. It makes sense to bring people in and to make it directly collaborative; mostly I’m still getting familiar with the pieces and how they can fit together.
4/23/09
I also need to focus on keeping the energy up when I’m facilitating. With my hubish nature, I often use the group’s energy to get me going; that can’t be counted on, especially when I’m with other mellow or hubish folks.
How can I do that? Experience will help, knowing the content helps, knowing what to do with the content also helps. If I don’t have to use bandwidth to think about that, I’m freer to crank up my volume.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Seattle Children's Faces Budget Cuts
The recession is getting close to home.
If the state budget continues as is, or even as close-to-is, Seattle Children's will face a $60 million budget deficit as result of state Medicaid cuts. That means programs will have to be cut. That means children with certain types of illnesses won't receive care from Children's.
To summarize a fraction of the problem,
Children’s CEO Dr. Tom Hansen says the proposed cuts don’t make financial sense.
"The budget cuts $60 million from Children’s Hospital to save the State only $25 million," he told a news conference in Olympia. "$35 million of this cut is federal Medicaid matching funds that will be lost; turned back to the federal government."
This is, I suppose, one of the prices of being an independent non-profit who serves patients and families who otherwise might not be able to pay.
On a personal level, there is some risk that I might be laid off; there is near certainty that people I've known for years will be laid off.
If the state budget continues as is, or even as close-to-is, Seattle Children's will face a $60 million budget deficit as result of state Medicaid cuts. That means programs will have to be cut. That means children with certain types of illnesses won't receive care from Children's.
To summarize a fraction of the problem,
Children’s CEO Dr. Tom Hansen says the proposed cuts don’t make financial sense.
"The budget cuts $60 million from Children’s Hospital to save the State only $25 million," he told a news conference in Olympia. "$35 million of this cut is federal Medicaid matching funds that will be lost; turned back to the federal government."
This is, I suppose, one of the prices of being an independent non-profit who serves patients and families who otherwise might not be able to pay.
On a personal level, there is some risk that I might be laid off; there is near certainty that people I've known for years will be laid off.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Mercer Island Half Marathon
Last week I had a fabulous run on Mercer Island. Here are the results:
Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon
Half Marathon Run
March 22, 2009 in Mercer Island, WA
Summary
Number of Finishers: 1,619
Number of Females: 799
Number of Males: 820
Average Time: 1:59:12
Chad Blanchard
bib number: 55
age: 35
gender: M
location: Seattle, WA
overall place: 160 out of 1620
division place: 31 out of 180
gender place: 132
time: 1:35:59
pace: 7:15
chip time: 1:35:01
I'm proud; that's my best run ever. I ran strong throughout and surpassed my own goals.
Official photography is by brightroom, and is, as usual for these things, vastly overpriced. There are a couple good ones of me in my endorphin haze, but I don't plan to splurge on the official versions.
Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon
Half Marathon Run
March 22, 2009 in Mercer Island, WA
Summary
Number of Finishers: 1,619
Number of Females: 799
Number of Males: 820
Average Time: 1:59:12
Chad Blanchard
bib number: 55
age: 35
gender: M
location: Seattle, WA
overall place: 160 out of 1620
division place: 31 out of 180
gender place: 132
time: 1:35:59
pace: 7:15
chip time: 1:35:01
I'm proud; that's my best run ever. I ran strong throughout and surpassed my own goals.
Official photography is by brightroom, and is, as usual for these things, vastly overpriced. There are a couple good ones of me in my endorphin haze, but I don't plan to splurge on the official versions.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Fonts
I've developed an eye for fonts, and it's a blessing and a curse. I'm not a giant fan of Arial, but it's reasonable enough. Mostly it's a Helvetica rip-off, and there's nothing wrong with Helvetica.
I want to like Georgia, but the spacing isn't quite right, and the C and h of my name kinda run together.
My favorite font is Gotham, which is probably best known for its use on the Obama campaign materials; it's also the new official font for the Seattle Children's logo.
Now, whenever I walk (or ride) down the street, I see how many different fonts we're surrounded by. Many are bolded, italicized, some logos are a mixture of different fonts; many are pure ugly, many clash with each other. Some are exceptionally cold and inhuman. That's the cure. The blessing is that I've learned to see another layer in the world. Most of us never even think about fonts, let alone notice and admire them. Yet, they stare us in the face, almost constantly.
I'm going to go and stare at the Gotham font some more. It calms me, like a beer and a sunset.
I want to like Georgia, but the spacing isn't quite right, and the C and h of my name kinda run together.
My favorite font is Gotham, which is probably best known for its use on the Obama campaign materials; it's also the new official font for the Seattle Children's logo.
