Saturday, June 30, 2007

I think My Stroker's Gone

You'd better go grab a drink and something to eat, this is gonna be a long one.

You've waited all year - heck, you've waited your whole life - for this blog about this show. Yes folks, break out your powder blue tuxes and turquoise taffeta gowns...

It was Righteous! It was like totally tubular. Like Oh My God, gag me with a spoon. It rocked the cashbah. Dudley, oh sorry, The Brian Winter's Project, put on yet another fantastic prom. Tons of people dressed up and looked all 80's prom-ish. We three (Blueberry, Nickey and I) were among the dorks who didn't dress up. But we drank and danced and laughed like the rest of them. We partied in my "reserved for the biggest dudley fan ever" location (directly in front of the stage...yah baby). I made eye contact and batted the eyes on a regular basis...which knowing how good I am at flirting, Mr. Dudley probably thought I had something in my eye. Or I was spazzing out. Had my prom photo taken with my favorite lead guitarist, Craig Corbin (hint: He's the lead guitarist for Dudley.) Paul, the lead singer, walked past us when we first got there. I got the "head bob" of recognition. I mentioned it to Laura that I got the head bob of "hi" and she asked if I mistakened it for the "head bob" of "follow me to the back room". Hmmmm? I might have missed a golden opportunity there. Ok, back to reality.

The opening band, Tennis Pros, SUCKED. And by sucked I mean SUCKED. They are such a bad band. (side bar: When Laura and I were in high school we were huge Duran Duran fans...BIG. She loved Nick Rhodes and I loved Simon LeBond. So I called her Nickey and she called me Simey. What? We. Were. In. High. School.) Nickey at one point turned to me and said, "Do you think they know they suck?"
After Tennis Pro got off the stage, on came the Brian Winter's Project and they opened with Frankie Goes to Hollywood's song Relax. Paul brought out a big light just like the video of Relax. You all remember that right? Their first set proceeded to play every single 80s song we know and love.
During Careless Whispers (yes the song that Michael Pomerleau and I danced to in 1986) Nickey turns to me and says, "Are you stroking my hair?" "Ah, no." I respond. Come to find out the drunk chick behind us was running her hands through Laura's hair. Then about 20 minutes later Nickey says to me,"I think my stroker's gone."

The Brian Winter's Project had a few super special guess. Super special guest stars include Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA), Kim Virant (Lazy Susan) and Marty Jourard (The Motels)! Chris Ballew played a role as the high school principle. He got on stage and had a few announcements. He then sang "You're my obsession." The girl part he did a hand puppet with. It was hysterical...probably had to be there to think it was as funny as Nickey and I did...or be a bit drunk as we were. Marty Jourard played the sax on several songs which included Careless Whispers. Kim Virant sang a couple of songs too, which included Total Eclipse of the Heart - a classic 80's tune.

It was a blast and I'm so glad Nickey was here to join in on the fun. Oh and of the photos in this post. First photo is Nickey, Sherrie and I at the Prom Photo spot. Second photo is Craig Corbin (lead guitarist of the band) and I. If he keeps being so nice to me he might soon become my favorite DMQ boy. He smelled oh so good. MMMM...The last photo was the drinks on our table at one point. Notice the empty drink and the two shots of B52's....yah, Jenn mixed her drinks. Started with a Jack and Coke, went to rum and coke then the B52 shot, then a rum and coke...then Tylenol.

Naked Prince cheats on me
I told you in the last blog that he'd likely cheat on me with some skank like Malibu barbie. Worse, he cheated on me with Sleeping Beauty. I get home Friday night, open the door to my room and to see the shock on his face. I kicked his ass to the curb and sent her packing (well okay, Jenna - Laura's little girl - would let me keep Naked Prince around. I tried to talk her into letting me take him to the UK with me...she'd have none of that. Naked Prince is heading South as I type.)

Laura and her fam are gone. It was a blast to have her and her family here. The kids are oh so cute and so Laura. I'm sure Mike, her husband, had something to do with them, but they act just like Laura. And that my friends, we should fear.


