Confessions of a Complete Texter

I have never fully embraced the texter's dictionary of abbreviations. I believe texting is best suited to short, simple queries.
Text 1: "Are you here?"
Response: "Yes, in the back."
Simple and helpful. If you find yourself texting "AISB" (As I Said Before)...consider that a phone call might be a better way to communicate.

In my stone-agedness I also have never been big on IM. Generally if I'm on the computer, then I want to complete something and if I want to *talk* to someone I prefer not to have a conversational lag of each person answering several lines back.

However, the times they are a-changin'. Now that I work remotely IM is one of the best ways to get questions answered and check in with friends (and bosses) no matter what time zone and country. This means I have a world of acronyms to catch up on. Usually I can figure them out, but one day, when I was a little brain fried, I got a "BRB" from my boss. My first thought was, "Really? Burpicons?"

Oh...Be Right Back. Super useful compared to the e-burping option that sprang to my oddly wired brain... However, if you google "burpicons" there are a wide variety of burp icons available...Maybe I'm not so odd afterall.

My Life in Celsius

y oh my. Time flies. Since you last heard from me, I have successfully moved to Austin, started my new job, and set up my very own snazzy home office.


A few highlights:

• Marc taught me an easy way to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit so I don't embarrass myself with, "Oh my, 25 degrees, that is chilly!" So my new skill...drum roll please... (25 x 2) + 30 = 80 degrees Fahrenheit... not exactly sweater worthy.
• I'm also learning to convert workload from Celsius...Canada says 5 pages...they really mean 40 pages [(5x2) + 30]. As long as I know the conversion table, I'm all good.
• My desk now faces a floor to ceiling window overlooking green space. Lovely if I may say so myself. The only problem is around noon when the sun is in my eyes, but luckily the whole orbit thing works in my favor.
• My first week in Austin happened to coincide with Restaurant Week. Ate very well and tried out some locales that were new to me --Botticelli's and The Belmont to name two.
• Occassionally when I am driving around town, I have to look down at my stereo to see if I'm listening to the radio or my iPod. A radio station that plays music that I gusta?! What is that all about?!
  

So, I haven't deserted you and I am wishing you, dear readers, a lovely weekend...I know it isn't quite here yet, but maybe in Celsius...

Moving

oving is such a joy. My sincerity level waivers on that statement at times, but overall moving is a great chance to clean and clear out. In the interest of efficiency, I have been doing my best to not get sucked down memory lane by going through photo albums or old letters.

However, yesterday I came across a sheet of stickers with a bunch of writing on the back and I flashed back to my time teaching in Mississippi and couldn't help but laugh and marvel at how much my life has transformed since then.

Let me give you the back drop. As a teacher, I always wore an old waitressing apron so that I could have extra pockets at all times...I know super sexy, right? Anyway, I would carry stickers, pens and hand sanitizer for good measure. When I was with my class out of the classroom and needed to remember who was actin' a fool, I would jot names on the back of a sticker sheet. The sticker sheet I came across while packing had lots of names haphazardly scrawled in all directions. But here is the part that really had me laughing. The Delta had a wonderful vernacular and I loved some of the local phrases, which I would jot down to remember. This Delta flavor was particularly strong when it came to the insults the kids would throw at each other. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't encouraging insults, but I had to write this one down. I remember on this hallway adventure there was an escalation...it all started with a "Shut your face," which quickly was topped with "No, you shut your mama's face."

Just as a point of reference, the only insult worse is to say "your grandma" or "your grandpa," depending on which is deceased. Family pride is not something to mess with in the Delta. I have never seen little people as mad as when their families were brought into the mix.

I just had a moment when I thought, "I wonder what would happen if I used 'shut your mama's face' in the corporate world...Hmm..." Don't worry, today may be my last day on the job, but I'm not going there!

For the Love of Font

ust in case you love fonts as much as I do, I thought you needed to know about the Daily Drop Cap. [Thanks Goliblogski for always finding the cool stuff!] Every work day, typographer Jessica Hische posts a single, decorative cap letter. These are free to use under creative commons as long as you just post them in blogs. I do believe you will be seeing more of these because they are fun, fun, fun. If you are font crazy, you should also take a gander at dafont.com. This site has full fonts for free; some fonts have the option to donate to the artist. Font creation is an incredible art form at which I hope to never excel. I love appreciating fonts, but I'm pretty sure if I had to create one I would start to loathe seeing serifs and such. I would probably rebel and use Comic Sans just to annoy everyone.

