Note to followers - I'm noticing a pattern emerging of something odd happens in my life, I mull it over and then decide to write here. Guess things were fairly manageable the last two months. eah)
My life really does seem to be on some kind of cycle. I won't go into all that now, just to mention the first two weeks of March are preoccupied with the Iditarod. It runs 24-7 and I can follow it via a website that includes videos and gps tracking on the sleds. Then there's a lull and now, it's Baseball!
Nick and I are big baseball fans. We met in the summer of 1967 - the Red Sox Impossible Dream season. We can separately and together tell you more than you want to know about the World Series that year. The first time we watched Ken Burn's 9 part program (rumor has it he's going into extra innings - yay!), at Inning 8, John Chancellor asked, so why didn't they win? Without hesitating, we both yelled at the TV, Bob Gibson.
In 1969, we moved to northern california, four years here, four in Philly area and then back here. Still Red Sox fans. But the Sox only come out twice a year to play the A's. Somewhere along the line, I went from hating the A's to loving them. Periodically, I get bugged for liking two American League teams. I used to have two grey cats. I understand that black and white in photography can be beautiful; I know that the world exists in infinite tones of colors. The same holds for politics, food, religion and sports. We have team ranking in our household. We don't quite agree on 2 and 3, so this is my flavor:
1. Red Sox 2. Athletics 3. whoever is playing the Yankees 4. whoever is playing the Angels.
I also like the Mariners and the Phillies (Ichiro is amazing and as I said, we lived in Philly for a while.)
Borealis and Denali almost were named Scutaro (Marco) and Swisher (Nick). Both were traded from the A's before the kittens were born. Black day when Nick S ended up with the Yankees. But love the sight of Scutaro in a Red Sox.uniform.
Hopefully, people who keep harassing me (yeah, happened yesterday) about this dual allegiance will read this and stop. Yeah, I know, you never reach the people you want to reach with such messages. so it goes.
Meanwhile why baseball? Why cats? What, you say?? Seriously, in both, there are long periods of calm followed by brief moments of absolute excitement! Never know when the snoozing cats will decide to play steeplechase over you and around the house. Nothing like that crack of ball on bat and a home run.
The last year or so, I've become a fan of the TNT show Leverage. It's kind of a Mission Impossible or A-Team meets Robin Hood. The fact that it's based in Boston is a side-plus. In this past season's finale, the crew needs a baseball team as part of the con. Elliot (Christian Kane, previously Lindsey on Angel, a completely different role) is the extraction expert, ie "hitter" ( the others are hacker, grifter, thief, mastermind) has to become a catcher with a AA team. He's protesting that he doesn't like any sport where you can't score on defense. And then he's in a game, and then he gets a walk-off hit. (That means, he gets a runner in to score and win the game, in the bottom of the ninth inning.) The leader Nate (Tim Hutton) says to the rest of the crew - good news/bad news: the con is working; we've lost Elliot until the playoffs.
See, that's the allure of baseball. It happened in the season opener Red Sox/Yankees on Sunday; it happened last night A's/Mariners. Someday, I'd love to have a baseball film festival - The Natural, A League of Their Own, Bull Durham (hmm, just got Thelma and Louise!), Field of Dreams. Might have to throw in Remember the Titans (different sport, same heart and Denzel.)
And now I look at the time and think, if I try, I can prepare for tonight's meeting and watch the first hour of the last Red Sox - Yankees game before leaving! Go Red Sox!
Esther
© 2010 Esther A. Heller
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
"why has every well I've drilled gone dry?"
I am just now home from a weekend in Stockton attending a Society of Women Engineer's conference. It's a 90-105 min drive depending on traffic. Two things happened this weekend which came together to me on the drive back.
I am fortunate in my life to have many young women who are very dear to me. I know most of them through Girl Scouts - as members of the legendary Troop 757, or as aides at Peninsula Day Camp or because I was their Gold Award adviser. When one of them reaches out to me, I respond as fast as I can. One is currently a student at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). You may have heard that there was an incident that brought up questions of racial understanding. My friend called because she's been in a group which has always been able to talk about things and suddenly they are polarized. She is confused and disappointed. She is wonderful and wants to deal directly with this situation. We talked a while about why people react so strongly, about race and even about gender. She had some ideas and I made some suggestions. I'm forcing my very tired self to write this entry for her.
Today is Purim, the Jewish Holiday that celebrates the Jews escaping a death sentence in Persia. It's one of my favorites partly because it's subtitle is the "Festival of Esther." She was a queen who saved her people and I always relate to that. But I missed our congregation's Purim Spiel because I was at the conference. I recently learned that there is a major SWE meeting being scheduled for Sept 18. Upon hearing the date, I whipped out my calendar and found it was Yom Kippur.
At our business meeting this morning, I brought up this conflict. I found as I spoke I was getting more impassioned. I said that SWE is organization that has diversity in its mission and was quite upset by this conflict and that nobody checked or addressed it. I explained it is the holiest day of the Jewish year. The event coordinator pointed out that the weekend was chosen because of a large event that the committee felt would attract people. There were some comments along the lines of "there are only so many weekends" and Kwanzaa was tossed out as an example. I asked would they schedule on Easter and was told that a partner organization actually had. The discussion then evolved into one about the attraction of the external event, why people attend this particular SWE event and how changes in our organizational structure had removed the primary reason that began this event.
