7 Quick Takes Friday #61

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

I have not posted for quite some time to the 7 Quick Takes Friday -- for a month, give or take a week or so, it would seem. So, this week I figured I would pull out the most salient of the experiences of the past weeks.

1. Burying Biseh. The little cat who purred like a trible (for those familiar with Star Trek, the original series) and whom we brought back from Jordan five years ago for our grandson Nathaniel was hit by a car recently. Biseh, which means "cat" in Arabic, had wandered around our campus in Amman as a feral cat for some time when I found students kicking her, so Donnie and I adopted her. Bringing her back was quite easy. Surprisingly, for a feral cat, she slept peacefully all the way home under my plane seat. Nathaniel quickly bonded with her and loved the way that she became overexcited when she was petted and began to make high-pitched rumbling sounds (just like the tribles on the Star Trek episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles"), so he was quite distraught, so our son Shane let Nathaniel decide what we should do with Biseh's body. Since Shane and family live in a rented house, Nathaniel decided he would like to bury her under our tree and come visit her often. So, that is what we did, and that is what he does.

2. Meeting little tigers at a birthday party. Noelle and her roommate (who moved in after Ray died) recently adopted two tiger-striped kittens (orange tabbies, one each). One is named Angel, and I forget the name of the other one. (No, it is not Devil!) Not long after Ray, Noelle's husband of ten years, died, her cat, Prince Shadow, died. It was definitely not a good year for her last year. So, it is good to see that she has found a diversion and a way to love again, even if it is one of the smaller of God's creatures.

3. Old Mission stuff. Once a year Old Mission has a fiesta to raise money for various projects and needs. The Mahlou family is always one of the cleaning crews. We were the first crew this year because I had quite a surprise for that day. A few days earlier I got a call from a mutual friend who told me that the woman, Lida, with whom I had often stayed when I was doing consults in Uzbekistan in the 1990s, was in town, her first visit ever to the USA. She and her granddaughter and local relatives came to the fiesta, so for once I only worked for one shift and then enjoyed a very special day with a very special friend. (For more details, see my earlier blog about this: Our Amazing Modern World.) The following Sunday (last Sunday) was confirmation for the 16 kids who were in my catechism class last year. As is traditional, the bishop came for the confirmation, and the kids in my current class, hosted the cake and strawberries that were served in the mission gardens after Mass.

4. A threatening visit. Our office had quite a threatening visit from headquarters last week. An inspection team came for the purpose of deciding which of our branches/programs would be closed because of lack of money. (Yes, the economy is hurting us, too.) We all prepared assiduously, rehearsed our presentations multiple times with the CEO coming around and murder-boarding all of us senior leaders. We showcased our products and our people and opened the door to all our activities. Following our wonderful CEO's non-defensive attitude, we welcomed the team hospitably, and even held a very nice formal reception upon their arrival at the CEO's home. Well, by the end of the week, they said our programs were all super and they would look elsewhere for budget cutting. Yes!

5. Picnic with an enemy. I invited one of the people in our Washington office to a BBQ at our new home while he was visiting here with his family. We have had to coordinate closely over the past 18 months. Prior to that, he had worked here locally (about three years ago), and he and I were not on good terms. Actually, I was on okay terms. However, he and his supervisor did not like me much because I always "seemed to get [my] own way" when we disagreed on how things should be done. Essentially, I was simply concerned that my trainees got the best possible training, and I did know more about that particular kind of training than the two of them did -- but they were unwilling to admit that, did not have particularly good ideas for the training, but felt the need to "win" at all costs. In leaving the BBQ, my colleague noted, emotionally, how wonderful it had been to work together the past 18 months! I love it when enemies become friends -- and breaking bread together never hurts!

6. On Monday, I went up against our CEO's new staff action coordinator. I need to replace my assistant who is leaving on Tuesday, and the new SAC was unwilling to replace him. I would need to jump over him and go to the CEO if he did not budge, but first I had to deal with him. He spent an hour demeaning me, arrogantly making comments about what I do or do not need (he has not been introduced to any of my programs; he cannot possibly know what I need and do not need), pointing out that I was a poor leader because I had not replaced my assistant (but he is the one standing in the way of my replacing him; I pointed out that he was being disingenous, calling me out for not replacing him when he would not let me replace him; he stopped the berating for a minute at that, mainly, I think, because he did not know the meaning of disingenous), and otherwise trying to demonstrate that he was the #1 person for making decisions about what goes on in our organization (i.e. trying to wear his boss's position -- not the first time I was to encounter that this week). I really wanted to deck him, but fortunately there was a table between us! The bottom line is that I won, and the paperwork for my assistant has been submitted to headquarters -- but I am still trying to determine at what cost. At a formal ceremony yesterday, the SAC deliberately snubbed me. Not that I care, but it will be a long two years (the length of his appointment here) if we cannot work this out. While I would like to take aim at him, I guess I am going to have to do what I tell my junior managers to do: learn to love him since he, too, is God's child. Yeah, really, somewhere inside is that God-seed. I wonder how long it will be before I can remember this without deliberately reminding myself. I guess this requires more loving impossible people!