In his book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink explores how Design shapes our world and our work force. He notes that our awareness of fonts has changed drastically in the last few decades. To prove his point, he inserted a quick matching quiz:

1. What font is this?
   
2. What font is this?
   
3. What font is this?

a. Times New Roman
b. Arial
c. Courier

The answers are at the bottom, but I'm guessing you were all able to get most of these matched correctly. Think back, would you have been able to do the same 10 or 20 years ago? [Mom, don't answer that, you will skew the results!]

I am currently reading Pink's chapter on Story and how most of our minds are built to remember stories more easily than plain data. He explores what ramifications that has for how we should approach business. More on that soon.

How did you do on the quiz?

Answer Key: 1. B, 2. A, 3. C

Rediscovery

I am always a fan of dinners that come together very quickly. I tend to be fine and keep going, keep going, keep going and then suddenly I'm famished. Some of you, dear readers, know this all too well. This evening I was in the grocery store pondering the peaches and blueberries in my cart when suddenly I remembered a salad that was on last summer's regular rotation list.

• Lettuce or baby spinach
• Peach cut into small pieces
• Blueberries
• Pecans
• Hard cheese, cut into small cubes
• Brianna's Blush Wine Vinagrette

Strawberries also work nicely, but it is high season for peaches here in the Texas hill country, so the perfect time to enjoy the peachy version. Anyone have a favorite summer meal? Something fresh, refreshing, and super easy...

Zen on Town Lake

Today I went for a walk around Austin's Town Lake. There is a hike and bike trail there that I love, though on weekends it can feel a bit like human frogger--dodging strollers, runners, and bikers.

I stopped to sit on a rock by the water. My back was to the trail which was just a few feet behind me. I suddenly realized that there were lots of baby turtles under water. Eventually a couple of adults came along too. I noticed the fish and then the cottonwood fluff drifting ever so lazily to the water. Every once in a while I would again hear the exercise strivings on the trail right behind me and then I would focus in again on the slow drift of leaves on top of the water. The easy sway of algae swirling around the paddling turtles. It was so nice to step away from the go-go-go and remember the slow luxury of summer. I have the visual for what I need to do everyday. Let my mind keep racing, but just take 2 steps away and find a calm vantage point.

The spot where I was sitting is a popular dog swimming hole because it is fairly shallow by the bank. One dog stepped in very regally and stood with water just over his paws. He took one step further and there was a drop off, so he jolted clumsily to chest depth. He looked over at me with the very clear expression of, "She didn't see that did she? Damn, she did."

Made my day.

Word Choice... Really?!

I was totally going to let this one go un-blogged. One more piece of horrific world news. But then there was such a special word choice I *HAD* to share. NPR (color me surprised) reported yesterday on the Ugandan Pastor Martin Ssempa. He is leading a movement to criminalize homosexuality.

That's right, criminalize it. Life in prison for consenting gay sex. Death penalty for gay sex with a minor or for having sex with your partner if you are HIV positive. In an effort towards equal opportunity, there is also jail time for straight individuals who don't turn in a suspected gay. I thought "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was out-dated.

There is a church in Nevada headed by Pastor Kevin Odor who is supporting Pastor Ssempa out of their desire to help the AIDS problem and to support Ssempa's work teaching abstinence to college students in Uganda. Ummm, let me give you a snipet from the NPR piece:

"His heart is not to kill people," Odor says. "He is a pastor of the Gospel that believes in redemption and his heart is to redeem people."

Odor says he does not "personally" endorse the death penalty or life sentences for gay men and lesbians. Asked why he would support someone who does, he sighs.

"We want to help the AIDS problem in Africa, and we found somebody who is making a difference," he says. "So we support him."

By the way, we still aren't to the special word choice. Here it comes. Pastor Odor is up in arms that he and his church are being "crucified" for their compassionate support of the people of Uganda. Of all the groups in the world, you would think a fundamental christian organization would understand the term "crucifixion." I love hyperbole as much as the next little lady, but if I remember correctly Jesus died because he was wrongly accused. Even if Odor's church adamantly opposes homosexuality, it seems like a stretch to suggest the death penalty is a compassionate attempt to redeem. I do not see how Odor misses the lack of compassion.

A lot to ponder.