Measured Words

And then a Dog (or three) Barked

I had a dream last night that I was drinking a cup of coffee*, when... in my real life... one of my dogs barked (of course, the house was crazy silent at 3:30 a.m., why wouldn't someone try barking for no reason?).

And in my dream, I was startled and spilled my coffee.

***

*Free suggestion to my friends at the @MBTA and @DunkinDonuts... I love my Charlie Card and I love my Dunkies auto-recharged card. But I'm always getting them mixed up in my bag, pulling out the wrong one, and trying to run for the orange line (America may run on Dunkies, but they don't run through the T with it. Word.) with the card that should be for the medium hot coffee, cream only.

I think you see where I'm going with this.

Combine those cards, and the T can get some ad $s from Dunkies and I can get to my coffee a lot more quickly.

You're welcome.

Explain to me. Parkas and Bare Legs. Really?

#MBTA Orange Line | Back Bay Station | Feb 9 8:25 a.m. | 25F/-3.8C

Fully understanding that this will make me sound like I'm a hundred and eighteen years old, I have to go ahead and ask it.

"Ladies. Seriously? Bare legs with a parka? In Boston? In February? Seriously?"

Sorry. I had to get that out.

I don't get it. And by "don't get it," I mean... "AREN'T YOU FREEZING COLD????"

Now. I know that I come from a more conservative place, and that in that place, winters rarely brought snow and frequently required nothing more than a light wool coat.

New England is not that place.

And maybe it's just me, but I don't really find blue icicle legs (mine) attractive or comfortable really (mine) when the wind whips off of Boston Harbor and around the financial district.

COLD! THAT'S COLD!!!

So there's that.

I was just thankful today to find out I'm not the only one questioning this. Capitol Hill Style and Corporette both have had (similar) entries on the issue recently. None of the commentors could really land on a consensus (weird!) with some being pro bare legs and some pro-tights.

I will note however that no one seemed to be taking a pro blue icicle legs (mine) position.

Just something I noticed.

c) I think writers should write

I've been reading Laura over at 11D for years -- since she was actually in NYC and through the birth of her children and now into the suburbs. I've turned into one of those complete blog lurkers who feels like she knows someone from reading them for 10(? really?) years or more, but who have never really interacted with them.

One of the things I was inspired by recently was her blog post on the need to "just do it."

Well. I was inspired by it, then totally forgot about it and then remembered when my friend, was talking to me about it when we were "working out" (the quotes there are used purposefully) because I had told her she should be reading Laura's blog. And so she did, and so we were talking about it.

I used to blog pretty religiously. And by "used to" I mean back in the internet stone ages of 1998-2003(ish) on Diaryland.com as Cubiclegirl. I even managed to turn my blog into a novel, which was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, earned some kind of blog award and most importantly, met my wife through it. (I also bought a faux leopard coat during a book tour in San Francisco on my birthday, but I know that I'm supposed to say that finding my wife online was more important than that gorgeous coat. I know that. Yes, I do.)

And, I don't know... but when you achieve all of those things through a blog, you're kind of like, "well, I don't really need to do THAT any more."

So, outside of a massive stint in Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo in 2010 that I blogged my way through... I didn't. Really.

But the truth is, I miss it.

I need a daily writing practice because a) I like to write and b) I'm a writer and c) I think writers should write.

But also because I miss it.

I miss the interactions with the readers, I miss the practice of putting my thoughts into some kind of coherent form. And I miss the ability to compose a thought that's longer than 140 characters and more original than a "share" or a "like."

I miss writing, and I blame Laura and my friend C* -- and "working out" for that.

Let's Make a Cloud! And Other Community Organizing Tips

 

When I was 7, my family moved from one county Kentucky to another. That's pretty huge for people in Kentucky. There are 120 counties in the state. Which I know because I had to memorize all of their names and their county seats and place them correctly on a map in 7th grade. Which I did.

If you ask a Kentucky where s/he's from, and s/he's not from a town that someone may have actually heard of like Lexington or Louisville, then you'll get a county as an answer. I mean, Kentucky counties also have Judge-Executives, which are like mayors of the county.

All of which is to say that counties are really important and moving from one to another is a big deal.