Now, whenever I walk (or ride) down the street, I see how many different fonts we're surrounded by. Many are bolded, italicized, some logos are a mixture of different fonts; many are pure ugly, many clash with each other. Some are exceptionally cold and inhuman. That's the cure. The blessing is that I've learned to see another layer in the world. Most of us never even think about fonts, let alone notice and admire them. Yet, they stare us in the face, almost constantly.
I'm going to go and stare at the Gotham font some more. It calms me, like a beer and a sunset.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Battlestar Galactica Props 13
Look what I got! Many of the props from the series are for sale on ebay, and I snagged a couple! It was just in time, too. Now that the cat's been racking up some vet bills, I probably couldn't afford them now!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Police Activity 10
I wonder who he was talking to... the suspect(s) mother, perhaps? It would be cool if the whole thing was drug related and they were setting up a 'deal.'
Police Activity 8
The officers spent some time with the cel phone. I'm not sure if it rang first, or if they were calling out to someone.
Police Activity 6
They kept the street closed to cars for quite awhile. Here, you see the officer telling someone to go around the block.
Police Activity 4
The cops came back several minutes later. By their affect, I presume the bad guys were in custody.
Police Activity 1
We had some excitement in the neighborhood yesterday. I looked out the window to see this. The silver and black car was empty, and the door on the passenger side was still open.
They also left the stereo on.
They also left the stereo on.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Significant Influences
These are some of the thinkers who have most notably helped shape the way I see the world:
Friedrich Nietzsche – the noble man defines his own values.
The Buddha, especially The Eightfold Path, but also the Four Noble Truths
Jesus Christ – especially the Lord’s Prayer and his overall message of compassion along with many more details that I won’t go into right now.
Robert E Howard, specifically through Conan the Barbarian
Lao-Tsu – The Tao Te Ch’ing
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Brothers Karamazov
John Shelby Spong – Christian Atheism makes sense and best describes me.
Dan Savage – yes, the sex advice columnist.
Friedrich Nietzsche – the noble man defines his own values.
The Buddha, especially The Eightfold Path, but also the Four Noble Truths
Jesus Christ – especially the Lord’s Prayer and his overall message of compassion along with many more details that I won’t go into right now.
Robert E Howard, specifically through Conan the Barbarian
Lao-Tsu – The Tao Te Ch’ing
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Brothers Karamazov
John Shelby Spong – Christian Atheism makes sense and best describes me.
Dan Savage – yes, the sex advice columnist.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lessons from the First Adventure
The group didn’t quite get what I was trying to do with the round robin, ‘what is the first story of your character,’ but that’s okay. They wound up creating a single shared ‘how they met’ story for themselves, which is still superior to making me engineer a ‘how the group met’ adventure.
I launched quickly into a skill challenge; I knew this would be tricky since it’s a new mechanic to pretty much everyone at the table. I wanted to introduce the concept because I think it has great potential if we can get better at it. DM’s need to design and execute them well, and players need to problem solve using their characters skills. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome. They missed an opportunity to interact with NPC’s which then made the rest of the challenge kinda boring. I realize now I need to be a little more clear about making their options visible.
I should have read up on the monsters a bit more, and thought their tactics out a little in advance. It worked out fine, but would have been smoother and quicker, with less book flipping if I had done that. I think I will continue using the cards for all quick reference information; at least this keeps everything in one place. It does create flipping through the cards, but my hypothesis is that this is outweighed by the certainty of all info in one place.
I must admit that it’s delicious to frustrate the players a little by making the mobs sneaky and by zapping the player characters with hindering affects. It’s also fun to bloody the PC’s and to knock them down sometimes.
I launched quickly into a skill challenge; I knew this would be tricky since it’s a new mechanic to pretty much everyone at the table. I wanted to introduce the concept because I think it has great potential if we can get better at it. DM’s need to design and execute them well, and players need to problem solve using their characters skills. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome. They missed an opportunity to interact with NPC’s which then made the rest of the challenge kinda boring. I realize now I need to be a little more clear about making their options visible.
I should have read up on the monsters a bit more, and thought their tactics out a little in advance. It worked out fine, but would have been smoother and quicker, with less book flipping if I had done that. I think I will continue using the cards for all quick reference information; at least this keeps everything in one place. It does create flipping through the cards, but my hypothesis is that this is outweighed by the certainty of all info in one place.
I must admit that it’s delicious to frustrate the players a little by making the mobs sneaky and by zapping the player characters with hindering affects. It’s also fun to bloody the PC’s and to knock them down sometimes.
