penn

Health Update

It's a sinus infection! I'm now loaded up with antibiotics and decongestant and this weird nasal spray stuff that I can only use for three days (if you use it for more than three days, it apparently makes you more congested).

Hopefully, this will work and I'll be on the mend. Fingers crossed.

side note to all my west-coast readers: I will be visiting Portland and Seattle during the next week. Matt and I are leaving on Sunday and returning the next Monday. We've got a busy schedule, but we may be able to find some time for visiting. Just let me know!

Benefits of Blogging

I've mentioned it before, and I will mention it again: my blog is a great personal calendar. I actually keep a computer journal as well. Between the two, I've got a darn good record of what I've been doing, and I can fill in the gaps by glancing at my calendar.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be heading to the doctor to see if I can finally figure out what's going on with me. See, I am sick again. All my illnesses seem pretty run-of-the-mill: snotty nose, coughing, sore throat. The more troubling part is how they seem to drag on and the recurring nature of this nastiness. In order to help out my doctor, I thought I'd make a list of my approximate sick dates. So, courtesy of blog + journal, I know now that I've been sick four times since moving to Minnesota:

Sept 25 - Oct 29 (yes!)

Dec 15 - Dec 23 (complete with vomiting)

Jan 6 - Jan 12

Feb 19 - present

Here's to hoping there's some sort of diagnosis other than "yup, you've got yet another cold."

Inevitable?

As I get older and therefore accrue more experience, I've begun to notice some things about the nature of people. I imagine I'll always be learning more and improving upon myself, but the past few years feel like they've been particularly well-endowed in the self-awareness category.

One main thing I've noticed is that it is really difficult to avoid comparing myself to others. Yes, "comparisons are odious," but that doesn't mean they don't occur. I notice this most in terms of finances and work habits. It is far too easy to compare the end result -- say, money spent or when work gets finished -- without comparing the big picture.

In terms of finances, I've always been frugal. I don't spend a lot, and I like to salt money away for a rainy day. This has worked out fortuitously, and this habit allowed me to take my current low-paid internship. But now that I'm here, I'm not saving much. To be honest, some months, I don't save a penny. I now get the concept of living paycheck to paycheck, and it is difficult for me if one of my fellow interns mentions how much she is saving up. But I need only take a look at my spending log to remind myself that I am comfortable and content with how I'm spending money. I took a trip to DC because I wanted to see my friends, and I worked hard to keep all my spending in line. In three days, I spent less than $100 by crashing on couches and making good decisions about eating out. And this works for me.

On a different note, in grad school, I would get jealous about how much some of my friends were spending. We all made the same stipend, and I knew roughly what people paid in rent due to the homogeneity of the market. Most of my friends drank far more than I did, and they often went shopping for new clothes. On the face, I thought "how can they possibly afford to spend that much?" But upon closer examination, I thought of a few areas where I spend money that aren't quite as forward: therapy (over a thousand dollars during the year I was in), organic food, some nice electronics. I also socked a lot into savings and paid off my car, which were personal necessities for me that were perhaps not as key for my friends. When I sat back and thought about the big picture, I was able to see more clearly that we all had different ways of spending what we made, but we ultimately all were able to take care of ourselves.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about work. We interns have a lot of planning to do for spring season, and it's sometimes grating to hear someone say "oh, yeah, I'm totally done with my part of that already." Even worse is when I haven't even started my portion. See, I'm a bit of a procrastinator, but I've been working on that this year. So it pains me to think that I might still be behind the game despite working so hard to remain organized and efficient. Truthfully, work competition has been getting me down a bit recently.

But then I thought about my financial big picture versus the obvious. Is there something going on underneath that isn't quite as clear to me? And there is. Recently, I spent a lot of work hours putting together our newsletter, and that's not something the other interns worked on. I still have time to plan ahead on my programs, but the newsletter was an immediate deadline. I'm also spending a lot of time right now working on a major program that's on the horizon. It doesn't require too much more work to get the ball rolling, and once I'm done with that I'll have plenty of time for planning my end of March programming.

I suppose this post sounds overly cheerful: it's okay, Leah! You're working hard too! But sometimes I need that reminder/kick in the butt. I've significantly improved my work skills this year through list making and ideas from several productivity strategies. It's not like I'm surfing the net while work productively hums all around me. And, really, I'm happy to take it slow and make progress on my tasks at my own pace. But that doesn't mean I'm not still annoyed. Perhaps serenity is another skill to work on

Random Bits

1. I saw Slumdog Millionaire last week with Matt. We both loved it. Definitely agree that it was fabulous, and I'm happy it won so much. The only other Oscar contender I saw was Benjamin Button, and Slumdog Millionaire beats it hands down.

However, we do wish we had made it to Doubt. That looked great. We're hoping to see Gran Torino and Coraline here in the next two weeks or so.

2. In preparation for the spring, they're showing Twins classic games on TV. I'm watching a great '07 game that is currently a perfect game (but Matt tells me it won't end up being perfect). It is super fun to watch baseball again.

3. Again, I am sick. I'm hoping I will eventually get used to these Minnesota germs. For now, it's kind of killer. I'm not sure if it is the cold or being around so many different kids or something entirely different.

Don't divorce us

This fabulous video has left me in tears on the couch. I still don't understand how we can codify hate into our laws. This isn't about personal beliefs; it's up to anyone to decide how they personally feel about homosexuality. But to tell people who have made lives together, who have contributed to their communities, and who have made a deep commitment to each other that their relationship is not valid? Deplorable.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo

Owl!

Saw another cute owl at work, so I'm sharing two photos. It's a saw-whet owl.

