Category: July 2017

There’s a website called nextdoor.com, where you can post specifically and only to your neighbors. It’s a great way to stay in contact with your local community. You can post anything you want; things for sale, or requests for recommendations, lost dogs, etc.

Today, we got this post:

“Can’t walk down that road any more…

This morning an elderly woman walking her dog on La Puerta Trail, harassed my teenage son (a clean-cut, straight-A student, talented cellist, athlete and member of Las Placitas Presbyterian Church) and told him he should not be walking there. My son had been walking our dog up on public lands and used La Puerta Trail (a private road) to connect from public lands to our home on Tunnel Springs Road. I have taken this same walk hundreds of times. No one has ever ordered me to leave or even questioned me about it. As a neighbor, I mistakenly thought that in the spirit of neighborliness, no one would mind, since we were causing no harm. It’s interesting that the only time my son ever walked on that road by himself he is immediately targeted as “not belonging here” and told to leave. Very interesting. Anyway, I have apologized to my son for leading him to believe our neighbors on La Puerta Trail would be okay about us walking on their private road. I also would like to apologize to my neighbors on La Puerta Trail to taking this liberty. I am very sorry and we will never walk on your road without permission again.”

This post came with a beautiful photo of our neighbors:

Oops, the kid’s brown.

I was really mad. I’ve been irritated by several things today (remodel, dog poop, just stuff.) This was kind of the last straw.

Here’s what I posted in response (after several minutes of cooling down, or I would have said a lot more, much more strongly worded).

“I’m very sorry that happened to your son. Can we hear from another La Puerta Trail resident, who would be comfortable giving access permission to those of us who live within walking distance, for the purpose of accessing the public lands on foot? I am not happy that one of our own neighbors was intimidated to the point where they are no longer comfortable accessing trails from the roads out here. I understand why he might not be comfortable walking on that road alone again, but what if one of us were to accompany him? I’m a neighbor within walking distance. And I happen to be a white, middle-aged, female with a blond ponytail and little poodles (unless it’s too hot, then the poodles stay home). And I happen to be available during weekdays this summer, and would love to have a walking partner. Would your son and dog be interested in walking up La Puerta Trail with me?”

I’m still really pissed.

I think we have a tendency to become numb from all the horrifying news, the insane amounts of prejudice and harassment that we read about every day. Except I don’t read it. Around the time of the election I stopped reading facebook and all news outlets, with the exception of a few, moderate, thoughtful, well-researched hard-copy magazines that are sent to me in the mail.

So I don’t actually know who was shot in the last week, or what was blown up, or what inane thing our president tweeted recently. I figure enough people are reading all that stomach-wrenching shit that I don’t actually have to read it.  I read my in-depth magazines, and I stay in touch with my community. And this happened right here within walking distance of my house, and I am mad.

I haven’t lost any weight yet, but if you’re doing it right, it takes awhile.

(if you’re not doing it right, it also takes awhile)

I don’t usually post media on this blog, which is supposed to be strictly about my life and not reposts, but hey – I really enjoyed reading my WIRED magazine!

First – a very interesting short article about how automation will replace more jobs that have traditionally been thought of as “men’s work” and less jobs that have traditionally been thought of as “women’s work”. This has potential to impact the large pay gap between what’s been considered “men’s work” vs “women’s work”. And it could also significantly impact men’s future job prospects – unless they rethink their definitions of gender-appropriate work. It’s called “Bots at Work” by Laurie Penny. I’m failing to find a link to the article, maybe because the hard-copy magazine has just come out. Or maybe because I’m not actually technically qualified to read WIRED magazine.

Secondly – an excellent super-short article about how a social psychologist named Jennifer Eberhardt is studying the difference in language used by police who are approaching African American males vs. white males. She’s doing this by applying speech-recognition and transcript-analysis software to body-camera footage from Oakland police stops. This one is called “Cop Talk” by Lauren Murrow. And – I can’t find the link. So yep, I do not have the technical cred to even be reading this magazine, much less trying to quote it.

Thirdly – really long and fascinating article by a guy who created a chatbox using his dad’s words, stories, and personality. Apparently talking with the chatbox is quite a lot like actually chatting with his dad. His dad passed away while he was creating the bot, so now all they have is their memories – and this bot. The article brings up a lot of interesting questions about who we are, and what our possible future relationships with AI could look like.

The vast majority of my interactions with my close family members, such as Laura and Darren, is by text, email, and phone. It seems like we are genuinely interacting, and this seems like a real and personal connection, even though we aren’t actually in the same room together. If I had a chatbox that fairly accurately mimicked a family member whom I missed, would I talk to it? You bet. Is that scary? Yes. Very.

