Millenium Hand and Shrimp

Another funny

2010-11-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Commenting on relative positions within the organization where he works:

"So when I tell Phil that his mama dresses him funny, I'm really speaking truth to power."

Lullaby

2009-10-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

Sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (or, the Alphabet song, or Baa Baa Black Sheep)

Daddy loves you

He loves you a lot

While you're sleeping

He prays to God

Daddy loves you

He's always near

While you're sleeping

There's nothing to fear

funnies

2009-08-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

More bon mots from Dr. Phantzi himself:

"There are no bad habits. Just bad people."

"Yeah, when I walk across campus people always say 'I want him....to leave!'"

Maybe you just had to be there!

Happy Father's Day, Part III!

2009-06-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day, Part II!

2009-06-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day, Part I!

2009-06-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Misnomers

2009-04-06T13:40:00.001-07:00

For some reason, we have started calling the umbrella stroller the "banana stroller." This makes no sense at all. Terry started it!

Cats and Dogs

2008-03-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

(Not sure where this originated; it came via e-mail and cracks us up.)

DOG DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts,since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Jerks!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies."I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

This morning I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move.. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.for now....

Cat

CDS conference photo

2007-08-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

here's a picture of T being impressive while I scratch my head in perplexity...

Bandwagon

2007-08-12T17:32:00.001-07:00

You're Jurassic Park!

by Michael Crichton

You combine all the elements of a mad scientist, a brash philosopher,
a humble researcher, and a money-hungry attracter of tourists. With all these features,
you could build something monumental or get chased around by your own demons. Probably
both, in fact. A movie based on your life would make millions, and spawn at least two
sequels thatwouldn't be very good. Be very careful around islands.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Aphorism

2007-04-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Things always look better in the morning. Until you open your eyes."
- tlj

Terry-orisms

2007-02-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

This is a list of quotes that one of Terry's students has been collecting over the course of several semesters. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and tears were streaming down my face when I read these :-)

"My dad teaches here at EMU. When he croaks, shortly, I will not inherit his salary from EMU, but I can inherit his house."
"If I got fired tomorrow…for being gay…"
"I like to rant about television…I watch it…a lot…during football season".
"If you work at Wal-Mart, you probably like bowling and smoke a lot"
"Chippendale…again, I'm not sure…I thought those were like male dancers"
"I haven't really thought of retirement…I don't really plan to die"
"Shelly- You always look like you have a question"
"If you want to help a child who is whack, you need a licensure…Whack is a non-technical term, but you know what I mean"
"I shouldn't think about money - it just makes me bitter"
"What do you think of when you think of John Kerry?...Besides LOSER"
"Why can't we all sit together? Kum-Bay-Yah"
"I have no power over you?...Not only am I bigger, faster, stronger, better at abstract thought…that's what I always tell my wife"
"I'm not accusing you per se"
"Have you guys ever played paper, scissors, rock?...It's rock, paper, scissors…sometimes I get confused and go like that - you shouldn't do that"
"I played Snood for two hours because I was supposed to be grading papers"
"Being gay sucks…I mean, being gay could be fine…"
"Your hat is Calvin Klein, is that intentional? CK is like underwear…it's like wearing underwear on your head"
"Leonardo DiCaprio was in a movie recently, unfortunately, he wasn't killed in it"
"They had different opinions when it came to hoeing"
"The poor people I know…not that I know a lot of them - I try not to hang around them - they always ask for money…"
"If it was a competition, you'd all be dead because I would have killed you all by now"
"Cuz it's not that sexy to talk about petitions and committee meetings"
"You can't just say 'God told me', well you can, but you'll get a bad grade"
"Leonard DeCaprio is on my mind- the Titanic is a good story for this because he actually dies in it"
"I took three different dates to see it at three different times - that was before I was married - Leonardo dies in it so it's a good movie"
"The worst thing to do to a child or a dog is to put it in a bag and throw it in a river, but the second worst thing is…"
"You know there are poor people in Harrisonburg, but you don't go wandering around in some skanky neighborhood like Park View"
"Who's going to say they are against marriage - unless they're married - and I'm not gonna go there"
"Bolivia is this skanky little dot right here"
"My wife put this together and that's her right back there with the ugly glasses"
"This is the last class period before…the next class period"
Jeff: "I brought tea"
Terry: "Oh, I didn't know you were British"
"Standard sweater, slacks…I hate sweaters, but that's probably off topic"
"I'm sure he's a nice guy - he's just caught in a sinful situation"
"The communities are all the same - they're occupied by short people with hats on"

We Make the Road by Walking

2007-02-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

Last night Terry drove me to the DC G.reyhound station through snow and darkness; I filled his ear with the book I'd been reading as I struggled to think through what the author was trying to do/say. A good, old-fashioned bull session ensued such as we've not had for quite some time - car time is good for that - during which T. distilled three principles for sustainability and social justice that I think we're going to use as a heuristic for our personal life philosophy from now on. The emphasis is on process.