Slowing Down

As a kid, I thought it would be nifty to be a school bus driver. It seemed like the perfect job: drive around while working and go home with no paperwork to follow you. My dad often brought work home or had evening meetings, and my mom frequently spent home time thinking about her job or doing committee work. To me, I thought it would be nice to only have to worry about work while you're actually working. More time for fun that way.

Of course, realities change with age. Thankfully, I've managed to spend most of my working time without significant at-home commitments. Other than grad school, all my jobs have involved working while at work with only the rare evening spent concerned with tasks left un-done. I don't know if I can keep it up throughout my life, but it is quite nice to be off work and just enjoy my free time. I think of it as the ideal way to live.

So it is with pleasure that I read a novel idea for improving our economy and readjusting our thinking:
Why not start your weekend on Wednesday? In a nutshell, the author opines that our parents made half the amount we did and got along pretty well. So let's think about working less and enjoying life more. The crux of his argument is this: we can enjoy leisure without spending boatloads of money. We can have more vacation and more time to ourselves. We'd earn less, but we'd also spend less and perhaps even make more use of what we already own. A lot of the "wealth" our economy generates is wrapped up in making more stuff for each other so that we have a way to use our wealth.

I really like this idea, and I'd like to supplement it with a minimalist view of my own: instead of spending our current riches consuming stuff, maybe we should concentrate more on consuming experiences. My most contented vacation was three weeks spent in New Zealand during April/May of 2006. I bought next to nothing: a few postcards, some professional photos of my activities, and some local candy. I slept in a hostel (did I really need a big fancy room with a TV to encourage me to stay inside instead of enjoying the country?). Pretty much all my money was spent on getting out to enjoy the natural world. Caving was FAR more enjoyable than bringing back an All-Black mug or t-shirt (not that rugby isn't exciting, but still).

In my current job at the nature center, I work providing experiences to other people. They can come enjoy documentaries, snowshoeing, night hikes, trail walking, orienteering, and so much more. And one major thing we see is that it is really hit or miss whether or not people take advantage of what we offer. This weekend, a lot of families were in enjoying the building and indoor bird-watching spots, but few people took advantage of the free documentary screenings we offered. And one of the people who did come to the documentaries slept through half of one; I can't help but wonder if he was suffering from too much work and not enough leisure. At some point, not only does our work week take the 40 hours away from leisure. It also cuts into our other activities by keeping us too tired to fully enjoy what time we do have away from work.

My job here ends in a few months, and I'm searching for more work. I'm pretty open about what sort of job I do, as long as I can keep doing some combination of education and science. But one thought I continue to hold in my head is the dream of keeping my spare time for my own pursuits. And, of course, keeping my own pursuits in the "consumption of experiences" category is key. On that note, I'm going to take off to enjoy a musical at the local high school. Nothing like supporting your local community without having to take anything home but your memories.

Spreading the love

Today being Valentine's day, I thought I'd share some stories about different ways to express love. I could be all mushy and write something about my boyfriend, but he doesn't read my blog, so it wouldn't do much good.

In Australia, the wildfires didn't just affect the people. Koalas have been badly burned too. One koala has a new buddy in a firefighter; he shared his water and later took her to the rescue center. And I can't find a link, but NPR also had some super cute stories about bandaged baby koalas kept in laundry baskets with a stuffed koala to calm the baby and minimize the human element.

In DC, a harpist plays weekly in the emergency room to calm both patients and doctors. I'd love to see some sort of comparative study of ER blood pressures to see if there's a quantifiable medical effect. Verbal reports from nurses and doctors has already shown that there is a personal psychological effect.

And Nigella Lawson shares some simple yet elegant cupcake ideas to help make a low-stress but beautiful sweet treat for the holiday.

And this isn't love, per se, but it is cool: fun chemical demonstrations! (via via Kottke)

Non-personal but still exciting

Very, very happy to see that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program court rejected the concept that vaccines cause autism. As has been stated in the literature for a number of years, there is no causal link nor even really a good correlation. Definitely not enough evidence.

I'm a big fan of vaccines and especially of "herd immunity." The basic concept is that you need a lot of people vaccinated in order to prevent disease; the more that are vaccinated, the better you are all protected. I was quite shocked to read in the article that even as little as 20% unvaccinated kids in England was enough to bring a resurgence of measles and causes hundreds of hospitalizations and even some deaths.

Autism totally sucks. I worked with a child who has autism for, gosh, seven years or so (through high school and college and a bit after). I've seen it. I'm even reading this fabulous book by a high-functioning autistic woman: Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin wherein she discusses the problems of autism but also how her autism helps her understand the sensory world of working with livestock. There's definitely something in a brain with autism that does not work the same as my brain. But to throw all or most of the blame onto vaccines? Not scientific nor supportable, and I was really excited to read the news that others in our government agree with me.

Sliding on snow

Today, I discovered that I have no real need for speed . . . but I can eventually calm down and enjoy it. For the first time ever, I went downhill skiing. Now, some might find this funny. I did grow up in Seattle, land of mountains, yet I did my first skiing in the land of the lakes.

The thing is this: I've finally got someone who helps me do all this cool outdoor stuff. Matt really loves skiing, so we decided that we'd try and go for a Valentine's Day thing instead of buying each other presents. We both work next weekend, so we did all our cool things this weekend. Also helpful was that we each received a gift card to pay for the lift pass, so it was a thrifty $24 for our two and a half hour outing.

I stuck to the bunny hill and ended up going down 6 times. Matt's a great skiier, so I gave him some time to hit some of the larger hills by himself. He came with me on the beginner slope to give me a few pointers.

Other than a few bruises and sore ankles (those boots are quite awkward), I'm no worse for the wear. I even managed to make it down two times without falling at all, and they never had to stop the chairlift for me. I don't think I'm going to become the next [insert the name of some professional skiier here, because the only person I can think of his Shaun White, and he snowboards], but it was a positive and completely new experience for me.