We are now at Rule 3: Turn down a promotion (the importance of control)
Newport used to opposite examples to demonstrate this principle. One example had written up a list in her early 20's of things she wanted to do. They included making her way across each continent without normal power, like maybe unicycle for one, and dog team for Antarctica, learning to eat fire, and surviving in the wilderness for a month without supplies. She dropped out of school to do this, but then found her job prospects did not really support her goals.
The other started out with a very basic entry level code testing job, but she became very good at it, learning ways to debug and automate and consistently rising in terms of her level of ability and responsibility. She then was able to request various things that they would not normally give, like Fridays off, or a three-month leave. If the first person had followed that kind of a path, she would have been more likely to be able to follow her interests.
One point of this is that you have to be able to offer something that people will pay for. Someone who has traveled the world by unconventional means may be interesting to talk to, but it doesn't automatically make them a good employee. Even if you look for ways to monetize it, by writing a book or creating a reality show, there are no guaranteed sales.
The most detailed example was about Red Fire Farm: http://www.redfirefarm.com/
As a teenager Ryan tried various things for making money, including some very typical ones. One of those ended up being selling wild berries that he picked. That led to selling extra produce from his parents' garden, then taking over the garden, expanding the garden, and renting land to grow more. By the time he was ready to purchase his own land, he had acquired career capital that he could put to work. It started as a way to simply make cash, but it became a career.
One thing worth noting is that the first few rounds wouldn't have required much of a financial investment. If the berries hadn't sold, he could have moved on to something else easily. As he succeeded, there was a gradual progression to bigger things. At various points the risk would increase, but there had been a commensurate increase in knowledge and experience before each expansion. He is now doing what he wants in the way he wants, but it started small.
As the proprietor of a family business, he has control, but also has responsibility for his own financial well-being, which is going to affect decisions. When you work for an employer, you may have less risk, but also a trade off with less freedom, and that requires other decisions. That's where turning down promotions may come in.
I have a friend who works at a large chip manufacturer, and is not on the typical career path where he should be seeking higher advancement. He is looked down on for that, but he knows that the normal route will seriously compromise family time, and mental health, and evaluating what his family needs are financially and emotionally, has made his choice. That takes some strength, but it also takes clearheaded analysis.
This section of the book had many examples of people who did turn down promotions or walk away. When you are valuable to your employer, they may want to nail you down more. They will probably not want you to be gone for three months or to work four days a week. If that's what makes the situation workable for you, that may work, as long as you have something to offer them that is worth the concession.
For the woman who did take the three-month leave, part of it was that in preparation for it she trained her team to function without her. She wanted to know that they could do it, it would be a relief to her company to know that while she was valuable she was not irreplaceable, and it was probably good for the individual team members to expand their abilities.
Exerting career control is a two-part process. One is knowing what you have of value, so that you have something to offer and to barter with. In addition, you also need to know what you value, so that you can decide the worth of various options. Combining those things can help you build a desirable career.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Preparing to get good
After realizing that it was not possible to capture the entire book So Good They Can't Ignore You in a single post, I started thinking that perhaps I should do additional posts, with one going over each rule.
I still think that if people are interested they should read the book, and I can also confirm that there are copies of the book in Washington County libraries, but I suspect that spending more time writing about it will be valuable for me.
The overall cycle is that as you become very good at your job, having skills that are valuable, you can take more control, which allows you to not only improve your job conditions but also to control the direction your work takes, allowing it to become more of a mission, thus making this a job you are passionate about.
Building skill is the most basic step, but part of that is also deciding where to focus. There may be jobs where you should leave instead of try to become better. Newport gives three possible scenarios for that:
1. The job presents few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable.
2. The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world.
3. The job forces you to work with people you really dislike.
Many of the people who would benefit from this book are those just starting out, but it can also be useful for those who are already working but dissatisfied with their situations. In that case, the first step may need to be to examine why it is not satisfying. If the reasons fit into the three situations above, it may be better to move on than to try and fix.
(I will say that I have noticed that a lot of stories -- not from the book; just that I have heard -- about people who changed jobs and been happy, or were miserable about their jobs on their deathbeds seem to involve the advertising industry.)
If you are ready to stay and build, then Newport talks about the "craftsman mindset" and gives examples of those who have followed it well, along with five habits.
1. Decide what Capital Market You're In
Newport divides these into "auction" and "winner take all", which basically means whether there are several types of skills and niches to fill, or basically one necessary type of skill. He uses one person working in venture capital and one working as a television writer for examples.
