Meet Melida

Playing with Slideshare...

2009-06-03T11:34:00.001-04:00

I had the pleasure of presenting an introduction to RSS to a group of Milwaukee-area Right Management folk, and decided to finally start using the Slideshare account I set up so long ago. One of the benefits of being outside the "orbit of the giant hairball" is sharing!

P.S. If you have not read Gordan McKenzie's "Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace" I highly recommend you do!

A Wordle

2008-07-22T21:41:00.000-04:00

A Wordle of my shared feed... It's odd, I'm not sure if I see me in this blur of pretty words? Interesting that coworking is so prominent as it's some thing I want to explore, but haven't been able to... Does the soul really create her own society?

Passionate and Engaged

2008-03-15T00:56:00.000-04:00

In the midst of a great deal of flux in life and at work, I've been turning some thought about why I remain passionate and engaged with what I do, namely being an Information Professional/Librarian. In some ways it's an existential conversation with all the trappings. But the fact that I ask others to participate in enacting my ideas, makes me think it's a good to have a couple of conversations with myself. The conclusions I've come up with thus far are:

1) I believe human beings can learn vicariously. We can consume information about the experiences of ourselves and others and draw realistic conclusions based upon this regardless of the medium in which the thoughts or experience was presented.

2) I know that within my realm of influence there is someone with a nascent idea that can change the world for the better.

3) Good information will be necessary to both realizing and manifesting this idea.

4) This person may be me (or anyone).

...

A Dove Film

2008-03-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

I know that I owe a blog which actually updates folks on our lives in Mystical... But until then... I must say I am an absolute fan of the short films Dove is producing in their Campaign for Real Beauty. This one, "Onslaught", was shown at TED 2008, where I hear they are showing short films in-between events. I need to check out the "Self Esteem Fund"

It's the hours...

2008-01-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been reading too much... It's what I do when my time is torn and I need creative solutions. I could practice worse behavior I suppose, but cleaning or organizing the house would be good, too. So, I'll just list what I would recommend below:

The Hours
Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette

I haven't seen the movie of The Hours, but I just can't see how it could possibly compare.

We're doing well here in Ct. Isabella had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, and we went swimming on Sunday. I suppose this means we're settling in, all this domestic bliss. It's still strange to see the sign saying our town was settled in 1640 or something frightening like that, but I'm getting used to it...

And in the midst of taking the dog to the groomer, getting dinner, and mapping flows on an index card, I heard an NPR program on climate change, "Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future" that just made me feel better about the universe. If you read "Radical Evolution" and then listen to this program, you may be able to recreate my sigh of relief.

Along the same, I really need to know more about Jaron Lanier. Thus far, it's all fascinating... and mostly pretty. It's hard not to be a librarian, with all this linking power....

Up in the air...

2008-01-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

"It's the moment of the year when I amuse myself by thinking of things which cause me terrible pain, simply for the pleasure of coming to, again, as myself and seeing that it's not true." -Colette

We've been amusing ourselves with pretty things. Reading books, listening to music we forgot to buy, and making art at the kitchen table. It's good to remember the act of creation and the mystery of inspiration... where do all these ideas come from? And how do you make them go, go, go into something else. It's hard work lazing about looking... for nothing in particular. And harder work deciding when to act....

"Proj"

2007-12-31T21:05:00.001-05:00

Basilica
Originally uploaded by Hyper_Phenomena

Happy New Year!

We've been on the road the last week... Driving half-way across the country was interesting. Isabella watched tons of movies and I sang at the top of my lungs petting the piece of fluff dog asleep in the passenger seat beside me. I think it's good that I didn't learn to drive until I was thirty. For many reasons, but mostly because of the liminal moment of state becoming state and feeling the nowhere of everything, which I find too appealing. I think I would have just taken off, lived on the road in some crazy zen trance. Listening to Gil Scot Heron and Jolie Holland over and over... But now it's a time to let the mind wander. I kept saying, "proj" like the couriers in the William Gibson novel I can"t remember the title of- Seeing us all a hundred miles further from wherever we were at that moment, wishing all tasks could be completed in the same manner. There was a moment both ways, where one can head to Cincinnati or Ann Arbor, where I felt the urge to move in either directions, for the joy of the company of the place in one direction and the company of the people in the other- but I only had to "proj" my way past it... and remind myself that it will all still be there, with or without us just then.

And I contemplated the differences between licensed and self-created information, and how it probably works better to keep them separated, even if the holy grail is having them accessed simultaneously. And then I read Dan Brown, JD Salinger and Charles Bukowski, to clear my mind... Some things never change.

I hope all is well with everyone-

Early Nightfalls

2007-11-10T23:06:00.001-05:00

Harkeness Memorial State Park
Originally uploaded by Hyper_Phenomena

Well, it's overwhelmingly dark by 5:30pm here now... I'm trying to be okay with this fact. If you feel like getting up at 5:30am- there's an amazing sunrise. That's positive, right?

It's been a long week, getting out of the Halloween spirit and back into normalcy. Anyone who works on quarters knows this is that strange time of year when business is hectic and noone returns your phone calls. We slow down for summer and stop for a winter break right before it all starts over again, so that leaves NOW to get it all done. In a way this is good for me, I work well under pressure. Thinking a million miles a minute and staring into space is just my norm. This apparent lack of action can be disconcerting to those around me, though. Don't worry, I'm still here... I've got your proverbial back. You can find me at any local coffee shop with a wireless. Text me, because I won't return your phone calls.

