7 Quick Takes Friday #62

See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

It is hard to believe that a whole week has passed, but it has. Now I sit on the sofa, as I do nearly every Friday night, with Murjan, my cat who refuses to be more than a few inches from me whenever I am home, beside me and my computer on my lap, the television running in the background. My, but we are creatures of habit even when we have irregular work lives! (Or, at least, I am.)

1. Surprise! Last Friday night as I finished up 7 Quick Takes, I was surprised by a knock at the door. It was a mother-daughter duo from our prayer group. They had just finished an evening of the rosary routinely said by a group from the Spanish Mass. (I attend the Spanish Mass at times, but the rosary group is a little challenging for my uneven Spanish skills -- reading, writing, and listening are no problem, but speaking is generally accomplished with some effort.) Lupe and Rosa, Donnie and I spent the next couple of hours, sitting on our deck as the sun dove behind the mountains and house and disappeared. I don't get much chance to just be lazy with friends, so it was a real treat.

2. On Saturday afternoon, I walked back out onto the deck again, having spent the morning cowering in the house while the sun beat down at the level of 110 degrees. Little worked for cooling off. Ice cream melted before I could get it into the bowl. So, I sat in front of the fan and spent my "found time" reading, another activity I don't get to do often enough. When I finally made it outside, I noticed that the large, 3-wick candle we had placed on the table on the deck was a molten pool with three wicks floating in it. Now, that's hot!

3. Sunday was just as hot, so once again we cowered inside during the day. After evening Mass with Doah, we were sopping wet with sweat because the air conditioning in the church we attended in Doah's nearby city had stopped working. (Our mission church has no air conditioning and needs none; it was built in the days when people knew how to make buildings that stay cool or warm based on their structure.) Feeling a real pull, therefore, toward an air-conditioned location, we decided to watch a movie. We chose Super Eight, a rather interesting science fiction flick. Ah, the wonderful feeling of cool air! When we walked out of the theater in the late evening, we were greeted by -- cool air! Yes!

4. On the Fourth of July, Shane and Lemony came over for a BBQ. It is always wonderful to see the grandkids, Nathaniel and Nikolina, especially since they both had problems at birth that required much medical care. Nathaniel will be out of the woods entirely in three years, and while Nikolina may never have all the internal organs that others have, she is doing very well: at age two, no one can tell from looking at her or watching her that she has any abnormalities at all. At the end of the day, we sat on our deck, high up on our hill, and watched the fireworks from our little town and from the nearby city. A satisfying end to a satisfying day!

5. Work, crazy work! That is all I can say about the rest of the week. I never even made it to my office on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had so many meetings in the headquarters building that by the time I was done, the day was also done. Thursday and Friday I was in my office, but for some reason every single appointment or meeting began late. The meetings this week, unlike the typical boredom I have to put up with, were fascinating, even if I did arrive late to every single one of them. As I explained to my secretary, the logistics of the days were totally out of kilter but the content of my days was marvelous.

6. Because of not making it into my office on Tuesday and Wednesday, I ended up working very late into the evening on Thursday, catching up. One of the last things I did was get into a discussion with one of the senior managers about the topic of humility (long story as to why that topic, related to one of his employees), and he told me about a Tolstoy story on the topic that he loves: "Otets Sergij" (Father Sergius). We spent a couple of minutes tracking it down on line, and he forwarded the URL to me. All the way home, I looked forward to sitting down with a cup of tea or can of tonic (soda to those not from New England and pop to those from the Pittsburgh area) and, relaxing, read the story. Alas, when I opened my computer to go to the URL, I found a note from someone I work with, reminding me a about a report due the next day, about which I had forgotten. With sinking hopes of a relaxing end to the almost-over evening, I sat down to write the report, then I decided to rebel. Enough is enough! I went to bed. For the first time in a long time, I got a full seven hours of sleep and woke up feeling pampered this morning!

7. NASA. As I sit here, reflecting on this week's high moments (well, the salient moments; they are not always "high"), I am simultaneously watching the history of NASA's shuttle from first flight to today's final flight on a show called "When We Left Earth." Seeing the faces of the astronauts and cosmonauts, and especially hearing their voices, is a treat and a sadness. I worked with many of them a decade ago, both on their Houston campus and in Star City, Russia, and one of the astronauts invited me, together with his family, to a private viewing of his launch from Cape Kennedy. Among these memories is the sad one of the disintegration of the Columbia over Texas. On that shuttle were four of my former colleague. To this day, I remember vividly what happened because one of the photos in my office, given to me when I left NASA, was a view from space, signed by the astronauts and cosmonauts with whom I worked, among them Rick Husband, the commander of the Columbia. Every day, I see his signature. It is impossible for me to forget this tragedy.