Eventually, it was agreed to do a survey. The coordinator was most appropriately upset because all of her hard work was potentially being wasted. I tried to apologize for causing her stress. BUT, I was still upset. Not for the first time in the past year, I questioned why I give so much of my time, energy and yes money, to supporting this organization. Don't get me wrong, I love SWE, I really love a lot of the women I know. There are many who, when they reach out, I respond rapidly. But these "small" things add up.
Driving home alone, I started analyzing my responses. I realize I do not feel anger that they scheduled on Yom Kippur, as I would have years ago. Instead, I feel alone and marginalized. When I first learned about the conflict, I contacted a diversity advocate friend of another ethnicity and asked "are there so few Jews in SWE that we don't matter?" I was not the only Jew in the room and the other of whom I'm aware was quite supportive. But nobody, nobody else acknowledged that this was anything except my problem. Nobody said, "I'm sorry this situation has arisen" or "we didn't know the importance" or even "you have a point." The conversation went rather rapidly into (a more comfortable?) discussion of the value of the external attraction and the event itself. Quite frankly, I left disappointed at the lack of sensitivity - in an organization that has in its mission statement "the value of diversity."
And then, I had an "aha". This is probably what is affecting the dialogue at UCSD. Those who are the "other" are upset about an incident that showed lack of sensitivity. They are having a hard time moving on to dialogue because nobody has said (or they haven't heard) "you have a point." I gave my young friend advice that was along those lines but not quite so direct. I need to call her back.
Now, if you're still reading, you might be wondering about the title of this post. When I drive more than an hour by myself, I have certain road trip CDs that I play. One of my favorite singers, who still performs, whom I still love, is a folksinger/song writer from New England in the sixties, Tom Rush. This weekend I was playing the double CD of Merrimack County and Ladies Love Outlaws. About the point I crossed the Altamont Pass (with the HP1000 controlled windmills!) and I was torn between coming straight home and pulling over to take pictures, Tom and I started singing Guy Clark's song, Desperados Waiting for a Train. It's an ode to a man who befriended a boy and how one grew old as the other grew up. "He's a drifter, a driller of oil wells, He's an old school man of the world" At seventy, the older man wonders, "Lord, why has every well I've drilled gone dry?" The full song reminds me of the death of my father two years ago at 90 and I tear up. But today, after this morning's meeting, at sixty-two myself, I wondered if my metaphorically drilled wells were going dry and yes, sleep deprived, disappointed and missing home, I cried.
It's a couple of hours later. I've hugged my husband and my cats and had lunch. Shortly, I'm heading out to a baby shower given by two more of those dear young women for a third of them. I realize still have some wells flowing.
esther
© 2010 Esther A. Heller
I am fortunate in my life to have many young women who are very dear to me. I know most of them through Girl Scouts - as members of the legendary Troop 757, or as aides at Peninsula Day Camp or because I was their Gold Award adviser. When one of them reaches out to me, I respond as fast as I can. One is currently a student at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). You may have heard that there was an incident that brought up questions of racial understanding. My friend called because she's been in a group which has always been able to talk about things and suddenly they are polarized. She is confused and disappointed. She is wonderful and wants to deal directly with this situation. We talked a while about why people react so strongly, about race and even about gender. She had some ideas and I made some suggestions. I'm forcing my very tired self to write this entry for her.
Today is Purim, the Jewish Holiday that celebrates the Jews escaping a death sentence in Persia. It's one of my favorites partly because it's subtitle is the "Festival of Esther." She was a queen who saved her people and I always relate to that. But I missed our congregation's Purim Spiel because I was at the conference. I recently learned that there is a major SWE meeting being scheduled for Sept 18. Upon hearing the date, I whipped out my calendar and found it was Yom Kippur.
At our business meeting this morning, I brought up this conflict. I found as I spoke I was getting more impassioned. I said that SWE is organization that has diversity in its mission and was quite upset by this conflict and that nobody checked or addressed it. I explained it is the holiest day of the Jewish year. The event coordinator pointed out that the weekend was chosen because of a large event that the committee felt would attract people. There were some comments along the lines of "there are only so many weekends" and Kwanzaa was tossed out as an example. I asked would they schedule on Easter and was told that a partner organization actually had. The discussion then evolved into one about the attraction of the external event, why people attend this particular SWE event and how changes in our organizational structure had removed the primary reason that began this event.
Eventually, it was agreed to do a survey. The coordinator was most appropriately upset because all of her hard work was potentially being wasted. I tried to apologize for causing her stress. BUT, I was still upset. Not for the first time in the past year, I questioned why I give so much of my time, energy and yes money, to supporting this organization. Don't get me wrong, I love SWE, I really love a lot of the women I know. There are many who, when they reach out, I respond rapidly. But these "small" things add up.