So when my family moved counties, I was in a different school and in first grade and didn't really know anyone and didn't really realize that that should probably matter, because to me it didn't.

Because it was recess and the sun was shining and it was September and the sky was blue and I had on a new dress, and I wanted to make a cloud.

I really wanted to make a cloud.

At recess in this county, the whole school went outside to take recess at the same time. So in addition to the first graders being outside on the giant asphalt playground with the chemical plants blinking off in the bakcground. In addition to all of that, there were also second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders. And I still wanted to make a cloud.

So I did what any new kid surrounded by like 150 other kids would do. I put on my big girl voice and I somehow convinced every single person on that giant playground to hold hands in a giant circle.

I somehow sweet-talked every one of those kids into making a cloud.

It was so awesome. Right up until someone looked up at me and goes, "now what?"

Um. I dunno, idiot. We made a cloud. You should be happy.

Anyway. Last week, I had the opportunity to do the grown-up version of that when I helped to organize the first meeting of the Roslindale for Elizabeth Warren group.

It was amazing. We had 50 people come out on a Thursday night in February to talk about how much they wanted to elect Elizabeth Warren to office. And out of that meeting, we worked and organized and got delegates committed to Elizabeth Warren, elected in several Ward Committee caucuses on Saturday.

It was fantastic.

And almost kinda better than making a cloud.

Almost.

Read: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

I had heard Ms. Demick speaking about her book, "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" on NPR a few weeks ago and considering my fascination with North Korea, thought this would be a good read.

Turns out it was a perfectly fine read.

The book was more of a novelized take on interviews the author had with defectors to South Korea beginning around 2004. I have no doubt that she's attempted to accurately portray their statements, but the fact that she's only able to interview defectors naturally skews the take on things in North Korea.

This approach to the book, while interesting, left me wondering how much of it was factual. I almost wish she had either done this as a novel or as a pure academic take on research.

This is Callie

This is Callie. She is a Shetland Sheepdog. She's 11. She'll be 12 in July.

Callie gets visited by M.O.T.H. (Master Of The Hounds) from Mailman's Pet Service on Tuesdays and Thursday for a WALK. This is REALLY EXCITING for Callie and Cash and Fenway because they get a glorious walk around the neighborhood with random dog friends.

This is also really exciting for me because M.O.T.H. leaves great notes. I mostly pay for a dogwalker just to get someone to write notes to me about my dogs.

This was today's note:

1.10.12 3:15 - 4 p.m.

We had a great walk everybody peed, the boys pooped all got treats, Thank you, MaryAnn (MOTH).

Ps. Callie got a label from a box stuck on her paw and was having a hissy fit till I got it off - LOL!!

***

Good job, Callie

New England's Spring in January

We had a fantastic day Saturday wandering around the North End of Boston. Someone forgot to tell
New England it's January... and it was a gorgeous 60F & sunny. So we ended up walking along the waterfront... stopping to get cannolis & coffee & just generally lounging in the sun.

We had lunch at Neptune Oyster with my friend/colleague Jenn... the girl I stayed with in London. She's negotiated a move back there! So exciting!!! I'm so super happy for her.

We really love Jenn. She truly has just a great heart... so easy to hang out with and was wonderful to tour St Paul's Cathedral with me when I was there in June and Kathryn's mom was toward the end. Jenn even very sweetly brought us a St Paul Christmas ornament when she came back in December.

After lunch, we walked around the North End... and of course my wife who knows everyone... knew the counter guy at this coffee shop. She had worked with him at a print shop 20 years ago. He was straight out of central casting with his thick Boston/Italian accent. Loved it.

 

Then we stopped off at Mike's Pastry and got some fabulous cannolis & coffees.