Well, I did not mean to end on a somber note. Let's all look forward to a joyful weekend!

Briefly

And I do mean briefly. I am off for Korea in a couple of hours. Two days to get there, one day of meetings, one day to return. Three days of travel for eight hours of work seems a bit excessive, but I went to Moscow for an afternoon meeting once. I guess my life must seem crazy to people at times! I will be back on Saturday -- may have access to the Internet in Korea but I don't know if I will have much time to be online. So, I will probably only reconnect upon my return. In the interim, if you want some fun pictures to look at, take a look at my recent post on Clan of Mahlou: Evening Conversation with Murjan, the Cat Who Thinks He Is Human. Meanwhile, while I am gone, Donnie will move Doah into his nearby new group home. Yes! Have a great rest of the week.

Easter Memories

I have not done a picture story on this blog before, but since Donnie just downloaded my not-so-artistic photos that I took Easter afternoon, I thought I would share some of the pictures of our wonderful little town with you. So, here goes:

(1) Photos around our mission church --

the garden path behind the church:

























the church archway, including (a) one of the inhabitants, a mourning dove; (b) looking north, with Doah; (c) looking south:

























views of the historic part of town from the church archway:

























the church cemetery:

















scenes from the front of the church:

























(2) Sula, our parish cat --

in the church garden:









entering the old monastery:









inside the old monastery:









asleep on a parishioner's coat during the Eucharist (every parishioner with a coat is considered a friend by Sula):








(3) Our town's aristocracy:


















































(4) Donnie, Doah, Noelle, and I spent the afternoon at play, pigging out at Easter brunch at Hometown Buffet in nearby Salts:




























(5) Meanwhile, our lazy little Mahlous (Intrepid, Murjan, and Simone) spent the afternoon at rest:

















Hoping you had as delightful an Easter as we did!

7 Quick Takes Friday #6

I cannot believe that it is Friday again already and time to contribute to the Quick Takes Friday meme hosted by Jennifer at Conversion Diary. I am grateful to Jennifer for coming up with these meme; it is about the only time I truly look back on the near events of my life and take stock.

1. Monday night Donnie and I had dinner with visitors from the Ukraine at my favorite restaurant: Jardines de San Juan where winter never comes and flowers never die. I had met them last month in the Ukraine at their company, and at that time were planning a return visit to ours. Since they had taken me out to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant and showed me the architecture of St. Sofia's Cathedral, I wanted to do something similar for them here in the USA. Voila! All was possible, thanks to my living in a heritage Mexican town. They loved the authentic Mexican food and the garden atmosphere of the restaurant. One of the two is an architect, and he enjoyed discovered our old mission. It would seem that God's special places are special in more ways than we typically think!

2. I have fallen off the bandwagon with dieting. I had done a good job of losing 30 pounds in 2008, then about ten pounds crept back on after a stay in Lithuania this past winter. (Cold weather = heavy food.) I have managed to keep the weight at the -20 pound level, but recent travels (5 countries and 11 states in 3 months!) has made it impossible to watch my diet. Well, impossible is probably not the right word; inconvenient is more like it. I think dieting and weight maintenance boils down less to willpower than to habit. I have lost my habit of tracking calories and sticking to a daily ceiling. Alixandra, you who managed such a startling maintained weight loss, offered to help! Tell me, what is the secret for maintaining weight loss and even losing more pounds while traveling? Any thoughts, anyone?

3. The frenetic pace of this week matched that of last week, with a quick two-day trip to Arizona. I am starting to weary of my one-night stands with Candlewood Suites in state after state. In spite of its quick in-and-out nature, my trip had value, I believe. I was able to speak to a graduating class of specialists in Arabic language and culture who will, hopefully, one day much sooner than anyone thinks have some positive influence on international events. It was these same kind of specialists, without any knowledge of language and culture who carried at the atrocities at Abu Ghraib a couple of years ago. Now, however, as future specialists in military affairs are also learning language and culture -- and more important, being taught by native speakers from Arabic cultures -- they are building the skills they need to communicate, rather than to interrogate, to create trust rather than fear, and to use words, not weapons, for winning wars. For me to be even the smallest piece of that, I consider to be a gift from God, especially since not all that long ago I nearly took another job because of being part of an organization that looked at the force of arms rather than the force of words to accomplish its mission, but God would not let me have that job. Now, I know why, and now I am a grateful.