2. Identify Your Capital Type
The venture capitalist had some experience and knowledge about energy that made him valuable for firms focusing in clean energy, and making that connection helped him in focusing his search and making choices. The writer just needed to keep producing better scripts.
3. Define "Good"
This could mean having a script good enough to land an agent or being able to quickly assess whether a company with a new energy saving device will be successful. Having identified your capital type, knowing what makes it valuable should give you an idea of the level of skill that is needed.
4. Stretch and Destroy
This is where the deliberate practice comes in. We have all heard about the 10000 hour rule for becoming an expert at something, but it looks like how you practice is more important than for how long.
Neil Charness did a study of chess players, and of many tracked over 10000 hours, some became grand masters and some stayed intermediate. The grand masters had spent half of their time on serious study of the game - reading books, working with teachers, and identifying weaknesses. The players who were still intermediate had spent only about 1000 hours on this, spending more of their time on tournament play.
Deliberate practice is not always enjoyable, because you are constantly finding the weak spots, and the areas where you are not very good, and attacking them. At the same time, you end up eliminating those weak spots.
5. Be Patient
The point in the previous habit is that thousands of hours don't automatically give you valuable career capital, but it does not mean that you won't still need thousands of hours. For the two main examples, it took them two and five years of deliberate practice to get where they wanted after deciding what they could do and how to get there.
Of course, those years would have passed anyway, whether they had been working toward a goal or not.
I still think that if people are interested they should read the book, and I can also confirm that there are copies of the book in Washington County libraries, but I suspect that spending more time writing about it will be valuable for me.
The overall cycle is that as you become very good at your job, having skills that are valuable, you can take more control, which allows you to not only improve your job conditions but also to control the direction your work takes, allowing it to become more of a mission, thus making this a job you are passionate about.
Building skill is the most basic step, but part of that is also deciding where to focus. There may be jobs where you should leave instead of try to become better. Newport gives three possible scenarios for that:
1. The job presents few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable.
2. The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world.
3. The job forces you to work with people you really dislike.
Many of the people who would benefit from this book are those just starting out, but it can also be useful for those who are already working but dissatisfied with their situations. In that case, the first step may need to be to examine why it is not satisfying. If the reasons fit into the three situations above, it may be better to move on than to try and fix.
(I will say that I have noticed that a lot of stories -- not from the book; just that I have heard -- about people who changed jobs and been happy, or were miserable about their jobs on their deathbeds seem to involve the advertising industry.)
If you are ready to stay and build, then Newport talks about the "craftsman mindset" and gives examples of those who have followed it well, along with five habits.
1. Decide what Capital Market You're In
Newport divides these into "auction" and "winner take all", which basically means whether there are several types of skills and niches to fill, or basically one necessary type of skill. He uses one person working in venture capital and one working as a television writer for examples.
2. Identify Your Capital Type
The venture capitalist had some experience and knowledge about energy that made him valuable for firms focusing in clean energy, and making that connection helped him in focusing his search and making choices. The writer just needed to keep producing better scripts.
3. Define "Good"
This could mean having a script good enough to land an agent or being able to quickly assess whether a company with a new energy saving device will be successful. Having identified your capital type, knowing what makes it valuable should give you an idea of the level of skill that is needed.
4. Stretch and Destroy
This is where the deliberate practice comes in. We have all heard about the 10000 hour rule for becoming an expert at something, but it looks like how you practice is more important than for how long.
Neil Charness did a study of chess players, and of many tracked over 10000 hours, some became grand masters and some stayed intermediate. The grand masters had spent half of their time on serious study of the game - reading books, working with teachers, and identifying weaknesses. The players who were still intermediate had spent only about 1000 hours on this, spending more of their time on tournament play.
Deliberate practice is not always enjoyable, because you are constantly finding the weak spots, and the areas where you are not very good, and attacking them. At the same time, you end up eliminating those weak spots.
5. Be Patient
The point in the previous habit is that thousands of hours don't automatically give you valuable career capital, but it does not mean that you won't still need thousands of hours. For the two main examples, it took them two and five years of deliberate practice to get where they wanted after deciding what they could do and how to get there.
Of course, those years would have passed anyway, whether they had been working toward a goal or not.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Preparing to have a good career
I don't think I've ever done a book report for this blog before, but I found some things that are helpful in one book, and with the costs of education rising, and wages not really doing the same, the advice may be more valuable than ever.
The book is So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport.
The book came about as Newport was finishing his education and applying for jobs. There was reason to believe he might not be able to get a good job offer, and especially not in an area where he would like to live, so he needed to consider alternatives. He started questioning how people end up loving their jobs.
