~Sunday~ I finished the Manbites board of directors meeting minutes this morning, and sent them to Jeff and Ed for review, before making them available to the full board.
I got a chuckle out of this postcard in this week’s PostSecrets:
I met Sharon, Suzanne, and Janet out at the Brier Creek Caribou for this month’s Mostly Social Book Club at 3:00. I was grateful that everyone could reschedule today to accommodate salon falling on the same day, starting at 6:30, which is when book club normally meets.
We didn’t discuss The Hunger Games yet, as Suzanne hasn’t even started it, and Mary had to turn her copy in after only just starting it, and she’s now back to 300-and-something in the queue to get it again. Sharon had purchased a copy, which she has finished reading, and she loaned it to Suzanne.
We covered many topics in the two or so hours we were there, including but not limited to:
- Suzanne’s trip to Australia (including a slide show from her thumb drive on my new Mac)
- Catching up on Josh’s summer and return to NC State, and Nicky’s venture this semester at Wake Tech
- Janet’s trip to the west coast
- Tough love in raising children
- Technology and customer service
I left there at close to 6:00, and stopped at Jersey Mike’s on my way to Anna’s for salon, where I bought to regular sized subs, one ham and provolone and one turkey and provolone, each of which I had them cut into fourths. In addition to that we had Five Guys Fries; soy water chestnut bacon wraps; hummus with garden cucumbers, spinach leaves, and basil; and peanut butter cookies. It was all good.
In addition to the peanut butter cookies Sarah made and brought, she brought me back a package of Toffee Dodgers from London, which she had mentioned in her blog, and about which the word “splodged” is used in this context: “Chewy toffee splodged at the heart of two toffee flavoured shortcake biscuits full of crispy bits. Get stuck in!”
Kim didn’t Skype in from Utah tonight, and Etta didn’t make an appearance, so it was just me, Brad, Anna, and Sarah. Here are our agenda items, with most of my answers interjected:
Sunday, August 21, 2011, 6:30 PM
Anna’s Home
- If you have/had (a) photo(s), what composition would you make for dearphotograph.com? Heck, if you’re able to make one, do so and bring it to share! (John)
I didn’t create a picture, and the idea I had was not even in line with what the website was all about. Both Sarah and Anna did a bang-up job with this item!
- Is there something you had to memorize as a kid that has never left you? (John)
Pour Toi Mon Amour de Jacques Prevert
The opening to Twelfth Night - I don’t quite know how to feel about this. I’m curious as to what all of you think: Typing Beats Scribbling: Indiana Schools Can Stop Teaching Cursive (John)
I would think something has to be worked out for signatures before we can fully endorse this. I posted about this article to Facebook, and my high school math teacher posted this comment about it:
Patricia Baysden Wood My students absolutely go ballistic when I write in cursive–they cannot read it at all!!! And I have great handwriting!!!! LOL This is HS remember!!
- Do you have a special writing space that facilitates writing and, if so, how does it “help” you write? (Brad)
For academic writing, I think I do that best in the university library.
For my personal writing, I write anywhere any time, and most of it these days begin with notes on my phone.
What’s common about both types of writing, though, is that if I have music playing in the background while I’m writing, it has to be instrumental only.
- Tourists—do you like being one? Do you hate them? (Sarah)
I like being a tourist more when I travel by myself, because I don’t like negotiating with someone else about what to see at all or next. This is one of the reasons I love to snow ski alone.
Also, I don’t like meandering around being “adventurous.” I usually have planned destinations, and I’m going to ask somebody immediately if I have any doubt whatsoever about how to get somewhere.
I also am perfectly happy taking (cheap) public transportation rather than paying for quicker (often more expensive) options.
I like tourists. I’m the type of person that if I lived in tourist area, I’d be helping people all day long.
- We eat chicken, fish, and lamb. But when we eat COW and PIG, we call it beef and pork. Why? (Sarah, by way of Katie)
I don’t know what to think about this. At first I thought (and maybe it does) that it might have to do with the fact that there are so many different parts of COW and PIG that we eat that people had to give them names. But there are parts of CHICKEN, too, and we just stick the words after that, like chicken breast, chicken leg, and chicken thigh. Maybe it’s because there are a lot more COW and PIG parts that we eat.