7. Insubordinate subordinates. Usually, I have no problem with subordinates, but this week something went really, truly awry, and I spent most of the past two days trying to bring peace back to my small part of the world. First, my budget manager submitted the budget changes for the remainder of the year without consulting with me; in doing so, he made some major decisions about expenditures and priorities that differ from what my philosophy is and decisions would have been. I had to pull the budget back, which, of course, embarrassed him. I also had to counsel him about not putting himself into my position, i.e. not wearing my hat. He argued for the decisions he had made, but I ultimately had to tell him that my opinion is the one that had final sway. He pouted but made the changes. Later, he wrote me a note of apology and promised to "stay in [his] lane" in the future. I hope this is a watershed experience because he has, at times, intimidated some of my senior managers by implying that he is speaking for me when he is not. Second, likewise, one of the center directors who works for one of the senior managers who works for me often intimidates his employees by referring to a personal friendship between him and me, implying that if they are not happy with his leadership, that is just too bad because no matter what I will be supporting him because of our personal friendship. I have counseled him on this before, noting that one must earn respect on one's own authority and that his orientation is very different from the servant leadership approach that I advocate. (Managers who are not familiar with servant leadership concepts might like to read some of the literature on the topic. This link contains a list of a number of helpful books: servant leadership books on Amazon.) The most blatant recent (yesterday) thing he did was to move, without asking, into the office beside me even before my deputy had finished packing out. He talked my deputy into letting him move in because his office was being remodeled. However, there is an office in another part of the building where his employees are located, but he prefers to rub elbows with the senior managers, which he is not, and that creates more problems between him and his employees. I had to tell him to move out, to move into the office with his employees, and, on Tuesday, the person will be serving temporarily as my deputy will move into that office. Meanwhile, yesterday his employees posted a sign on their office door that said, "la bastille." Obviously, he has created a hostile working environment, so now next week I am going to have to gather them all together along with the center director's supervisor (who works directly for me) and see if I can restore a reasonable working atmosphere. Sheesh!

And to make matters worst, at the end of a week that started not all that well (with my accidentally bringing a small, fliptop can of cat food [instead of tuna] for lunch and ended not all that well (with employees fleeing "la bastille" by none of those in that center showing up for work today), I picked up some fruit at our local grocery store this evening, and the bill came to $6.66. Not that I am superstitious!

Wishing you all a great weekend, including the upcoming Fourth of July holiday for those living in the USA.

Cat Lessons

Continuing with the cat theme of earlier this week on Clan of Mahlou (where you can find more cat pictures), I thought I might share the eight most important things I have learned from my cats:

1. When you climb too high, you will have to trust someone else to get you out of the tree.
When we were living down on the Arroya Seco river, far from anywhere and everywhere, the cutest little kitten appeared one day. He was all white, except for gray curtains on either side of his eyes -- looked a lot like Murjan, just with gray touches rather than red. He would never come close but would sit on the fence in temptingly near-touching distance from us. One day, though, he climbed high into a sycamore tree. Donnie heard his piteous meowing for over an hour. He was afraid to come down. Finally, I decided I had to do something. I got a ladder and climbed to the top, then pulled myself up the branches to where the kitten was. He tried to move away from me but somehow realized the danger of going too far out on a limb (literally), and so I was able to grab him, skinny back down to the ladder, and carry him to the ground. I could feel his little heart beating with fear, but he did not jump out of my arms until we reached the ground and his sense of home.

2. A bed is a blessing.
Newbie never took anything for granted. We took him in from the street when he approached me outside my university office in Jordan, meowing from hunger, half-dead from worms. Our vet gave him little hope, but I eagerly ran off to the drugstore for children's liquid aspirin for his fever, there being no pet stores there for this sort of thing. Of course, the clerks thought I was a crazy American when, in response to their question as to the child's weight in order to tell me the right amount, I said, "hatha lil bissa" -- this is for a cat. "Nam, ana majnuneh, sahih" (yeah, I really am crazy), I agreed, leaving with the medicine tight in hand. The medicine helped with the fever and shots helped with the worms, but Newbie was always cold until he discovered the bed. He crawled under the blankets, and from then on he always slept with his head on the pillow and his body covered even after he had fully recovered.