This article is called A.I.: Artificial Immortality by James Vlahos.

And whoo-hoo, I found the link to this one! https://www.wired.com/story/a-sons-race-to-give-his-dying-father-artificial-immortality/

 

Dear Universe,

Here’s what I want. I want somebody to give me a cubicle, please. I want to go there every day, 5 days a week, and do something that takes a fair amount of thought and contemplation. Because a mind is a stupidly dangerous thing to waste. And I am more of a thinker than an implementer. And we do not want me driving myself and everyone around me crazy.

I know the concept of me being a thinker more than an implementer may come as a slight surprise to some people, who may note how much I seem to always be getting done. And it’s true, I can be determined. But this implementing shit isn’t working for me!

I know it may not seem to make a lot of sense to add yet another thing to my life, when I’m already handling migraines and clients and rentals and remodels. But you can have all those, I don’t like any of it except my clients. I love my clients. I plan to keep a few clients. I can schedule my phone calls with my clients in the evenings, because John doesn’t come home until really late. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m only up for having a few clients anyway. I love them, but they take a lot out of me. A few is fine. A few is perfect.

And dear universe, I know you’re not going to actually take away my migraines, LOL, as if! That would be too much to ask. I will continue to deal with those. Because we all have to have something that is intractable in life, or else how could we truly practice empathy for everyone else who also has a thing that won’t go away?

Please note that I’m perfectly fine typing on my computer with a migraine. I do it all the time. I’m doing it right now, actually, as we speak! Right exactly now! Just because I want to! So please, I would love a cubicle and something “cubicle-like” to do there.

I would like a cubicle and things to do on my computer that someone actually cares about getting done. That’s important – I want to be appreciated, valued, and respected. And I want enough work to keep me busy, but not so much that I can’t do a good job. And very few meetings, please. I like meetings fine, but I can only do my “pleasant, professional, public face” for so long before the introvert in me starts glowering.

I really should have been an engineer, but I was mislead in my youth by gender-biased people. I don’t want to go into it because it sounds blame-y and mean. My life is my responsibility. And yes, I’ve always liked to write, but there are lots of engineers out there who write very well, and that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have been engineers.

So could I please do something kind of engineer-y with my environmental science degree, and not education-community-social-planning-political? Regulatory compliance is fine, as long as I’m not being shouted at by stakeholders who hate each other.

I just want to sit in a cubicle with a few people around me who are doing approximately the same thing I’m doing. So we can occasionally chat in the lunchroom about whatever it is we’re doing.

And (please don’t start laughing), I would like those people to be kind, friendly people who respect my contribution to the team. And who don’t mind (when we’re chatting in the lunch room) that my food is weird! (Ok, now you can laugh.) But seriously, I want to be able to eat broth with seaweed, and strange things in my salad. I promise I won’t bring any fish. I understand that fish doesn’t go over well in the workplace.

Oh! And clean bathrooms. Well ventilated. That would be so fantastic. And not too much air conditioning. I really don’t want to be bring my parka to work in August. And a window? Maybe?

I know, I know, I’m the one who quit my last job. With the beautiful cubicle with windows facing both east and south. I’m not going to say on a public blog why I quit that job (even though only about 4 people actually read this blog). Each of the 4 of you think you know why I quit that job, but you don’t. I tried to tell John once, but I don’t think he understood.

Let’s just say, the problem wasn’t having a job, the problem was that particular job. So I would like to have another one, thanks!

Here’s a question for you:  Is the 2-month old, home-made cream cheese frosting, left over from John’s birthday and just discovered in the back of the refrigerator, still edible if it looks ok?

Please choose one (or more) of the following answers:

1. How is it that no one has eaten it by now? That’s impossible.
2. Oh, absolutely. Yum, yum, score!
3. Are you kidding? Ewww! Did you eat that? I hope you don’t have anything important to do tomorrow.
4. Sure, if you’re a dog.
5. What? Are you like, 3 days into a new diet? That can make a person a bit crazed.

As if I didn’t have enough going on right now! I have a hard and fast rule for myself; if I reach a certain weight – a magic infamous number that only I shall know – then a weight-loss diet is automatically triggered.  That happened.

BUMMER!!

Here’s some photos of healthy food I’ve been cooking.

Eating healthy takes a lot more time (as well as a lot more discipline) than eating honey bunny grahams.

These are hard to find so I had to order them in bulk from Amazon, 6 boxes in “sharing size” no less!