Friday, February 20, 2009
I’m Still in Love with President Obama
Content: So far, President Obama is running the perfect presidency. He made genuine, good faith efforts to involve the Republican party in the stimulus package, he has initiated plans to close Guantanamo and immediately put a halt to the prosecutions happening there , he is allowing us to see where our billions will go through unheard of transparency . There have been a few missteps, notably with some of his cabinet choices, but what manager hasn’t made a bad hire or two in his time? He has even put a stop to the traditional sketchy accounting practices that have made the deficient appear smaller.
I even like that he holds (so far) regular cocktail gatherings at the White House. This is my president.
I’m still worried, mind you. Unemployment continues to grow, Washington State has a large budget deficit, transit is threatened, Afghanistan is still in deep trouble (and if the fragile situation in Iraq regresses… but let’s hope the positive trends there continue) and North Korea has plans to test rockets. I know it’s only been a month, but I sure hope we get some real, solid wins
I even like that he holds (so far) regular cocktail gatherings at the White House. This is my president.
I’m still worried, mind you. Unemployment continues to grow, Washington State has a large budget deficit, transit is threatened, Afghanistan is still in deep trouble (and if the fragile situation in Iraq regresses… but let’s hope the positive trends there continue) and North Korea has plans to test rockets. I know it’s only been a month, but I sure hope we get some real, solid wins
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Audible
A few weeks ago I started a trial subscription with Audible.com. I’ve been an avid podcast listener for two years, and felt the need for something more substantial. There are many more interesting books out there than I have time to read; if I can lever my running and commuting time to digging through some of them, that would be groovy.
I majored in English and am a bit of a failed novelist, so I appreciate reading. Reading and listening are different activities; on the other hand, isn’t it better to listen to some content than to never experience it at all?
The first book I downloaded was John Shelby Spong’s Jesus for the Non-Religious. I’ve been a fan of Spong for over ten years, but hadn’t kept up on his recent work. I wanted to avoid fiction for my first audio-book experience. I strikes me as more important to see the printed word when it comes to fiction. Non-fiction tends to be the transmission of facts, which seems to lend it more toward the audio format.
On a whole, it’s worked well. The content is generally interesting, and it doesn’t matter much if I miss a paragraph or two. His style is that of most essayists. He tells me what he’s going to tell me, he tells me, then he tells me what he told me. Additionally, there are summaries of what he told me in previous chapters and intends to tell me in later ones. There have been a few dry bits that barely held my attention, and that can be a problem. Sometimes I like to flip through chapters initially, to see what’s coming (remember Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review or SQRRR?), and that’s impossible with audio-books. Instead, you’re locked in the fairly interminable march forward, through the work, at the pace of the reader. Yes, you could loop backward or forward if you wanted; iPod technology certainly allows for that.
On a whole, it’s been a good experience. Next, I’ll probably choose a biography or some low intensity science fiction. Maybe a Star Wars expanded universe novel, or a biography about Tom Petty… I also would bet that smut, er… ‘erotica’ would be entertaining in this format.
I majored in English and am a bit of a failed novelist, so I appreciate reading. Reading and listening are different activities; on the other hand, isn’t it better to listen to some content than to never experience it at all?
The first book I downloaded was John Shelby Spong’s Jesus for the Non-Religious. I’ve been a fan of Spong for over ten years, but hadn’t kept up on his recent work. I wanted to avoid fiction for my first audio-book experience. I strikes me as more important to see the printed word when it comes to fiction. Non-fiction tends to be the transmission of facts, which seems to lend it more toward the audio format.
On a whole, it’s worked well. The content is generally interesting, and it doesn’t matter much if I miss a paragraph or two. His style is that of most essayists. He tells me what he’s going to tell me, he tells me, then he tells me what he told me. Additionally, there are summaries of what he told me in previous chapters and intends to tell me in later ones. There have been a few dry bits that barely held my attention, and that can be a problem. Sometimes I like to flip through chapters initially, to see what’s coming (remember Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review or SQRRR?), and that’s impossible with audio-books. Instead, you’re locked in the fairly interminable march forward, through the work, at the pace of the reader. Yes, you could loop backward or forward if you wanted; iPod technology certainly allows for that.
On a whole, it’s been a good experience. Next, I’ll probably choose a biography or some low intensity science fiction. Maybe a Star Wars expanded universe novel, or a biography about Tom Petty… I also would bet that smut, er… ‘erotica’ would be entertaining in this format.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Reflections on Stranger in a Strange Land
I first encountered this book at the tail end of my Heinlein phase, in 1994. This was also the beginning of my first stab at becoming a science fiction novelist, and, I realize now, that terrible book that I wrote was more than a little influenced by this work. I also realize that Heinlein uses some tricky narrative styles that probably confused me. For example, he switches tenses and person a time or two. It works for him, but as a very new, not very good writer, it was not something I should have been fooling with.