4. Catechism class last night brought me back to a sense of reality. This year's first-year confirmation kids are very quiet compared to the classes of the past two years. At least, until last night they have been eerily quiet. Last night I brought in left-over Halloween candy. Halloween was a very quiet affair here in our mission town this year, and we had a few pounds of leftovers, pounds that I do not want to put into and onto our bodies; hence, the "gift" to the kids this evening. The loved the candy, and we (the teachers) noticed that as the sugar entered the bloodstreams of our normally quiet kids, they began to respond vociferously and vigorously to the lesson. Who were these kids? They had turned into people we would not recognize. The excitement for one, Luis, got to the point that he began rolling around on the floor. I recognized this symptom of hyperactivity caused by food allergy from Doah's allergic reactions -- Doah would roll around on the floor all the time if no one monitored and controlled his diet. So, lesson learned in all senses of the word -- the kids' activity also increased their interaction with us and the lesson and they did go home, having learned a lot, and we teachers learned not to pump them full of sugar in the future. And I remembered why I rarely allowed my children refined sugar when they were growing up.

5. Cats now are our children. We have three. Murjan (Arabic for coral) is all white with a red ears, bangs, and tail. Oh, and jade-colored eyes. He looks like two shades of coral that one can find in the Red Sea near Aqaba, and he is indeed an immigrant from Jordan. He kept me company while I was living there before Donnie made it over, just me and the cat, and we have had a symbiotic relationship ever since. Intrepid, also a native of Jordan, lost his mother before he could barely toddle. A professor at my university knew that Doctora Beth loved cats and brought over the multi-colored cat with brown-ringed yellow eyes for me to nurse. The rest, as they say, is history. "Treppers" (pictured here), as we nicknamed Intrepid, became Donnie's sidekick. The name came from his kamikaze-like flights through the air, attacking potted plants, of which, of course, we currently have none. Then, there is Simone, our grey-faced, blue-eyed, extremely shy white Himalayan cat, who, with her Persian features, looks like she belongs in the Middle East, too, but we rescued her from under our house here in California and turned her from feral to lovable. I love taming feral cats. No matter how old they are and how ingrained their defensiveness and fear, I have been able to tame them. I think all of God's creatures like to be loved, and there is no stronger force for accomplishing anything or making any change than love.

6. My boss and I are doing a self-study program in Pashto, one of the languages spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Languages intrigue me, so Pashto represents little challenge, especially considering that it is the 20th language I have formally studied, in addition to the 50 or so languages I can understand at levels ranging from just barely to quite well because I have studied some of the common background languages like Latin, Old English, Old German, Common Slavic, and the like and thanks to travel exposure.) For my boss, on the other hand, Pashto represents only his second foreign language. He has spent several hours and completed part of the first unit. I have spent less than two hours and am near the end of the fourth unit. That makes it hard to study together; moreover, I learned a long time ago that it is never a good idea to "show off" in front of one's boss where the boss is attempting to do the same thing. So, I have to learn how to march in place better. His ego is more important than mine. I just have to figure out how to help him without offending him. That's the story of my life. I have to do the same with junior managers who think they know everything about management, but have not developed the most critical skill: humility.

7. After all this, I am very ready for today (just started). It is First Friday! Yes!! I have taken the first six hours of the day off in order to attend First Friday activities at St. Francis Retreat. Those months when I can do this are just wonderful experiences. And so, I am going to end these 7 quick takes abruptly since I have no idea what lies in wait for me this morning, but I am eager to dash off right now (!) and find out.

May you start your day with as much eager anticipation!

7 Quick Takes Friday #4

I cannot believe that it is Friday again already and time to contribute to the quick takes Friday meme hosted by Jennifer at Conversion Diary.

1. The most memorable day this week was clearly yesterday. One of those things happened to me that generally only appears on sitcoms. As a very fine, low-key day perked along, I received an e-note from one of the senior managers who had met with a junior manager who worked for him. He told me that after consultation with the junior manager, he had decided that we needed to wait two months to begin a major (and highly visible) project for which we had just received considerable funding. This was clearly a non-starter. I knew that the problem lay not with the senior manager who had just returned from vacation but from the stubborn junior manager incapable of prioritizing. Having had multiple frustrating conversations with her earlier in the week about her reluctance to take on this project, which fall squarely into her position duties, I had reached the limit of my patience with her. Furious, I dashed off a note to the senior manager stating that I knew that his words reflected the mindset of the junior manager who was a hindrance and not a help to the organization. I suggested that if she could not handle the due-outs from the project that I need early next week that I would do them and immediately after that find a replacement for her (and, oh, by the way, I was already looking for one). Done! Off with the note! I could then calm down. However, as I pushed the send button, I noticed that the senior manager had cc'd the junior manager on his note. Oops! Frantically, I tried to stop the note from flying out to their computers, but it merrily danced away from me. I tried to recall it. Failure! She read it before I could navigate to the tools menu! So, there not being much else to do at that point, I sent an e-wail to the senior manager to alert him to the possibility that she would soon descend upon him, which she did. My assistant was away on business but monitoring email and was cc'd on all the notes. He sent me a note: "Classic!" Right, classic! Oh, my, oh, my! The rest of the day found the junior manager closeted with the senior manager, fussing over the note and worrying about her job. I talked to him at 7:00 as he was dragging himself home from the office. "Hard day," was about all he could say. Right, hard day, indeed! My fault, too! I talked to Sr. Maria last night, noting that this was one action I had not prayed about in advance although every morning I ask God to guide me during the day even if I forget to turn any particular action over to Him. Sister had a surprising reaction. She said that perhaps I had been guided. Perhaps this employee needed to be hit on the head, given her general arrogance toward other employees, often expressed feeling of superiority, and overly secure confidence in her job. Perhaps Sister was correct. Today the junior manager got ALL those "impossible" due-outs done three days early! Life is curious and complicated sometimes! (Often, actually!)

