Today was the division’s annual holiday party. One of the traditions of this event is that employees bring in treats to share.
There were fewer treats today than in any year since I started in the organization (2000). It is difficult not to see this as a sign of employee morale.
Spent the afternoon at a games party at the home of c_nocturnum and her husband. I was feeling quite wiped out with the weekend schedule but in fact this worked out quite well. After some initial socializing I ended up in a group playing Apples to Apples. c_nocturnum and mairi2 were also in this group. There is not much to the game, but it provides endless opportunities for comments, jokes, and light conversation about the subject matter. This was exactly what I needed. I never came close to winning any of the three games but it did not matter–it was great fun.
Meanwhile, mia_mcdavid was in the other room in a rather more competitive game of Trivial Pursuit. She also had a good time, and after my game broke up I watched the conclusion there, where c_nocturnum‘s husband won in time to let us go home before it was too late..
This is a German academic term that my father taught me several decades ago. It is the ability to sit for hours and hours at some tedious task. Some things just cannot done by a sudden stroke of genius. You just have to sit down and work through them. My parents had plenty of Sitzfleisch and their academic success shows the importance of it.
I was thinking of this lately because I had to muster a considerable amount of Sitzfleisch this past week. My Carleton College class is having its 35 year reunion next June, and I am on the committee. One of things we are working on is a class web site. Somebody thought it be cool to have our pictures from the New Student Book of 1968 (everybody’s high school graduation photo) on the website. I am not sure of the exact title, since everybody referred to it simply as the Zoobook. So one of the committee members scanned the whole book in, carefully labelling each picture. Then I had to upload and label these pictures, all 480 JPEGS, to the website. As a veteran computer worker I thought there ought to be some clever way to script this and do it in bulk. But I did not have quite the access to the site to manage this. So I settled down and in my copious (hah!) spare time uploaded and labeled them all. Hence Sitzfleisch. Chris, who actually scanned all the pictures needed even more Sitzfleisch. I shudder just thinking about how long that took.
A little googling showed that Sitzfleisch is also used in some non-academic contexts. It is considered an essential quality for success in chess and poker, and in listening to Wagner’s operas.
I was meaning to post something yesterday, but one of my Carleton classmates reminded me of something I had agreed to do for our alumni class website. This has taken up most of the spare computer time I have. I really should have started on this a couple months ago, so I am scrambling now.
On the positive side, I am using Reason, Carleton’s content management system, rather than coding from scratch. This is one of the most comfortable software systems I have ever worked with. I am thoroughly spoiled. Going back to html will be hard.
My 35 year college reunion is coming up in June and I just got a reminder that today was the absolute final deadline to submit my entry for the class Bio book. So I sent it in via the college web site with the note: “Thank you for the chance to once again put off a Carleton paper until the last minute!”
At the Minneapolis Red Cross finishing an Apheresis (platelet donation) session. My right arm is completely immobilized for the procedure, but I can use the left. The Red Cross has wifi and I have my Nokia 770. It is enough.
Difficult time with Tom in the morning. I picked him up at his group home without Mia, and once again he was unhappy about this. Not as bad as on some previous visits–he did walk to the car on his own. But he was pretty weepy and fussy most of the way through church. Not easy to deal with, but getting through it does give a sense of accomplishment. After we got to our house and sat him down in front of a large lunch he did much better. Following lunch he watched a couple of his old videotapes. Mia was working on a fleece on the back porch (see her recent posts) until he went there to bring her inside, which he did very nicely.
I did a little Christmas shopping while Tom was watching the videos. On-line, of course. Years with Tom have made me completely dependent on the internet for Christmas shopping.
Started to excavate my workbench this afternoon. The pile of tools and stuff had gotten pretty high in the past several weeks. Also found a piece of an unfinished project and cleaned it up. I may even try to complete it.
The week has been relatively quiet. Work has been mostly OK. I have been able to quite a bit of useful work without too many management hassles.
colgaffneyis dance on Wednesday was pleasant although rather low-key; only six people showed.
While mia_mcdavid was out today I had a lot of shop time. The shaving horse is ready now: The only things I have left to do are cosmetic.
Mia and I have been sitting in front of a fire this evening. She has been reading. I have engaged in the less traditional activities of
You have all been there. You put in long hours, hard work, and heartbreak for something you believe is worthwhile. Along comes some lazy loudmouth who shows no appreciation of your efforts and does nothing but complain. When it happens to me, I think of this recording.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 