3. If you throw yourself in your master's path, your belly will get rubbed.
Murjan seems to have got his species mixed. He is a cat, who is the size of a dog (really -- he fits only into a medium-sized dog carrier), and he has the behaviors of a dog. He follows me everyone, sleeps at my feet, and when I come home, he immediately rolls over in front of me, wanting his belly rubbed.

4. The best place to sleep is snuggled against your master.
I have never had a cat -- and I have rescued dozens -- who did not want to snuggle up with me and go to sleep. That's one of the rewards of rescuing cats. While one has to teach them about snuggling, in the long run they learn to like it very much. As for me, I like the snuggling as much as they do. Maybe more...

5. Ifyou have a protector, you need neither to roar nor to hiss.
Little Bissa, adopted by Shane when we brought her back from Jordan, is the tiniest little thing. She weighs only a few pounds. However, when we first rescued her from the university grounds where she would beg for scraps, she hid under a bed and would not come out. She had never been indoors and did not understand the nature of this big cage, our house, she had found herself in. Everyone was afraid to come near her because she would roar and hiss. One visitor found me in the kitchen and declared, his eyes big with disbelief, "bissatek tigr" (your cat is a tiger). Finally, one day, I just picked her up and held her and held her, and her roar turned to a tribble (really, she does not purr, she tribbles). A few weeks later I found her curled up beside Donnie, sleeping. Ever after that, she was his cat, until she moved in with Shane, Lemony, and kids, who all adore her. So, now she has a protector; she no longer needs to roar and hiss.

6. Letting go and letting your master take over can be scary at first but in the long run wonderful.
Snowball was scared at first, but bit by bit, he let me get closer and closer. When he finally let me pick him up for the first time after the tree-scaling incident, he seemed to like being held. Soon, he was crawling into my lap every evening, pushing aside my computer with his paws, licking me, combing my hair with his claws (the only cat I ever had who did that), and sleeping for hours on my lap. Simone, our newest feral addition, refused to let anyone close enough to touch her for months, but finally I coopted her into a relationship by offering her treats. Now she likes both the treats and the petting. (At first, she did not separate the two. After I petted her, she would trot out to the cupboard for treats. Now, the petting is enough.)

7. If you didn't get born into a family with a master, go find yourself a master.
That is what Newbie did. He just marched up to me and asked me to take him home. Similarly, into our house one day very confidently strode Snowflake, Doah's cat, who got adopted by a British family in Jordan (because of his size and the heat we were unable to take him on the plane with us the summer we left but they could take him to the UK in the winter). Born in the USA, he has become quite the world traveler -- and he always knows where to find a human to care for him.

8.If you are hurting, it is worthwhile to make every effort possible to get back to your master because there is your help.
We lost, gained, and lost a wonderful little cat, Fuzzy, when we were living on the Arroyo Seco River. A feral cat who preferred the outdoors, he nonetheless spent every night sleeping with me until the day he got hit by a car. We were able to save him, thanks to a talented vet, but he did lose his tail. One day, though, when there were bobcats reported in the area, he simply disappeared. I published a story about him in a volume of stories by Middle Eastern authors. (At that time, I was living in the Middle East, so that made me a de facto Middle Eastern author.) If you are interested in reading it, I posted it post-publication on my Mahlou Musings blog: The Tale of Fuzz.

In ending, I will say only: metaphor intended.

Thankful Thursday #: Peaceful Days

This week I have had many reasons to be thankful, so, leaving aside the past weekend, which I will chronicle in tomorrow's Quick Takes -- it was so full that the weekend adventures will occupy all seven slots -- let me list the ones that came to mind today.

Today, by the way, was a great day. I played hooky from work and spent the day at the St. Francis Retreat Center at the Day of Recollection that the retreat center staff puts on for Lenten Wednesdays, then in the evening managed to carve out time both for the Bible Study class and for the Penance service at Old Mission, double attendance being possible because our class went as a whole to confession, which took a little longer than usual because there were only two priests for a surprisingly large number of people who showed up. I was among the last in line, but it was worth the wait, and the music that played while we were waiting shaped our emotions into the needed tenor.

