Good night sleep works wonders

I felt badly leaving my evening meeting early, but I physically could not keep my eyes open. I have been burning the candle at both ends, and when that happens a 9pm crash is just what the doctor ordered.

I actually feel a bit "jet-lagged" from so much sleep. Kind of like when I gave up coffee a few years ago. For a few weeks, I was really to fall asleep 24/7. That wore off, I had no coffee for 6 months, BUT now am an addict again.

I really want to get the book HELPING that I heard about last night. Don't tell anyone, but I may do the B&N trick on this book. Find a couple of hours free (that is a challenge), go to B&N, buy latte, find a quiet cozy chair, get the book and read it there. I have only done this a couple of times. I know, stealing money from all those authors. Believe me, I have bought my share of books in my lifetime. We are trying to not add anymore books to the Coniston bookshelves, so if I can I get them from the library.

Speaking of the library, are all librarians grouchy? There are a few in Lexington who must have a really bad life to be so grouchy. One in particular this week, I went in to say that I had indeed returned a book, but it was showing up on my account and collecting fines. I HATE TO PAY LIBRARY FINES. SHE SAYS: NOPE, not returned, look under your car seat. SALLY SAYS: I did return it with 2 others books last week. SHE SAYS: OH, OK I will go look on the shelves. SALLY SAYS:"No, let me do that for you, I don't mind" (smile). Not up there."

SHE SAYS: Well as I said, go look under your car seat. I start to doubt myself. After I leave she talks in a stage whisper about those stupid "customers" who lose track of books. SHE SAYS: I know it is under her car seat. I actually looked under my car seat. Not there

This morning when I logged in, miraculously the book has disappeared from my record.

Now that I think about it, I bet it was under HER car seat.

OK, I have friends who are librarians and not grouchy or devious, but this one was. I hope she reads my blog.

Helping - interesting book and interesting concept

I just returned from an ODLG meeting hearing the author Ed Schein talk about his new book, "Helping"

I am too tired right now to fully process most of the thoughts from the book that I just heard about but I definitely want to follow up soon on these thoughts.

Some insights are that asking for help puts you in a ONE DOWN position. Offering help is not always what is needed in a certain situation. Don't offer help unless you know what the helpee needs or wants.

I often offer help, when that is not really what the other person wants. I do this to be helpful and to please. Good intentions, good reasons, but not always well received, or even necessary to offer.

Off to bed now, coz of too many late nights. I am requesting the book from the library and I am sure will have an update once I actually read the book and get into it.

Got me thinking

I follow this person on twitter. One of his latest tweets is to a blog post of his and I want to think more about it. It is one of those, that I think I get, but am not sure. If I post it here then I am more apt to go back and read it.

The way I learn is by talking about and doing new stuff. So I need to talk about this post with others, and do it, I guess. I do know that the more uncomfortable I am, the more apt I am to learn something. Yes, if I look inside, this post makes me uncomfortable. GOOD THING to pay attention to.

Would love comments about the post!!!!!!

Life is Good - Brilliant company and tag line

I recently bought 2 more Life is Good t-shirts. I bought one early on before their popularity and I still wear it albeit infrequently coz I don't want it to fall apart. There were certain places early on, that I had to wear it e.g. at least once at Star Island every year. Now that there is a t-shirt sold each year for that conference, I don't have enough days now to wear it, so it sits on the shelf for Star.

I often think, Life is Good, sometimes and sometimes it is NOT GOOD. If there were not good times and bad times, we would not have the comparison to know the difference. This is kind of like the Baby on Board signs. There is not always a Baby on Board, so the sign is a lie sometimes.

Wearing the shirt, when Life is NOT Good, is a prod to be positive maybe or a day turns bad and you need to change shirts. Maybe I can bring it to Star this year, and wear it to indicate when Life is Good for me. In that case, it would be worn out, but now that I have 3, I could alternate them.

I also wonder if in this horrific economy, whether more people are buying Life is Good gear?

So today for me Life is Good. It is Friday, and by big brother got Red Sox vs. Yankess tickets for G (older brother), J (sister-in-law of older brother) T (oldest younger brother) and S (me)

It is sunny, and we head to Coniston after the SIC meeting tomorrow.

Earth Day 2009 - my third major resolution

Today at work we have an Earth Day fair. In fact, I am sitting staffing a table right now on how to make non-toxic household cleaners. I shamelessly borrowed this from FPLEX where M and C have been driving this initiative during social hours and other church events.

My future Daughter in law, M was reading this book over the winter. I got it from the library and took it on our recent trip. TANGENT ALERT, the best time for me to read a book cover to cover is on a long plane ride or a weekend at Coniston.

TANGENT OVER: I did not totally understand why M wanted to plant asparagus but now I do. Up until now, I have pretty much avoided gardening. It is a solo activity and for an MBTI ENFP, there is not much solo in my life. Thanks to M for turning me onto this book. It is a really thought provoking book. Live off the land only with locally grown food for a year. Here come the chickens soon.

So I figure I will start by planting asparagus at Coniston now, and gradually grow a garden up there. The prior owner already had an herb garden, I just need to figure out what is what.