And then we sat by the Boston Harbor & ate them in the sunshine. :)

 

 

My 2011 Books Read

	Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)	Collins, Suzanne	4.08		read [edit]	Jan 02, 2012 [edit]	Jan 02, 2012
	Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)	Collins, Suzanne	4.39		read [edit]	Dec 31, 2011 [edit]	Jan 01, 2012
	The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)	Collins, Suzanne	4.54		read [edit]	Dec 30, 2011 [edit]	Dec 29, 2011
	Before I Go to Sleep	Watson, S.J. *	3.81		read [edit]	Dec 29, 2011 [edit]	Dec 28, 2011
	Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case	Nathan, Debbie *	3.56		read [edit]	Dec 28, 2011 [edit]	Dec 25, 2011
	The 19th Wife	Ebershoff, David *	3.57		read [edit]	Dec 16, 2011 [edit]	Dec 10, 2011
	11/22/63	King, Stephen	4.35		read [edit]	Dec 07, 2011 [edit]	Nov 26, 2011
	The Leftovers	Perrotta, Tom	3.44		read [edit]	Nov 26, 2011 [edit]	Nov 25, 2011
	The Buddha in the Attic	Otsuka, Julie	3.56		read [edit]	Nov 23, 2011 [edit]	Nov 20, 2011
	I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother	Pearson, Allison	3.18		read [edit]	Nov 20, 2011 [edit]	Nov 20, 2011
	Outliers: The Story of Success	Gladwell, Malcolm	3.98		read [edit]	Oct 30, 2011 [edit]	Oct 30, 2011
	The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake	Bender, Aimee *	3.13		read [edit]	Oct 24, 2011 [edit]	Oct 24, 2011
	Cutting for Stone	Verghese, Abraham	4.23		read [edit]	Sep 25, 2011 [edit]	Sep 06, 2011
	This Boy's Faith: A Memoir	Cain, Hamilton	2.91		read [edit]	Sep 25, 2011 [edit]	Sep 05, 2011
	Dead End Gene Pool	Burden, Wendy *	3.18		read [edit]	Sep 03, 2011 [edit]	Aug 27, 2011
	Then Came You	Weiner, Jennifer *	3.56		read [edit]	Aug 12, 2011 [edit]	Aug 12, 2011
	Girl in Translation	Kwok, Jean *	3.93		read [edit]	not set [edit]	May 30, 2011
	Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse, #11)	Harris, Charlaine	3.64		read [edit]	May 30, 2011 [edit]	May 30, 2011
	Olive Kitteridge	Strout, Elizabeth	3.67		read [edit]	Apr 25, 2011 [edit]	Apr 25, 2011
	Summer at Tiffany	Hart, Marjorie	3.54		read [edit]	Apr 25, 2011 [edit]	Apr 23, 2011
	The Heights	Hedges, Peter	3.24		read [edit]	not set [edit]	Apr 22, 2011
	The Help	Stockett, Kathryn *	4.45		read [edit]	Feb 25, 2011 [edit]	Feb 25, 2011

Hullo Snow!

 

This is pretty much what my day looked like today. Only not quite as pretty...

via www.universalhub.com

Does Crying About it Help?

John Boehner's got everyone talking this week about whether or not it's ok to cry at work. Check it out:

• Jodi Glickman on the Harvard Business Review blog takes the opportunity to remind us to never cry at work and to take a walk outside if you feel yourself tearing up.
• Forbes says that crying at work may be ok. Sometimes. Just be super careful about who you do it in front of.
• The Daily Beast cites a study that shows that while women are more likely to cry at work, they're also more likely to judge you harshly for crying: A plurality of women consider people who cry at work "unstable," whereas roughly that same fraction of men see tears on the job as only "slightly unprofessional." In other words, women see tears at work as some kind of moral or psychological failure, but surprisingly, men don’t.
  
• Women aren't the only ones judging though. Gail Collins reminds us of the double-standard society puts on crying by reminding us of how folks turned on Hillary Clinton's non-tears on the presidential campaign trail, but feels more ok about Boehner's crying.

I've cried at work. Early on in my career, when everything felt much more personal about just about me.

Over the years though, I've realized that the urge to cry is usually about something else. It's pretty rare that the actual emotion I'm having in the cubicle is the Emotion of Sad. More likely the tears well up because I'm frustrated with the process, angry at being disrespected, or there's a disagreement with someone about the right way to go about a job.

Now that I've had a bit more experience in the work world, it's much easier to quickly identify what it is that I'm feeling, why I'm feeling it and what I can do to address it.

All of which is about 80x more productive than crying at work.

Sorry Boehner.