Newport breaks the book into four sections, or rules.
Rule #1: Don't Follow Your Passion
Rule #2: Be So Good They Can't Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill)
Rule #3: Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the Importance of Control)
Rule #4: Think Small, Act Big (Or, the Importance of Mission)
Many people will tell you to follow your passion, and the money will follow. Steve Jobs has advised this, but not only are their many people who have found it not to be true, it is not how Jobs himself became successful, and wealthy.
Jobs dropped out of college and bummed around for a while, and then he saw an opportunity to make some quick money that incorporated the skills of Steve Wozniak, who was very passionate about technology. Finding a need in the market, they worked on filling that, and Jobs ended up being really good at finding technological needs and filling them.
Technically, the part of his life before, when he was studying Eastern mysticism, sleeping on floors and scrounging for meals, and traveling to India, would more accurately reflect his passions, but he got tired of being poor. Once he succeeded in business, that gave him the option to do things that he really wanted to do.
One way of looking at this is that you should have passions in your life, but maybe not the job part of your life, but many people find that they are passionate about their work. Newport cited three needs that, on being fulfilled, led people to love their work:
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
These relate directly to the other rules. Feeling that you are good at your job is a good feeling, but it also increases your chance for autonomy, which makes it possible to do other things to improve your job satisfaction. Using that autonomy to make projects you care about happen is satisfying, but also indicates that you see a higher purpose in your work, which adds to satisfaction that way.
Initially what I found most significant in the book is that there is not a rush to nail down your purpose and follow it right away. In fact, it takes time to discover what your passion will be. Through many interviews, people were found who thought of their work as a job, a career, or a calling, but the biggest common denominator of those who thought of their work as a calling is that they had been at it longer. It took time to know what was going on and to gain an appreciation of it.
The parts that I found most interesting were under the second rule, regarding the "Craftsman" mentality, and using "deliberate practice" to become better. Which parts will resonate most will probably depend on where you are in your work, but there is a lot of good information, and simply getting a different vantage point from what is commonly said is helpful.
I cannot go over everything in the book here. If the ideas sound helpful, you should read it. I do feel I need to add that for Rule #3, you would not automatically turn down any promotion. It is more about not being afraid to turn down a promotion that is wrong for you. This advice could rid the world of many poor middle managers.
The book is So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport.
The book came about as Newport was finishing his education and applying for jobs. There was reason to believe he might not be able to get a good job offer, and especially not in an area where he would like to live, so he needed to consider alternatives. He started questioning how people end up loving their jobs.
Newport breaks the book into four sections, or rules.
Rule #1: Don't Follow Your Passion
Rule #2: Be So Good They Can't Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill)
Rule #3: Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the Importance of Control)
Rule #4: Think Small, Act Big (Or, the Importance of Mission)
Many people will tell you to follow your passion, and the money will follow. Steve Jobs has advised this, but not only are their many people who have found it not to be true, it is not how Jobs himself became successful, and wealthy.
Jobs dropped out of college and bummed around for a while, and then he saw an opportunity to make some quick money that incorporated the skills of Steve Wozniak, who was very passionate about technology. Finding a need in the market, they worked on filling that, and Jobs ended up being really good at finding technological needs and filling them.
Technically, the part of his life before, when he was studying Eastern mysticism, sleeping on floors and scrounging for meals, and traveling to India, would more accurately reflect his passions, but he got tired of being poor. Once he succeeded in business, that gave him the option to do things that he really wanted to do.
One way of looking at this is that you should have passions in your life, but maybe not the job part of your life, but many people find that they are passionate about their work. Newport cited three needs that, on being fulfilled, led people to love their work:
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
These relate directly to the other rules. Feeling that you are good at your job is a good feeling, but it also increases your chance for autonomy, which makes it possible to do other things to improve your job satisfaction. Using that autonomy to make projects you care about happen is satisfying, but also indicates that you see a higher purpose in your work, which adds to satisfaction that way.
Initially what I found most significant in the book is that there is not a rush to nail down your purpose and follow it right away. In fact, it takes time to discover what your passion will be. Through many interviews, people were found who thought of their work as a job, a career, or a calling, but the biggest common denominator of those who thought of their work as a calling is that they had been at it longer. It took time to know what was going on and to gain an appreciation of it.
The parts that I found most interesting were under the second rule, regarding the "Craftsman" mentality, and using "deliberate practice" to become better. Which parts will resonate most will probably depend on where you are in your work, but there is a lot of good information, and simply getting a different vantage point from what is commonly said is helpful.
