Round Robin: Museum of the Wood

Oh, my! This entry was a mass of typos! My apologies - I need to proofread more carefully when I'm as tired as I was this morning.

She showed me her room
Isn't it good
Norwegian Wood
--Norwegian Wood by Lennon & McCartney

Yes, it's Round Robin time again! Kiva, the Eclectic Granny, takes her inspiration from the Beatles' Rubber Soul LP for this week's topic: Norwegian Wood.

Well, I don't know whether I literally have any Norwegian Wood, and I definitely have no boyfriend who crawls off to sleep in the bath. After all, I've been married for 29 years this month, to a husband who prefers showers. Like many people, John (Blocher) and I have a lot of veneered pressboard here in the Museum of the Weird; but not everything is like that. We also have some furniture and collectibles of real wood. Let's take a look at some of them:


The front door hadn't been in good shape for years. Here you can see a vertical crack. But I love that we painted it blue about eight years ago, which makes it look rather like the TARDIS. (Aside to Kiva: the blue door isn't visible from the road, because of the yellow alcove John built by the door for shade purposes.)

Inside, it's wood-colored. I'm thinking cherry.

Wooden salt and pepper set is a souvenir of Hawaii, circa 1961.

Vintage wooden plaques.

Record crates from circa 1982.

These record crates probably saw a lot of use in the early 80s. They may have contained our then-growing collection of records by the Beatles, the Clash, the Specials, etc., or they could have been for our store stock or show stock. That was when I was managing Rockarama, and we used record shows to help cover expenses. Peaches was an Ohio record store chain, which failed during that same era.

This vintage room divider is in our front room.

To answer Bea's question, I'll direct your attention to the signed photo. That's the late Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor in Doctor Who. I never met him. He died of a heart attack at a science fiction convention in 1987.

The wooden box next to the pottery storyteller figure is a humidor. I was going to say that John used to keep cigars in there, but I just opened it, and there are still cigars in there. John says they aren't very good cigars.

I have no idea what kind of wood the base of this Southwest style lamp is made from. It reminds me of a saguaro rib, but I don't think that's what it is.


Here's one of my favorite bits of vintage furniture, the shelving unit on which we store quite a few Barbie dolls and other vintage stuff.

That's it for this morning! Now check out what ex-trees the other Robins have been landing in!

Karen

Linking List

Kiva - POSTED!
Eclectic Granny
http://eclecticgranny.blogspot.com

Carly - POSTED!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen - POSTED!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Lisa - POSTED!
Lisa's Chaos
http://www.lisaschaos.com

Momma - POSTED!
Sandcastle Momma
http://sandcastlemomma.blogspot.com

Gattina - POSTED!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/

Martha - POSTED!
Perception
http://journals.aol.com/lifes2odd/perception/

TJ - POSTED!
TJ's Photo Expressions
http://tjphotoexpressions.blogspot.com/

Jill - POSTED!
Letting Crazy Take a Spin
http://lettingcrazytakeaspin.blogspot.com/

Janet - POSTED!
fondofsnape
http://www.fondofsnape.com

Jan - POSTED!
The Prytz Family
http://www.theprytzfamily.com/

Monica - POSTED!
Family Affair Photography
http://www.familyaffairphotography.blogspot.com

Vicki - POSTED!
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Robin - POSTED!
Robin's Woods
http://robinswoods.blogspot.com/

Angela
Chocolate Syrup for the Soul
http://angelas-craziness.blogspot.com

Robinella - POSTED!
Not A Stepford Wife
http://notastepfordwife.blogspot.com/

Marie - POSTED!
Photographs & Memories
http://journals.aol.com/mariebm56/PhotographsAndMemories

Kim - POSTED!
Nekked Lizards
http://nekkedlizardadventures.typepad.com

gina - POSTED!
gina's space
http://journals.aol.com/rbrown6172/Ginasspace/

Meg - POSTED!
In Quest Of
http://journals.aol.com/inquestoftruth/InQuestOf/

Steven - POSTED!
(sometimes)photoblog
http://sometimesphotoblog.com/

Jama Hameed - POSTED!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Teena - POSTED!
It's all about me!
http://purple4mee.blogspot.com

Pamela - POSTED!
The Dust Will Wait
http://thedustwillwait.blogspot.com

Sarah - POSTED!
Charish
http://charish-me.blogspot.com

Wammy - POSTED!
The Ellis Family Cincinnati
http://theellisfamilycincinnati.blogspot.com

Peter **Welcome New Member** - POSTED!
Holties House
http://holtieshouse.blogspot.com

So...if she weighs the same as a duck...she's made of wood?

