Great Full

Last night I read an article about a women who was diagnosed with MS.  She wallowed in a state of misery until a friend told her that the only way she could heal was to reach out to others.  This friend told her to give away 29 gifts in 29 days.  The women continued to feel sorry for herself, but tucked the advice away and eventually tried it. Lo, and behold she started to feel better.  She then went on to create a website and wrote a book about this piece of advice.  Oh sure, she's not cured-she has an uncurable disease- but she's managing her disease better, and able to live with it-and the attitude change contributed. 

This afternoon, I was told to call my 88 year old Grandmother to get the final score for the South Summit Football Game (My "baby" cousin is on the team and they're in the playoffs).  I didn't want to because she can't hear well, and it was an effort to talk today.  But I swallowed my self-centeredness and gave her a call. As I was talking to my grandma, she told me "I don't understand football well, but I'm going to get the hang of the game."  My grandma's mental capacity isn't what it used to be, and even though this cousin isn't the first family member to play high school football (both of her sons played, and she used to go to BYU games with us sometimes), I really admired her attitude. 

This isn't the only story I have of my grandma and attitude or of determination.  Oh no, I could fill a book, or at least a novella with stories, but it struck me today that even though she's not the same as she was, one of the things that she's still got is her attitude and determination.  That's pretty cool, if you ask me. 

My grandma and grandpa with 3 of her 5 children.  My mom is the girl my grandma is holding, the other girl is my Aunt Hannah and the little boy that seems to be talking to the toy car is my Uncle John. The other 2 boys hadn't been born yet, I'm guessing. I believe my grandma is about 35 in this picture.

 

 

 

 

Jane Goodall and Pedometers: Just another week in the office

I don't think I talk about my job much here on the blog.  I work in Human Resources for the Department of the Interior (Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs etc).  At least that's what I tell most people.  I've had this job for four years, and just a year ago both my mother and best friend asked me...now what is it that you do again?  Needless to say, the explanation took several minutes.  Either or I'm not eloquent, or it's kind of complicated. 

Anyway, my office is the Policy and Guidance office for Human Resources for the Department of the Interior and we're under the Policy, Management and Budget Assistant Secretary and part of the Office of the Secretary (that might be too much Fed govt. lingo right there, oops).  We don't actually process human resource actions, each of my counterparts in my office are responsible over Human Resource programs.  I'm over Work-Life programs (health benefits, awards, leave, childcare subsidy, wellness etc.).  If any of the bureau or office Human Resource Offices of the Department (see incomplete list in the first sentence) have any policy or procedure questions, they come to my office.  My office also works closely with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).  When OPM needs data for their annual reports to Congress, they come to my coworkers and I to get the data from the bureaus and offices.  If there's new laws or policy issued from OPM, my office issues the data to OPM.  In addition to these tasks, we also issue Department Specific policy and procedure, as needed.  A lot of my time is spent writing policy and making sure it follows OPM guidance, the Code of federal regulations and Public Law. 

As the Awards Coordinator for the Department, I don the event coordinator cap twice a year.  I'm in charge of two Secretarial events a year, one is a formal event, and the other is a few hours before the fireworks on the 4th of July.  The formal event takes several months of planning, and I work with 50-75 people to pull off the event. I also answer random awards questions, and "consult" about awards during the year.  Just yesterday, I was asked about how the Department could honor Jane Goodall. 

Since the Obama Administration took office in January, I've been even busier than I was before.  Wellness and work-life has been a focus, and we're working on several initiatives that will benefit not only the Department but the Federal Government  and the American Public.

One of the initiatives we've been working on is a wellness-campus project.  Three Government agencies are consolidating their services (which will save money) and also working together to provide more wellness services to employees so the workforce will be healthier, more productive, and retain employees etc.  Interior's kick-off for the wellness campus is a 5 week team walking challenge which I'm coordinating.  The challenge might be considered "fluff" but I think it'll be successful, and people will get into it. 

Anyway, here's a lot more than you'll ever want to know about my job, I'm sure.  Needless to say, I enjoy it most days. I've learned a ton, and working at Interior is challenging, that's for sure. I am lucky enough to work with a lot of great, great people and it's a pleasure to serve the employees of the Department of the Interior.  