I cannot go over everything in the book here. If the ideas sound helpful, you should read it. I do feel I need to add that for Rule #3, you would not automatically turn down any promotion. It is more about not being afraid to turn down a promotion that is wrong for you. This advice could rid the world of many poor middle managers.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
On not being deceived
I have written about this topic before. It was actually the last newsletter I did for the singles ward:
http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-2010-preparing-to-not-be.html
Almost four years later, the topic might be ready for revisiting anyway, but it also came up last week, and I do have some things to say.
I usually avoid commenting on other people's political posts, because nothing good tends to come of it, but last week I did. Maybe it was because my sister had commented too, and I wanted to back her up.
Neither of us were appreciated really, which was expected. We were foolish for believing news from the Washington Post instead of a book that goes over a long conspiracy involving the Illuminati and the New World Order, and it was sad that we were so ill-informed.
I thought about just leaving it, because we weren't going to get anywhere, but I realized that the real reason that I commented in the first place was that she always sounds so unhappy. Everything is about our stupid and evil government, especially the president, and while the ignorance and the racism do bother me, the problem was that she always sounds so unhappy.
This is not to say that people who are blissfully ignorant and racist aren't a problem, but there may not be a lot you can do there. Here, I felt like maybe there was an opportunity to help, and so I had to try. And it didn't work, but I still had to try.
At some point I would like to be able to offer some tips on getting trustworthy news. There has been a real decline in the media, which I won't deny, and that is a problem, but it is not the main problem here.
As we enter more disturbing times, it becomes ever more important to be led by the Spirit. That will help us to know truth, it will makes us happier, and it will lead us to greater charity.
I thought of so many scriptures while this exchange was going on, including Matthew 24:26:
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."
And yes, if we are leaning toward the idea that there is just a small group of us who knows what's what, and most people are fooled, that leaves a great vulnerability for deception, so that does matter.
That's really not what it came down to though.
1 Corinthians 13
1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
And Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And I thought about sheep and goats and foolish virgins.
What we need most in these days is charity, and many voices in this world are doing everything they can to sow division, where instead of feeling love for your fellow man you feel contempt. That is spreading.
That does work against your salvation, but it also makes you miserable. (That's not a coincidence.)
There are painful things about loving people, but there's a lot of joy too. If we turn that off, condemning people because of their skin color, or because they vote liberal, or because we assume that if they are poor they must be lazy, then we are damaging our charity, and you have to shut the Spirit down to do that, because the Spirit will be telling you to love.
There is a natural progression to things. We have faith, even if only a seed, and because of that faith we can have hope. That eases the burden of our worries, and gives us a better view of all of humanity, and that combines together to increase our love. As we act on that, and see how it makes everything better, our faith increases. This is a beautiful and joyful cycle.
It can be sent backwards too. Don't do that. You don't have to agree with people to love them. You don't have to think people are perfect to love them. (Actually, trying it that way will fail spectacularly.)
My love is not perfect, but it is deepening, and that may be the only thing that will keep me going as the world keeps going downhill.
Don't let go.
Related post:
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/11/normal-0-foxis-mainstream-media-iwas.html
http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-2010-preparing-to-not-be.html
Almost four years later, the topic might be ready for revisiting anyway, but it also came up last week, and I do have some things to say.
I usually avoid commenting on other people's political posts, because nothing good tends to come of it, but last week I did. Maybe it was because my sister had commented too, and I wanted to back her up.
Neither of us were appreciated really, which was expected. We were foolish for believing news from the Washington Post instead of a book that goes over a long conspiracy involving the Illuminati and the New World Order, and it was sad that we were so ill-informed.
I thought about just leaving it, because we weren't going to get anywhere, but I realized that the real reason that I commented in the first place was that she always sounds so unhappy. Everything is about our stupid and evil government, especially the president, and while the ignorance and the racism do bother me, the problem was that she always sounds so unhappy.
This is not to say that people who are blissfully ignorant and racist aren't a problem, but there may not be a lot you can do there. Here, I felt like maybe there was an opportunity to help, and so I had to try. And it didn't work, but I still had to try.
At some point I would like to be able to offer some tips on getting trustworthy news. There has been a real decline in the media, which I won't deny, and that is a problem, but it is not the main problem here.
As we enter more disturbing times, it becomes ever more important to be led by the Spirit. That will help us to know truth, it will makes us happier, and it will lead us to greater charity.
I thought of so many scriptures while this exchange was going on, including Matthew 24:26:
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."