Weekend Assignment #216: Fire!

Clouds and smoke and dust fill the sky, May 15, 2008

A couple of minutes before I arrived home from work this evening, I became aware of the smell and tang of smoke in my nose and throat and lungs. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the car, and looking around as I drove east on Golf Links, I couldn't see any fire. Nevertheless, there was obviously a fire going on somewhere. The sky was brownish gray, a combination of clouds, dust storm and smoke.

Fire on Mount Lemmon, circa 1986. Photo by JBlocher.

Usually when smoke hangs in the air over the city of Tucson, it's coming from a wildfire on Mount Lemmon. Occasionally it's from one of the other mountain ranges that ring the city, either the Rincons to the east or the Santa Ritas to the south, as seen below. But by daylight, looking through the nearly opaque sky, I couldn't find a fire.

The "Florida" fire, Santa Rita mountains, 2005

Tonight on the news, though, they mentioned that the smoke was from a controlled burn, blown into the city by a strong wind. They stopped seeding the fire after a while, but hope to burn some more tomorrow, to stave off the devastation of wildfires and clear the way for the brush and plant life that provide habitat to some of the animal species that inhabit, well, whichever mountain they're burning. All of which makes for a longer-than-usual introduction to this week's Weekend Assignment:

Weekend Assignment #216: Tell us a story or anecdote that involves fire in some way. It can be a forest fire, a house fire, a campfire, logs in the fireplace, or even a lit match, a tale of comfort or destruction. Whatever comes to mind, if it's interesting and fire plays a role, we want to read about it!

Extra Credit: Is the area where you live subject to dangerous wildfires?

Okay, I've told this story before, but not since 2005.

It was March 10th, 1979. Well, maybe. It was almost certainly 1979, it was definitely a Sunday, it was probably March, and I think it was on or near my birthday. I was engaged to John by then, and planning to visit him in Columbus, Ohio over spring break, which was imminent. I was still a student at Syracuse University, living in a rooming house on Westcott Street that had recently been condemned in a legal dispute between a judge, my ex-boyfriend, and the new landlord, a bit of a jerk who hadn't closed on the property yet.

About 7:30 AM, my young dog Jenny (AKA Princess Guinevere of Westcott Street) and a black Labrador puppy I had temporarily adopted, Wafer (short for Wayfarer), started barking, which woke me up. When I tried to get them to stop, my neighbor across the hall shouted, "Karen, get out! There's a fire!" I grabbed just enough clothing to manage in public, and not freeze in March weather - much. The ensemble consisted of a jacket over a nightgown. I think I had on flip-flops, and had just cut my foot on broken glass. I didn't even manage to find my glasses! I just got the puppies and got out. A fireman later retrieved my glasses for me.

It was odd to be standing, half-dressed, with my dad, my dogs and my neighbors outside that white wooden house in the child of a March morning in Syracuse, wondering whether I would lose my Beatles records and Harlan Ellison books to smoke and water damage. Fortunately, the fire was in a second floor apartment. Aside from a smoky smell, it never reached my little studio apartment at all. Lucky me!

Oh, and on the extra credit, yes, metro Tucson's mountain ranges have been through quite a few wildfires since we got here in 1986. And I can't help but wonder whether a windy day in May, when it hasn't rained here in weeks and weeks and the fire danger is at least "High" if not "Extreme," is the best timing for a controlled burn.

