PNewL PNewS
Volume 22 No. 2 “All the pnews that phits.” July 2014
This 80% Life
While I have many really smart perfectionist Type A high achieving friends, I am not one of them. I think 80% is good enough—matter o’ fact—75% might be ok too. I have to go unearth my report cards—I think they might be in that range, for the most part.
This reminds me of a term letter I got in college from Bob Orpinela (RIP) who taught Contemporary Philosophy. It was a hard course and I only took it to see if I could survive. The subject didn’t particularly interest me so it was really to see if I could do it—so many of my friends had. We didn’t have grades (or tests…yay!)—the professors typed in duplicate with carbon paper* their impressions of our work during the semester and the results were called term letters. In Bob’s review of my semester, he wrote, “Ms Newell can be a much better student than she thinks. She seemed to float through the course at an average level.” (Lo these many years later, I remembered this term letter pretty well but I did take a moment to find it and read it, and in the course of that found all my report cards from high school and I was right. The interesting thing was that I “cross-registered” at other high schools for many of my classes since I hated my high school so much and my parents were accommodating in hopes we could all just get through it. In those classes, my grades are mostly a full grade above the classes in my school. Interesting…but I digress.) I want to argue with Orpinela about this—I really don’t think I could have done any better and I was barely floating. I so didn’t get it and that was my last Philosophy class.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch or the land of two yards, I have been enjoying mowing. I got the heavy-duty ear protectors and it always amazes me how loud the mower is when I take them off. I enjoy avoiding the rocks and making the to and fro passes. Last time, I mowed after a lot of wind and a little rain. I came upon a big stick in the side yard over by the shed. Getting off and moving it seemed like too much work at the time and I thought: No one else will notice and I don’t care so I mowed around it. Later, when the mower was safely stowed, I moved the stick. Today, when I step away from the computer, I will mow that patch and maybe leave others. I’m thinking the meadow-look might be a better one for we of the 80%.
As I was pruning the hydrangea—this past winter wreaked havoc on plants, killing off or severely damaging mature shrubs etc.—I realized again that I am pretty content at a job that is done at about 80%. It just isn’t that important to me to worry all those details—all those dead branches—or maybe I don’t even see them.
I just finished a pile of quilts for the Quilt Guild. They are distributed to folks who need them. One was a demo quilt top my first teacher Lisa made that I finished. The others are lap quilts I made and need to get out the door. I get to a point where I need to clear the decks to make room for the next project. After quilting one of them, I looked at the back as I was cutting off threads and noticed that the tension had gone awry for a short run. It’s okay. Most of it was fine. And off they go.
(This reminded me of a quilt I had on my bed for a long time that I have moved to the guest room to make room for the next quilt I will make myself—these always wind up at the end of the list and I have been quilt-less for several years. That quilt has a few inches of binding that was never sewed down. It would take less than five minutes. Wonder why I have never done it… )
I traveled to and from the annual Angel Island trip on Southwest Airlines. It was not a particularly impressive set of flights. All were incredibly late and not quite as friendly as I had heard they often are. When I arrived at Bob and Sara’s house at 1:30 am, I opened my luggage to find everything not only wet, but my nightgown frozen. On the return trip, instead of getting home at 1am, I got in at 7:07am. It was surprising to find people arriving for outgoing flights at the Greenville airport. I figured we had to be the only crazy people awake and at the airport at 5am and it was not our choice to be crazy. When I got some rest, I looked it up. Southwest on-time record hovers in the mid 70%. I am, apparently, above average. Ta dum!
*I am amazed with how long it took me to struggle to find the words carbon paper. How pathetic is that?