Photography Lesson 101
It was an absolute beautiful day in Seattle, which meant every person and their child was out and about. I headed to Mukilteo and the Ferry Terminal down on the waterfront. There's an old lighthouse out there that's been restored. My photography eye has taken a vacation as I realized I wasn't able to see things the way I once was. I'm sure it's just a matter getting out there and playing around again. So I'm not too worried.


Thursday, June 28, 2007

I have a boy in my bed and I'm not afraid to use him

If you are 21 or older ... please continue.

If you are 21 or younger...why the hell aren't you in bed? Or at church? Or studying?

Disney Porn continues...


Oh sure, he looks all nice and hot now. But he'll never call. He'll never write. He'll probably run off with that skank Malibu Barbie. I mean she does have so much I don't have. Like a tan. And now she has Naked Prince too.

*sniff sniff*

I'm sorry. I have to go. The pain is too much. He'll be leaving in two days and I'll miss him so.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The First Photos are In

I know you all have been waiting with baited breath to see my first photos with the new camera. Trust me, I've been waiting too. So here you go, the first picture.

Drum roll please...

What?

BFF Nickey's (that's a code name for Laura) daughter Jenna left this on my coffee table for me to come home to (though her mother might have had something to do with it too). The man is - um - Naked Prince. Don't ask. The woman? Well that's Ariel of course from Little Mermaid.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Dork by any other name is still a Dork

Yes, my lovelies, I'm a dork. As SLSIL and Mom can now attest to.

See here's the deal, my 20 year class reunion is coming up in in September. I have been watching air fairs closely to get the best deal. I finally found one that I felt were sound. I purchased my ticket. And I was on my way.

Today I went to the Yahoo group to check out the hotel rates only to discover I purchased my ticket for the wrong week. DOH! Quick phone call to mom to have her stop with the purchase of their tickets. Just in time. Good god...I'm so glad I noticed it now.

So now, with the right week, bought new tickets and had to pay slightly more. I'm a bonehead with a capital B. But I'm on my way again.

Now, on to more exciting information.

I get to go to the UK!
I get to go to the UK!
I get to go to the UK!
I get to go to the UK!
I get to go to the UK!
I get to go to the UK!

Yes sir. As it turns out, there's a small business reason for me to head over for work. The thought of going over had all but diminished from my mind. And now, a work reason. Yay! I will be heading off the second week of July it appears. Thank god I got my new camera.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

Yes mam, it arrived today. Though in a box that's about 3' tall by a foot wide - someone please explain to me WHY the big ass box was necessary? I thought perhaps to have protection on both ends of the box, but no..everything was at one end and all the packing pillows at the other end. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

Anyhow, its beautiful. I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment as there are so many things to see/do/learn on this camera. But its beautiful. Did I mention that?

A movie quote came to mind and for the life of me I can't remember which movie, "It's the same feeling you had when you saw your first TransAm."

I think I may need to sign up for a digital photography class for a couple of reasons. 1) to understand how digital might differ from slide or film photography. And 2) because there's sooo many buttons and options. I know that #1 might sound funny for some, but I know that with my point and shoot digital taking pictures was a bit different. I'm sure that a digital SLR will also have some differences. If there's a book anyone (REAL?) could recommend, please do. I'm all over reading (and the manual doesn't count. But for those who are wondering, I'm half way through the manual!).

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

do you know how hard it is for me to sit her and wait for the battery to charge? Its so unfair.

Okay enough on the camera. I need to go finish cleaning BFF from Quartz Hill HS will be here tomorrow with her family. Therefore, I must go clean the bathroom.

Ta

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Are you a woman or a black's smith?

Ugh Sunday. And worse a Sunday before a very boring, long meeting on Monday morning. Double Ugh!