Your turn! Tell us about some fire or other. Write it up in your journal or blog, along with a link back here, and then leave a link to your entry in the comments below. As usual, I'll do a roundup of your entries a week from now. Go to it - but please, no dangerous experiments for the sake of the entry!

Karen

Weekend Assignment Results: Critics All

Last week I asked you to review a movie that was neither a favorite of yours nor one you hate. Some of you obliged, while others offered comments related to my own review:

Becky did not write an entry, but in comments she recommends 10 Things I Hate About You.

Paul, also writing in comments, reveals that he likes the film I reviewed, A Knight's Tale.

Astaryth likes A Knight's Tale too.

Saqib points us to some reviews he previously posted, including one for Beowulf.

Arachne Jericho offers us a brief screenplay in which her characters discuss the Star Wars films.

Sarah reviews a documentary, Young@Heart.

Duane reviews a lesser-known Stephen King film, The Mist.

Florinda goes to the movies so she can review Iron Man for us.

Mike reviews Red Planet, starring Val Kilmer.

Kiva reviews Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow, a tale of diverging destinies.

Kristi Wachter analyzes the elements of a good film review, and then reviews Enlightenment Guaranteed.

Oh, and by the way, I forgot to answer my own Extra Credit last week. I hope to see Prince Caspian and the new Indy film. But maybe I'd better find a job first, so I can justify the expense!

Thanks, all! There are a few films you reviewed that I want to see now. The new Weekend Assignment will follow shortly.

Karen

LIFO and the Resume Game

"Be what you is and not what you is not! Folks that is what they is, is the happiest lot!"
--Mr. Wizard the Lizard, mentor to Tooter Turtle, circa 1960.


There's a concept in accounting called LIFO, which stands for Last In, First Out. It's the most popular method for determining COGS - Cost Of Goods Sold. The idea is this. Say you're a leading manufacturer and wholesaler of that most exemplary of products, the widget. In January it costs your company a dollar to make a widget, but in June, because of oil prices and such, it costs you $1.25. In December it costs $1.50, and at the end of the year you've sold 1,000 of them and have 1,000 left. So how much did the thousand you sold cost you, and how much is your remaining inventory worth? Under LIFO, the thousand you sold were the last ones you'd made at the time of each sale, so the ones you have left are more likely to have a cost of $1.00 than a cost of $1.50. Result: your inventory has a lower value on the books, and your COGS is higher than if you'd used the FIFO (First In, First Out) method.

But it occurs to me, as Julie said in a comment, that I'm on the receiving end of LIFO at this moment. I'm one of the September widgets, and since there weren't any made in December, I'm out the door before the $1.00 widgets that have been on the shelves longer. And laying people off by seniority, by LIFO, does make a certain amount of sense. The $1.00 widgets are the ones that have been around long enough to be part of the history of the company, part of the institutional memory. That shy accountant in the unheated office may do a fine job, but the people who have been working in their cubicles for years are more valuable to the company, because they know far more about how everything works, or doesn't.

So this widget spent the evening checking over her resume and updating her listing on five different job sites. Would you believe the monster.com had no Tucson listings at all for me? Good thing CareerBuilder has lots of them.

Just for fun, let's see what won't be on my resume:

That Mavarin Woman

6xxx E Calle Mumble
"Tuscon", Arizonia 857xx
(520) 999-5555 cell
mavarin@company.com

Summary

Experienced widget with B.S./B. seeks to hang around with you for the next 20 years, but only if you're reasonably nice and pay pretty well.

Experience

Staff Accountant – Reporting Specialist
Famous Vehicle Dealer, Tucson, AZ, Sep. 2007–Present

• Compiled and formatted a bunch of reports, improved them, and wondered if people read them.
• Found errors and nagged people to fix them.
• Fixed some of them herself.

Assistant Accounting Manager (Temporary Position, Maternity Relief)
Anonymous Regional Retailer, Tucson, AZ Aug. 2007–Sep. 2007

• Used pretty markers on downloaded bank stuff, and wrote numbers all over it.
• Received some training in software she may never see again.
• Really wanted to stay.
  