As science fiction, it holds up in many ways; in other ways, less so. The hard science is not very interesting. There’s nothing terribly innovative about the one world government, the flying, automated cars, or the video and audio tapes that appear occasionally. On the other hand, Mars and its inhabitants are fairly interesting. Good thing too, since the relationship between human and Martian drives the entire novel.
What I found to be most interesting and most disappointing was the social commentary. The book makes it clear that Heinlein enjoys and has great affection for women. It also strongly suggests a line of deep sexism in his thinking. Even the more central women are cast as purely supporting characters. They are intelligent, attractive and varied; yet all the really important actions and decisions are left to the male characters.
I deeply appreciate the concept of Water Brother as portrayed here. Of course, it reflects an idealized circle of friends. Since I don’t live in an idealized world, it breaks down when applied to my reality. For example, in this novel’s concept, the circle of water brothers is ever inclusive, and water brothers are always trusted to be wise in their inclusion of new members. In my life, I surely have close friends analogous to Michael Smith (The Man from Mars)’s water brothers; yet, these friends occasionally have close friends who I would not choose to associate with, let along ‘share water’ with.
Heinlein’s view of human sexuality is also compelling. These characters are polyamorous (though the word hadn’t been invented yet), have multiple partners, and yet, they are not at all licentious. All of their sex is a means for ‘growing closer.’ In some ways this makes it simultaneously more and less casual than sex is commonly experienced in our culture.
There’s also a nice bit about good kissing. The best kisses are those in which those involved are focused on the experience itself, and are not concerned about the before and after.
As science fiction, it holds up in many ways; in other ways, less so. The hard science is not very interesting. There’s nothing terribly innovative about the one world government, the flying, automated cars, or the video and audio tapes that appear occasionally. On the other hand, Mars and its inhabitants are fairly interesting. Good thing too, since the relationship between human and Martian drives the entire novel.
What I found to be most interesting and most disappointing was the social commentary. The book makes it clear that Heinlein enjoys and has great affection for women. It also strongly suggests a line of deep sexism in his thinking. Even the more central women are cast as purely supporting characters. They are intelligent, attractive and varied; yet all the really important actions and decisions are left to the male characters.
I deeply appreciate the concept of Water Brother as portrayed here. Of course, it reflects an idealized circle of friends. Since I don’t live in an idealized world, it breaks down when applied to my reality. For example, in this novel’s concept, the circle of water brothers is ever inclusive, and water brothers are always trusted to be wise in their inclusion of new members. In my life, I surely have close friends analogous to Michael Smith (The Man from Mars)’s water brothers; yet, these friends occasionally have close friends who I would not choose to associate with, let along ‘share water’ with.
Heinlein’s view of human sexuality is also compelling. These characters are polyamorous (though the word hadn’t been invented yet), have multiple partners, and yet, they are not at all licentious. All of their sex is a means for ‘growing closer.’ In some ways this makes it simultaneously more and less casual than sex is commonly experienced in our culture.
There’s also a nice bit about good kissing. The best kisses are those in which those involved are focused on the experience itself, and are not concerned about the before and after.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Susie Bright
You have to love Susie Bright. While I have some of her books around, I'd never seen her speak before.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Root Causes of Disharmony
Lately I’ve been blending my interest in ‘harmony’ with my professional focus of root cause analyses. In my life right now, I know disharmony when I see it. I especially know it within myself. If something is stuck in my craw, it can take some contemplative digging to determine what I’m cranked about. Usually whatever I’m cranked about isn’t the root cause.
This has brought to light at least one emotional dilemma that I must navigate: I despise and get very stressed when I’m stuck in a bad plan – disharmony! – so I tend to at least review plans as their devised. As a result, I wind up making a lot of plans; normally I don’t mind, and I generally find it satisfying. It is, however, an additional responsibility, which brings its own stress - and… disharmony!
Identifying this bind is already a great start: it’s obvious that in any given situation, I have to either embrace the planning and coordination, or enjoy the relative lack of responsibility. I do appreciate when a strong, knowledgeable and coordinated leader steps up and makes a plan that I can, at least, live with.
This has brought to light at least one emotional dilemma that I must navigate: I despise and get very stressed when I’m stuck in a bad plan – disharmony! – so I tend to at least review plans as their devised. As a result, I wind up making a lot of plans; normally I don’t mind, and I generally find it satisfying. It is, however, an additional responsibility, which brings its own stress - and… disharmony!
Identifying this bind is already a great start: it’s obvious that in any given situation, I have to either embrace the planning and coordination, or enjoy the relative lack of responsibility. I do appreciate when a strong, knowledgeable and coordinated leader steps up and makes a plan that I can, at least, live with.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Long Weekend
I’ve posted some pictures to Facebook, and lots more to Flickr. If I know you, and you want to see them, let me know.