Being that I feel obligated to provide all the details of my ever so thrilling life, here's my weekend in review.
One FABULOUS dinner party with excellent food ( Chez Jenn's was one hot place for good food and drink - BTW Chez Jenn's is my place)
Several cocktails produced one wicked headache on Saturday
Two full discs of The Office viewed and enjoyed.
8 loads of laundry.
6 Tylenol's to cut through the hang over head ache.
5 songs downloaded from iTunes.
3 Romantic comedies watched...again. (A knight's tale being one of those movies, thus the title of this blog. )
Unaccounted for hours watching Food TV.
One Spa party = half of a face lift.
Two coffee's.
4 hours prepping for aforementioned boring ass long meeting on Monday morning.
One sparkling clean apartment (visitors coming).
One well brushed, well fed, spoiled feline.

Did I mention the fantastic dinner party on Friday?

Friday I had another one of my famous dinner parties to out do all other dinner parties. For the first time in Wraspir history, and definitely for the first time at Chez Jenn's I fixed *just* enough food to not have enough left overs for the entire third world. A few slices of of steak was all that remained.

The menu was simple, and easy. Though after several drinks it could have been complicated, and the potatoes in my opinion were bad. But aside from that, the menu was:
Steak that was marinaded in Better Than A-1 Marinade
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Caprese Salad
Spicy stir fired green beans
As an appetizer: Baked coconut shrimp.
Mmmm, I'm hungry just thinking about it.

The drinks of which I speak were called a 51 Chevy. A conversation with a friend about Southern Comfort and how very few drinks call for Southern Comfort as the alcohol prompted this adventure. 51 Chevy is basically, pineapple juice, orange juice, southern comfort and grenadine. OMG...you can't even taste the alcohol, which was my problem. I should know better. We ran out of southern comfort and so changed from a 51 Chevy to Mai Tai's - same ingredients, but with rum. MMM...rum.
Ohh...and the camera...its somewhere here in the puget sound area. It was shipped from Portland and is here somewhere. I waited most the day yesterday for it to be delivered. At one point the fedEx truck drove past and my heart skipped a beat. I'm pathetic I know. But I can't wait. In reality it's probably better it didn't get here yesterday because that would mean I'd be out today taking pictures and not cleaning and doing my work.

Friday, June 22, 2007

A Must Have

I think I need to kill one of the technology guru here ( I need to come up with a code name for him and haven't quite yet figured on out). He just pointed this out to me.
A PINK ZUNE!!! OMG
I do love my iPod though, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to go to the dark side...but IT'S PINK. It would match my phone and any number of my purses, and that is, after all what's important here.
I mean really...a PINK one...iPod doesn't have a Pink one! Though I suppose I could find a pink iPod cover for like 1/100th of the cost of a Pink Zune.
But still...it's beautiful.
And since I just bought my new camera (which is in Portland just a simple 3 hour drive away, thanks for asking) I can't very well justify a new Zune too. I need a second job maybe.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

It's in Georgia folks...

Actually, it has left Georgia folks. Or it had better have already left Georgia.

For quite possibly the first time EVER in my life, I actually saved enough cash, not credit, to buy something. I've been waiting and watching a new digital camera. See, I used to be into photography, a lot. And was mildly good at it. I loved it. I loved being able to express myself in different ways and not caring one bit what everyone else thought of my photography. My boyfriend at the time and I would take pictures ALL The time. It was our one thing we did together...we learned from each other.

Then....the great break up of 2001 and then again in 2002 (yes I dated him twice...I'm slow you see and didn't see the reality until another year later). Anyhow, I put my camera away. I didn't want to see it, use it, or do anything with it. I was done. Burnt out if you will, and didn't want the reminder of better days taking pictures with someone. Of course, I completely forgot about all the years I took pictures by myself and loved it. But again, I'm slow.

So now, some 5 years later, I'm finally getting the itch. I've had the itch for some time, but didn't want to use credit to buy me a new digital SLR camera. Then the unthinkable happened, I grew up. I decided to try to save my $$ and only then would I allow myself to buy the camera (mom, don't tell dad - remember how pissed he got when I bought the Mustang).

I placed the order on Monday, they shipped it on Monday. And I've been tracking it's progress sense. I tried to put a photo of the progress on the blog, but it looked silly (shut it about things normally looking silly).