- Report: Playground battle between religious groups. We didn’t include the details on the blog about this—but it is a good story. John added, “And an overall summary of the experience, please?” (Sarah)
- Books ‘N Booze (John)
I just wanted to note that Jen, Sarah McKone, and Des’s salon, called Saloon, has given us attribution for their existence:
The Origins of an Idea
I am supposed to be posting about our first “meeting” of Saloon, but I feel I can’t start without saying a few words about where we’ve come from and the impetus for this project.
I don’t think any of us will deny that we have shamefully stolen this idea from the Originators of Awesome, the Captains of Cool: Salon. The Salon group of John, Kim, Sarah E.W., Brad and Anna (am I missing anyone?) had this brilliant plan to meet regularly to talk about NEAT STUFF. I’m sure they’d explain it in a much more lyrical, elegant, intriguing manner, but for our purposes that’s basically what we’re talking about. An excuse to get together, talk, laugh, have fun… and to make the effort to have the important and interesting conversations you sometimes stumble on to, only on purpose.
So at some point we, the co-creators of Saloon, decided that we wanted this experience for ourselves. We thought about infiltrating Salon by killing off the members one by one but it seemed awfully complicated and potentially dangerous if not properly planned. So then we had a conversation about “if you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you do it?” and then we realized THAT was a perfect Salon topic and behold: Saloon was born.
Ok, it didn’t really go like that at all.
In truth we just decided that if they could do it we could do it better. And what makes things better? Alcohol. Hence the “Saloon” concept, the “Books and Booze”… you get the point (yes, I would be remiss if I did not do my shout out to “Mattie” for the books and booze name. Nice work, buddy!).
So here we are, a week past Saloon (Volume I, Disc I) and way overdue on my blog recap but with you, whoever you may be, that much wiser in the ways of this website. Here’s to you.
- Vocabulary Test: fun and contribution to research. If everyone’s game, read this short article and take the test. Don’t post your results here! At salon, we can first state our guess as to who among us is going to score the highest, and then reveal our own scores. 🙂 From: The Economist’s Tuesday time-suck. (John)
My vocabulary was the smallest, by hundreds, from Sarah’s, Anna’s, and Brad’s, whose were fairly clumped together. - Google+: I must be missing something because I so don’t get it (Anna)
My dilemma is around what to post, or not to post, there. I hate to post everything I post on FB over there as well. But I don’t want to stop posting most of my stuff on FB as I have many more friends here. But if I don’t post most of my stuff on Google+ I don’t feel like I’m ever really going to successfully transition to it. That’s what I’m trying to work through.
- Worst first line of novel contest: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2011.htm “The contest challenges entrants to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels takes its name from the Victorian novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who began his ‘Paul Clifford’ with ‘It was a dark and stormy night.'” HOMEWORK: Write your worst opening sentence. (Sarah)
“The unhelpful nurse thought for less than five seconds before dismissing my query with this discharge: ‘No, in this entire medical office there is not one thing—’No tongue depressors, swabs, or even gloves?’ my RN friend would later ask—that can be used for a scooping implement for your stool sample.’”
Note of irony: I edited this terrible awful sentence about eight times to get it “well-written” awful.
- I saw this tweet today (from a lady, obviously), “Should I wear something that says ‘I’ve done my research, so don’t try to scam me,” or “I have boobs, give me a discount?'” Question for the ladies in the group: Have you ever played the “gender card?” If so, in what context and to what end? I guess, I could think about if I’ve ever played the “gay card.” Brad, what card could/have you played? Perhaps the, “I have a PhD card?” (John)
I think this would qualify: Said to a lady trying to pick me up at the Long Branch once during two-step lessons: “Actually, I’m only here to learn how to lead, because I usually dance with men, and when two men two-step together, somebody has to lead.” (It was also pointed out in the meeting that I play “the TV card” a lot.)
- STC (Yes, STC. You thought I was done bitching about STC… I thought I had successfully broken up with them. But, NO!) (Sarah)
- What thoughts, if any, go through your mind when answering these three demographic questions on surveys:
- What is your marital status?
“Partnered, but not living together” is rarely, if ever, an option. If “Single” is there I check that. If only “Single (Never Married)” is a choice, then I check “Divorced,” but I really don’t feel that represents my demographic at all.
- What is your salary range?
Almost always as I’m checking the one I’m in, I say to myself, “But, I’m not stupid.”
- What is your education level? (John)
It’s been four years now, and I still get a thrill every time I check “Post-graduate study” or “Master’s Degree.” And I like it best when it explicitly states Master’s Degree, as opposed to a “Post-graduate work” (or degree).
- ORIENTATION (Sarah)
- Sarah’s Cast Story (Brad)
