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Travel Map 2011

See our 2011 travels!

The Mesh

 

Looking forward

By John Ward

 
What am I looking for?
Where is the future?
How far forward should I look?
Which direction should I stare?
What should I expect?
Should I propel the expectation of new?
Stroke after stroke, circle after circle.
Forward is struggle, struggle is experience, experience is more.
I’ll fill the vessel and transform the understanding.
There is no end to the excitement.
I’ll revel in naivety and another corner turned
I’ll look for patterns, but screw the experience; it leads to stoicism.
I’ll ask the question that confronts the issue.
I’ll find the bend before my next paddle,
And be prepared to shift.
I think I’ll enjoy the moment that leads to the next.

Producing Results

 

Super Hero Shipping

Nothing delivers satisfaction quite like the feeling of a well-executed scheduling session for parcel pick up. If done correctly the process produces immediate results. The task begins by readying a package to be picked up by a local courier. A call is placed and a pick up time and location are scheduled. In a matter of hours, a promise to deliver valuable goods is honored and that’s when super hero status is obtained.

The process of shipping demands a great deal of trust, diligence and rhythm. Luckily, these are three human traits that have evolved for the betterment of man. As the division of labor took hold in early civilizations, trust emerged as a byproduct. While prehistoric men ventured out to hunt wild game, women of the tribe stayed home to make shelter and nourish the family. Upon return, the men would share the spoils of their hunt among the tribe. The hunter’s diligence paid off and the goods were delivered. Tribal survival not only trusted but relied heavily on these excursions to provide enough meat to sustain the group throughout the year, but without someone to carry out the task the tribe would have perished. Food rationing would probably have been instituted once a low point was reached in the meat stores and the sense of rhythmic replenishing would have become tribal policy. Once the idea of conservation was on the tribal council table, a system must have been developed that sent hunters into the wilderness periodically to carry out the visceral harvest. In essence, prehistoric hunters were our first trustworthy, diligent, and rhythmically trained couriers of meats.

Nowadays, a quick phone call, email, or online order can schedule a shipment request in seconds. Here are a few points of information to handle when arranging shipping. The pertinent details are drop off points or pick up times and locations, size, weight and count of packages. Of course, the most important pieces of the puzzle are the point of contact and address of the delivery location. First, box up the goods. Make sure to have a durable, well insulated package. Once all of the package’s measurements have been jotted down, go online or call the office approved courier service and schedule the pickup. If there is a drop off point close to the office then there’s no need for a pick up. However, if mountains of cardboard are moved out of the office daily, it’s a pretty good assumption that a scheduled pick up is the way to go. The last step is the most gratifying. That’s when you say good-bye to the package and place it at the pickup location.

So, if being productive and self-reliant like a super hero appeals to you, become familiar with the shipping procedures prescribed by your office manager. Get to know the basics of shipping, practice them often, and don’t be afraid to become creative with shipping methods. After all, speedy delivery is what the client expects. Furthermore, having a full understanding of how the parcel service works makes an indelible impression on all employers. Happy shipping!

Summer Road Trip 2010

Oh my, it's been a long time since I've written. I've been on a loooong road trip. Savannah to Ann Arbor to Toronto to Grand Rapids and back to Ann Arbor and then back to Savannah. Just to get into the blogging mood...here are some things I saw on the road.Not sure what this is.. Grandpa, any ideas?Saw it on 77N. Zero knowledge of these things would lead me to believe it's a Hornet or a Studebaker.

Saw this is Grand Rapids.

It looked like fun. I wouldn't have even minded untangling my hair after driving it.

Saw this giant insect looking chopper on 96E. And here it is closer.I believe it was a Bell. Not sure what it was for.

Various Projects - Refinished Dresser

My lovely mother-in-law gave us a dresser that she had had as a child. Her younger sister had it in turn and painted it in uproarious colors. It lived for years at their mother's house in a side bedroom. I had been wanting another refurbishing project after last summer's coffee table success and, as they were emptying out Grandma Alice's house, I received the dresser.Though I appreciated it's boldness, it didn't quite fit in with the rest of my decor. So, off to the garage with it, for some paint. A nice glossy black hides a multitude of ills, and so I went with the pain-in-the-ass to cleanup, but fantastic-for-coverage-and-wear oil based paint. Only 2 coats were needed.

As for knobs, I wanted some funky old glass ones and there's a great historical salvage place in Savannah called Pinch of the Past. They have quite a selection of old hardware and functional pieces of furnishings. I loved them all, so I had hard time choosing. I went for 5 different colors. They had a variety of other colors and shapes, but I figured that I should at least have a common shape and size and then I could have different colors without schizophrenia in dresser form.
To my surprise, in the end, I liked the palest ones the best. I had thought I would have liked the darker ones better.
The finished product is now installed in the guest room upstairs. It's shiny and new (to me)!

Various Projects - New Locks

In addition to the new front door (still no picture because I can't paint it in the current hotter'n blazes weather) the house has all new, non-crappy lock sets. I changed out the back door handle and the garage sets today. Hooray! I'm a little proud of myself as the instructions were not so fabulous and I'm not known as the mechanical one in the family. There was liberal use of the dremel and a chisel and various and sundry other tools that I haven't got to use in a while, followed by dustbuster cleanup (the best kind). I felt quite handy!

Various Projects - Kitchen Chair Cushions

Now that I'm actually home, I've had some time to get various house projects done. Near the top of the list was cushions for the kitchen chairs. Though I like my kitchen chairs (comfortable, sturdy, solid wood) if you're going to spend much time in them, the backs of your thighs get a little sore. And the sad truth is, that when I'm home, my computer sits at one end of the table and I spend too much time there.

So my requirements for the 6 chairs were that they cost less that $40 to do all of them and I had to use fabric I already had. Voila!

I dug out some batik fabric from Malaysia that had been languishing in one of my fabric bins and found some nondescript black twill for the undersides. They have zips on the back for easy removal and the cushion inserts are supposedly washable too.