This is my third major GREEN resolution, that I have personally done. The other two are NO PLASTIC BAGS and bring my own coffee mug into coffee shops or to fill with water so NO PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES. Oh, I forgot, we stopped the Boston Globe daily paper, since more often than not it went directly to the recycle bin. I hope I am not personally responsible for the demise of the Boston Globe.

So, in a few years, I will be harvesting asparagus at Coniston, and this year we will have zucchini and tomatoes.

Happy Earth Day everyone!!!!

Trying to understand but I am not quite there

Since the pirate episode two weeks ago I have been trying to understand the pirate mentality. American kids dress up as pirates, and the occupation is one to be coveted by them, I think. The good UU way is to walk in someone else's shoes and I am practicing. I still do not understand . . . BUT I do understand. It is all about money. If we continue to pay them off, they will continue to "work". Bribes happen all the time all over the world, including the good 'ole USA.

Yesterday someone hacked my email account and send spam to my entire email list. What a helpless feeling. Who does this? What do they get out of it? Where is the money transaction for this one? I am going to continue to ponder this one, and try to be in their mind and walk in their shoes, but if anyone has any insight for me, it would be welcome. Happy Day, hopefully with less SPAM than yesterday.

Embarking on an Exciting Adventure - SIC Star Island Corporation

Tomorrow night will be my first Star Island Corporation meeting. Officially I won't be elected to the Board until the annual meeting on Saturday, but they did not want me to miss out on this first meeting, which was very nice.

I do a lot of volunteer work, and it was a real honor to be asked to server on this Board. I know it won't be easy, since there are always challenges. A wooden hotel, on a rock in the middle of the ocean in a very fragile environment. We cannot control the hurricanes, or lightening strikes, or squalls; the acts of nature. We can control our regulatory compliance but we cannot control the economy and what it might do to registration. It is an excellent staff. I served on the search committee for the CEO and recommended the job to the current Development Director.

With limited volunteer hours, since I am still gainfully employed, this is where I want to put my energy.

I am excited and a bit scared. Excited, because Star means so much to me and as I said, I am honored to serve. Scared, because this is a huge responsibility.

So tonight I will finish cramming, and read through the materials for my first Board meeting. "Star Island is my spirit's home". That is why I serve.

Mini reunion in Mesquite

This past weekend we traveled to Las Vegas and then drove to Mesquite for a mini reunion, where my cousin and his wife and my aunt and uncle live. Other than a brief severe health scare at the end of the last evening, we have a great time. We are all going to learn the Heimlich maneuver as mandatory training before our next reunion.

I will never be gambler. Slot machines the minute you de-plane and smoke filled casinos are just not my cup of tea.

These are my cup of tea:
Spas, massages, pedicure and Settlers with the cousins
Beautiful majestic countryside and vistas that seem to go on forever with colors
you only see in the West
Wonderful time with family
Sharing stories of growing up in Colorado
Hearing stories I forgot or never knew
Laughing so hard I cannot catch a breath
The smell of rosemary everywhere
Supporting our generation as the prior one faces increasing health issues

Don't ask me why, I just do

I am often an early adopter of stuff, technology and otherwise. I see cool good looking stuff and it becomes popular or a fad.

Facebook was not the case, I got an account because I wondered what it was all about but now I am pretty addicted. I am about to be in the largest growing demographics of Facebook users, women over 55. I am 55 sooooon.

Twitter is an example of "don't ask me why, I just do." I would not continue to use Twitter or Facebook or blog, unless I found some use for them. I don't login into Linkedin or Eons or Plaxo or Flickr or Picasa etc as often as I do YahooMail, Facebook, Twitter and then our internal to Intuit Yammer. That is the order that I check them in the morning.

Here is a pretty good link about using twitter which includes another link about what 5 things to do as soon as you sign up for twitter.

Facebook, I hear what is up with people. I have stopped for the most part taking those stupid 5 things and quizzes, although I do get tempted when I see a friend's results. I do have these blog feeds, automatically updates my notes in Facebook, so some of you have the opportunity to see this twice, as if anyone would do that.

Twitter, I learn what people are up to and often what they are reading or watching that is interesting, and in quick soundbites that I can digest quickly.

Yahoo, obvious, this is my primary email, although Facebook could easily take over if all my contacts were on Facebook.

Yammer, to find out what is out inside Intuit. How did our tax season do? What is happening at CTOF (Create the Offering Forum) who is complaining about our IT department AGAIN.

So, just like meetings, I won't continue to go to these places if there is not some value for me.

Busy times and fun trips

This time of year always gets busy. This weekend we are in Nevada at a deGanahl/Russell family reunion. These are the cousins that we grew up with on the Lazy EH Ranch in Colorado. I wish more of us could get there, but whoever is there is exactly who should be there I guess. We have another opportunity for a reunion in August, when my cousin Nancy's son Galen is getting married, so that means another trip to Colorado.

In June we are off to Salt Lake City for General Assembly, Star in July, England in September to celebrate M's 70th birthday and hopefully Thailand to visit B for Christmas. In looking at a map, we are pretty much halfway around the world when we get to Thailand.