And yes, if we are leaning toward the idea that there is just a small group of us who knows what's what, and most people are fooled, that leaves a great vulnerability for deception, so that does matter.
That's really not what it came down to though.
1 Corinthians 13
1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
And Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And I thought about sheep and goats and foolish virgins.
What we need most in these days is charity, and many voices in this world are doing everything they can to sow division, where instead of feeling love for your fellow man you feel contempt. That is spreading.
That does work against your salvation, but it also makes you miserable. (That's not a coincidence.)
There are painful things about loving people, but there's a lot of joy too. If we turn that off, condemning people because of their skin color, or because they vote liberal, or because we assume that if they are poor they must be lazy, then we are damaging our charity, and you have to shut the Spirit down to do that, because the Spirit will be telling you to love.
There is a natural progression to things. We have faith, even if only a seed, and because of that faith we can have hope. That eases the burden of our worries, and gives us a better view of all of humanity, and that combines together to increase our love. As we act on that, and see how it makes everything better, our faith increases. This is a beautiful and joyful cycle.
It can be sent backwards too. Don't do that. You don't have to agree with people to love them. You don't have to think people are perfect to love them. (Actually, trying it that way will fail spectacularly.)
My love is not perfect, but it is deepening, and that may be the only thing that will keep me going as the world keeps going downhill.
Don't let go.
Related post:
http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/11/normal-0-foxis-mainstream-media-iwas.html
Sunday, August 17, 2014
August Garden Report
Frustration and despair are factors, but there is also satisfaction and hope.
The main source of frustration is the powdery mildew mentioned last month. Despite clearing out many leaves, it has spread. I can see why some people have given up on squash, but I am not ready to do that.
The other thing that makes me very sad is that I think I have to accept that I am not getting any pumpkins. For a while I could think that mine were just running late, but it kind of looks like I have had only male blossoms, and they are finding no females to pollinate. I did look into the possibility of playing bee, which is way more complex than you might think, because the pollen ferments after two hours and overhead watering can wash it away, but still, I would have to see at least one good female blossom to do it, and I'm not seeing one. I really wanted pumpkins.
However, I have now not only eaten things fresh from the garden, but I have cooked with ingredients from the garden. In the past there has been this salad that I would make with pea pods, orange bell peppers, lemon juice, olive oil, and almonds. I didn't have bell peppers, but I had the peas and I ended up tossing them with chicken for something a little heartier, and it worked out.
Also, many years ago in the Intel cafe they served up a gratin of cherry tomatoes and zucchini. Their gratin was perfectly arranged and layered, which mine was not, but nonetheless I made a zucchini tomato gratin with zucchini and tomatoes I grew myself, and my mother said it was better than how she remembered her mother cooking it. That was pretty cool.
(Mom's father was a great gardener, which was helpful not just for their large, not particularly rich family, but he was also always taking vegetables to the nuns. I would like to get a good enough harvest to be generous with it.)
So there are these ups and downs. I have had to let go of three of my six zucchini plants already. The mildew hastened their demise, but they were going to go in a month or so anyway, I am sure. I am getting more tomatoes than it looked like I would at one time. Also, there is hope that the next round of peas and the lettuce will start popping up soon. And things can be late; the beans suddenly came to life after doing nothing for weeks.
Also, when I went Friday night to water, it had looked like the zucchini was about done, but suddenly there was one really large one, and two that are growing. I hadn't seen any new crookneck squash, but there are a couple forming now. Tomorrow night I will trim more powdery leaves and hope for the best.
I can guarantee that I will not delay spraying the milk next time, and I feel like maybe I want to add a lot of lime to the soil. That's one thing that is probably worth noting - this season is not over, but I am thinking a lot about next year. Gardening is good for that.
Tomato Zucchini Gratin - my style
Lightly coat a casserole dish in olive oil.
Slice up zucchini and tomatoes. I sliced them separately, and then while I had the slices together but not piled on top of each other, I salted and peppered them. I then put them into the casserole dish, did more salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil, and then tossed them. The initial salt and pepper was partly to keep the zucchini slices from drying out, but also I wanted a good distribution of the flavorings, all of which are very basic.
Top with bread crumbs and shredded mozzarella. (Every other recipe I have seen calls for Parmesan, which texture-wise makes perfect sense for mixing with bread crumbs, but I prefer mozzarella. I also always substitute provolone for Swiss.)
Bake at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Detecting Carbon Monoxide
About two weeks ago my sisters and I were pulling out of the driveway and Mom came rushing out.
