Susie's Meanderings

Horsen Men

So today I was on a small mission to find toy soldiers. (It's a very long and not very interesting story why) so I went to Fred Meyer in the toy section, and the closest I could come up with was plastic dinosaurs. So I asked the guy stocking the section (who was about 20, maybe) and he smiled the beatific smile, like I'd asked for the quaintest thing imaginable, and searched his memory and said "Oh, like those green ones who can't move? I know what you mean." but they didn't have them, though he described them in great detail to those who would know.
So, have they really fallen by the wayside? Are toys so sophisticated now that little green army men don't do it for us anymore?

"Sleep Deprivity"

So I'm sitting at my desk at work, and overhear somebody utter the phrase "Sleep Deprivity", and I'm wondering if it's related to "depravity" in any way. Because "Sleep Depravity" might be worth commenting on.
And don't get me started on the grammar errors that run rampant through our existing training materials (including an on-line course that everyone has to take). Doesn't anyone know how to use apostrophes anymore?
Okay, grammar rant is over. Work is fun and getting more interesting, and may, just may, take me to Europe next month. I'll keep you all posted.

Eagle Snacks

I just saw one of my bald eagles plunge down into the lake right in front of me, not 30 feet away. It wasn't like in the nature films where they nip down, delicately grasp their prey, and loft back up. This one plunged in, sat like a duck in the water for a minute, looking sort of frustrated, then sort of slowly pulled himself up and out and flew off across the lake. Still, it was pretty amazing.
Meanwhile, the sparrows are having a much easier time of it. The pile of seed I left for them doesn't go swimming off at the last second.

moonlight

The view from here just keeps getting better.

Sunrise

It's been awhile since I've seen the sun here, though during the week I'm often up early enough to see the sunrise. However, this morning, it was not only sunny, but I'd forgotten to turn off my alarm clock. Fortunately, I had my camera handy....

Just like a grown-up

Well, I'm starting to get settled in. Now I've graduated to making little Visio charts populated with multi-colored people to illustrate for everyone how we're going create and save documents for the project I'm working on. It could have just as easily been addressed in a four line email, but to cater to the hungry paper beast that lives in the office, I've also made a bulleted word document (out of what was a 10 paragraph piece of horrific density) to further enlighten the process. I think my role could best be described as "herd dog" or "organizer" (and it comes as a great surprise to me that I had any talent for organization at all), while I wait for the information to arrive which will allow me to get on with the business of designing lessons.
Meanwhile, I've engaged a simulated personal trainer to put me through my paces when I come home. It's highly entertaining, and if I work out lots, I can unlock new backgrounds and music for my workouts. It's like a video game without the guilt.

3 days in...

Well so far my new job has been like a big game of hide and seek... or maybe a scavenger hunt. I have this monstrous list of tasks (for those of you from BMGF - let's just imagine that I am Curriculum and Pubs rolled into one ) to design a curriculum around a system I've never seen and don't really understand. That's apparently not important, because I have Subject Matter Experts who are going to tell me what to put in the lessons, except they're too busy doing their actual jobs to help me do mine. Only I discovered today that they actually have done their part, it's just all on a shared drive that I have to be invited specially to use and nobody thought to invite me.....Anyway, having said all that, today I really started to feel like I was getting a handle on things, AND they moved me from my loaner laptop with (wait for it... a 6GB harddrive, which I had filled by yesterday afternoon) to a beautiful shiny new high speed laptop.