Entries Tagged 'Change' ↓
July 11th, 2011 — Change
The big news here is still the fire, of course. The above picture of a neighbor’s property was taken by one of the firefighters. We still haven’t been able to go up there because the fire is still only about 45% contained.
Officials did escort owners up to see their property on July 5th, but we were still on our way back from California. One of our neighbors took this picture that he says is of the remains of our house. We’re not so sure, but it does show some of the devastation up there.
But even though we still haven’t seen the remains, the insurance company has contacted us and wants us to start itemizing our losses. One of their representatives is coming up at 8:30 tomorrow morning to talk to us. So there is no lack of things to do. The letter they sent says we need to get detailed estimates of the cost of repairs within 60 days of submitting a claim. That should be interesting. Whatever. At the moment I’m really tired and am happy to take one step at a time.
What about you? How much energy do you have at the moment? What are you spending it on?
June 27th, 2011 — Change
June 24, 2001. Taken from outside of town.
June 25, 3001. Taken at the edge of town.
The above two pictures were taken of a fire in a national forest by Santa Fe, across the valley from us. It’s downwind so we haven’t been affected by it. But this area is so dry they are closing some of national forests around here:
And as I was starting to write this post earlier today I took this pictures from our porch of a new fire to the west of us:
As I was downloading the picture from the camera bikehikebabe phoned to say the main highway in the mountains was closed because of the fire. Andy was up on the land, so I phoned my daughter to let her know what was happening. As we were talking Andy came in with pictures and bad news–the pictures were of our land burning. For more pictures click here.
At the moment we’re being told evacuations are voluntary, but if we leave because the smoke gets too bad make sure we’re prepared to be gone for a while. We’re not too worried. The fire is only 12 miles away as I write, but a lot of the trees that were between us and the fire burned in the year 2000. We did evacuate then.
Who says life in the sticks is dull?
Update June 27: We’re being evacuated again. Will let you know.
March 6th, 2011 — Change, Humor
The world is changing fast. Are you concerned about some of these changes? Do you personally feel safe? Do you have your own “secure den and pack you can trust”?
On a completely different note, have you heard of the new “manly”, no-girls-allowed diet sodas? You can’t blame Dr. Pepper for trying, but do you think the drinks will sell?
And have you heard that the U.S. Army’s new physical training includes yoga and resting? It’s not as macho, but it’s more effective.
The world is indeed changing.
November 6th, 2010 — Change
The quality of our lives depends on how we focus our energy and our attention.
—The Traits of Stress-Hardy, Resilient People
We’re living in a time of great turmoil and innovation. How dumb would it be to focus only on the changes we don’t like?
One story that recently warmed my heart was of Wilson Kisaalita, a professor of engineering at the University of Georgia. Kisaalita was born on a small farm in Uganda, went away to college and became a success. But he hasn’t forgotten his roots…he takes students to rural Africa to identify the needs of the poor and to design small-scale products that can help them. Among other things they’ve designed solar-powered incubators for guinea fowl, milk coolers for small farmers so they can sell more of their product, and nutcrackers for Moroccan women.
The Moroccan women make money cracking argan nuts with stones. The shells of the nuts are extremely tough so the work is time-consuming and dangerous…it’s easy to slip and mangle a hand thus putting the woman out of work. The requirements for the nutcrackers were they had to require some human skill so the process couldn’t be completely mechanized and it had to be only about three times more efficient than cracking the nuts with stones. Why not more efficient? That would have been as bad for the women as completely mechanizing the process. Men would take over and the women would lose their source of income. Kisaalita and his students are are thinking outside the box and are working hard to help their fellow humans. 
Have you read/heard any stories lately that lift your spirits and warm your heart?
October 11th, 2010 — Change
In 2006 an urgent request came from the top U.S. military commander in western Iraq. Rather than asking for more tanks or troops, Marine Corps Major general Richard Zilmer said he needed “a renewable and self-sustainable energy solution” for forward operating bases and combat outposts.
—Discover Magazine
Politicians have been talking for years about the need for us to wean ourselves from oil, and apparently the military is starting to do something about it. The Pentagon is doing this partly to free itself from being at the mercy of foreign oil producers. But it is also making the switch because in the field fuel needs to be transported in convoys, and these convoys are easily attacked. Soldiers needed for the main mission have to be diverted to protect the supply line. Or, in the case of Pakistan now, the oil tankers are simply being destroyed.
There’s an old saying,
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.
Hopefully the military’s interest in renewable energy will have some long-term benefit by creating a large, ready market for new technology. What do you think? Do you think it will help?
September 6th, 2010 — Change, Humor
Politicians disappoint. They can’t help it. That’s just the way they are.
—Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for Ronald Regan
I don’t pay much attention to political campaigns… I tend to take political rhetoric with a grain of salt. But as I recall during the presidential campaign of 2008 people were strongly opposed to negative ads. They wanted the candidates to deal with issues. Now one wit says political advisors are telling their candidates
If you want to be positive, save your money and don’t run for office. Give your money to charity instead. If you want to win you have to attack the other fellow.
That strategy often works. Voters are angry, so a good chance of victory is to turn that anger against the incumbents. The incumbents, of course, say the newcomers would be even worse.