This reminds me of a term letter I got in college from Bob Orpinela (RIP) who taught Contemporary Philosophy. It was a hard course and I only took it to see if I could survive. The subject didn’t particularly interest me so it was really to see if I could do it—so many of my friends had. We didn’t have grades (or tests…yay!)—the professors typed in duplicate with carbon paper* their impressions of our work during the semester and the results were called term letters. In Bob’s review of my semester, he wrote, “Ms Newell can be a much better student than she thinks. She seemed to float through the course at an average level.” (Lo these many years later, I remembered this term letter pretty well but I did take a moment to find it and read it, and in the course of that found all my report cards from high school and I was right. The interesting thing was that I “cross-registered” at other high schools for many of my classes since I hated my high school so much and my parents were accommodating in hopes we could all just get through it. In those classes, my grades are mostly a full grade above the classes in my school. Interesting…but I digress.) I want to argue with Orpinela about this—I really don’t think I could have done any better and I was barely floating. I so didn’t get it and that was my last Philosophy class.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch or the land of two yards, I have been enjoying mowing. I got the heavy-duty ear protectors and it always amazes me how loud the mower is when I take them off. I enjoy avoiding the rocks and making the to and fro passes. Last time, I mowed after a lot of wind and a little rain. I came upon a big stick in the side yard over by the shed. Getting off and moving it seemed like too much work at the time and I thought: No one else will notice and I don’t care so I mowed around it. Later, when the mower was safely stowed, I moved the stick. Today, when I step away from the computer, I will mow that patch and maybe leave others. I’m thinking the meadow-look might be a better one for we of the 80%.
As I was pruning the hydrangea—this past winter wreaked havoc on plants, killing off or severely damaging mature shrubs etc.—I realized again that I am pretty content at a job that is done at about 80%. It just isn’t that important to me to worry all those details—all those dead branches—or maybe I don’t even see them.
I just finished a pile of quilts for the Quilt Guild. They are distributed to folks who need them. One was a demo quilt top my first teacher Lisa made that I finished. The others are lap quilts I made and need to get out the door. I get to a point where I need to clear the decks to make room for the next project. After quilting one of them, I looked at the back as I was cutting off threads and noticed that the tension had gone awry for a short run. It’s okay. Most of it was fine. And off they go.
(This reminded me of a quilt I had on my bed for a long time that I have moved to the guest room to make room for the next quilt I will make myself—these always wind up at the end of the list and I have been quilt-less for several years. That quilt has a few inches of binding that was never sewed down. It would take less than five minutes. Wonder why I have never done it… )
I traveled to and from the annual Angel Island trip on Southwest Airlines. It was not a particularly impressive set of flights. All were incredibly late and not quite as friendly as I had heard they often are. When I arrived at Bob and Sara’s house at 1:30 am, I opened my luggage to find everything not only wet, but my nightgown frozen. On the return trip, instead of getting home at 1am, I got in at 7:07am. It was surprising to find people arriving for outgoing flights at the Greenville airport. I figured we had to be the only crazy people awake and at the airport at 5am and it was not our choice to be crazy. When I got some rest, I looked it up. Southwest on-time record hovers in the mid 70%. I am, apparently, above average. Ta dum!
*I am amazed with how long it took me to struggle to find the words carbon paper. How pathetic is that?
Things I am Learning & Miscellaneous Observations
• I recognize that I am a person of a certain age and something that comes up is the new found freedom to hire people to do things I don’t want to do or can’t do or shouldn’t do…well, it’s really don’t want to do. At Maggie B’s the other night, Melissa said, “There are a lot of people out there who need work.” That’s another way of looking at it.
• I have discovered a handy website that I use a lot while trying to determine the value of old books for the Book Sale at the Weaverville Library (figuring out publication dates): a roman numeral converter (http://www.onlineconversion.com/roman_numerals_advanced.htm). While it is good for my brain to do the conversion, sometimes I don’t want to.
• Do Customer Service recordings ever say they are experiencing a lower than normal number of inquiries? Perhaps they should adjust their idea of normal so that they aren’t always spinning that recording about too many calls, too few customer service representatives.
• Very few people have a sense of humor at 5:14am.
I have a bone to pick with the Dewey Decimal system. On the one hand, it’s amazing. Created in 1876 and still working. Cool. On the other hand, while shelving books at the wee Weaverville Library, it is a little over the top…seven numbers beyond the decimal point for books on, for instance, basketball? This is overkill in my opinion. And it makes shelving books complicated for this pea brain. (I still think we should throw all the children’s books in a pile on the floor since they disorganize it so regularly but Jill the Librarian won’t let me do it.)
• I was talking to someone about how our bodies sometimes know what date it is better than our minds. That is, when it is the anniversary of sad times, sometimes we feel it in our bodies before we recognize it in our minds. I believe.
• I read some place (I fear it was Facebook…but there’s some good stuff there…favorite thing lately: Not my circus, not my monkeys…a Polish Proverb) that we need to start respecting ourselves as we respect others and talk to ourselves as we would others. I like that. I am trying to cut out the self criticism monologue I have going in my head.
