Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts
R-Day - We Have Lift-off!
Today is my last Official Day of work. It is still surreal. This week, as I've been packing up my office (OK, cubicle) and saying goodbye to people I've worked with for 10 1/2 years, I've realized I'm really going to miss some parts of my job.
I've worked for the county public health department since April, 1998 as a technical writer/policy manager and web builder/web manager. What I've loved: problem solving; creating order out of chaos (you should SEE some of the documents I get!). I feel good about the legacy (if I can use such a grand word) I'm leaving - vastly improved policy manuals and websites and some wonderful working relationships.
Mostly it's the people I'll miss. This department has attracted an amazing number of wonderful people from whom I've learned a tremendous amount and with whom I've shared a lot of laughs and tears and good work.
So today I will bid them a fond farewell at a going away party. And next week I'll be back at work! Only a couple days a week for a few weeks though, until my successor is trained.
And now begins the next phase. Bring on the books!
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R Minus 1 - Countdown to Retirement
What would you ask President Obama (or the other guy) to do On Day One?
Join the debate! From our energy crisis to the war in the Iraq, set the next President's agenda by submitting your ideas for a better world. Join Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org, former diplomat Joe Wilson, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and others - make your voice heard.
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R Minus 2 - Countdown to Retirement
Causes and news for people passionate about animal welfare, human rights and the environment Read More!
R Minus 3 - Countdown to Retirement
The Book of Threes, wherein Michael Eck has been thinking about threes. Things that come in threes. Now he combines that esoteric interest with his attachment to the Internet by creating what he hopes will be the book with the most authors ever (a lot more than three, anyway).
He suggests that in our minds we break concepts into three parts to understand whatever it is we are thinking about. We use threes to define systems. We use the third or middle point with regard to the extremes to define a point of view. Yadda yadda yadda.
The concept is simple. Just think of something that comes in threes, then go to this site and contribute it. For example: the colors on the American flag; Caesar's most famous words, "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered"); the number of legs on each side of an insect.
The Three Sisters Volcanoes, Oregon appear as the "Three Sisters" on Preston's map of Oregon of 1856. The name was probably originally applied by members of the Methodist Mission in Salem in the early 1840's, and the individual peaks were given the names "Mount Faith", "Mount Hope", and "Mount Charity", beginning from the north.
Triple Moon: Represents: The female triple divinity, esp. Hecate, Selene, Diana, or Maiden, Mother and Crone
Three Mile Island: In 1979, roughly 25,000 people lived within five miles of the giant cooling towers that became symbols of the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident.
Three Cups of TeaWhen the porcelain bowls of scalding butter tea steamed in their hands, Haji Ali spoke. 'If you want to thrive in Baltistan, you must respect our ways,' Haji Ali said, blowing on his bowl. 'The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die,' he said, laying his hand warmly on Mortenson's own. 'Doctor Greg, you must make time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated. But we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.'Read More!
R Minus 4 - Countdown to Retirement
4 November 2008: election day in the U.S.
This is arguably the most important election of my lifetime. And the longest election cycle in history (almost two years!) and the most expensive (billions of dollars). I'll be glad when it's over and we can concentrate on bringing about real change in this country. And I can get back to blogging about books and the garden.
Don't forget to vote. Take care of yourself on election day. Me? I have an appointment with my therapist.
Resources:
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrneday08.html
http://www.lwv.org/Election2008/index.html league
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R Minus 5 - Countdown to Retirement
The Keating 5 - it bears repeating.
The current economic crisis demands that we understand John McCain's attitudes about economic oversight and corporate influence in federal regulation. Nothing illustrates the danger of his approach more clearly than his central role in the savings and loan scandal of the late '80s and early '90s.Read More!
John McCain was accused of improperly aiding his political patron, Charles Keating, chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. The bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee launched investigations and formally reprimanded Senator McCain for his role in the scandal. Today, John McCain is the only major party presidential nominee in US history to have been rebuked, censured or otherwise admonished after a Congressional ethics investigation.
R Minus 6 - Countdown to Retirement
Six-Word Memoirs: The Legend
Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the recountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”).