2. Continuing the at-work discussion, a new senior manager who had recently moved back to the USA from Korea found that he had some interesting large Mexican figurines that he had no room for at home or work and wanted to give them to me. They make a great addition to my office. More important, though, I had to clear off the bottom shelf of my bookcase to hold them. The only useful thing on that shelf was a prayer rug I keep handy should someone need it. In cleaning off the rest of the shelf -- mostly binders with old documents -- I found that nothing was more recent than 2005 and were all things that my predecessor had left. Talk about procrastination! I had known for three years that I should clean up the shelf. Sigh! Where are those kids of mine who used to help with the housework when they are needed? I now know why the house was clean. The kids did it! Had it been up to me, we would probably have constantly been living under three years of dust!

3. It was great to return this past weekend from nearly three months of non-stop traveling. Many thanks to guest bloggers who helped me by filling in on Wednesdays. I hope you have enjoyed their posts. By the way, I am not home free yet. I returned to more than 1900 waiting emails at work, but I am now down to only 900 still to answer. Hey, it's progress!

4. When I got back from all the tripping, I found a very needy kitty at home. Murjan, our alpha cat from Jordan, is highly social, and he was fit-to-be tied that his "mother" had been away so long. He is more doglike than catlike, and I found him "yipping" at the window when I came up the stairs. Then, he started cussing me out in good Jordanian cat talk. (Middle Eastern cats have more than a dozen different kinds of meows, and one can figure out what they are "saying" with these sounds.) Then, he rolled over and wanted his belly scratched over and over again for a very long time. See, more dog than cat?

5. I no sooner got home than a friend, Rocio, sent me a note that she would be in town. She is another world traveler but generally lives in Boston. We planned to get together Saturday evening after settling in my 90-year-old friend who was moving back to town from Los Angeles and that was after spending four hours in the morning in a seminar for catechists that our diocese was holding. Quite a full day! It became fuller when Shane called me to remind me that I had promised to take Lemony out (with family) for her birthday that same evening -- so our evening with Rocio became Rocio + family. She was game, and Nathaniel entertained her as if she were royalty, devoting all his attention to her all evening. Flexibility! We learned that in the Middle East, too!

6. We turned in papers this week to take our previous landlady to court for failing to give us our security deposit back. Her excuse? She had spent it and had no income with which to replace it. For a couple of months, she sent us a few dollars at a time, but she still owes us $1800. I was going to forgive it, considering that she truly does not have money (is not employed) and that I got $1800 back about the same time the deposit was due from three years of overpaying electric bills (a new meter adjusted the past bills - not sure how that happened, but I don't look gift horses in the mouth; God often provides for me in this way, so why would I want to question?). However, Fr. Ed at our parish thought that was not a good idea, that it would be contributing to her dishonesty. She is a member of our church and has done the same thing with other tenants in the past, I have found out, and gotten away with it. So, it looks like I have to take a day off from work next month for small claims court. Oh, joy! (And I do feel a twinge of guilt because I can afford to give up the money, and she has little beyond her modest rental income. On the other hand, as Fr. Ed says ... )

7. And, before I make it to bed today, I have a pleasant translation task to complete. Padre Julio from Colombia sent me one of his periodic letters for sponsors of the children supported by Por Amor a Los Ninos de Colombia for translation from Spanish into English for those sponsors that speak no Spanish. I enjoy doing the translations because Padre writes very eloquently and the letters are always interesting in content, as well. The school he had wanted to build for the children is now operational, and the sustaining farm is getting there. It is a wonderful project to try to curb the misuse of children for insurgent activities in an area where there were no schools previously. For some uplifting information and to see what God can do through the efforts of a dedicated priest and his small coterie of helpers, take a look at his website.

End of tales, end of week. I hope yours was as interesting (well, maybe a little less interesting since I am still dealing with the fallout of yesterday's hasty note).