Perhaps, then, I will start with today's retreat center activities. Since I try to attend the days of recollection, whether on Lenten Wednesdays or First Fridays, in any given year being lucky enough to make about 30% of them, I have come to know the regular attendees over time pretty well. The core group is a like a gathering of friends. Today was no different. I sat with two people from my prayer group who also form part of the core group for the retreat center activities. Both are retired, so they are more regular than I am. One of them sat next to me during the morning session and the ensuing Mass. During the Mass, at which we were joined in the chapel by about 30 friars who were attending a meeting of some sort at the retreat center, the presence of God simply pervaded the entire chapel. I felt it very strongly. Knowing that often the friend who was sitting beside me does not feel God's presence as intensely as I do, I said a silent prayer, asking that she might also be aware of God's presence. After the Mass was over, she looked visibly moved. I asked her if she had felt a strong sense of God's presence as I had, and she said, "Yes, and especially when you touched me" during the kiss of peace. I am thankful for the answer to that prayer, as well as thankful for something that did not happen. During the morning, there was a sighting of Fr. Terry, my de facto spiritual advisor for the past three years and the former director who recently (as in two months ago) left the center for another position, following a transfer of functions at the center by the Franciscan regional order (to whose intentions and logic I can never see rhyme nor reason). He apparently was attending the meeting of friars. I glimpsed him briefly at Mass, but I was unable to make my way through the crowd to say hello before he disappeared. I miss him very much, and I pray for him as often as I can. (He is not young: 80+.) I was disappointed, of course, that I came so close, yet missed him, but not as much as I would have been had not a special book fallen into my hands recently. In this book, Abandonment to Divine Providence, deCaussade wrote, "When God lives in the soul, it has nothing left of self but only that which the spirit which actuates it imparts to it at each moment...often enough it is even deprived of a regular director, for God allows it no other support than that which He gives it Himself." I am extraordinarily grateful that this book popped into my hands at just the right moment in my life (as so much seems to do these days).

Yesterday, I had to go into work late because I had to pick up a good-bye mug for one of our administrative assistants whose last day was yesterday. (It was good that I took the time to get it because I could tell from the expression on her face when I presented it at the good-bye luncheon that she had expected it.) Donnie designs the mugs, and a local novelty shop makes them. They read "Bon voyage. Thanks for making Division C a better place." They also have the employee's name on the cup. They seem to be treasured by the departing employees, and I would not dare to forget one. With the mug carefully placed on the floor in the back seat, I headed to work only to be stopped by a rooster. Roosters have the right of way, legally, in San Ignatio, and this one seemed confused. He was not crossing the street, as the joke goes, to get to the other side. He just stood in front of me, leaving me no room on either left or right to get around him without his potentially running under my tires. I waited, and waited, and waited. I waited long enough to miss the meeting that I had promised to catch the tail end of. (The organizer told me it was the most unique excuse/justification he had ever heard! Held up by a rooster!) The longer I waited, the slower the day became and the calmer I became. I am very thankful to that rooster and the slow start to the day because I arrived in a "slow" frame of my mind, and the whole day was stress-free. I hope I can repeat that often. (Well, maybe without the rooster!)

I am very thankful for our cats, Murjan (Arabic: coral - an immigrant from Jordan, he has a white coral body and a red coral markings), Intrepid (another Jordanian), and Simone (a local feral cat whom I tamed). They bring us such pleasure. Murjan is an especially social cat and misses me when I am away. Since we returned Sunday night from a weekend in Los Angeles, preceded by my week in Maryland, Murjan has not left my side. Of course, he began by jumping onto the kitchen table and begging for treats (his manners are not the best in that respect), but once he had inhaled those in 2-3 big bites, he jumped onto the couch beside me and nothing would entice him away. It has been that way all week; if I get up to do something, he follows and sits beside me until I come back to some place more comfortable, where he then lies down.

I could include more things about which to be thankful. A supervisor who came and presented a plaque with the names of my employees who had been recognized for service to the organization and distinguished performance; in the process, she made everyone, including me, feel valued. My prayer group met at my house on Monday evening and watched China Cry (I recommend it), during and after which we all cried -- and then ate some berries and cream. On Monday, I was able to have a senior staff meeting; everyone was back for the first time in weeks, including one supervisor who had safely returned from Afghanistan. Indeed, I could go on. It has been one of those weeks that makes up for the difficult ones. A week permeated by an attitude of gratitude because the days themselves have been resplendent with reasons to say thank you to colleagues, friends, God.

More information about the Thankful Thursday meme can be found at the website of Grace Alone.

7 Quick Takes Friday #18

My second week in a row at home! What pleasure! And now it is time for this week's contribution to the Quick Takes meme hosted by Jennifer Futwiler at Conversion Diary.