Driving home alone, I started analyzing my responses. I realize I do not feel anger that they scheduled on Yom Kippur, as I would have years ago. Instead, I feel alone and marginalized. When I first learned about the conflict, I contacted a diversity advocate friend of another ethnicity and asked "are there so few Jews in SWE that we don't matter?" I was not the only Jew in the room and the other of whom I'm aware was quite supportive. But nobody, nobody else acknowledged that this was anything except my problem. Nobody said, "I'm sorry this situation has arisen" or "we didn't know the importance" or even "you have a point." The conversation went rather rapidly into (a more comfortable?) discussion of the value of the external attraction and the event itself. Quite frankly, I left disappointed at the lack of sensitivity - in an organization that has in its mission statement "the value of diversity."
And then, I had an "aha". This is probably what is affecting the dialogue at UCSD. Those who are the "other" are upset about an incident that showed lack of sensitivity. They are having a hard time moving on to dialogue because nobody has said (or they haven't heard) "you have a point." I gave my young friend advice that was along those lines but not quite so direct. I need to call her back.
Now, if you're still reading, you might be wondering about the title of this post. When I drive more than an hour by myself, I have certain road trip CDs that I play. One of my favorite singers, who still performs, whom I still love, is a folksinger/song writer from New England in the sixties, Tom Rush. This weekend I was playing the double CD of Merrimack County and Ladies Love Outlaws. About the point I crossed the Altamont Pass (with the HP1000 controlled windmills!) and I was torn between coming straight home and pulling over to take pictures, Tom and I started singing Guy Clark's song, Desperados Waiting for a Train. It's an ode to a man who befriended a boy and how one grew old as the other grew up. "He's a drifter, a driller of oil wells, He's an old school man of the world" At seventy, the older man wonders, "Lord, why has every well I've drilled gone dry?" The full song reminds me of the death of my father two years ago at 90 and I tear up. But today, after this morning's meeting, at sixty-two myself, I wondered if my metaphorically drilled wells were going dry and yes, sleep deprived, disappointed and missing home, I cried.
It's a couple of hours later. I've hugged my husband and my cats and had lunch. Shortly, I'm heading out to a baby shower given by two more of those dear young women for a third of them. I realize still have some wells flowing.
esther
© 2010 Esther A. Heller
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Knowing what to do?
I was going to paste this on my Facebook status but it's a little more complex than that. My husband Nick and I were just out walking off the pink sourdough chocolate chip valentine pancakes.
We met a young woman named Brenda, goes by Bree. She asked us for money to buy crayons and coloring books that she'd promised some kids. Apparently, there's a homeless shelter nearby.
The last couple of months, I've been tripping over coloring books that the Oklahoma SWE section had made as outreach activities. Years ago, my friend Cathy at the time working for HR at Oracle, had copied them for our section to use. We probably used half of them. Did I mention I've been tripping over them.
I said "I have some engineering focused coloring books." Bree got quite excited. She walked back to our house with us - yes, I know, there's a risk but she got so excited about coloring books. I did nicely ask her to wait outside since we didn't know her and she was sweet about that. We threw in a couple of boxes of crayons that Nick used to use for orienteering controls and other Girl Scout activities.
Oh, and yesterday, I'd opened the last box of Thin Mints in the freezer. We gave her the unopened slug [that's a technical term for the sealed roll] put it all in a GS tote bag. She hugged us and went off talking about how God was making this a great Valentine's day.
So, right thing? Wrong thing? Felt right to me.
Happy Valentine's Day!
© 2010 Esther A. Heller
We met a young woman named Brenda, goes by Bree. She asked us for money to buy crayons and coloring books that she'd promised some kids. Apparently, there's a homeless shelter nearby.
The last couple of months, I've been tripping over coloring books that the Oklahoma SWE section had made as outreach activities. Years ago, my friend Cathy at the time working for HR at Oracle, had copied them for our section to use. We probably used half of them. Did I mention I've been tripping over them.
I said "I have some engineering focused coloring books." Bree got quite excited. She walked back to our house with us - yes, I know, there's a risk but she got so excited about coloring books. I did nicely ask her to wait outside since we didn't know her and she was sweet about that. We threw in a couple of boxes of crayons that Nick used to use for orienteering controls and other Girl Scout activities.
Oh, and yesterday, I'd opened the last box of Thin Mints in the freezer. We gave her the unopened slug [that's a technical term for the sealed roll] put it all in a GS tote bag. She hugged us and went off talking about how God was making this a great Valentine's day.
So, right thing? Wrong thing? Felt right to me.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Esther
© 2010 Esther A. Heller
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Comments on Comfort Inns and Cyns
I'm not sure when Nick and I first started staying at the Comfort Inns - maybe when we went to Afroz's wedding which I think was near Chicago. Or maybe the ever resourceful Nick found them some other way.
In any case, we like them. Prices are reasonable, breakfast is included. If you have time and don't mind the calories, you can even make a Belgium waffle! My only complaint is the "cheerios" are the kind with sugar and the bran flakes have raisins in them. But that's minor.