We could not understand what she was saying, so I got out of the car and went back in the house and found that our carbon monoxide detector was going off.
I knew that there was probably not a real leak, but there was no way we could leave Mom to figure it out. I had been going to a meeting, and my sisters were taking ice cream to a friend. Given the melt factor, and that they were driving and were going to drop me off, the situation became mine.
The first thing I did was press the Test/Reset button. This did not help. I opened some doors and windows nearby, which is a reasonable thing to do. Less reasonable was trying to search the internet for some alternative to calling 9-1-1. I mean, there probably wasn't really a leak; how could I justify calling emergency services? But there are no alternatives, that is really what you are supposed to do.
Fortunately, they are used to it. The dispatcher did ask if I thought there was a real leak, and I said no, which may only mean that they don't use the sirens, but a crew was going to be there shortly.
Getting my mother out of the house was easy, and my younger sisters were gone, but my older sister suddenly showed up, and we have animals. I told my sister what was going on, leashed up the dogs and had Mom take them in the back yard with her. That only left the cat. I got her carrier, but she had hidden herself under the bed. In a real emergency, she would have been a goner. I concentrated on hoping that it wasn't a real leak.
Yes, we did get a full firetruck with at least four firemen. I know I was stressed out because several people on hearing this story have asked me if they were cute, and I have no idea. I'm sorry, I just had other things on my mind. Nonetheless, they did a very good job.
You have to call 9-1-1, because they are the people who can arrive quickly, take accurate measurements, and then if people do need medical assistance or rescue, they're already there. Perhaps if necessary they would have helped me get the cat.
They checked the room as a whole, then right next to the possible leak sources, the water heater and the furnace (both natural gas). That meant it was just a fault in the detector, but they said at least we had one.
They did let me know that they have detectors with digital readouts, which may say that it is a power issue or device fault, or show a high reading of carbon monoxide, so you have a better idea. This time we went digital.
I must say, I was amazed by how exhausting it was. It didn't take that long, and there wasn't a lot of physical exertion. It was all just worry about the people and animals who were my responsibility, and the missed meeting, and what if we were going to have to replace an expensive appliance. Oddly, the pilot light on the water heater went out Monday morning, and it was the thermal couple and we did have to replace it, so the false alarm was only temporary, but again, no one has been poisoned. Take your victories where you get them.
I know carbon monoxide leaks are rare, but if one happens, I want to know about it. It's worth having the mechanism in place. If your device starts going off, these are the instructions that came with the new device.
1. Operate test/reset button.
2. Call your emergency services (fire department or 9-1-1).
3. Immediately move to fresh air - outdoors or by an open door/window. Do a head count to check that all persons are accounted for. Do not re-enter the premises or move away from the open door or window until emergency services responders have arrived, the premises have been aired out, and your alarm remains in normal condition.
Step 4 is for what to do if after going through steps 1-3, the situation repeats within 24 hours, and that's when you are looking at doing equipment inspections, so it's a bit more involved. I will just say "Do not taunt the carbon monoxide detector."
We could not understand what she was saying, so I got out of the car and went back in the house and found that our carbon monoxide detector was going off.
I knew that there was probably not a real leak, but there was no way we could leave Mom to figure it out. I had been going to a meeting, and my sisters were taking ice cream to a friend. Given the melt factor, and that they were driving and were going to drop me off, the situation became mine.
The first thing I did was press the Test/Reset button. This did not help. I opened some doors and windows nearby, which is a reasonable thing to do. Less reasonable was trying to search the internet for some alternative to calling 9-1-1. I mean, there probably wasn't really a leak; how could I justify calling emergency services? But there are no alternatives, that is really what you are supposed to do.
Fortunately, they are used to it. The dispatcher did ask if I thought there was a real leak, and I said no, which may only mean that they don't use the sirens, but a crew was going to be there shortly.
Getting my mother out of the house was easy, and my younger sisters were gone, but my older sister suddenly showed up, and we have animals. I told my sister what was going on, leashed up the dogs and had Mom take them in the back yard with her. That only left the cat. I got her carrier, but she had hidden herself under the bed. In a real emergency, she would have been a goner. I concentrated on hoping that it wasn't a real leak.
Yes, we did get a full firetruck with at least four firemen. I know I was stressed out because several people on hearing this story have asked me if they were cute, and I have no idea. I'm sorry, I just had other things on my mind. Nonetheless, they did a very good job.
You have to call 9-1-1, because they are the people who can arrive quickly, take accurate measurements, and then if people do need medical assistance or rescue, they're already there. Perhaps if necessary they would have helped me get the cat.