Travel:
I got a speeding ticket just outside of Ritzville. The officer was very polite; I didn’t try to explain anything. I knew I was guilty, I knew he’d caught me. On a whole, the experience was pleasant enough, aside from the bill at the end.
It snowed while we were at the birthday / Super Bowl party, which added some adventure for the five mile drive back to Colville. I got to practice my snow skills, and realized that my motorcycle experience has helped develop my sense of angles and friction. I had to double back at one point, because I slide through the intersection I was supposed to turn at. Overall, it wasn’t a sweat though.
The lingering snow kept me cautious from Colville to Spokane, but didn’t hinder much. It probably did contribute, however, to a hole in my rental car’s tire. The car had a little light that warned me of low tire pressure, and I heard the hissing when I stopped for supplies.
As we’ve all probably noticed, pay phones are becoming rare; what’s even rarer are phone books. It was easy to get instructions with a phone call or two, but 411 left me on hold for quite awhile, and I was very much at their mercy. Then I had to call the tire place for directions. All while the air continued to hiss out of the tire. I did kind of wish I had a more advanced cel phone. Google Maps sure would have been handy.
Gaming:
We played a very odd and super fun game of BSG. Humans won, and the player with Tom Zarek was President, Admiral and the only human not in the brig at the game’s end. If the Cylon player had been more familiar with the game, the outcome may have changed. I am sure, however, that my strategy of early jumps, with dice adjusting cards, and Helo’s re-roll ability is the key to success. The game took nearly four hours; I think it could take less time with all experienced players. It always takes four hours with newbies though.
The next night we played a hand of Space Munchkin. This game took about an hour and was also lots of fun.
Alcohol:
We went out for beers and dinner the first night, but then pretty much quit drinking. Even though we were up late, no one suffered from a hangover, and no one was really ‘drunk.’ We didn’t have any alcohol at the Super Bowl / Birthday Party. While I can hardly imagine not drinking for my birthday, our fun was not at all impinged. After all, there was a puppy... and football. How we’ve changed…
Duration:
Two nights and two days seem just about right. I would have liked a few more hours on that first day, but I had to get my long run in, and the travel (see above) takes several hours.
Travel:
I got a speeding ticket just outside of Ritzville. The officer was very polite; I didn’t try to explain anything. I knew I was guilty, I knew he’d caught me. On a whole, the experience was pleasant enough, aside from the bill at the end.
It snowed while we were at the birthday / Super Bowl party, which added some adventure for the five mile drive back to Colville. I got to practice my snow skills, and realized that my motorcycle experience has helped develop my sense of angles and friction. I had to double back at one point, because I slide through the intersection I was supposed to turn at. Overall, it wasn’t a sweat though.
The lingering snow kept me cautious from Colville to Spokane, but didn’t hinder much. It probably did contribute, however, to a hole in my rental car’s tire. The car had a little light that warned me of low tire pressure, and I heard the hissing when I stopped for supplies.
As we’ve all probably noticed, pay phones are becoming rare; what’s even rarer are phone books. It was easy to get instructions with a phone call or two, but 411 left me on hold for quite awhile, and I was very much at their mercy. Then I had to call the tire place for directions. All while the air continued to hiss out of the tire. I did kind of wish I had a more advanced cel phone. Google Maps sure would have been handy.
Gaming:
We played a very odd and super fun game of BSG. Humans won, and the player with Tom Zarek was President, Admiral and the only human not in the brig at the game’s end. If the Cylon player had been more familiar with the game, the outcome may have changed. I am sure, however, that my strategy of early jumps, with dice adjusting cards, and Helo’s re-roll ability is the key to success. The game took nearly four hours; I think it could take less time with all experienced players. It always takes four hours with newbies though.
The next night we played a hand of Space Munchkin. This game took about an hour and was also lots of fun.
Alcohol:
We went out for beers and dinner the first night, but then pretty much quit drinking. Even though we were up late, no one suffered from a hangover, and no one was really ‘drunk.’ We didn’t have any alcohol at the Super Bowl / Birthday Party. While I can hardly imagine not drinking for my birthday, our fun was not at all impinged. After all, there was a puppy... and football. How we’ve changed…
Duration:
Two nights and two days seem just about right. I would have liked a few more hours on that first day, but I had to get my long run in, and the travel (see above) takes several hours.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Barack Hussein Obama
I'm a little embarrased to admit that I didn't understand that President Obama's middle name really was 'Hussein' until last week. I thought it was a ploy by some right wing nutjobs to try and discredit him, similar to the "Obama is a Muslim Extremist" rumors.