1) Decentralizing power
2) Recognizing the interconnectedness of all things
3) Treating others as human

It's not the "what" you do as much as the "how." We make the road by walking.

See Previous Post

2006-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

And now, the happy conclusion to the Saga of the Sink! Upon successfully silencing the Evil Drip, Terry does the Happy Dance.

Here is the offending washer - "It is a strange fate we should suffer so much fear and doubt… over so small a thing.
Such a little thing."*

In Which Terry Fixes the Sink

2006-09-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

So the sink in our Ithaca apartment has been dripping since we moved in; being the adaptable TCKs that we are, we stuck a big plastic bowl underneath and developed a system for using the water thence collected to wash dishes, filter for drinking, etc. In fact, I think that on balance this system actually reduced our overall water consumption. Terry, however, being the handyman that he is, said "I should be able to fix that." So we called the landlady, who was delighted by the idea of not having to pay a plumber through the nose to have the drip fixed.

This is currently a Work In Progress, as we say in knitting, or WIP, which has involved several runs to the hardware store for appropriate tools, washers, etc., and a little "creative" language. I generally stay out of the way during these bursts of fix-it-iveness unless called upon to hold things, find things, or otherwise stand by at ready.

Stay tuned, folks! Optimism remains high...

CR Taller

2006-07-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

Taller" in Spanish means workshop, but we find it sophomorically amusing that the English transliteration means... well, taller, you know?
Here you see Terry in his natural "Habitat" (I think I might be short on sleep), with the ubiquitous coffee mug. It became so cemented to his hand that he unintentionally took it with him to Fiorella's goodbye party on Friday night...
(l to r): Triana, US volunteer; Alicia, Mexicana anthropology student (ABD); the Antsy Jantzi; yours truly; Lina Maria, Colombiana; Fiorella Rojas, Tica; Marcos, Puerto Rican Princeton student; Eric, Tico sociologist; Diana, Peruana-Tica intern; Mauricio, Peruano director of something or other. You can tell we were having fun :-)

It was highly stimulating and enjoyable to spend time with this group of smart, dedicated people all united with the common cause of eliminating poverty housing. Eric, the sociologist, would periodically jump up and draw an elegant diagram on the board that just nailed the concept we were constructing. Mauricio with his booming voice would summarize the vague ideas in very sensible terms. Lina Maria would point out the subtle implications of statements and ideas, and Fiorella would get all enthusiastic. Terry would manage to cram some fairly insightful thoughts into a few mangled Spanish phrases that somehow everyone would understand - at least, they nodded thoughtfully :-) I made sure he didn't get too off-topic...

Happiness

2006-07-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

I just learned that there is an actual Journal of Happiness Studies - I think I may get Terry a subscription since he seems to have a particular radar out for science about happiness. Below is a link to a summary of some of the research Terry's been talking about (relating happiness to income level, genetics, and other factors). It's actually quite interesting.

http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/s1684416.htm

The bottom line: "If you want to be happy, put in a good day's work, call some friends, drop in to the gym, then go out and help a young person across the street." Sounds good to me :-)

Of course Terry's version of "giving back to the community" may not be perceived the same by everybody... (ask him about it!) :-P

Alive and Kicking

2006-07-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hm... somehow I had the impression that Terry's thought burps came around much more frequently. Well, I suppose that they occur quite often but usually with an audience, which to me obviates the need to blog about it. However, this blog has been too long neglected so I thought I'd give a little update/post.

This morning we facilitated an exercise during which we asked people to place themselves on a spectrum between "Efficiency" at one end and "Participation" at the other - recognizing that these are not mutually exclusive goals, but that sometimes one must be sacrificed in the interest of the other. It was a group of about 20 people, with roughly equal gender representation - and what do you know, only two women placed themselves on the "Efficiency" side (both from the US) and only two men placed themselves on the "Participation" side - one very close to the middle. The other is a Freirean ideologue from Brazil. Fascinating! We had not expected a gender pattern with this, so talked about it for a while. Turns out that most of the women came from a social work background, and most of the men from an engineering background - both roles important within Habitat. Even more fascinating.

The workshops have reinforced my understanding of contexts in which Terry does well and I don't - open-ended brainstorming kinds of contexts. At the end of the day yesterday I found myself gravitating to the back corner of the room with my knitting in frustration as the task of summarizing principles learned gave way to a free-for-all discussion about various inter-related ideas. Terry was in the thick of it, really in his element as various conceptual threads wove together... and the task of systematizing the "lessons learned" into a numbered or orderly list went by the wayside. Evidently T and I will work on that together back in VA.

