Scientific Ink

Author: Dunrie

  • KARB – > CNR4 = dream come true


    On Friday, husband and I flew from Ann Arbor municipal airport (KARB) to Tobermory (CNR4) at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. We stopped to clear customs at Kincardine. Friday was wonderfully smooth–so smooth that I fell asleep in midair while Dave piloted the plane. (I think this new job thing must be more exhausting than I’d expected–I slept away much of the weekend, slept in the car, slept in the hammock, slept in the plane…).

    Visibility was good, and we circled over Gillies Lake twice. Above is a shot from the first pass over it, and our family cabin is in the little triangular nub at the top left corner of the Lake. Beyond the trees, the waters of Georgian Bay and the horizon blend together. These photos really show how Gillies Lake is perched on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment.

    Anyway, I wanted to note that ever since I was small it has been my dream to fly to the cabin. Currently I’m riding on my husband’s license. I will get certified too, though I am taking things one at a time: settle in new job, then start an intense new hobby.

    Someday we’ll have a float plane and land on the lake. Til then, landing in spectacular Tobermory will do.

  • Black-eyed Susans invading my lawn

    Black-eyed Susans invading my lawn, originally uploaded by dunrie.

    We’ve got black-eyed Susans flowering in our back lawn, and they’ve crossed the fence and are working their way towards our neighbors’ garage. My garden is colonizing our and our neighbors’ lawn. I have been meaning to do this myself (dig up turf, replace with flowerbeds)–how interesting to see that the plants have decided to take on the task themselves.

    A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place. These are garden, not weeds!

  • Things I learned leaving

    At a small place, one cool thing is that individual positions can be tailored to the innate talents of the staff. A downside is that jobs that are built around an individual are not readily handed off to others. People have different skills, this is a good thing. It does interfere with interchangability, though.

    It was interesting wrapping up my job for delivery to someone else. As I left my previous job, I parcelled the work I had been doing into a few pieces.

    • Items handed off to new PM: project management, resource coordination, planning for new projects, client communications
    • Items handed off to others in organization: communications with vendors on invoicing, receptionist, business analyst/information architect.
    • Items put on hold for “persons unknown” – to be hired in or subcontracted out as needed: copywriting, seo

    I had coped with a small staff by taking on several responsibilities myself. This strategy got things done in the short term (faster to do it myself than explain it sometimes, I was able to fill in gaps that I recognized).

    Over the long run, however, I think that playing several roles it helped us stay smaller longer, that I actually delayed the piece I needed (bigger team). I also think that I interfered with myself playing any single role as well as I would have liked, multitasking is a myth.

    I have every confidence that my replacement will do great things there. She’s a professional project manager, and a stronger one than I am. I think that as my old employer grows, and it is growing fast at the moment, more specialization and delegation will have to occur. And I know she will put that in place.

    I don’t know if that means that I am suited to a more “entrepreneurial” than a “mature” phase company. I’m a generalist, a bridge person between specialists. I’m also wondering whether my versatility helps or hinders. Probably both.

  • Hope it’s not full circle time

    In 1994, me and my new boyfriend got accosted by a stray cat. Not in a bad way.

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  • Newly incompetent at baladi

    I have been taking a bellydance class at A2Yoga. I took it partly because I simply cannot figure out the shimmy we sometimes do in Nia. When I looked at what I had going, and what my Nia teacher had going, I knew there were entire muscle groups I wasn’t using or I wasn’t relaxing, or something. I heard that the bellydance teacher could break it down for me.

    I also took bellydance because it was completely overbooked the first two sessions, and because of the way the students clinked, ultra-femininely through the hall on their way to class with a scarf tied with metal coins around their hips.

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  • Momix: Opus Cactus @ Summer Festival

    I have an extra ticket to a dance performance next Saturday, let me know if you’d be interested in accompanying me!

    If there are more takers than tickets, I would think we can get more from the Summer Festival box office.

    Update 6/20/07: extra ticket has a home.