In general, they have nice, comfortable, decent sized rooms. They're part of one of the frequent programs. Twice for Thanksgiving, we stayed there in Manhattan. One year, we got a free night and Nick picked the day before Thanksgiving (cause it was the most expensive.) But we came in the day before and stayed a few more days - we ended up with three reservations. Didn't think much of it until we were locked out of the room on Wed morning. Disconnect in the computer system. Same thing happened the next day but we were expecting it.
Tangent - that was a nice time! We went for three years to see Dad, post stroke. We walked out the front door and turned left, went half way up the block and watched the upper 1/3 of the Macy's parade go by. Then we bopped down the block the other way and got a slice of Nick's pizza [not my Nick, the pizza place Nick] which tided us over until we got to Caren's. She always has a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner but served ater than we'd like. Walking from the Comfort Inn through Central Park to her place was wonderful. The weather was gorgeous, people were friendly, fall foliage. I have pictures - on this very computer.
Now, some of you know that real estate is tight in Manhattan. Our first Comfort Inn room had the feature that you could get into the closet from the bed. You couldn't have the bathroom and closet doors open at the same time but hey - close to Central Park, decent price [tangent to tangent - one year we stayed at the Hudson, a tony place near Columbus Circle - quite the adventure for us not kids.]
What's this all got to do with the current Southern Cal trip? We stayed in the Comfort Suites in Stephenson Ranch, which we think is part of Santa Clarita. I'm quite confused about the relationship among Stephenson, Santa Clarita and Valencia. Our Comfort Inn was listed as on The Old Road which is sort of a frontage road for "the" 5 [as they say down here.] Actually it was on Marriott Way, but I get why they wouldn't want to say so. It's also near Pico Cyn Road. We had three days of Something Cyn Road here and there. Fortunately, Nick knew, it's shorthand for Canyon. I, of course, love saying Agua Dulce sin road. That's the exit for Vasquez Rocks County Park.
Back to the Comfort . One goes up the elevator and comes out into a room of sorts that has the elevator, the ice machine and the vending machines. It was bigger than that guest room in Manhattan!!! Oh, and the vending machine had three different burritos, two types of ice cream bars and a pizza. We had both a fridge and a microwave in our suite. Gotta love So Cal!
Now we're in the Quality Inn & Suites, Anaheim. We're on a free night tonight - love those points! But two reservations again - see it all ties together. You thought I was just randomly rambling. Andre at the front desk assured us that we would not be locked out while at Disneyland. He also said it was a 10-15 min walk to the Disneyland entrace. Took us longer, even with all my stops. Tomorrow, we head there directly, in the rain.
More to come, including Vasquez Rocks and Feline Conservation Center. But park closes at 6pm so we have to get up and go early. Later!
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
In any case, we like them. Prices are reasonable, breakfast is included. If you have time and don't mind the calories, you can even make a Belgium waffle! My only complaint is the "cheerios" are the kind with sugar and the bran flakes have raisins in them. But that's minor.
In general, they have nice, comfortable, decent sized rooms. They're part of one of the frequent programs. Twice for Thanksgiving, we stayed there in Manhattan. One year, we got a free night and Nick picked the day before Thanksgiving (cause it was the most expensive.) But we came in the day before and stayed a few more days - we ended up with three reservations. Didn't think much of it until we were locked out of the room on Wed morning. Disconnect in the computer system. Same thing happened the next day but we were expecting it.
Tangent - that was a nice time! We went for three years to see Dad, post stroke. We walked out the front door and turned left, went half way up the block and watched the upper 1/3 of the Macy's parade go by. Then we bopped down the block the other way and got a slice of Nick's pizza [not my Nick, the pizza place Nick] which tided us over until we got to Caren's. She always has a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner but served ater than we'd like. Walking from the Comfort Inn through Central Park to her place was wonderful. The weather was gorgeous, people were friendly, fall foliage. I have pictures - on this very computer.
Now, some of you know that real estate is tight in Manhattan. Our first Comfort Inn room had the feature that you could get into the closet from the bed. You couldn't have the bathroom and closet doors open at the same time but hey - close to Central Park, decent price [tangent to tangent - one year we stayed at the Hudson, a tony place near Columbus Circle - quite the adventure for us not kids.]
What's this all got to do with the current Southern Cal trip? We stayed in the Comfort Suites in Stephenson Ranch, which we think is part of Santa Clarita. I'm quite confused about the relationship among Stephenson, Santa Clarita and Valencia. Our Comfort Inn was listed as on The Old Road which is sort of a frontage road for "the" 5 [as they say down here.] Actually it was on Marriott Way, but I get why they wouldn't want to say so. It's also near Pico Cyn Road. We had three days of Something Cyn Road here and there. Fortunately, Nick knew, it's shorthand for Canyon. I, of course, love saying Agua Dulce sin road. That's the exit for Vasquez Rocks County Park.
Back to the Comfort . One goes up the elevator and comes out into a room of sorts that has the elevator, the ice machine and the vending machines. It was bigger than that guest room in Manhattan!!! Oh, and the vending machine had three different burritos, two types of ice cream bars and a pizza. We had both a fridge and a microwave in our suite. Gotta love So Cal!