We make a pretty good team.

No More Beano

2006-06-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Normally my wife posts my random comments on this blog, but today I wanted to specifically write about the most pressing issue of the day: Why are FIFA referees so bad in this World Cup? There have been some very well-ref-ed matches, but there have also been some amazingly horrible spectacles. The precipitating factor for venting on this blog was the Tunisia/Ukraine game. I have faithfully tried to watch every game of the World Cup to date, but I finally had to turn the TV off in disgust at the antics of the referee in that game. He took inconsistency and incompetence to all new heights.

My first reaction to the low quality refereeing in this WC was to ask why is it not possible to find, in all the world, 30 quality referees? This made me go on to muse that the problem should probably not be laid at the feet of the individual referees in these matches. I mean, they are probably (emphasis "probably" since the Italy match-fixing scandal) trying their best. FIFA selected them to come and ref these games. The real blame needs to be put at the feet of Seth Blatter and his cohort. I'm guessing that the department of referee recruitment and selection is not normally a high profile department in FIFA. There are probably a number of instances of "hey Seth, can you give my cousin Sergi a job? He's not real bright, but he'll try hard". "Sure, we can stick him in the referee department as some underling. That will keep him out of trouble." Pretty soon, you might end up with a whole department of earnest, but not real competent folks all trying their very hardest, but…and this is important…not being held accountable for their actions. For four years this systemic incompetence and lack of accountability is out of sight and out of mind, but then comes the World Cup and all eyes are on the games, and suddenly systemic incompetence rears its head. In other words, I consider the bad (or at least wildly inconsistent and damaging) refereeing to not be a result of bad individuals, but rather of an incompetent system staffed with the mediocre administrators (the kind who really do most of the world's damage).

This is not unlike my assessment of the US team's performance. I agreed with Eric Wynalda (and had been saying it since the first game), that the blame for the US performance should fall on Bruce Arena. Bad decisions and a bad philosophy combine to produce a performance lower than Trinidad and Tobago's - a country 250 times smaller than the US. Bruce's biggest mistake was complacency. He relied on a group of veterans who had performed in 2002 admirably. Unfortunately, they were 4 years older and had already been through the experience before. Some of the emotion and excitement just didn't seem to be there this time. Now, veterans are all well and good. You need some to steady a team. But the key word here is "some" as in two or maybe three. Not "some" as in 7-8. Too many veterans, not enough speedy, highly excited youngsters meant a team that played "composedly" but lacked any real fire. I think Brian McBride is a great guy, he tries hard and gives 100%, but when the US went down to 9 players, it was absolutely inexcusable for Bruce to leave McBride in there. Brian is also big, slow, and not real skilled with the ball except in the air. Not exactly the type of person you need on the field when you are playing with 9 and needing to cover enormous amounts of ground. I don't think it was a coincidence that the only time the US really looked lively in the whole World Cup was when Clint Dempsey was involved in play. He may be cocky and a bit erratic on defense, but he had the type of energy the rest of the US team lacked.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the US announcers though. They started off very shaky, to put it mildly. The first few games were so bad I had to turn the sound off and frantically searched through the short wave bands trying to find a station with competent broadcasters. Dave O'Brian and Marcel Balboa were the worst offenders. I wanted to go have a long heart to heart with the producers of these telecasts to drop a little hint that the people who are going to be watching soccer games in the US are not little old ladies from Chattanooga who've never heard of the game before, it's going to be soccer fans. People who already know that the ball is round and that you kick it and that hey, the rest of the world loves this sport what do you know? Real soccer fans already know about yellow cards and would like to hear broadcasters provide a little technical expertise and analysis rather than mouthing blathering nothings such as did you know that that player's sister's brother-in-law once owned a car dealership with Landon Donovan's half sister?. In the beginning the only good broadcast team was that British/Irish combination (can't remember their names). But the teams did improve. By the end of the first round Dave and Marcel didn't outright suck and I actually kept the sound up for the entire game, with only occasional wincing. Most improved definitely have to be Glenn Davis and Shep Messing though. Their first game was even worse than Dave/Marcel, but they've come on these last couple of games and have become quite entertaining to listen to, even with the sound up.

