Category: Uncategorized

The years of living dangerously

I am thankful that I enjoy relatively good health, but these last three years it seems I’ve had more than my share of injuries …

Jan 2011 – fell on the ice and broke my humerus and tore my left rotator cuff
Spring 2012 – threw out my back
Summer 2012 – injured my  right shoulder
Spring 2013 – broke a rib
Summer 2013 – problems with my right knee exacerbated by my couch potato to 5k running program
Fall 2013 – pain in my right elbow
November 2013 – badly twisted my ankle while hiking and made it worse by running 2 miles a few days later
January 2014 – injured my left knee

I must be getting old!  Although I try to take care of my body, it is not repaying me with kindness.  Still paying some of the physical therapy bills out of my HSA.  I’m thinking of joining a YMCA because I need some help getting in shape and getting stronger.  I’m hopeful that if I lose some weight and get fit, I won’t continue to have injuries.  I enjoy my running, biking, walking, occasional sailing and paddle tennis and want to continue to enjoy them.  In a good news report, one of my exercise apps reported a total of 212 miles for 2013 … I also used a second app for running, so my total is 250 miles (and that probably does not include lots of walks where I forgot to use the apps.

Bat Phones

We call them the bat phones. 
It’s that time of year again … Phonathon at our university Alumni Office. 

The bank of red phones is about to be set up in our Alumni office.  Crammed into a small room on the third floor of this old tudor style house will be 14 red push button phones on long tables.  Crammed into that same room will be 14 student callers making nightly calls.
This year we are going high tech by adding headsets.  We are low tech in most respects – we print all the information on individual sheets that are color coded. 
The callers have a practice night where they make calls to some of our staff and friends – each  staff member is given a persona and a scenario that they must act out on the telephone call.  The student callers are then given feedback on how they handled the calls prior to beginning the actual phonathon.  

I’m curious if you, my reader, receive calls from your alma mater?  Do you dread these calls or look forward to them?  Do you pick up the phone and chat or do you let it go to voicemail?  What would make you want to pick up the phone?

Reflections on Starting Graduate School

So, I find myself back in school after more than 25 years in the adult world of jobs, parenting, and being an ordinary citizen.  It is both exhilarating and exhausting.  We had an intense first weekend with over 31 hours classroom time in 3 days; someone likened it to drinking from a fire hose!  At times I wondered, ‘what was I thinking?’ and at other times I thought, ‘I can do this.’

Now that I have done some writing and lots of reading, I feel a bit more prepared … I think that this is a goal that I can accomplish.  Go Cohort 41 – our goal is 2014!  Don’t lose sight of the end result – new skills that will be valuable in whatever nonprofit we serve.  I am not so intimidated as I was just a few weeks ago.

One phenomenon that I found frustrating, until I had an “aha” moment, was the tendency of the profs to go from the general to the specific – sometimes over a period of days.  I would hear the big picture and think, ‘that’s great, but I need to know x …’  Once I saw the pattern, I was able to relax a bit and trust that all my questions would eventually get answered.

Chincha Peru 2008

It’s a hot sunny day here in Chincha Alta, Peru. We’re sitting under a canopy tent in kid size chairs with colorful octagonal low tables. There is a nice cool breeze. The ground is sandy and dusty. There is a church to one side of us, and our tent city to the other side. We finished a breakfast of sausage and egg biscuits, rolls with jelly and juice and tea. After a time of worship and prayer for healing, we are listening to a teaching by Michael Hindes, a pastor from Michigan. He is talking about attitude. There are 27 World Racers, 5 staff, 5 translators, and 1 guest. There is a Hollywood film producer here to try to capture the story of the people here and tell the world how they can help. This area experienced an 8.0 magnitude earthquake on August 15th and about 600 were killed. Many lost their homes and their livelihood. Entire towns have relocated to makeshift tents with dirt floors and walls made of woven reeds, thatch, etc. Some are fortunate to have an actual tent from a relief agency, but they have been living like this for almost 5 months. We met people yesterday from the Tambo de Mora area and heard their stories. The village was a prosperous fishing village on the Pacific Ocean. Just before the quake, which occurred about 7 pm, the ground water rose inside their homes to about a meter deep. The three inch concrete floors simply buckled and the homes sank about 2 feet. The quake lasted three terrifying minutes. People ran to find relatives, some ran many kilometers back to Chincha in search of family. After the quake came a small tsunami. The people have relocated to safer ground further inland. Many husbands have to leave the area to find work.