Cheap Music?

When buying music, I prefer cd's to buying mp3's online. However, Amazon has a new promotion of 50 albums a month for $5 each that's a cheap way to expand a music catalog. The 50 CD's aren't the bottom of the bargain bin. There's no Weird Al Greatest Hits Volume four here. No, rather there's a pretty diverse of new stuff, classics that range from Nat King Cole to Yo Gabba Gabba! There's Bowie, the latest Jay-Z Album and even a decent selection of recent Indy Rock Albums. Some of my recommendations are:

Cash: The Best of the Sun Years
If you don't own any Johnny Cash, the most influential and groundbreaking music of his career happened while he recorded at Sun Records. This album has 25 singles (25 singles for 5 bucks!) and covers the classics as well as lesser known music. Here's a 23 year old Johnny Cash singing one of my favorite songs from the Sun Years:


Blitzen Trappers "Furr"
One of my favorite albums from 2008 is Blitzen Trappers, "Furr." Many of the tracks on this Indy-Rock album would be at home on a '70s folk-rock album. Here's Blitzen Trappers performing the title track on Conan:


The Gaslight Anthem:"The '59 Sound"
I adore this album. I've been listening to it regularly for a year, and it's still one of my "go to" albums. The Gaslight Anthem is from Jersey-and sound like the progeny of Springsteen, but it totally works for them. If you haven't heard this album yet, check it out!



Amazon's Promotion

Other album highlights are:
The Heartless Bastards "The Mountain"-Perhaps the Bastards weakest album, however it still showcases the lead singers incredible rock god voice
The Crane Wife by the Decemberists is a classic

Wordless

Pajama Pants!

Last year when I was in the hospital, I only owned two pairs of pajama pants. Although I was wearing a gown, hospitals in November are chilly-and gowns are cold. Needless to say, when I got out of the hospital (and washed those pants the next day), I told myself I'd own five pairs of pajama bottoms. Kind of an irrational thought, but one I decided to carry out. Because I own a sewing machine, I decided to make those pants. I've made a pair here and there, retired the original pajama bottoms, and now own five pairs. The first pair or two were serviceable, but by no means fine quality sewing-even though pajama pants are simple to make. One pair I've had to go back and reinforce the butt-another pair shredded in the dryer, I didn't read the washing instructions on the material which said hand wash only. But the last four pairs I've made aren't too bad. Here's a picture.


I'm doing everything I can to stay out of the hospital this fall short of being bubble joy or being accused of being OCD, but it feels good to have this goal completed and more options of pants for lounging!

I've sewed other things in the past twelve months-table cloths, curtains, a few bags-enough that I'm pretty sure I'm up for more difficult projects. I even cut out the material for a skirt for work-but I'm terrified about starting it. Who knew that a pile of fabric could be so intimidating?

Game 4

Last night I finally went to bed a little after 11:00 and missed the 9th inning of Game 4 of the World Series. Although I'm probably functioning better than I would be if I stayed up, I missed A-Rod finally showing us all how talented he is in the post-season, and maybe even more importantly, Johnny Damon's 2 stolen bases. Johnny Damon stole my heart years ago during the tragic 2004 post season. When he became a Yankee in 2005, it was an early birthday Christmas Present to yours truly. I even blogged about it here.

Last night, with the score tied and 2 out, Damon got on base, stole second, kept his head up as he was stealing second and realized that the Phillies had shifted so there was no one on third, and he could out run the nearby infielders. He then took third-putting himself in easy scoring position when Alex R. got a base hit. MLB makes embedding actual game play tough, so I wasn't able to find an embeddable version online, but here's a link to video of the stolen bases.
Tonight? You better believe I'm staying up for the whole game.

NaBloPoMo 2009

I've been thinking about doing the NaBloPoMo challenge again this year. Last year was brutal, mostly because I was sick the entire month of November, but blogging each day for the month was rewarding. Today while in church, I decided to go for the challenge and outlined ideas for posts. So, bear with me-29 posts to go!