Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Life is crazy

Talk to me in October when I can breathe again. Then I will come back to blogging.

posted by kate @ 8/23/2005 09:17:00 AM 0 comments

Friday, August 12, 2005

Commentary on Friends

  • James Layman's triumphant return to DC was heralded by this entertaining letter to the SecState. I haven't spoken to James in a while, but I'm glad I still read his LJ.
  • In that same vein, I haven't spoken to Storey since he came to visit, but I still take a look at his site. He posts (on 8/9 and 8/11, since he doesn't permalink) about friendship surviving even distance - I think that is true to a certain extent, but it shows the value that an individual places on that friendship if an effort isn't at least given routine maintenance. I know it is hard to maintain long-distance friendships, but the good lord invented cell phone with free long distance for a reason. Sometimes it is actually easier to maintain a phone relationship than it is when someone is in the same city. I am at work so much that meeting someone for a drink can be a pain in the ass, but having a phone conversation, even while awkward, can really maintain a friendship. It also tells people you care about them that you are asking about them even though there isn't an independent reason for calling. Now, that wasn't where I was going with this link, but sometimes stream-of-consciousness blogging takes over. Where I was going was related to writing "fiction" which is loosely disguised autobiography. I see no problem with that, but then again, I'm not a writer of fiction or non-fiction. You naturally present a story from your point of view, and you naturally reach back into your experience for impressions. I didn't find myself in Storey's book, but I did hear echoes of conversations that we had had - which I think is more than natural. As you read my blog, or emails, or listen to me speak, you SHOULD hear echoes of what you have told me - it tells me that I've made an impact on your life and your experience. I don't see that as being uncreative. And in fact, if I ever did write fiction in my life, I think it would be disingenuous to try to divorce myself from the story. Really authentic fiction (not really an oxymoron, good fiction has a ring of truth to it) has to be believable, or make me suspend my disbelief. The best way to make it connect with people is to use the connections you have with people.
  • Even though I live with her I love reading CityCat's recollections of her life through her blog - I don't know whether she really writes like she tells stories or if i read her in her voice.... I guess i'll never know. It is sort of like the Last Days of Summer for me :).

    posted by kate @ 8/12/2005 10:01:00 AM 2 comments

    • Customer Service Issues

    Consumers Frustrated with bad CS: I hope more people are paying attention to this. I, probably since I work in CS, cannot STAND bad CS, and one of the reasons I love my company is that they do make an effort to focus on CS. (Don't get me wrong-there are lots of reasons I hate my company, but this isn't one of them). I hope more people take a stand to change it, however, as the article points out, conglomeration will only exacerbate the negative effects. I know eric and I will be doing our part - I will be complimenting exemplary customer service, and he will be deriding poor service - he actually, when told that the car rental place only had large trucks for him to rent, he actually said "alright, well I'll just sit here until you have something else come up." And he broke out a book-they looked at him funny, and as another customer came in, he made a point of talking about what poor service he was getting from this rental company. At that point, they drove him to a nearby location to get him the car that he wanted. Actually, thats one of the huge reasons that I hate chevy chase bank. No one there took ownership of any of the problems that I had with them. I had poor customer service at the outset, poor customer service throughout, and even though I get little diamonds in the rough every now and again, I still generally hate them. Now I just need to leave chevy chase bank and go elsewhere.

    posted by kate @ 8/12/2005 09:53:00 AM 0 comments

    Babies...and how effectively prevent abortions if you dont like them....or not

    Birth Control Restrictions Proposed: This is an issue that I care really deeply about. After being militantly pro-life as a child, I have come to the conclusion that whereas I don't think that I could ever have an abortion, and I don't usually think it is the right choice, banning the practice has so many negative consequences that it just shouldn't be done. Also, I think PREVENTING people from coming to that horrific choice is a much better option. To that end, articles like this scare the bejeezus out of me. I actually think that birth control is MORE important at college campuses, since so much freedom is granted to a newly college student, allowing free access to birth control is giving them a certain amount of control and responsibility that is actually comforting - liberty rides in tandem with responsibility, and if there is a taboo on birth control by restricting access to it, then you only invite the consequences and the tough choices that surround STIs and abortions.

    posted by kate @ 8/12/2005 09:52:00 AM 0 comments

    Isn't it a sign of weakness that I don't know what to say?

    So, it has been a little while since I updated. Work has been a little crazy, and as I spend so much time there, I end up not completing blog posts. So, here are some random updates.

  • Tuesday--eric brought me flowers! I had mentioned I was having a tough day, not bad, just annoying, and he decided to try to make my day better with roses. My mother points out that I have him well-trained, but I really think it is another positive sign that I'm making the right choices.
  • I have been doing some work for Penelope Taylor (which Laurie of Butterfly Tantra referred me to) who does energy medicine. Now, while I've been doing her filing and organizing her computer systems, she has been doing some energy work on me - and I have to say that I'm actually coming around to what she teaches. She knew yesterday that I was having pain (for whatever reason) and she managed to diagnose my issues with my job to the correct source - it is very true that your manager really influences your job satisfaction, and a major source of stress for me a few years ago was this particular individual. So if anyone is looking for energy or healing, or kinesiology or whatever, I can whole heartedly reccomend her. I'm a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to alternative healing, but she has completely won me over to her side. We'll talk more about tantra later on.

    posted by kate @ 8/12/2005 09:01:00 AM 18 comments

    • Wednesday, August 03, 2005

    i hate chevy chase bank: update

    I'm #2 on the list, right where I should be, behind the atomicweb people who wrote about the lawsuit :)

    posted by kate @ 8/03/2005 01:39:00 PM 0 comments