So as they say in the UK, "Watch this space" for some photos. I'm no pro, and frankly question my ability at times, but I do love to try to take snazzy photos. Here's a sample of a few I've taken in my life that I'm very proud of.


Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Things I've Learned This Week

1. One shouldn't yell at some jackass on the road, if one's windows happen to be down.
2. Neutregena skin darkener - tanner doo hicky thing, doesn't leave a great tan on the legs, but does leave your cuticles orange.

3. Wearing a brown shirt in order to camouflage coffee driblidge doesn't always work.

4. Its been exactly one month since I've had a good hair day.

5. Brushing your teeth at the office almost certainly guarantees you'll drible toothpaste on your shirt.

6. Pookie had the munchies last night. It could have had something to do with the LOVE he has for spray on catnip. It is possible, I believe, to OD on catnip.

7. Changing the names to protect the stupid in one's office, could be disastrous if one should forget the stupid one's real name in a conversation and use the "code" name.

8. For a kickass project manager, I've really questioned my profession this week.

9. Project schedules suck when you have players in the UK, Colombia, India, Spain and the US.

10. Vacations always cost more when you're paying versus your parents.

11. You couldn't pay me enough to go back to being a teenager.

12. A bigger, faster, more impressive Mustang WILL beat me off the line.

13. Blueberry will never EVER be able to tell a simple story without including all the unnecessary details.

14. "Architected" (as in having an architect look at or work on) is apparently a word.

15. "Email Bankruptcy" is my new method of controlling my inbox. When you are so inundated with email, both genuine email and spam, that you have to delete everything and start over again. "I am so far behind on email that I am declaring email bankruptcy this year."

16. I've learned a lot this week. No wonder my head hurts. And it's only Wednesday.

17. Stupid people should not: breed, get driver's licenses, talk, work with me or in any way shape or form be around me when I'm having a bad day. I'm just saying.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Prince Charming has finally come calling.

I would say that of all the "men" I've encountered recently in my slog through online dating hell, this guy stands out the most. Now, granted, I didn't actually "find" him online, but the fact that there's, effectively, a casting call for his soul mate, I put him in the category of "online".

Wealthy, widowed male seeks well-educated beauty

I totally think this is the guy for me. I mean, he is, after all, a multimillionaire. Which apparently is his only redeeming quality.

I call your attention to the "requirements" for said soul mate he's searching for:

To be considered a match for the mysterious bachelor, you are:
Older than 28 (30-somethings, rejoice!) - YAY I'm 38 that should count.

Someone who can keep up with a very athletic guy - My Mustang can surely keep up with him"

A "sophisticated but understated upscale professional" - Check!

A non-smoker (not a deal breaker, but preferable) - Check! Though he says nothing about a drinker.

Seeking "a committed relationship" - Check! Check!

I don't know, I think I have a chance. I mean, I can afford to interview. "Each woman who interviews with Spindel and her assistants in Seattle will be expected to fork over a processing fee of about $50." For a mere $50 I could be a multimillionaire's wife. And if in the event that this one doesn't work out, for a mere $50,000 (that's 25,000 GBP for those brits who read this) I can hire this match maker.

Me thinks I need to get another job.

And oh, I almost forgot....

YOU

HAVE

GOT

TO

BE

KIDDING

ME!!!!

I guess those folks who are ubber wealthy can afford to be this particular in the world of love. But seriously, does this not sound like profiling? While you ponder that I need to go profile my newest matches on chemistry.com.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Havard learns a little from The Man himself

I received this (Bill Gates' commencement address at Harvard) from a colleague. It is worth the read - the entire thing. I thought it was powerful ... enjoy!

Text of the speech given by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates at Harvard University on June 7, 2007.

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: "Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree."

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honour. I'll be changing my job next year ... and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson has called me "Harvard's most successful dropout." I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class ... I did the best of everyone who failed.

But I also want to be recognised as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I'm a bad influence. That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning. That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.

Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.
One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world's first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.

I worried that they would realise I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: "We're not quite ready, come see us in a month," which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.

What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege - and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.

But taking a serious look back ... I do have one big regret.