They checked the room as a whole, then right next to the possible leak sources, the water heater and the furnace (both natural gas). That meant it was just a fault in the detector, but they said at least we had one.
They did let me know that they have detectors with digital readouts, which may say that it is a power issue or device fault, or show a high reading of carbon monoxide, so you have a better idea. This time we went digital.
I must say, I was amazed by how exhausting it was. It didn't take that long, and there wasn't a lot of physical exertion. It was all just worry about the people and animals who were my responsibility, and the missed meeting, and what if we were going to have to replace an expensive appliance. Oddly, the pilot light on the water heater went out Monday morning, and it was the thermal couple and we did have to replace it, so the false alarm was only temporary, but again, no one has been poisoned. Take your victories where you get them.
I know carbon monoxide leaks are rare, but if one happens, I want to know about it. It's worth having the mechanism in place. If your device starts going off, these are the instructions that came with the new device.
1. Operate test/reset button.
2. Call your emergency services (fire department or 9-1-1).
3. Immediately move to fresh air - outdoors or by an open door/window. Do a head count to check that all persons are accounted for. Do not re-enter the premises or move away from the open door or window until emergency services responders have arrived, the premises have been aired out, and your alarm remains in normal condition.
Step 4 is for what to do if after going through steps 1-3, the situation repeats within 24 hours, and that's when you are looking at doing equipment inspections, so it's a bit more involved. I will just say "Do not taunt the carbon monoxide detector."
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Birthdays and aging
A friend just had a birthday and started a discussion about it. That discussion was more about gifts, and I may write about that some day, but this will be more about experiences.
For many years birthdays were frustrating because there would be a feeling of something that I would want, but I either couldn't quite figure it out, or I was too busy to make it happen. Things started changing around 40.
I wanted to do something cool for 39; that's the last good age right? I wanted to do something special for 29 too, though I don't think it really happened. Sometimes I would go out, or sometime people would arrange dinner in a restaurant with lots of people.
Those dinners are the most common solution, and we have arranged them for people ourselves, but you get trapped by whomever you sit by, and often the main social group leaves out some people you love and includes some people you can't stand, and sometimes gets other people who don't do well together seated next to each other. There is one year I still feel bad about for one friend. Based on how well she knew the others, she should have been next to me, and instead she was next to someone who really looked down on her.
40 was different because I decided that I had been meaning for a long time to get back to Playa Del Carmen, and I was just going to go for it. I planned to be there on my birthday, and I ended up going the week after, but it was enough. I decided something and made it happen, despite pneumonia the month before that used up all my sick time.
There were other things that happened at 40. One was that I set goals in three areas for things I wanted to do at 50. They were long range goals, so that I would need to be working at them over the course of the next decade, but basically they are that at 50 I will have been on all of the six main continents and go to Antarctica, I will do a triathlon, and I will make a movie.
Other things started happening too, with music and with the associations that I started to make, where a lot has been changing and going on, and that led to other things, though it has been gradual.
I got the idea that for 41 I wanted to have a karaoke party, and I wasn't sure whether to invite school friends or work friends or church friends, and I ended up inviting everyone from Twitter, and it felt like the right thing to do, and there were lessons in it, but I did not understand why until after.
For 42 it didn't feel right to plan anything, so I joined a friend's plan, who has the same birthday. I realized that I had people I wanted to see, but it didn't have to be for my birthday, and I started trying to make more of a point of staying in touch with the people I care about and enjoy spending time with. That has happened via email, cards, phone calls, and visits, but that is still something that is expanding. Just a couple of weeks ago I got an idea for what I think will commemorate my 43rd birthday.
Ultimately, the last few birthdays have been satisfying, and I think that is because life has been satisfying. It is still often hard and hectic, but it is also very good. Maybe it was the goals that I set at 40.
I would like to say that it was the start of living more deliberately, but that would not adequately express how much things come to me and they surprise me but I follow them. Maybe it is more accurate to say that I am living consciously. I am aware of the needs of the moment, and I respond to those, but there is also a bigger picture. There has been more creativity, and more acceptance, and more peace.
The timeline is not playing out like I thought it would at 40. I would have expected to be experimenting with filming techniques, and to have visited South America by now, and to be more fit.
Instead I have written some things that were good learning experiences, and started drawing, which will have its own impact on my cinematography. I have been to Italy and am planning another trip to Italy, even though Europe was one of the continents I already had down. And, while I am still exercising fairly regularly, and getting better about whole grains and vegetables, not only because I have started a garden, I am still not appreciably better at running, cycling, or swimming. Also, I have no idea how it fits in, but I have a bass guitar now.