There are times in our lives when we are busier than others, but it feels like we are ramping up for a busy few months. Not that I am complaining, coz it is all good stuff.

Sunrise Sunset

The most wonderful part of the day at Coniston is sunrise. I find it very difficult to sleep when I know that a gorgeous sunset is about to occur. As my Mom says "The sun is not rising, the earth is revolving to expose the sun" This was in her Buckminister Fuller phase. (BTW continuing this post the next morning and I could sleep through the sunrise this morning. Getting to bed at 12:30am contributed to my being able to sleep past 6:30am)

So, I got up at 6:15 this morning (Friday), with the birds, and Qammi, took my coffee grinder outside so I would not wake Murg up and the day started. The sun is rose to the left of Mount Mansfield. In December it was rising over Camel's Hump. One thing about living here, is we see the change in the seasons in more ways than temperature or what color the ground is. Our Channel 1 is so present, as soon as our eyes are open, and until our eyes close. Thursday night the full moon's path was visible out the window at the head of our bed, for most of the night. I snuck looks in my lighter sleep pattern. I digress however . . .

Coniston faces directly east, so unless we leave the house, our only hint of a sunset is outside the south facing window and it is only the hint of a pink/red sky. I wanted to see the sunset on Friday night, so we drove to Sunset View Road, and continued to the Grand Isle Ferry, parked and watched the sunset behind the Adirondacks. Since is was pretty cold, we continued to drive south hugging the lake and watching the shades of pink and orange change for nearly 20 minutes.

Often in Lexington, I see the sunrise on my way to work, and see the sunset over Lexington Green, but I don't stop and smell the roses, or watch the sunset the way I do here. And I doubt if I will take the time, once I am working full time up here or living here full time. It is hard to avoid seeing Channel 1 so it certainly makes it easier.

Daddy in 2009 and ipods

This morning as I plugged in my ipod for a day of work, I wondered if Daddy would have ever had an ipod. He died in 1995, prior to ipods. I guess he was an adopter of things if he could see a use for them. I don't think he ever accessed the internet, but he would have if he could have seen all of the history that is stored there. He poured over maps of the Civil War, and loved the details of many things. Frank Bunting who gave the eulogy at his funeral said he was a Renaissance Man, which he was. In this eulogy I heard for the first time that he loved opera and that he and Frank used to listen to it in "the backroom" aka Daddy's study.

So my image is that yes, he would have an ipod with opera on it and maybe an ipod deck in the back room that he could plug it into. Or maybe, he still has vinyl 78 or 33 or CDs and that is sufficient for him.

Murg is right about grief, you can do it in little bits every day. I miss him a lot every day, but now I have a new image of him walking around the horse pasture with ipod buds in his ears listening to La Boheme, and smiling, just a little turn up of the outside of his lips.

Yoga and sermons

Yoga keeps being a topic for me. After getting a tweet from A, a minister friend in the UK, his sermon got me thinking about happiness. His tweet was "Can you get ecstatic? Even for a moment?". I realized during yoga today that during yoga for split seconds I am ecstatic. The feeling of a muscle giving way or twinging, or the releasing of my sinuses in downward dog position.

Then today, as our help desk person walked by whistling I commented to him "You seem to always be happy, How wonderful is that?" The gist of what he replied is, that he hopes some of his positive energy rubs off onto others, if they want it.

I don't mean I should mask my less than positive energies or feelings. Too many years spent doing that

I just want to be on the lookout for those possible feelings of ecstasy and thanks to yoga and A's sermon, I am.

Happy Happy Dog and I am learning to take videos

I recently made an impulse buy of a Flip video. I was not exactly sure what I would use it for but I knew one thing I wanted to capture was Qammi, our chocolate lab as she does "her roll". At the beginning of almost every walk, and sometimes in the middle of the walk, she rolls. More than one fellow walker has commented, "Boy, does she look happy." This started maybe 4 - 5 years ago. I often think that we should all overcome our inhibitions and roll like she does, or do something in our life that makes us this happy. What is she thinking as she rolls? Why does she roll? Anyway, this combined with my amateur video production seemed like a good post. A picture is worth a thousand words. Excuse me while I learn to use my new Flip.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znINGFl8vfs

Too long away from Coniston

While driving to dinner last night both Murg and I agreed that it has been too long away from Coniston. We missed a weekend the week that Autumn died, and last month was a 5 week Sunday month. I don't feel as centered, I feel like there is something missing in my life. We have gotten into the habit of being there every other weekend, and we got out of that habit by missing one weekend. If I had planned it better we could be up there this weekend.

What this all says to me is that a year ago, going on a lot of intutive decision making, we made a really good decision. We might not have been so eager to own a second home this year with the financial crisis.

Also at dinner last night we counted our blessings. Good solid jobs, fun vacations planned for the year with family and friends, wonderful kids who are not kids any more but more like grown-up friends, wonderful spiritual communities.

Yes, we are very lucky AND I believe that we all create our own destiny, so it is some luck and some intention. For once in my life I feel like I deserve to be this happy and fortunate. Now, I just need to get back up to Coniston to see that sun rise from behind the Green Mountains, and to take a deep sigh and realize that I have come home to Vermont.