Harmony
Again the topic of harmony is on my mind. I’m re-reading Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, and one of the differences between Martians and Humans is the Martian inability to endure disharmony. They ‘discorporate’ at the sort of argument some of us have daily. That started my mind down the path.
The harmony I seek, both professionally and personally, is very much like a dance. Dance partners become good and great dance partners through the practice and education. Both know the moves, they learn each other, and they gain an ability to adjust to the real world challenges of the dance floor. The lead has the advantage of knowing what’s coming and the added responsibility of deciding what’s next while executing the current steps. The follow is allowed to focus on the now, but often doesn’t know what’s next. In the case of dancing, the follow must also dance backwards, often in heels.
In my work I often focus on root causes. There’s no point in mopping the wet floor if the leaky pipe isn’t fixed. It occurred to me that most of my own emotional disruptions and are symptoms of disharmony. Often the disharmony is a gap between the world I desire and the world as it is. For example, before I shifted jobs, I was often frustrated by how long it took and by what I perceived as a lack of progress. Another example that no doubt is common in the human experience is the desire to spend more focused time with people I care about. One great advantage of being happily married and living with one’s spouse is this disharmony is relatively easy to fix or avoid with at least one valued relationship. – as an aside, I imagine for many couples, that is enough. We’ve all seen the pairings who drop out of social circles after they’ve found one another.
It’s also frequent that the disharmony is a concern for losing something in my current life that I’m attached to.
I had a lot more to say about this, but I’ve lost the mental thread for now...
The harmony I seek, both professionally and personally, is very much like a dance. Dance partners become good and great dance partners through the practice and education. Both know the moves, they learn each other, and they gain an ability to adjust to the real world challenges of the dance floor. The lead has the advantage of knowing what’s coming and the added responsibility of deciding what’s next while executing the current steps. The follow is allowed to focus on the now, but often doesn’t know what’s next. In the case of dancing, the follow must also dance backwards, often in heels.
In my work I often focus on root causes. There’s no point in mopping the wet floor if the leaky pipe isn’t fixed. It occurred to me that most of my own emotional disruptions and are symptoms of disharmony. Often the disharmony is a gap between the world I desire and the world as it is. For example, before I shifted jobs, I was often frustrated by how long it took and by what I perceived as a lack of progress. Another example that no doubt is common in the human experience is the desire to spend more focused time with people I care about. One great advantage of being happily married and living with one’s spouse is this disharmony is relatively easy to fix or avoid with at least one valued relationship. – as an aside, I imagine for many couples, that is enough. We’ve all seen the pairings who drop out of social circles after they’ve found one another.
It’s also frequent that the disharmony is a concern for losing something in my current life that I’m attached to.
I had a lot more to say about this, but I’ve lost the mental thread for now...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Personality Test - INTJ
I just took an internet version of the Meyers Briggs. It says I'm an INTJ: Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging
From what I've read, it seems to fit pretty well. Yep, I'm a systems thinker, have had to learn to express my vulnerabilities, and I'm not great at that even now.
I'm better at small social niceities than most INTJ's; I scored somewhat balanced on the Introvert / Extrovert scale, and especially balanced on the Thinking / Feeling scale.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Volunteerism
Our new president has me thinking about volunteering.
I know I'll have to be kinda picky or else I won't have fun and I won't stick with it. What follows is just the beginning of my considerations:
What I don’t want to do:
Volunteer for my employer
Sort (or do anything with) children’s clothes
Dispense juice and cookies to blood donors
Cold call anyone
Go door to door
What I want
I want to do something fun, or something mundane with fun people
I want it to feel meaningful
I don’t want to get stressed out in that ‘bad stress’ way
Bonus:
I can use and improve my professional skills along the way
Charities or Non-profits I’m Interested In
Northwest Harvest
ACLU
Democratic Party
Planned Parenthood
I know I'll have to be kinda picky or else I won't have fun and I won't stick with it. What follows is just the beginning of my considerations:
What I don’t want to do:
Volunteer for my employer
Sort (or do anything with) children’s clothes
Dispense juice and cookies to blood donors
Cold call anyone
Go door to door
What I want
I want to do something fun, or something mundane with fun people
I want it to feel meaningful
I don’t want to get stressed out in that ‘bad stress’ way
Bonus:
I can use and improve my professional skills along the way
Charities or Non-profits I’m Interested In
Northwest Harvest
ACLU
Democratic Party
Planned Parenthood
Friday, January 16, 2009
University Honda/Yamaha Closes?!
According to the Seattle PI and to the company's own website, University Honda on Capital Hill, has gone out of business.
Not only did I purchase all of my gear (helmet, jacket, pants, two pairs of gloves and some miscellaneous other stuff) there, they did the maintenance on my bike last year. I fully planned to go back when my mileage hits 4,000. I was always treated well there.