Back to administrative incompetence and lack of accountability. My contention is that the referees are wildly inconsistent in quality not because of the individuals, but because of a slow accumulation of administrative incompetence in the whole referee selection and training and policy formation under Seth Blatter. The head of the FIFA referees made a comment that he was quite pleased with the level of the refereeing in the World Cup. I wonder which World Cup he was watching? This is the sad thing. The system and quality are unlikely to change if the administrators sit around in a self-congratulatory circle and talk about how hard they tried and ignore the very real criticisms that are raining down on them. This kind of group-think can be pretty pervasive in organizations that don't demand accountability from those administrators in power. Look at the Bush administration. No one gets held accountable for screw-ups. I mean, they must be good guys who tried hard. So what if things didn't quite work out. At least they tried. Let's give them a medal of honor for trying, kind of like it's the Special Olympics. Then everyone acts surprised when an Iraq or a Katrina come out of the blue. Same thing happened at a small college that I know. They tried to go through a strategic planning process of sorts to prioritize their programs for the coming years. They so thoroughly bungled the job that it created enormous distrust, shattered morale, and left the whole community disenchanted. What made it worse was that the final outcome of the process was a bunch of smoke and mirrors and a "our strategy is to hope things get better so the whole issue goes away". All that pain and suffering and incompetence and nothing to show for it. The whole place would have been better off if the process had never been done than to have been done so shoddily. But the architects of the prioritization process weren't held accountable for their failures. Instead, they all huddled together in their little self-congratulatory circle and told each other how noble they had been in the face of difficult decisions. Since they had tried hard, they thought they ought to be excused for screwing up so badly. Now they are out and about saying how the process worked so well, let's implement it as an annual reporting strategy. Cousin Sergi rides again.

The Apron of Humanity

2006-06-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Whoever they are - they must be stopped! The World Cup announcers on ESPN2 have now officially (by Terry) been deemed to be the worst ever. They are "a stain on the apron of humanity." We actually went to El Charro yesterday afternoon to watch the second half of the Mexico-Iran match on the big screen - a large family party (who were not even watching the game) seated in the same room made it difficult to hear the commentator, but just the rhythm and pace of the voice calling the game was an improvement over the inane babble of "...and in soccer, players are allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body except their hands! And oh look, there's Jose Gonzalez, whose third cousin once played for the American team... his mother is in the stands today. She must be so proud... oh, a goal. Well this just in - the US coach has said that..." blah blah blah. Buggrit!

The Importance of Being Earnest

2006-06-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Terry was musing (ranting) last night about institutional values and the importance of being earnest. Looking at the people who advance in certain institutions that will remain unnamed, it seems that the primary qualification for recognition, responsibility, and grooming for higher positions is earnestness, rather than, oh, say academic brilliance or excellence. Smart skeptics are passed over or ignored while the earnest mediocre advance (having facial hair and a deep voice seems to facilitate the process as well... too bad Wifey won't let him re-grow that '70s 'stache...). Of course, the earnest and brilliant may also advance, but the brilliance is a happy side benefit, not the criterion for advancement. Could say a lot about the future direction of the institution...

Gratuitous World Cup Soccer Humor, courtesy of Joe:

Stupid Turtles

2006-06-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is mostly a Wifey thought burp. Last week at Tara's birthday party, the guitar was hauled out and passed around the campfire. When I had a turn at the strings, Terry requested the Song of the Donkame (although neither of us could remember the words...) So here you have it:

If you don't mind waiting an hour
For a bus or a taxi ride
If you can find simple pleasure
When the passage of time seems to have died
Then you can join our organization
We make dumplings
And don't care about careers
We're the Stupid Turtles
We're the Donkame
We ain't gonna bust our rears
We ain't gonna bust our rears

Give me life in the slow lane
I want a life in the slow lane
Give me life in the slow lane
I want a life in the slow lane

This was based on a Newsweek article about an actual intentional community in Japan that called themselves the Donkame (which translates as... you guessed it!); all people who had dropped out of the rat race to pursue their hobbies.

It sounds very appealing, no?

The other day I was at a meeting where a committee was discussing how to format a report; one person recommended using very little text "because, you know when you look at the comics page, if there's a comic with too much text you just don't read it, because who has time?" Indeed. There at the conference table I had a little flashback to a time in my life when I had plenty of time to be bored, plenty of time to read, and if I had had a comics page I would have read it many times - even the text-heavy parts. Especially the text-heavy parts. So when I got home I said to Terry, "we need to do another MCC term. Somewhere rural, where we can get bored." And he said, "ok."

Welcome to My World

2006-06-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Call me Boswell. The other day while driving somewhere, Terry had a little thought burp - a not uncommon occurence - and I said to him, "you should start a blog and write down all these random ideas you have." But of course he can't be bothered with the actual task, so I set out to do it for him. (Hmm... can this be a healthy trend?) So welcome to Terry World, where the view is expansive, if a bit sideways!

Actual thought burps to commence shortly!