Now we're in the Quality Inn & Suites, Anaheim. We're on a free night tonight - love those points! But two reservations again - see it all ties together. You thought I was just randomly rambling. Andre at the front desk assured us that we would not be locked out while at Disneyland. He also said it was a 10-15 min walk to the Disneyland entrace. Took us longer, even with all my stops. Tomorrow, we head there directly, in the rain.
More to come, including Vasquez Rocks and Feline Conservation Center. But park closes at 6pm so we have to get up and go early. Later!
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
Friday, December 4, 2009
On the Road Again
Or, as they say, deja vu all over again.
This morning, after each of us took care of things that had to be done and the cats frolicked on the suitcase, Nick and I packed up the Prius (the red one this time) and headed on down Highway 101. Unlike the October trip with Jacey, the weather was fabulous. Nick and I didn't talk as much as Jacey and I did but I only see her once a year. But his car has a six CD player and we listened to Heart, Creedence and Bob Seger.
Of course we stopped in Gilroy for the Jelly Belly factory but this time no Belly Flops were purchased. I had remembered that I'd not packed a baseball cap, just in case there's sun. Got a funky gold and black one at the Fox outlet store for $7. I know nothing about them except they have a cool logo. I'm calling it my glitzy trucker hat. Photos will appear somewhere.
Knowing our dinner plans, Nick had packed lunch.. Nick had been that way while I was at Nikon school and knew about the Pacheco State park. We had our picnic there. We even paid the self-serve parking fee because we know how much the park system is hurting. It was lovely, the two of us and a lot of birds. The latrines are actually quite decent and there was water to wash hands.
We're down here in Santa Clarita so Nick can enter the USOF Trail Orienteering Championships tomorrow. Sunday is a regular meet. Trail O is very cool. It's more thinking and less physical. That's because it's designed for those who cannot go off trail and there is a paralympic class. Able bodied orienteers love it because it tests their map reading skills. I've always hoped that people with mobility issues would learn about it and get more excited. When I was working with some groups with disabilities, I did try to publicize it. But, as usual, I digress. On Sunday there's a standard meet. Then we move down to Anaheim for the obvious reason. And that and what I hope to write about tomorrow are how Nick lured me into coming along.
Vegetarians, dieters and those who are not serious carnivoires should move along to the next paragraph. One of the great things of traveling with Nick is he finds stuff. So, he found the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill and once we were settled in at the hotel, off we went. Yummm. We tried not to get too much food, explained to waitress Rachel that we wanted the beef ribs and the chicken and ended up splitting a combo meal. Yumm. The ribs were great, the chicken was almost as good, we ate too much and each had a glass of good wine. Nick had Jacob's Creek Shiraz from Austrailia and, of course, I had Zinfandel, Opolo Vineyards, Paso Robles.
The plan now is to go to sleep early!! Isn't that amazing? Like 11:30 so we can pop up early and get breakfast and go to Vasquez Rocks. I've got a new membory card for my camera, tested it out, battery charged and I know how to set the lighting for cloudy and how to over- or under-expose. I'm ready!!
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
This morning, after each of us took care of things that had to be done and the cats frolicked on the suitcase, Nick and I packed up the Prius (the red one this time) and headed on down Highway 101. Unlike the October trip with Jacey, the weather was fabulous. Nick and I didn't talk as much as Jacey and I did but I only see her once a year. But his car has a six CD player and we listened to Heart, Creedence and Bob Seger.
Of course we stopped in Gilroy for the Jelly Belly factory but this time no Belly Flops were purchased. I had remembered that I'd not packed a baseball cap, just in case there's sun. Got a funky gold and black one at the Fox outlet store for $7. I know nothing about them except they have a cool logo. I'm calling it my glitzy trucker hat. Photos will appear somewhere.
Knowing our dinner plans, Nick had packed lunch.. Nick had been that way while I was at Nikon school and knew about the Pacheco State park. We had our picnic there. We even paid the self-serve parking fee because we know how much the park system is hurting. It was lovely, the two of us and a lot of birds. The latrines are actually quite decent and there was water to wash hands.
We're down here in Santa Clarita so Nick can enter the USOF Trail Orienteering Championships tomorrow. Sunday is a regular meet. Trail O is very cool. It's more thinking and less physical. That's because it's designed for those who cannot go off trail and there is a paralympic class. Able bodied orienteers love it because it tests their map reading skills. I've always hoped that people with mobility issues would learn about it and get more excited. When I was working with some groups with disabilities, I did try to publicize it. But, as usual, I digress. On Sunday there's a standard meet. Then we move down to Anaheim for the obvious reason. And that and what I hope to write about tomorrow are how Nick lured me into coming along.
Vegetarians, dieters and those who are not serious carnivoires should move along to the next paragraph. One of the great things of traveling with Nick is he finds stuff. So, he found the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill and once we were settled in at the hotel, off we went. Yummm. We tried not to get too much food, explained to waitress Rachel that we wanted the beef ribs and the chicken and ended up splitting a combo meal. Yumm. The ribs were great, the chicken was almost as good, we ate too much and each had a glass of good wine. Nick had Jacob's Creek Shiraz from Austrailia and, of course, I had Zinfandel, Opolo Vineyards, Paso Robles.
