May 2009
Being Short
This weekend I was camping with friends and we were playing "What if" around the campfire.
What if you had 10 million dollars?
What if you could live anywhere?
What if you had to totally change careers?
What if you could change something about your physical self?
I said that I would make myself taller. Everyone was surprised because my size is somewhat definitive about me. (For anyone that doesn't know me in real life, I'm 4'11".) My height, or obvious lack thereof, is definitely one of the things people first notice about me. However, the older I get, the more I'd prefer to just blend in with everyone else.
Today, my friend Karen sent a NPR article called The Secret Advantage Of Being Short. The article explains that short people may experience the world slightly faster than tall people since the information has a shorter distance to travel from our nerves to our brain. Somehow this information makes me feel just a tiny bit better about being short.
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componance flowform design challenge
Chris won third place in the componance flowform design challenge!
A couple months ago, I saw a post on StairPorn.org about a contest to design stairs using parts from componance. Componance is a company that specializes in architectural details. They create products such as brackets and extrusions that allow designers to make anything work.
This contest involved designing a staircase in Google Sketchup. The design was to show creative use of componance's flowform components. Flowform is a stainless steel guardrail system. Since Chris uses Google Sketchup quite often and was playing around with a design for our staircase, I figured it was perfect for him.
To our great pleasure, we learned that Chris won third place which included a $100 prize! Thanks, componance!
Quote of the Day
Chris: "I love Google Chrome!"
me: "Why?"
Chris: "It finishes my sentences!"
(Google Chrome, a new web browser)
The Desert Polo Invite - April 25, 2009
On April 25, 2009, Phoenix hosted its first hardcourt bicycle polo tournament - The Desert Polo Invite. I know the guys who put it together - David, Chad, Marco, Chris, & Justin - worked really really hard. It paid off as they put on a fantastic event!
There were a total of twelve teams of three in the double-elimination tournament. In addition to all the Phoenix teams, we were pleased that one team from Tucson and three teams from LA came out. It's so neat to connect with people from other places and just play together. I know the scene in Phoenix is a bit young so it was great to learn from the LA guys, who took 1st & 2nd place...they're GREAT players. Third place was a team of Phoenix grass polo players. Chris's team, CMC Polo Factory, brought in 4th place.
The event & prizes were sponsored by some great local bike shops:
Kore Bike Industries
Rage Cycles
Dominic's 2 Wheelers
Tempe Bicycle
Trailhead Bike Shop
View all the photos on Flickr.
Toilet Water
Jamie & Tyson brought Squid & Huxley over to play while we had dinner last night. Just before dinner, Jamie noticed that Squid was wet (really wet). Squid loves water so we were sure he found some to get into. The only standing water was the toilet. After dinner, he found the toilet again and confirmed that was the water he had gotten into.
We laughed at how happy he was to sit in there happily.
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Job Changes
My Father
After 40 years with the same company, my father was laid off. It was a part of a reduction in force due to the economy. The company handled it well - severance package, a month transition, career services. But it's still hard to be told to go. Especially when it falls within a month of your 40th anniversary working for them.
FORTY YEARS...I can't even imagine it. However, I've benefited plenty from all that time since my dad did an awesome job of taking care of my family. I've always had everything I needed and pretty much everything I've wanted. I'm thankful he had employment all this time!
Luckily, Dad is of retirement age and is turning the layoff into retirement. He may look for another job; he may not. He's now looking forward to the freedom to choose to do whatever he wants with his time. I'm really excited for him and this new stage of life.
My Mother
My mother retired a few years ago and has been busier than ever with all her volunteering. However, she recently took a job with a small, local jewelry store. So far she loves it. I was tickled when she said, "I get paid to play with jewelry all day!" I'm glad she's doing something that's fun.
Me
After a year at my latest employer and feeling like I never quite fit in with the team, I'm moving on. Next week I start at Open Rain, a small web development company. It's exciting to get back into web work and work with developers again!
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about erica
- Blogging since 2001
- Thirty-two years old
- Married to Chris Altman
- Lives in Phoenix, Arizona
The Small
Karen sent this link thinking it would be perfect for Mac or Stewie. It would be!
A brilliant, brilliant music video and AWESOME Rube Goldberg Machine.
Based on a study of Census data, Pew found that in nearly a third of marriages, the wife is better educated than her husband. And though men, over all, still earn more than women, wives are now the primary breadwinner in 22 percent of couples, up from 7 percent in 1970.
Awesome!
Google reviewing how they do business in China or if they can continue doing business.
"We believe this report strongly supports our view that the biggest problem for cyclists is bad driving."
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