Six-Word Memoir book preview from SMITHmag on Vimeo.
So I tried a couple of these myself:
Raised by Republicans. Turned out OK.
Work in progress. Miles to go.
What's your memoir in six words? Read More!
R Minus 7 - Countdown to Retirement
Ok, I admit to being a bit of a Trekkie. My favorite is Star Trek Voyager, and one of the most compelling characters is Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One (Seven, for short).Her story revolves around trying to fit back into a humanoid existence after spending most of her life assimilated into the Borg "resistance is futile" collective. She's extremely intelligent and physically advanced; she's been stripped of emotion and finds humans ridiculous and irrational. She's just your no-nonsense kind of gal.
In this clip, the Doctor attempts to explain the human mating ritual to Seven.
Seven is in constant struggle with her own humanity and her Borg identity (which is really non-identity, being part of the collective and all, which is sort of like a killer bee hive). She still needs some Borg implants to survive, so she can never make a complete transition back to being human. This, of course, sets up some fascinating ethical dilemmas and personal growth conundrums in many of the Voyager episodes.
Just one week from today will be my last day at work! It's hard to believe. Now, like Seven, I'll be making the transition from the worker bee world into another sort of existence, with my own personal growth conundrums.
Engage.
Engage.###
R Minus 9 - Countdown to Retirement
9 Sexiest Electric Cars from the Paris Auto Show
Oh, I can SO see me driving this car. Perfect for the new retiree, don't you think?
No?
Ok, how about this one:
Oh, I can SO see me driving this car. Perfect for the new retiree, don't you think?
No?
Ok, how about this one:
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R Minus 10 - Countdown to Retirement
Powers of 10 - Start 10 million light-years from the Milky Way galaxy and wind up face to face with a proton in Florida.
Like Google Earth on steroids.
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Dave's Top Ten
Top Ten Signs the Presidential Campaign is Getting Ugly
- Three times Straight Talk Express has "accidentally" knocked over Obama's mailbox
- Next debate will be moderated by Jerry Springer
- McCain keeps referring to opponent as Senator Barack Hussein Obama Bin Laden
- Sarah Palin says she can see Joe Biden's hair plugs from her house
- Desperate attempt to connect Obama with the last eight years of Regis
- No number 5 -- economy so bad, writer putting everything he owns up on eBay
- They have resorted to "your Vice President's so dumb" jokes
- Obama claimed McCain's irresponsibility caused the 1929 stock market crash -- he's that old, people!
- Even Dick Cheney thinks they're being cruel
- Obama's gloves are off, McCain's teeth are out
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Countdown to retirement: 12 days
For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work. ~Doug Larson
The Buddha Board is like a Zen Etch a Sketch. Paint your message or image with water and it magically appears, then disappears as it dries.
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This is almost a year old and we could add a few items to it, but it's still more than appropriate -- The Twelve Days of Bush by Alec Sokolow on 23/6:
On the first day of Christmas my president gave to me a preemptive war without an exit strategy.
On the second day of Christmas my president gave to me two erased CIA interrogation tapes
On the third day of Christmas my president gave to me three attorneys general who disregard habeas corpus\
On the fourth day of Christmas my president gave to me four and a half U.S. dollars to the British pound.
On the fifth day of Christmas my president gave to me Scooter Libby.
On the sixth day of Christmas my president gave to me six thousand more children left behind.
On the seventh day of Christmas my president gave to me seven more legal explanations why waterboarding isn't torture.
On the eighth day of Christmas my president gave to me eight trillion dollars in national debt.
On the ninth day of Christmas my president gave ninety-nine dollars per barrel of oil to his cronies.
On the tenth day of Christmas my president gave to me ten "fool me once shame on you fool me you can't get fooled again" butchering of the English Language quotes.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my president gave to me eleven months of aggregate vacation time to clear brush and fundraise.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my president gave to me 12 more months without getting Osama Bin Laden, the real motherfucker responsible for 9/11, eleven months of aggregate vacation time to clear brush and fund raise, ten "fool me once shame on you fool me you can't get fooled again" butchering of the English Language quotes, ninety-nine dollars per barrel of oil to his cronies, eight trillion dollars in national debt, seven more legal explanations why waterboarding isn't torture, six thousand more children left behind, Scooter Libby, four and a half U.S. dollars to the British pound, three attorneys general who disregard habeas corpus, two erased CIA interrogation tapes and a preemptive war without an exit strategy.