Staff Accountant
First Magnus Financial Corp., Tucson, AZ May 2005–Aug. 2007

• Managed the company’s fixed assets across hundreds of branches, and wondered how that one guy could justify ordering a liquor cabinet as office furniture, and what the deal was with the 36 computers in Florida. Or was it 72 computers? Why were they ordered twice?
  
• Did a lot of payroll data entry for general ledger purposes in the most ridiculously eye-straining, time-wasting way possible, but eventually found a way to do it by a mildly foolish method, and then finally by a method that almost worked well.
• Never suspected the company was in big trouble until the day it folded.

Accountant (Operations Manager)
Worldwide Travel, Inc., Tucson, AZ, Apr. 1993–May 2005

• Worked really hard for a really long time, doing all the accounting stuff and redesigning procedures as the technology changed.
• Stayed longer than I probably should have because I liked the job and the people so much.

Sales and Management
Travel Network, Rockarama, etc.

• Have also worked at McDonalds and a hippie store and other irrelevant places.
• Co-owned a store that never made any money
  
• Don't ask for details, lest you find out I'm over 50 years old.
  

Writing and Editing

• Published author and editor, but you won't consider this relevant, will you?

Education

University of Greed, Tucson, AZ, Nov. 2002–Feb. 2005

• Pretty sure the only B that I got was an instructor trying to teach me humility.
• Don't ask how long ago I attended Syracuse University.

Personal

• Watches too much Doctor Who.
• Doesn't sleep enough, but hopes to do better.
  
• Rather shy, but very nice, funny and dedicated.

References

• What is this, a Wikipedia entry?

If some prospective employer ever reads this entry, I hope he or she has a sense of humor!

Karen

The Sins of the Emails

Mind you, I'm more sinning than sinned against when it comes to email. On my main account, the one with that funny M word at AOL, I don't really get much really unsolicited email that doesn't hit my spam folder. But just the AOL Alerts, Blogger comment alerts, Writer's Market emails, and job alerts from CareerBuilder and other sites are enough to fill my in box fairly quickly. If I don't feel like facing up to certain categories of email, things tend to build up until they're truly out of hand. I remember how guilty I felt the first time my in box topped 100 items.

Tonight I cleared out nearly 400 items.

No, really. I remember having 406 for sure, but I think my starting point was 426. At this moment I am down to 30 emails. It took hours and hours, partly because my cable modem was acting much like a dialup over a bad phone line in a thunderstorm. All too often, Firefox failed to find the server. But I got stubborn, and kept plugging away at the task anyway. Now I need to rush this entry and go to bed.

So what's left? A big chunk of it is advertising, from movie sites and Walgreens and Papa John. And that's just the stuff I didn't delete or file. The second major category is the job placement stuff. The third is email from church, mostly announcements and such, including a bunch that I never got around to posting on the church news blog. Mea culpa. And I still owe replies to a handful of real people on a variety of subjects, one of them in response to an email I never even got to read. Last night the mail client gave me an error message when I tried to open it. Tonight the email disappeared entirely, probably accidentally deleted by me, through my most grievous fault.

The thing that set off tis email purging project, aside from the comment alerts, was the need to isolate the job alerts and start going through them, eliminating the junk and outdated ones so I can look at the rest properly. Tomorrow I'll start looking at the actual job listings, and update my resume again, for the third time in month or so. I've been a total slacker about it, but now I've got to get serious.

Why? I was laid off today. My last day with my current employer is May 23rd.

Karen

Better Living Through Grammar (and Punctuation!)

I had a vague idea of following up on last night's entry, responding with gratitude and helpful suggestions to the comments so far; but I think I'll save that for another night. Instead I think I'll ramble for a bit about a book I haven't even seen yet, except for a few sample pages on Amazon.com.

Pepper has no interest in grammar

The book is Grammar for the Soul: Using Language for Personal Change by Lawrence A Weinstein. As the title suggests, it's part cognitive therapy / self help book, part Strunk & White style usage guide to the English language. The premise seems to be that grammar and punctuation can make a difference in the way you perceive the world, the way others perceive you, and the way you live your life. For example: a colon is assertive; it demands attention, especially from that guy who bounced a check off you last week. Active verbs make you feel less of a victim than passive ones. Even word order can affect how you feel about the situation described.