The plan now is to go to sleep early!! Isn't that amazing? Like 11:30 so we can pop up early and get breakfast and go to Vasquez Rocks. I've got a new membory card for my camera, tested it out, battery charged and I know how to set the lighting for cloudy and how to over- or under-expose. I'm ready!!
Love,
Esther
Esther
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thoughts on ... Forty Years
I know some of you are saying, which forty years? Some of you are thinking, I’m not even forty years old, I can’t relate. But some of you are doing the math and, knowing me, realize this column’s clock is starting to tick with 1969.
This summer was full of events that reminded me of 1969. My husband and I attended back-to-back college fortieth reunions at the beginning of the summer. At the end we saw Ang Lee’s film Taking Woodstock. In between, the fortieth anniversary of NASA’s lunar landing took place, as well as the passing of two men I admired, Walter Cronkite and Ted Kennedy.
Indeed, I did graduate from Brandeis University, in mathematics, forty years ago. That summer, I worked for NASA at their Electronics Research Center (ERC) in Cambridge, MA, doing computer modeling of semi-conductor diodes. Not for the last time, I had a job where I didn’t quite know what I was doing, but I had a fabulous boss who did. It was a great summer. Of course, all the programming was in Fortran and on punch cards. In my programming class, I had to punch them myself - manually, no backspacing or cursors to fix errors - you redid the whole card if you made a mistake. At ERC, there was somebody, no doubt a lowly paid woman, who typed them for you overnight. And there were technicians, all male, who ran them through the big machine. That meant that every iteration of code took a day. Imagine my joy, when many years later, I programmed on an early personal computer (neither IBM nor Microsoft) in Basic and could type code and then just run it!
My then boyfriend, now husband, and I did a lot of fun things that summer - going to the zoo and movies and Red Sox games. But you know, we didn’t go to Woodstock. I don’t even remember hearing about it until many years later. After we watched the movie, we had a good long chat about would we have gone had we known? Would we have coped with the conditions? At this point in life, it holds no appeal. But for thirty of the forty years between, we did a lot of camping, some primitive, some backpacking, with our Girl Scout troop. I think the difference in my mind is being prepared.
At the end of that summer, we headed off to be graduate students, also in math, at Stanford. Picture this if you can, two twenty-one year olds at the airport, boarding their first coast-to-coast flight, no electronics to turn on or off! The image I carry to this day is of our mothers, standing together at the gate, waving goodbye with tears in their eyes. While I completely appreciate the security we have at airports today and tolerate the inconvenience, what I totally miss is the humanity of being able to see people on and off the planes.
It was the two deaths this summer that reminded me, again, of what else we as a culture are losing. Walter Cronkite was considered the most trusted man in America. When he delivered the news, everyone believed him. He was not worried about ratings or image on the screen. He was honest and he was real and he had the time to get the full story out. Today we have news everywhere, on television, in print and on the internet. Almost everything has a spin. You know I believe in multiple perspectives but I hate having to figure out someone’s agenda before I can evaluate what’s being said.
Growing up in Massachusetts, I always knew of the Kennedy family. By the time Ted came of age, the family was one of privilege and influence. He had some rocky starts and dealt with family tragedy. I don’t know if he could have chosen a different path within that family. What I do know is he trod that path well. He understood the need for finding middle ground, for avoiding polarization. Today, politics and thus government seems to be more about fighting not the good fight but the opposition; winning has taken over from finding win-win solutions.
Both men had strength of character and the courage of their convictions. They grew up in somewhat different time from when I did and an extremely different time from where we are now. But I believe they set examples from which we can still all learn. There are times when we have to do what’s best for ourselves but there are times when we really have to look at the big picture. This is what I’ve been trying to do for the past forty years. I hope that I’ve helped you do the same through these columns. Together we can make significant, positive change over the next forty years.
This summer was full of events that reminded me of 1969. My husband and I attended back-to-back college fortieth reunions at the beginning of the summer. At the end we saw Ang Lee’s film Taking Woodstock. In between, the fortieth anniversary of NASA’s lunar landing took place, as well as the passing of two men I admired, Walter Cronkite and Ted Kennedy.
Indeed, I did graduate from Brandeis University, in mathematics, forty years ago. That summer, I worked for NASA at their Electronics Research Center (ERC) in Cambridge, MA, doing computer modeling of semi-conductor diodes. Not for the last time, I had a job where I didn’t quite know what I was doing, but I had a fabulous boss who did. It was a great summer. Of course, all the programming was in Fortran and on punch cards. In my programming class, I had to punch them myself - manually, no backspacing or cursors to fix errors - you redid the whole card if you made a mistake. At ERC, there was somebody, no doubt a lowly paid woman, who typed them for you overnight. And there were technicians, all male, who ran them through the big machine. That meant that every iteration of code took a day. Imagine my joy, when many years later, I programmed on an early personal computer (neither IBM nor Microsoft) in Basic and could type code and then just run it!