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world - the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.

I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.

But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries - but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity - reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries.

It took me decades to find out.

You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how - in this age of accelerating technology - we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.

Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause - and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.

During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year - none of them in the United States.

We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.

If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: "This can't be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."

So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: "How could the world let these children die?"

The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidise it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
But you and I have both.

We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism - if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.

If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.

I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. They say: "Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end - because people just ... don't ... care." I completely disagree.

I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.

All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing - not because we didn't care, but because we didn't know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.

The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.

To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.

Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.

But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: "Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane. We're determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent."

The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.
We don't read much about these deaths. The media covers what's new - and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it's easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it's difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It's hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don't know how to help.
And so we look away.

If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.

Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring. If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks "How can I help?," then we can get action - and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted. But complexity makes it hard to mark a path of action for everyone who cares - and that makes it hard for their caring to matter.

Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have - whether it's something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bed net.

The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research. But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand - and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behaviour.

Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern. The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working - and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century - which is to surrender to complexity and quit.

The final step - after seeing the problem and finding an approach - is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts.
You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases.

This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government.

But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers; you have to convey the human impact of the work - so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.

I remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the thrill of saving just one person's life - then multiply that by millions. ... Yet this was the most boring panel I've ever been on - ever.

So boring even I couldn't bear it.

What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited about software - but why can't we generate even more excitement for saving lives?

You can't get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact. And how you do that - is a complex question.

Still, I'm optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever.
They are new - they can help us make the most of our caring - and that's why the future can be different from the past.

The defining and ongoing innovations of this age - biotechnology, the computer, the Internet - give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.

Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe. He said: "I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation."

Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.
The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.

The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem - and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.
At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don't. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion -- smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don't have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.

We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organisation, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago.

Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.

What for?

There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?

Let me make a request of the deans and the professors - the intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves:

Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?

Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world's worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty ... the prevalence of world hunger ... the scarcity of clean water ...the girls kept out of school ... the children who die from diseases we can cure?

Should the world's most privileged people learn about the lives of the world's least privileged?
These are not rhetorical questions - you will answer with your policies.

My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here - never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given - in talent, privilege, and opportunity - there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.
In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue - a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don't have to do that to make an impact.

For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.
Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.

You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort.
You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer. Knowing what you know, how could you not?

And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world's deepest inequities ... on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Dysfunction Palooza!

(I can't even take credit for the title, I stole it from PMDude at work.)

Which reminds me...I'm supposed to write a little diddy here about a certain writer in the UK who is dying to be memorialized in my blog. Rabbit...you got your wish. Now everyone who reads this blog will know what a fantastic writer, comedian, jack of all trades, the UK office is fortunate to have. Always quick with a quib or two and always picking on the PMDude...so for that...you get your 5 seconds of fame.

Now, on to more pressing matters.
Why Dysfunction Palooza...well I spent the weekend with "THAT" side of the family. See, for those of you who aren't aware, I have three families. The mother's side that I was born with. The stepdad who raised me side and the father's side I was born with.

Its the last of the three families that, well, leaves me wondering how I was ever part of that family. I traveled to Portland this weekend to celebrate the graduation of my youngest nephew from high school. My sister and I have never really gotten along nor have we ever possessed that "sister" bond. She was always angry and carried a chip the size of Texas around on her shoulder. To me, she blamed everyone else for her lot in life, except herself. She treated my mother poorly and that just doesn't go over well with me. In the last several years, mom and her have built a relationship. And for mom, I'm happy for that. While she and I have yet to build any relationship. To her I got everything, I am spoiled, I was given everything and never had to work for anything. Which anyone who knows me knows is a bunch of rubbish. I worked very hard to get to where I am and I take serious offense to anyone who thinks otherwise. (And if you do think otherwise, keep it to yourself).

So as you can imagine I was looking forward to this weekend about as much as a root canal. I felt dread from the moment I left the house to drive south. By the time I got to Portland I had worked myself up a bit, but decided to try to let it go. I also found out that my biological father was going to be there too. Which seemed okay, with the small exception that neither he nor my sister really got along very well. Both are one in the same really in a lot of ways.