Oh, really?

I ran across an article about Professor Weinstein and his book in Tucson Weekly today, the same issue that had that nasty summer movie guide. Apparently he was in Tucson a few days ago, doing a reading from his book at the UA bookstore. I missed it, obviously, but no matter. The article and the Amazon listing give me the gist, and I can always take a look at the book on my next trip to Barnes and Noble. You know me: I'm not big on self-actualization stuff. I tend to distrust claims that you can improve your life by following these simple rules. But a number of things mentioned in the article intrigue me. For example:

'I am being kept on hold,' or, 'I have been holding for 10 minutes now.' Which sentence indicates that the speaker knows she has other options?

"I beat my best time in the 100-meter dash today, but I came in fourth." Or, "I came in fourth today, but I beat my best time in the 100-meter dash." Which one leaves the speaker feeling good about the accomplishment?

Now, I'm not at all sure choosing one version of a sentence over another is at all likely to put a spring in your step and help you face the world, but it may affect the impression you make on others. If nothing else, it's something to be aware of in one's writing, and maybe even when speaking.

Weinstein's claims are a bit grander than that, though. His book has sections titled "Bootstrap Grammar - Taking Life in Hand," "Grammar for Belonging," "Grammar for Freedom" and "Grammar to Restore the Ego," among others. He certainly seems to be expecting a lot from a preposition or a semicolon!

Still, language geek that I am, I remain intrigued by the idea. I think I'll put it on my wish list.

Karen

The End of the Monday Photo Shoot? (Chores)

Last week, in an attempt to make the Monday Photo Shoot topic a fun and easy one, I asked for pictures of any kind of game. Although several people enjoyed seeing my board games based on bad sf tv of the 1970s, only Martha actually took a picture of her own for the MPS, of a Spongebob edition of The Game of Life. I'm grateful that Martha took the time, because she has other demands on her life at the moment.

As you might imagine, it bums me out that this particular Monday Photo Shoot bombed so completely, but it's not a huge surprise. Since I took it over from John Scalzi at the beginning of 2008, it hasn't had nearly the level of participation that the Weekend Assignment and the Round Robin Photo Challenges get. And actually, even Scalzi himself wasn't getting great participation on the Monday Photo Shoot by late 2007. The reason why seems fairly obvious. When Scalzi started it in 2005, there weren't a lot of photoblogging memes making the rounds. Now there are, and the Monday Photo Shoot, based as it is on a three year tradition and one C-list blogger's weekly ideas, can't compete with better established shoots.

At this point, I figure I have four choices:

1. I can give up on it, and find something else to do on Sunday nights.

2. I can embark on a publicity campaign, reminding people about the Monday Photo Shoot and begging for entries.

3. I can do it anyway, and if there are no entries, then I make do without them.

4. I can ask you folks whether you think it's time to drop the meme, and ask you to post an entry if you want it to continue.

I'm not going to do #2. At least, I don't think I am. It forces me to confront a major phobia of mine about contacting people uninvited, and asking them to do things for me. Really, I'd rather not. #1 is probably where I'm headed, although I might dabble with #3, and post photos on my own even if it's not a meme any more. But I'm going to try #4 first.

So. One last try:

New Monday Photo Shoot #20: You're busy. I'm busy. Everyone's busy. (Well, almost everyone.) Show us a photo the represents one of the demands upon your time.


Yes, like everyone else, I have dishes to do. But first I'm going to have fun with the photo of them, using ArcSoft PhotoStudio:

Neon effect

Wet brush effect

Wet brush and negative

Your turn! Post a picture of something you need to get done, along with a link back here. Then post a link to your entry in the comments below. Please be sure to say in the comments whether you honestly think it's time for me to give up on the MPS. Then on Sunday night/Monday morning a week from now, I'll post the results, and my decision on whether to continue the meme. Fair enough? Meanwhile, have a great week!

Karen