Right now I am nearing the end of a project of reading and writing exercises that has been very long. I am at times frustrated that I am not moving more quickly, but I have learned so much already. When I am writing there are some answers that I know that even a few months ago, I would not have been able to say that. As soon as I finish it there will be other projects, but they are leading me to be the person I need to be, and I will be able to do what I need to do. I could not have predicted the trajectory, because other things needed to happen first, but there is a logical order.
That's why life is good. There is learning and there is growth. I am tired a lot, but never bored. I am often off-balance, and trying to do things that I am not at all good at, but that keeps me feeling young. My body is not young, but my mind is.
So my birthdays have been about relationships and experiences, but that's what my life has been about too, and it's working out.
For many years birthdays were frustrating because there would be a feeling of something that I would want, but I either couldn't quite figure it out, or I was too busy to make it happen. Things started changing around 40.
I wanted to do something cool for 39; that's the last good age right? I wanted to do something special for 29 too, though I don't think it really happened. Sometimes I would go out, or sometime people would arrange dinner in a restaurant with lots of people.
Those dinners are the most common solution, and we have arranged them for people ourselves, but you get trapped by whomever you sit by, and often the main social group leaves out some people you love and includes some people you can't stand, and sometimes gets other people who don't do well together seated next to each other. There is one year I still feel bad about for one friend. Based on how well she knew the others, she should have been next to me, and instead she was next to someone who really looked down on her.
40 was different because I decided that I had been meaning for a long time to get back to Playa Del Carmen, and I was just going to go for it. I planned to be there on my birthday, and I ended up going the week after, but it was enough. I decided something and made it happen, despite pneumonia the month before that used up all my sick time.
There were other things that happened at 40. One was that I set goals in three areas for things I wanted to do at 50. They were long range goals, so that I would need to be working at them over the course of the next decade, but basically they are that at 50 I will have been on all of the six main continents and go to Antarctica, I will do a triathlon, and I will make a movie.
Other things started happening too, with music and with the associations that I started to make, where a lot has been changing and going on, and that led to other things, though it has been gradual.
I got the idea that for 41 I wanted to have a karaoke party, and I wasn't sure whether to invite school friends or work friends or church friends, and I ended up inviting everyone from Twitter, and it felt like the right thing to do, and there were lessons in it, but I did not understand why until after.
For 42 it didn't feel right to plan anything, so I joined a friend's plan, who has the same birthday. I realized that I had people I wanted to see, but it didn't have to be for my birthday, and I started trying to make more of a point of staying in touch with the people I care about and enjoy spending time with. That has happened via email, cards, phone calls, and visits, but that is still something that is expanding. Just a couple of weeks ago I got an idea for what I think will commemorate my 43rd birthday.
Ultimately, the last few birthdays have been satisfying, and I think that is because life has been satisfying. It is still often hard and hectic, but it is also very good. Maybe it was the goals that I set at 40.
I would like to say that it was the start of living more deliberately, but that would not adequately express how much things come to me and they surprise me but I follow them. Maybe it is more accurate to say that I am living consciously. I am aware of the needs of the moment, and I respond to those, but there is also a bigger picture. There has been more creativity, and more acceptance, and more peace.
The timeline is not playing out like I thought it would at 40. I would have expected to be experimenting with filming techniques, and to have visited South America by now, and to be more fit.
Instead I have written some things that were good learning experiences, and started drawing, which will have its own impact on my cinematography. I have been to Italy and am planning another trip to Italy, even though Europe was one of the continents I already had down. And, while I am still exercising fairly regularly, and getting better about whole grains and vegetables, not only because I have started a garden, I am still not appreciably better at running, cycling, or swimming. Also, I have no idea how it fits in, but I have a bass guitar now.
Right now I am nearing the end of a project of reading and writing exercises that has been very long. I am at times frustrated that I am not moving more quickly, but I have learned so much already. When I am writing there are some answers that I know that even a few months ago, I would not have been able to say that. As soon as I finish it there will be other projects, but they are leading me to be the person I need to be, and I will be able to do what I need to do. I could not have predicted the trajectory, because other things needed to happen first, but there is a logical order.
That's why life is good. There is learning and there is growth. I am tired a lot, but never bored. I am often off-balance, and trying to do things that I am not at all good at, but that keeps me feeling young. My body is not young, but my mind is.
So my birthdays have been about relationships and experiences, but that's what my life has been about too, and it's working out.
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