My then boyfriend, now husband, and I did a lot of fun things that summer - going to the zoo and movies and Red Sox games. But you know, we didn’t go to Woodstock. I don’t even remember hearing about it until many years later. After we watched the movie, we had a good long chat about would we have gone had we known? Would we have coped with the conditions? At this point in life, it holds no appeal. But for thirty of the forty years between, we did a lot of camping, some primitive, some backpacking, with our Girl Scout troop. I think the difference in my mind is being prepared.
At the end of that summer, we headed off to be graduate students, also in math, at Stanford. Picture this if you can, two twenty-one year olds at the airport, boarding their first coast-to-coast flight, no electronics to turn on or off! The image I carry to this day is of our mothers, standing together at the gate, waving goodbye with tears in their eyes. While I completely appreciate the security we have at airports today and tolerate the inconvenience, what I totally miss is the humanity of being able to see people on and off the planes.
It was the two deaths this summer that reminded me, again, of what else we as a culture are losing. Walter Cronkite was considered the most trusted man in America. When he delivered the news, everyone believed him. He was not worried about ratings or image on the screen. He was honest and he was real and he had the time to get the full story out. Today we have news everywhere, on television, in print and on the internet. Almost everything has a spin. You know I believe in multiple perspectives but I hate having to figure out someone’s agenda before I can evaluate what’s being said.
Growing up in Massachusetts, I always knew of the Kennedy family. By the time Ted came of age, the family was one of privilege and influence. He had some rocky starts and dealt with family tragedy. I don’t know if he could have chosen a different path within that family. What I do know is he trod that path well. He understood the need for finding middle ground, for avoiding polarization. Today, politics and thus government seems to be more about fighting not the good fight but the opposition; winning has taken over from finding win-win solutions.
Both men had strength of character and the courage of their convictions. They grew up in somewhat different time from when I did and an extremely different time from where we are now. But I believe they set examples from which we can still all learn. There are times when we have to do what’s best for ourselves but there are times when we really have to look at the big picture. This is what I’ve been trying to do for the past forty years. I hope that I’ve helped you do the same through these columns. Together we can make significant, positive change over the next forty years.
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
All rights reserved.
Contact the author prior to reproduction.
All rights reserved.
Contact the author prior to reproduction.
First published in Connections, Oct 2009
newsletter of the Santa Clara Valley Section of the Society of Women Engineers.
newsletter of the Santa Clara Valley Section of the Society of Women Engineers.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Rainy Road trip
(note: to my non-travel log friends, I'm now doing all my blogging, reporting, whatevering, here. This may or may not be your thing. eah)
Here I sit in the Westin Long Beach. I'm waiting for Sue, my partner-in-crime in things SWE Girl Scouts to come over so we can work on our possible Webinar. For those of my followers who don't know - a webinar is a seminar conducted by telephone and internet. Nowadays, everyone mutes their phones and so you can't see faces or now, hear chuckles at your possibly bad one-liners. It's worse than talking to yourself.
Yesterday, my friend Jacey and I drove the Prius 400 miles to Long Beach. We started out in rain which stayed with us the whole time on 101. California highways at the first rain are dreadful. The roads are slick from all the oil that's built up over the past several months. Everyone's forgotten how to drive in weather that's well, weather. The big ole trucks are kicking up lots of water. When we pulled off in Gilroy, I finally realized it wasn't pouring, it was all the kicked up water making me think that.
At Gilroy, we started cutting over to Hwy 5 which runs fast up and down the state. We stopped at the factory outlets because that's where the Jelly Belly outlet store is. Worth it because you can get any variety they make by the bag, $9/lb (much better than at, say, Diddams) AND you can buy Belly Flops. Those are the QA rejects. Taste the same, look terrible. It used to be you could buy one, get one for a nickel. Now, it's buy 3 get 2 free. Yes, we did. See, we're in Long Beach for the Society of Women Engineers conference and today, we have committee meetings. And due to cost cuttings, there's not food at meetings and sugar is always good for the sleep-deprived, right? [Hey, maybe I'll but that on my Estherisms, on my website.]
We started off an Hwy 152 and found ourselves close enough to Casa de Fruita to stop for lunch. I'm not sure what I thought it was like but it wasn't. The part we sat in was in decor more like Johnny Rocket than anything faintly spanish looking. But the Kobe beef burgers were great.
We made our way without much adventure to 5. 152 goes through some nice northern california hillsides dotted with oak trees. So it was quite pretty.
Hwy 5 started out ok - rain but reasonable, fewer truck, views of the Aquiduct. Do you know that there are only 2 or 3 things on earth visible from space? The great wall of China and the California aquiduct are two.
We drove buy a lot of signs saying "Congress created dust bowls" in areas where indeed everything was quite dried up. Not sure what produced this, need to google it some time.
My poor Prius had been getting about 44 mpg all summer, but on this trip, more like 34. So we had to fill up earlier. Part of it was the speed but more was the extra load. It's usually just me and some stuff. We had three suitcases, two carry ons, 6 lbs of Jelly Bellys/Flops and two huge boxes of supplies for Engineering Your Future, the GS Getaway.
Switched over drivers at that point. I got the rain, Jacey got the wind. There were tumbleweeds crossing the freeway. Now tell me, tumbleweeds in central California?? I've done this route before. I'm fairly certain that I've only ever seen tumbleweeds in either Texas or Wyoming. At some point we saw a small herd of donkeys. That was mildly exciting. I got some knitting done but mostly ate some of my Tutti Fruiti Jelly Bellys.