It's also going to be damned inconvenient to go anywhere else. Hopefully this will open the way for some new motorcycle business to move to the Hill; really though, I don't want a new one. I want my old motorcycle shop back.
Not only did I purchase all of my gear (helmet, jacket, pants, two pairs of gloves and some miscellaneous other stuff) there, they did the maintenance on my bike last year. I fully planned to go back when my mileage hits 4,000. I was always treated well there.
It's also going to be damned inconvenient to go anywhere else. Hopefully this will open the way for some new motorcycle business to move to the Hill; really though, I don't want a new one. I want my old motorcycle shop back.
Fiscal Conservatism?
Does anyone else get the sense that the fiscal conservatives have all retreated into hiding? I don’t understand the nuances of all these bailouts, but I do know that the federal government is borrowing a lot of money and giving it to companies in crisis. So far, I have little faith that an injection of cash is all these folks need to right their ships, and the distribution of cash has, as yet, included little in the way of governmental oversight.
How are we going to pay for this? Is throwing money at our problems going to pull us out of this recession?
The other problem I have is that I don’t really understand what we’re getting for our money. I understand President-elect Obama has public works projects planned, and that’s grand. What are we getting for the $350 billion already distributed? I understand that it’s supposed to strengthen our banking system, blah blah; that’s not much to hold onto though. It’s a little abstract for me, and it feels like we’re throwing that money into a pit. And in that pit is an ancient cash eating dragon.
Some Libertarian voices have questioned the constitutionality of November’s bailout, and I guess that’s something. Normally the only thing the Republican Party is good for is keeping the recurrent liberal impulse to throw money at problems in check. I don’t see that tension right now, and I’m concerned.
How are we going to pay for this? Is throwing money at our problems going to pull us out of this recession?
The other problem I have is that I don’t really understand what we’re getting for our money. I understand President-elect Obama has public works projects planned, and that’s grand. What are we getting for the $350 billion already distributed? I understand that it’s supposed to strengthen our banking system, blah blah; that’s not much to hold onto though. It’s a little abstract for me, and it feels like we’re throwing that money into a pit. And in that pit is an ancient cash eating dragon.
Some Libertarian voices have questioned the constitutionality of November’s bailout, and I guess that’s something. Normally the only thing the Republican Party is good for is keeping the recurrent liberal impulse to throw money at problems in check. I don’t see that tension right now, and I’m concerned.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
BSG, the Obsession
I’ve slipped into a Battlestar Galactica related frenzy. Part of me regrets ordering season 4.0 from Amazon; they weren’t delivered until Monday. That left me five precious evenings to rewatch those episodes before the second half of the final season kicks off Friday night at 10 p.m.. Unfortunately, Monday is also my D&D night: no watching that night. I also have plans Friday evening right up to premiere, and we have a friend coming to dinner tonight. These are all good things mind you; the unfortunate part is the synchronicity of it all. The reality is, I won’t make it through them all in time, and that’s okay. I feel worse for the first time viewers I know who are trying to make it through ten episodes in order to synch up with the rest of us for the series’s final push.
I also picked up the BSG soundtracks that were missing from my collection; they all now live happily in my iPod. We also have a some folks coming over to play the board game (of which I’ve written previously) on Saturday – let me tell you, trying to fill up all six slots for that game is trickier than it sounds. I have a long list of folks who have expressed clear interest, but I can’t invite them all. I only have the one board. Naturally, I’ve received a handful of varying degrees of ‘tenatively yes’ responses as well. Juggling all this reminds me of trying to staff a restaurant or something. It’s all very complicated.
As I re-watch the first half of season four over a short amount of time, I’m reminded of Return of the King. Both have a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short amount of time. Neither is prepared to hold anything back when it’s all said and done. This leads to fluid storytelling that drifts from the kind of focused narrative we’ve come to expect. While each episode does have a beginning middle and end, one leads directly into the next. None are truly self contained.
This all works better when you watch them consecutively, with little break in between.
I also realize now that I may have been a little drunk during my first viewing: the accompanying whiskey is part of the experience for me. Trying to keep up with Tigh or Adama has gotten me into trouble before... (well, the red wine I had with dinner earlier that evening also had something to do with it).
It also occurred to me that I’m every bit as obsessed with BSG now as I was with Star Wars from 1979 to 1995, or Twin Peaks from ’95ish – ’97ish (that was an all video experience). It’s fun!
I also picked up the BSG soundtracks that were missing from my collection; they all now live happily in my iPod. We also have a some folks coming over to play the board game (of which I’ve written previously) on Saturday – let me tell you, trying to fill up all six slots for that game is trickier than it sounds. I have a long list of folks who have expressed clear interest, but I can’t invite them all. I only have the one board. Naturally, I’ve received a handful of varying degrees of ‘tenatively yes’ responses as well. Juggling all this reminds me of trying to staff a restaurant or something. It’s all very complicated.