• It is apparently a well known fact that Budget Rent a Car is a pain in the neck. They are notorious for “nickel and dime-ing” their customers. I have had my introduction to this phenomenon and thought I would share my experience so you might avoid it. I opened a dispute with my credit card, which they dropped saying I didn’t provide enough proof. I disagree but only have so much oomph in me to argue it. The dispute wound up being over a little more than $30 after Budget reversed a bunch of miscellaneous charges when they were told I was disputing them. They held firm that, though I returned the car with a full tank, I needed to buy another full tank. Just because. It’s the principle of the thing for me. As the daughter of a man who used to say I have the money and the time to fight you, I come by this honestly. My recommendation would be to stay far away from Budget.
• And while I am complaining about major corporations, why is Apple trying to make their operating system as controlling as PCs? I am wrestling with my new laptop and somehow, I don’t think I am going to win.
• I had another great visit to the San Francisco Bay Area. I have to say in print—thanks for being such good hosts, great friends, longtime supporters. I love you very much. Just wish I had the stamina to live there, but visiting is a good back up.
• My accountant Laura said she hadn’t heard from me in a while. Where’s the PNewS? Here it is, my friend.
• I have discovered a handy website that I use a lot while trying to determine the value of old books for the Book Sale at the Weaverville Library (figuring out publication dates): a roman numeral converter (http://www.onlineconversion.com/roman_numerals_advanced.htm). While it is good for my brain to do the conversion, sometimes I don’t want to.
• Do Customer Service recordings ever say they are experiencing a lower than normal number of inquiries? Perhaps they should adjust their idea of normal so that they aren’t always spinning that recording about too many calls, too few customer service representatives.
• Very few people have a sense of humor at 5:14am.
I have a bone to pick with the Dewey Decimal system. On the one hand, it’s amazing. Created in 1876 and still working. Cool. On the other hand, while shelving books at the wee Weaverville Library, it is a little over the top…seven numbers beyond the decimal point for books on, for instance, basketball? This is overkill in my opinion. And it makes shelving books complicated for this pea brain. (I still think we should throw all the children’s books in a pile on the floor since they disorganize it so regularly but Jill the Librarian won’t let me do it.)
• I was talking to someone about how our bodies sometimes know what date it is better than our minds. That is, when it is the anniversary of sad times, sometimes we feel it in our bodies before we recognize it in our minds. I believe.
• I read some place (I fear it was Facebook…but there’s some good stuff there…favorite thing lately: Not my circus, not my monkeys…a Polish Proverb) that we need to start respecting ourselves as we respect others and talk to ourselves as we would others. I like that. I am trying to cut out the self criticism monologue I have going in my head.
• It is apparently a well known fact that Budget Rent a Car is a pain in the neck. They are notorious for “nickel and dime-ing” their customers. I have had my introduction to this phenomenon and thought I would share my experience so you might avoid it. I opened a dispute with my credit card, which they dropped saying I didn’t provide enough proof. I disagree but only have so much oomph in me to argue it. The dispute wound up being over a little more than $30 after Budget reversed a bunch of miscellaneous charges when they were told I was disputing them. They held firm that, though I returned the car with a full tank, I needed to buy another full tank. Just because. It’s the principle of the thing for me. As the daughter of a man who used to say I have the money and the time to fight you, I come by this honestly. My recommendation would be to stay far away from Budget.
• And while I am complaining about major corporations, why is Apple trying to make their operating system as controlling as PCs? I am wrestling with my new laptop and somehow, I don’t think I am going to win.
• I had another great visit to the San Francisco Bay Area. I have to say in print—thanks for being such good hosts, great friends, longtime supporters. I love you very much. Just wish I had the stamina to live there, but visiting is a good back up.
• My accountant Laura said she hadn’t heard from me in a while. Where’s the PNewS? Here it is, my friend.
A Raccoon Ate My Vitamins
This year’s Angel Island Picnic, our 33rd, was another rousing success. A smaller crowd, we had a stunning day—warm, sunny, no fog, the occasional light breeze, hot sand, cold water, cold beer, good food. Camping, our 19th, was also a stellar time. Except for those lousy raccoons. They have gotten quite aggressive. One got into my tent (the zipper was only open a few inches but they can apparently deal with that), ate my dried mango slices and most of my vitamin D and E, skipping the fish oil. Weird, eh? The next night, one got into Bob and Sara’s tent by chewing through the screen. I found the large collection of pinecones in the vicinity a painless way to keep them at bay. It was also very satisfying.