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Countdown to retirement: 13 days
No, not the Apollo mission.
Perfect Periodicity:Our aim is for the global population of humanity to consciously recognize Earth as a living work of art; to beautify this life we are given; to be in harmony with natural law - natural time.
For every one time we go around the Sun, the Moon goes around Earth 13 times.
The year has already been divided by Nature-13 'moon'ths of perpetual harmony.
The 12-month calendar hides the 13th moon. The number 13 is now surrounded by superstition and is considered taboo; unlucky; evil. This fear is reinforced by cultural antiquities like "friday the thirteenth." Often buildings have no 13th floor, or avoid constructing a # 13 apt unit.
The ancient Maya had an entirely different relationship to the number 13, actually revering it at as the Key to Time itself. 13 is the Mayan galactic prime number; the Force of The Universal Movement of Creation.
~July 26, 2008 - July 25, 2009 is Blue Electric Storm Year
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Countdown to retirement: 14 days
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The Fourteen Points were listed in a speech delivered by President Woodrow Wilson of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress on January 8, 1918. This speech was intended to assure the country that the war was being fought for a moral cause and for peace in Europe after World War I. The common people of Europe welcomed Wilson as a hero but his Allied colleagues (Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Orlando) remained skeptical of the applicability of Wilsonian idealism.
The speech was delivered over 10 months before the Armistice with Germany ended World War I, but the Fourteen Points became the basis for the terms of the German surrender, as negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and documented in the Treaty of Versailles. However, the United States Senate did not then ratify the Treaty of Versailles.
Opposition to the Fourteen Points among British and French leaders became clear after hostilities ceased: the British were against freedom of the seas; the French demanded war reparations.
Wilson was forced to compromise on many of his ideals to ensure that his most important point, the establishment of the League of Nations, was accepted. In the end, the Treaty of Versailles went against many of the principles of the Fourteen Points, both in detail and in spirit. Rather than "peace without victory," the treaty sought harsh punishment of Germany both financially and territorially. The resulting bitterness in Germany laid the seeds for the rise of Nazism in the 1930s which resulted, in part, from the economic depression of the 1920s in Germany which the Versailles Treaty helped create.
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Countdown to retirement: 15 days
15 Green Cities
Grist, a great resource for environmental news, named the 15 greenest cities in the world last year. Of course, Portland made the list, at #2.
Here's a slideshow of some of the best parts of Portland (can you tell I love our city?) See this earlier post for a peek at our own neighborhood.
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Grist, a great resource for environmental news, named the 15 greenest cities in the world last year. Of course, Portland made the list, at #2.
The City of Roses' approach to urban planning and outdoor spaces has often earned it a spot on lists of the greenest places to live. Portland is the first U.S. city to enact a comprehensive plan to reduce CO2 emissions and has aggressively pushed green building initiatives. It also runs a comprehensive system of light rail, buses, and bike lanes to help keep cars off the roads, and it boasts 92,000 acres of green space and more than 74 miles of hiking, running, and biking trails.
Here's a slideshow of some of the best parts of Portland (can you tell I love our city?) See this earlier post for a peek at our own neighborhood.
Countdown to retirement: 16 days
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
Go to the Center for Women's Global Leadership website to learn more and find out how you can get involved.
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Countdown to retirement: 17 days
Remember this one?
"At Seventeen" by Janis Ian
Janis Ian is still around, creating and writing. She has a new book out, Society's Child.
Awhile back I read an amazing story about her beloved guitar that had been stolen. You can read it here. Read More!
Countdown to retirement: 18 days
Are you an elitist? 18 revealing ways to know for sure
-from SF Gate/The San Francisco Chronicle
Just for fun: Jon Stewart on one of his favorite subjects: Faux News (unfair and mentally unbalanced)
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