And then there was the dust. Guess the signs were right. It was bad. We missed the spot in Gorman (I'm fond of Gorman, cause my nephew's a Gorman, Hi J!) where we planned to switch off. So Jacey got to navigate the LA/Long Beach traffic while I navigated via the maps. We used the diamond (commuter, carpool) lane. We were on hwy 405 by that point. These are limited access lanes - marked by solid vs dashed lines. Much nicer than anyone can jump in or out at any point and well-marked as to upcoming exits.
After that, totally uneventful. Got settled in to our hotel and went off to register at the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) conference at Long Beach Convention center. Went off with Kimberly, for dinner at "Islands, fine burgers & drinks". I discovered that Mai Tais and Chinese Chicken salad work pretty well together. It was nice because I've been Jacey's mentor and Jacey's been Kimberly's mentor. Yes, that makes me Kimberley's grandmentor. Isn't that fun!
Today I've got meetings most of the day and it's raining. Will post when I can.
Love
Esther
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
Here I sit in the Westin Long Beach. I'm waiting for Sue, my partner-in-crime in things SWE Girl Scouts to come over so we can work on our possible Webinar. For those of my followers who don't know - a webinar is a seminar conducted by telephone and internet. Nowadays, everyone mutes their phones and so you can't see faces or now, hear chuckles at your possibly bad one-liners. It's worse than talking to yourself.
Yesterday, my friend Jacey and I drove the Prius 400 miles to Long Beach. We started out in rain which stayed with us the whole time on 101. California highways at the first rain are dreadful. The roads are slick from all the oil that's built up over the past several months. Everyone's forgotten how to drive in weather that's well, weather. The big ole trucks are kicking up lots of water. When we pulled off in Gilroy, I finally realized it wasn't pouring, it was all the kicked up water making me think that.
At Gilroy, we started cutting over to Hwy 5 which runs fast up and down the state. We stopped at the factory outlets because that's where the Jelly Belly outlet store is. Worth it because you can get any variety they make by the bag, $9/lb (much better than at, say, Diddams) AND you can buy Belly Flops. Those are the QA rejects. Taste the same, look terrible. It used to be you could buy one, get one for a nickel. Now, it's buy 3 get 2 free. Yes, we did. See, we're in Long Beach for the Society of Women Engineers conference and today, we have committee meetings. And due to cost cuttings, there's not food at meetings and sugar is always good for the sleep-deprived, right? [Hey, maybe I'll but that on my Estherisms, on my website.]
We started off an Hwy 152 and found ourselves close enough to Casa de Fruita to stop for lunch. I'm not sure what I thought it was like but it wasn't. The part we sat in was in decor more like Johnny Rocket than anything faintly spanish looking. But the Kobe beef burgers were great.
We made our way without much adventure to 5. 152 goes through some nice northern california hillsides dotted with oak trees. So it was quite pretty.
Hwy 5 started out ok - rain but reasonable, fewer truck, views of the Aquiduct. Do you know that there are only 2 or 3 things on earth visible from space? The great wall of China and the California aquiduct are two.
We drove buy a lot of signs saying "Congress created dust bowls" in areas where indeed everything was quite dried up. Not sure what produced this, need to google it some time.
My poor Prius had been getting about 44 mpg all summer, but on this trip, more like 34. So we had to fill up earlier. Part of it was the speed but more was the extra load. It's usually just me and some stuff. We had three suitcases, two carry ons, 6 lbs of Jelly Bellys/Flops and two huge boxes of supplies for Engineering Your Future, the GS Getaway.
Switched over drivers at that point. I got the rain, Jacey got the wind. There were tumbleweeds crossing the freeway. Now tell me, tumbleweeds in central California?? I've done this route before. I'm fairly certain that I've only ever seen tumbleweeds in either Texas or Wyoming. At some point we saw a small herd of donkeys. That was mildly exciting. I got some knitting done but mostly ate some of my Tutti Fruiti Jelly Bellys.
And then there was the dust. Guess the signs were right. It was bad. We missed the spot in Gorman (I'm fond of Gorman, cause my nephew's a Gorman, Hi J!) where we planned to switch off. So Jacey got to navigate the LA/Long Beach traffic while I navigated via the maps. We used the diamond (commuter, carpool) lane. We were on hwy 405 by that point. These are limited access lanes - marked by solid vs dashed lines. Much nicer than anyone can jump in or out at any point and well-marked as to upcoming exits.
After that, totally uneventful. Got settled in to our hotel and went off to register at the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) conference at Long Beach Convention center. Went off with Kimberly, for dinner at "Islands, fine burgers & drinks". I discovered that Mai Tais and Chinese Chicken salad work pretty well together. It was nice because I've been Jacey's mentor and Jacey's been Kimberly's mentor. Yes, that makes me Kimberley's grandmentor. Isn't that fun!
Today I've got meetings most of the day and it's raining. Will post when I can.
Love
Esther
© 2009 Esther A. Heller
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