Isabella has begun a basketball camp. Oddly, she's the only girl involved. Except for the instructors, all of whom are High School aged women. At first, I was a worried that the lack of other girls would get Isabella down on participating, but she hasn't even mentioned it... I wonder if she's noticed? She's enjoying herself regardless. I've hesitated to enroll her in sports. There's this odd over-competitive or complete non-competition going on in youth teams that I find disturbing. You either have parents killing one another over the game they never got to play, or everyone's overpraising everybody. I find both unappealing. We all have things we are good at, and other things we could do better. We don't always win, and winning is not always the most important thing. This is life. Isabella does not show any special talent for basketball, but at least she'll know the game. If she likes it and wants to get better at it, we'll keep going. I'll try not to think about how much money pro-basketball players make, college scholarships or how I could do a chunky soup commercial like all those football players' moms.

Skype

2007-11-04T21:02:00.000-05:00

By the way, we've finally set up Skype again... Our username is melida.isabella or you can just search by my name.

Falling back into Fall...

2007-11-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

Well, I can officially say we have survived Halloween. Isabella began as a Princess, became a Dark Angel and then morphed into a "bat, cat, leopard, dark angel". The identity crisis emerged as her sugar load increased... On Halloween itself she had two parties and trick or treating. Once again she has reminded me that Cheetos are available in many stores, if I would just look harder. It's an amazing difference between Samhain as a single adult and Halloween as a parent. You need nerves of steel... We did trick or treat at Olde Mystic Village, which, though it is only a couple of miles from the house, we'd never been to before. To be honest, it seemed a slice of tourist hell. But, in the end it was quaint, and there were a lot of fun shops. Amazingly I only went into one, a pagan shop called Mystical Elements. One can never have enough smudge sticks and purifying salts you know...

Today we visited Harkness Memorial State Park where Isabella had pictures taken by my colleague Erica Wright. The park, mansion and beach were all beautiful, so we'll definitely plan more visits there. A lot of folks have weddings there, and one can see why... Though blooming season is far over, the gardens and grounds were still beautiful. Our newest family member Champ, quickly thought we lived at the mansion and did his best to make sure that all other visitors were horribly intimidated by his ferocious nature. Of course everything he does looks like those horrible Cute Overload pictures. So, it makes me laugh hysterically. Keep a lookout for photos in a couple of weeks, regardless.

If you're not keeping track, I've given dozens of reasons to visit. Next on our list is one of the oldest burial grounds in the U.S., Ye Antientist Burial Ground in New London, Ct. I actually read about this graveyard in a horror novel I picked up in Ann Arbor... Weird how these things come together.

In Connecticut... there are tea parties

2007-10-26T19:09:00.001-04:00

037
Originally uploaded by Hyper_Phenomena

I asked Isabella what she would like to tell people about Connecticut. She replied that she would like to tell people, "that Connecticut is nice and there is a museum here." When I asked which museum she said, "The one with Belugas", referring to the Mystic Aquarium. So, yes, Connecticut is nice.

I would like to tell people that Connecticut is beautiful. And to be honest, it feels full of ghosts. It feels more haunted than Louisiana, which was a surprise. You drive down the road in the middle of the night and can just sense everything is old. There's a presence about the place itself. Our town was settled in the 1700's and it feels like it was settled in the 1700's.

There are odd quirky things, too: Yard sales are tag sales, Liquor Stores are Package Stores, and if you ask directions everything is "up the road a bit". There are very few street signs. Bring a GPS.
We have to drive over an hour to get the groceries we're used to... I will admit this just my own weirdness; but I think Annie O's are superior to Spaghetti O's and worth the drive.

Sometimes, I get taken aback that people aren't talking with or smiling at us in public places. It is unlike the South and the Midwest in that way. But now that we've been here a while I notice folks warming up... In the neighborhood cafe we frequent most, we finally got a, "Hello, it's nice to see you again" after we hadn't been in for a while. This might have something to do with being such a big tourist destination. We're finally being recognized as locals.

In other news, we got a dog-like creature, named Champ. I don't know why anyone would name a 10lb bichon Champ, but he came with the name. I call him Mr. Fluffy Pants. The cats are tolerant. Which makes sense as they outweigh him. I also think they pity him for being so fluffy and cute, and well not looking very smart. At least that's how I interpret their looks of disdain and disbelief.

Mostly, we are getting used to things, slowly settling in and discovering the place we find ourselves. I try to keep in mind that we might move sooner than we expect, so it's worth getting in the sights while we have the opportunity. People who want to visit keep this in mind, too...

Welcome!

2007-10-22T22:29:00.000-04:00

Hello,

Welcome to "Meet Melida".

Mission: Keep everyone up to date on the adventures of myself and Isabella.

I know I'm always sending out links to various sites and places you can go in an effort to keep up on our current affairs. But this is burdensome, and frankly, if you are anything like me you lose the links and passwords anyway. Hopefully now you will have one place to come and if you are so minded you can set up an RSS feed to get updates delivered. (I use Google Reader...)

The title "Meet Melida" is a joke really, based upon a very popular slide deck called "Meet Charlie". This presentation introduces Web 2.0 concepts/tools and places them in a context to describe how they might benefit folks. Now, I don't really have anything against this presentation, hell, I'm a fan of Web 2.0. I use these tools to make our lives a more livable time/space. But all the photos, especially of women, are really slick. So, whenever I see a "Meet X" presentation I say, "Meet Melida", it's 3am and she's sitting outside in her half-open bathrobe, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette. She's banging out a presentation, a proposal, and a project plan, while collaborating on something with a colleague in the UK. Melida hasn't had a full-night's sleep in seven years... wow, she looks torn up... Okay, it's not that bad, but it is realistic.

So, onward and upward, regardless. I hope this becomes a useful space.