As I said, I don’t pay much attention to political rhetoric. But I do pay attention to actions. So I’m encouraged that one of my own Senators is working with other freshmen Senators (he was elected in 2008) to reform the Senate itself. They’re trying to restrict congressional raises and eliminate practices such as earmarks for private corporations. That is the sort of action that will get my future vote. And I hope some of the newcomers will join that effort.
What about you? Do you think this year’s elections will result in helpful changes?
May 24th, 2010 — Change
Kaitlin and Torben are getting their house remodeled, which meant moving into a rental home for a few months.
Moving…aargh! We’ve done our best to avoid that as much as possible. We moved here from Cornell 35 years ago partly because Andy was overdue for a sabbatical. The idea of moving for a year and then moving back didn’t really appeal to us. So when he was offered an attractive job here in New Mexico it was a no-brainer. It was well worth the trouble and half the work of a sabbatical.
That said, one advantage to the move for me was to go through all of my possessions and think carefully about what I wanted to take and what I could dispose of. It was a liberating feeling to notice how my interests and priorities had changed… to treasure past experiences but to let go of some of their physical remnants to make room for the new. So when Kaitlin and Torben moved it inspired me to start a massive decluttering of my apartment. That’s what I’ve been focusing on the past couple of weeks.
For incentive I had my rugs cleaned last Saturday…it kept me focused. I still have more drawers and closets to clean out and organize but the apartment looks great and I can do the rest in bits and pieces. The challenge now is to avoid immersing myself in some other project until I get this job finished. Decluttering is indeed liberating. Wish me luck!
What about you? How do you feel about decluttering? Is it as massive an effort for you as it is for me?
June 29th, 2009 — Change, Living Fully
Last week we talked about Terry Starbucker’s article on the power of putting our goals/philosophy in writing. I quoted the whole article except for three paragraphs:
The last line of my letter said this – “The Best is yet to come – Believe!!”
I did believe. And I still believe.
And you should too – in yourself and the incredible potential of the human spirit.
I’ve been thinking of that a lot lately. I do believe in the power of the human spirit, but I’m not convinced the best is always yet to come. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to learn to live fully in the present rather than thinking we will only be happy if we achieve future goals.
That’s one of the lessons taught by one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read: Flying Without Wings by Dr. Arnold Beisser. Dr. Beisser was a brilliant man and a great athlete…he worked hard but really lived for sports, that was his reward. Then after becoming a doctor at the age of 23 and a national tennis champion when he was 24, he was struck down by polio. He was paralyzed from the neck down and confined to an iron lung for a couple of years. For the rest of his life he was completely dependent on other people for his survival.
That didn’t keep him from having a happy marriage and a career as a well-respected psychiatrist. The book is basically the story of how he acquired the age-old wisdom:
Life isn’t always the way we think it should be. It’s how we handle it that makes the difference. And life is in the here and now…the best preparation for the future is to live deeply in this present moment.
Life isn’t always smooth sailing. Storms happen and some of them do extensive damage…it’s still up to us to learn to steer our ship. I for one am grateful I have Dr. Beisser’s book as a resource.
What resources do you use?
April 27th, 2009 — Change
Two caterpillars were crawling along when a butterfly flew overhead.
One of the caterpillars looked up and said,
“You’ll never get me up in one of those things!”
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
—Richard Bach
This little caterpillar is one of my new role models. The world is changing fast, and sometimes I feel small and a bit clueless. He’s a great reminder to keep trudging along and trust the process of life.
There’s an old American saying:
There are three types of people in the world:
- Those who make things happen,
- Those who watch things happen, and
- Those who say, “What happened?”
I don’t know about you, but I’m each of these in different parts of my life. There are some areas where I try to make a difference, and there are areas where I have no control but try to watch what is going on. Yet the world is so complex I’m confident there will be some surprises… times when I say, “What happened?” And that’s all right too. I’ll keep trudging along and see how it all turns out.
Having a bit of humility and a sense of humor helps a lot. 
April 20th, 2009 — Change, Lifelong Learning
This is a picture of me this past week, digging for information. I was learning about a former U. S. military terminal that is now the site of a Russian gift to the American people. (Click on the link to see a spectacular view of the gift.) I wrote about this monument last Friday in Why Didn’t We Know About This?
But in that post I didn’t mention what a great symbol it is of the end of the animosity between the U.S. and the Soviet Union/Russia. The following photo shows the Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne, which was opened as a military base in 1942 and closed in 1999 because of the end of the Cold War.
And this picture shows it more recently, after it was taken over by the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority:
The monument is in the green area in the bottom half of the picture. We can also see one of Royal Caribbean ships that operate out of the Cape Liberty Cruise Port, also on the peninsula.
The whole peninsula (click the link for another good picture) is scheduled for redevelopment. The Russian monument and the Royal Caribbean port are just the first small steps.
As I mentioned last week, we’re seeing more and more changes in the world. I don’t like all of those changes…for instance, I am concerned about the effect of large cruise ships on the environment… but by no means am I agin ‘em all. I do think the Russian monument is an improvement over the Cold War.