We get to Sister's place and I was pleasantly surprised. She was nice to me. I mean genuinely nice to me. She smiled, she joked, she treated me like I was a sister, not some rash she needed to get away from. We joked many years ago that aliens had actually abducted my real sister and in her place put this thing. I mentioned to mom on my way home that perhaps the aliens have returned the real sister.

Whenever I'm around her, I am, however, reminded about how thankful I should be for the way I was raised, and the things that I've worked for to have. My parents raised me with manners, and dare I say a knowledge on how to socialize. It amazes me how two people can come from the same parents and be so very different. We are clearly evidence that nurture over nature prevails.

I'll post pictures of the gala when I can. Not too many people have ever seen a picture of me and my sister together actually smiling (aside from when we were very small and didn't know better).

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The Committee is speaking


Which is code for “prepare for a random blog”.

The Bees have it
I was thinking the other day ( a scary proposition to be sure) about my bee phobia . And I think I need to face this phobia head on. So I started doing what any good PM does, and I started planning my attack (pardon the pun). I started thinking about my body armor for this challenge. I first thought I could put myself in one of those big sumo wrestling suits . But then thought, what if a bee sting – or several – put little holes in the suit and it deflated. Then I’d be stuck ( another bee pun…sorry).

Then I thought, why not just get a XXXXL bee suit. Fill it with ghost poopies (aka Styrofoam packing peanuts) so that no bee could penetrate through to my actual skin. Then I’d cover myself from head to toe with duct tape so that only my eyes would be visible. Surely that would avoid any little critters getting near me.

Now, I need to find a bee hive/village/condo/commune. I searched the Internet and came up with nothing. So too bad. Guess I’ll have to face this phobia another day.

I’m a Training Bra
Last night at dinner my mother informed me that she and my sister-in-law decided that I’m the “training” girl for me. In reviewing my past relationships and how they’ve turned out it goes something like this.

Step 1: Relationship with Jenn ( course length based on previous experience ) Prerequisite: a pulse
Step 2: Allow training to commence ( 1-2 year duration)
Step 3: Feel complete once official training is done, but may need elective courses (after first year)
Step 4: Graduate from Jenn to woman of my dreams (after second year)
Step 5: Toss training bra aside for new improved no seams, no buckles, new stretchy bra.

I don’t much like thinking about the fact that I’m “training” for men. Because god knows, sorry boys, but there is no way to train them. They have three basic needs. Food. Sleep. And Sex. Am I wrong? I certainly didn’t enter any of these relationships with the idea of being the “training bra”, and so I’m left to wonder if perhaps my lot in life is to be just the trainer? A psychic did once tell me she could see me being a trainer or instructor.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Up Up and Away...in a beautiful....er ah ..Seaplane?

As long as I live I will say, there is no place more beautiful than Seattle on a sunny day. Granted we've had several sunny days of late which means its not only beautiful...but smoggy.

That aside, Blueberry and I took a scenic tour of Seattle. Its one of those things that you never do in your own neighborhood, so for Blueberry's birthday I bought us a scenic tour. A bit spendy for 20 minutes of flight, but it was worth it. I mean how often do you get to fly in a plan that lands on the water?
We got to Seattle early and stopped at the essential place one must always stop before flying in a small 6 seater plane...Starbucks! What? You thought bar didn't you?

This is the small tiny-ish plane we flew in. This wasn't our plane but we flew in one just like it and just as small. Oh and no air conditioning in these babies. These planes take off and land on Lake Union. Lake Union is usually covered with boat enthusiast and kayakers. How these planes avoid them all when they land is beyond me.

Ahh the Space Needle. Such a iconic item of Seattle. It's like 512 feet or something like that...so being higher than it was a thrill. The wart to the right of the Space Needle is the Experience Music Project. Paul Allen (Geeksoft kabillionaire) decided to build this and I think he believed people would flock to it like mecca. Not so much.