As I re-watch the first half of season four over a short amount of time, I’m reminded of Return of the King. Both have a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short amount of time. Neither is prepared to hold anything back when it’s all said and done. This leads to fluid storytelling that drifts from the kind of focused narrative we’ve come to expect. While each episode does have a beginning middle and end, one leads directly into the next. None are truly self contained.
This all works better when you watch them consecutively, with little break in between.
I also realize now that I may have been a little drunk during my first viewing: the accompanying whiskey is part of the experience for me. Trying to keep up with Tigh or Adama has gotten me into trouble before... (well, the red wine I had with dinner earlier that evening also had something to do with it).
It also occurred to me that I’m every bit as obsessed with BSG now as I was with Star Wars from 1979 to 1995, or Twin Peaks from ’95ish – ’97ish (that was an all video experience). It’s fun!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hawk on Fence, adendum
The hawk I saw on my fence is a Cooper's Hawk, my father informed me. He knows a lot about wildlife.
Ideas Buzzing
It’s been a weird time in Seattle. Building in the background is the ongoing financial crisis (when can we declare a moratorium on the phrase, “in this financial climate”?), and an ongoing gang war between some South Seattle and Central Seattle gangs. Shootings have become frequent, some within blocks of our home. Then came two full weeks of snowy, city paralyzing weather, followed by flooding. This flooding was serious enough to close off all major land routes into the region and disrupted supply chains.
Piercing
Pain was comparable to the novocain injection during wisdom teeth removal (by the way, if the injections to prevent the ‘actual’ pain hurt that much, how painful must the tooth removal be?)
The piercer had a very professional and mellow affect. He was exactly the sort of person I hoped for.
The bleeding seems to have stopped; I don’t see any other oozing; so far, so good! It’s still tender, though.
My perspective on bacteria has changed; I’m very aware of cleanliness when it comes to the area near my piercing now. I don’t want an infection!
D&D 4th Edition Character Concept – built around chain weapon (flail) which has ‘reach’ property. I’m thinking warlord, to focus on keeping control of adversaries, preferably staying out of melee range, and adding entanglement, if possible. There must be entanglement rules in there somewhere.
The idea is inspired by the Uncanny X-Men comic from 20 yearsish ago when the Reavers ambushed Wolverine in Australia. They defeated him by staying at range with bolos and chain weapons. This concept may work better with a fighter. I plan to get the Martial Powers book soon to help sort it out and to give me new, fun ideas. I see that Clerics also have the ability to push baddies around, and have some advantages with flails. It occurs to me that there are probably several workable characters behind this concept.
Jazz Singer – the old version – shot when blackface was normal! Interesting how the version from the 80’s with Neil Diamond had its own, very different blackface scene.
Piercing
Pain was comparable to the novocain injection during wisdom teeth removal (by the way, if the injections to prevent the ‘actual’ pain hurt that much, how painful must the tooth removal be?)
The piercer had a very professional and mellow affect. He was exactly the sort of person I hoped for.
The bleeding seems to have stopped; I don’t see any other oozing; so far, so good! It’s still tender, though.
My perspective on bacteria has changed; I’m very aware of cleanliness when it comes to the area near my piercing now. I don’t want an infection!
D&D 4th Edition Character Concept – built around chain weapon (flail) which has ‘reach’ property. I’m thinking warlord, to focus on keeping control of adversaries, preferably staying out of melee range, and adding entanglement, if possible. There must be entanglement rules in there somewhere.
The idea is inspired by the Uncanny X-Men comic from 20 yearsish ago when the Reavers ambushed Wolverine in Australia. They defeated him by staying at range with bolos and chain weapons. This concept may work better with a fighter. I plan to get the Martial Powers book soon to help sort it out and to give me new, fun ideas. I see that Clerics also have the ability to push baddies around, and have some advantages with flails. It occurs to me that there are probably several workable characters behind this concept.
Jazz Singer – the old version – shot when blackface was normal! Interesting how the version from the 80’s with Neil Diamond had its own, very different blackface scene.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Major Goal Achieved
As of January 2nd, 2009, I became officially and completely 'bad debt' free. We still have a mortgage (well, technically two mortgages)... I've carried a balance of some kind for... well, my student loans started racking up in the fall of '94.
It looks like I made a math error and I have a $50 credit on my personal line of credit.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
First Activity of 2009
For my first notable activity of 2009 (aside from feeding the cat, making coffee, surfing the internet and tidying up from last night's party), I arranged appropriate transfers to pay off the last of my credit card debt.
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