So if you've not been to Seattle then you probably don't know its got water everywhere. Puget Sound to the West, Lake Union, Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish to the east. Having lakes means that getting to and from requires either 1) driving around or 2) bridges. Seattle is home to two floating bridges. Yes they really do float. This is the 520 Bridge. It has pontoons that help it float. It fascinates me to this day that these floating, concrete death traps exist.

This is a vie coming in to land. Seattle in the background and Lake Union in the foreground. Again, see all those little dots...those are boats. This plan has to some how come in and land without hitting any of the boats. The pilot did tell us the planes have the right of way...which makes me wonder why it matters if the plane hits a boat.

And to wrap up the weekend Blueberry got our fair share of Pirates. My. God. Orlando Bloom is hot, hot, hot, hot, hot in the movie. Whew.... I need a cold shower I think.

UK folk in town this week so work will prove to be busy. The Big Guy is coming this time so we probably have to be on our best behavior. Oh the pressure.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Is Love in the Air?

Okay, I have to admit a couple of things. First off, I don't really believe in love at first site. There is definitely a strong attraction people tend to feel immediately, but I'm not convinced it's love. Secondly, because I don't believe in it, I rarely assume I will feel it. And that's not being cynical, that's just knowing myself well enough to know that it's unlikely to happen that way to me.

Movie Man proved to be a complete gentleman. Which I expected. Just by our email conversations I figured he had some manners and knew how to respect people. He paid for everything and didn't even allow me to buy the popcorn. After previous relationship this was a nice change. It's an awkward situation sometimes, but it didn't seem that way last night.

I got there earlier than him - of course - because I do have a shy side believe it or not, and don't like to come up to people and ask, "are you my date?". As I sat in the Big Picture lounge I realized I wasn't even nervous. Which is odd. I tend to hype myself up a bit, but not yesterday. He and I sat and talked as if we knew each other well. Very comfortable conversation.

All in all it was a good date. By the way, The Valet was a very cute movie. Reading my way through I was pleasantly surprised at the comedy and simple plot. I highly recommend it.

So I know you're dying to know what I think overall. Well, truthfully, the jury's still out. He's a very nice gentleman and if the stars allow I would likely go out again. I'm not being particular here, or picky, I am just not sure yet. And I think that's fair. I'm not the type to fall that quickly anyhow. I have to get all the facts...besides they say the best relationships are those that are built on a friendship.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Tonight's the night.

Date #1 in (insert large amount of years here). I've done a lot of thinking of late about men and more importantly what I really truly want in a relationship. And if I want a relationship at all. I've been single so long I'm not sure I could find room in my life for a guy. He'd have to be special that's for sure. I'm well aware of my "flaws" and even more aware of my qualities (there are many - just ask me). But am I aware enough? Am I truly ready to start down a new path of discovering myself with someone else? Of course, I have no answer yet, and may be jumping the gun a bit. But that's the PM coming out in my. Risk management baby!

I think back to a conversation I've had with my dad after XBF (xboyfriend) and I split. My dad's comment to me was that I was too particular and picky and that I should just - well basically - settle. I didn't agree then and I don't agree now. I think its only fair to me, and ultimately to him to be particular and specific. If I wanted to settle I would have married Crazy High School BF. (Which just makes me shudder a bit). I've known people who have settled and seeing them after years of living with someone that is "just okay" really isn't where I want to be in 10 years. I'd rather be single then with someone who's "just okay." It seems so daunting and tiring to think about spending years with someone who is "just okay."

I don't want mr. whomever to complete me. I think that's crap. I'm complete enough without a guy. Or at least I think I am. But I would like mr. whomever to at least challenge me, to argue with me, to partner with me , to at least have an understanding of me (good luck with that), to laugh with me, etc. I don't have, or want, any specifics because I think that limits me and my vision of who this person is.

So tonight - I'll put on my best smile, and bring out my most treasured charm and we'll see what happens.

As they say in the UK, "Watch this space..."

As for Database God. He's apparently fallen off the face of the earth. Good riddance! I don't have time to waste on people who don't have time to waste on me. Wait? Is that right?