1. The saga of the friend that I had to "fire" on Friday continued this week. Last week I promised the ending, and here it is, but first, a recap from last week: "I have to fire a friend, currently working as a junior manager, for poor performance. (I did not hire her; my boss forced her on me against my better judgment. Now, he has some embarrassment, too.) Ugh! Unfortunately, this relatively new junior manager, in three months of training, was unable to learn even the basics of management. I had a team of six people mentoring her on various aspects of her job. All of them came to the conclusion in recent days that not only is she untrainable but also her pride and lack of self-awareness preclude anyone's ability to train her. So, the decision was made to fire." On Friday, she was supposed to see the senior manager, her supervisor, at 1:00. At that time, he would have given her the bad news. Well, instead, she sent him an enote, saying that she was ill and going home. Later in the day, she popped up in my boss's office on another matter, and he ended up being the one to tell her that she was being reassigned as a rank-and-file employee, that she did not have the skills at this time for being a manager. His involvement seemed like poetic justice. On Monday, she met with the senior manager and got the bad news -- again. (None of us knew what had transpired on Friday.) He said she was stoic, but it turns out that she was prepared. A little later, she wrote a note to all her employees, saying that she had decided to leave her position and had asked to be reassigned for reasons of health. Wow, she seemed to have taken it all very well, and if she wanted to save face by announcing that it was her decision and health-related, we were all willing to look the other way. I did not get a chance to talk to her on Monday, but Tuesday, before going home, I dropped by to say good-bye and was walking with her to go out the door when she started sobbing -- and sobbing and sobbing. So, I led her into my office and talked to her for more than two hours. She exhibited a complete inability to look at herself objectively, but I was able to bring her to peace with the decision to replace her. I don't know how I was able to do that, but it really helped that while talking to her I was very aware that God was with us and in her -- after all, a little piece of God is within all of us, that is what binds us as a body of believers, right? Clearly, guidance I had asked for was given, and I am very grateful to God for my sake and for hers.

2. I learned this week that my beloved Fr. Terry, whom I can consult for just about anything, is leaving the area. He will be working as a chaplain at a retirement colony for friars. I suppose it is an appropriate assignment since he is 82 years old, but he acts -- and clearly feels -- much younger and has been very active in our community, at Old Mission, and as director of the local retreat center. Everyone loves him; I cannot think of anyone who does not or who has not benefited from his years and years of experience in walking with God and advising God's people. When I called to say goodbye to him, he told me that I had been "a light" to him in the past three years he has been here." He certainly knows how to make someone feel happy. If these were more than kind words and this were really true, then I am infinitely grateful to God for allowing me to play this role!

3. A sad event took place on Sunday. The mother of Fr. E., our parish priest, died from breast cancer. Fortunately, Fr. E. was able to get home to Ireland before she died and be with her during her last hours. Today the funeral took place in Ireland, and concurrently we held a rosary for Fr. E's mother at Old Mission. People turned out in force, and various parishioners led the service. At the end, Fr. M, the Latin Mass priest, gave a final benediction. Sula, our parish feral cat, came in before the service, came up to me for some petting, then found herself a seat on the pew across from me between two men. Except for nestling on someone's coat during communion, she sat up proudly between the two of them during the entire service, just as if she fully understood what was going on and was participating. Fr. M went over at the end of the service to greet her. I love this parish! (Photo is of the statue of St. John the Baptist on the Old Mission grounds.)

4. I had very good news from my cardiologist today. I was down another two pounds, and he is happy with my rate of weight loss. I am down 13 pounds since mid-January. My blood pressure is also down, and he reneged on this threat to replace my very mild medication with a stronger one. He is also allowing me six weeks before my next visit. He is still concerned about my heart although I am certain all is fine. Anyway, I have never seen him quite so relaxed about it. Yes!

5. I also had a good Arabic lesson today. Since we have a visiting manager from Egypt, who is originally from Jordan and speaks the dialect of Arabic that I knew, I asked him to talk to me in Arabic for a half-hour each morning since I am losing my proficiency in it for lack of use. Often, it feels like pulling teeth to be able to communicate well. Today, however, I surprised him -- and myself -- by spending nearly the whole time, talking about the theology of St. Paul, in particular in regard to his propensity toward dialectic thinking (i.e. thesis, antithesis, synthesis). I was so pleased that I could actually handle a rather complex topic with my limited Arabic, which might become less limited if I had more opportunity to use it.

6. Shane, Lemony, and kids spent the weekend in San Francisco at the Chinese parade and other activities. They go there every year for this celebration and decided it might be okay this year, too. Things are looking up for them, and I will indeed soon get around to writing the Clan Rising post I promised for the Clan of Mahlou blog. It looks like Shane will have a job perhaps as soon as April. A former employer wants him back but cannot offer a job until he passes a security clearance. They have put the clearance process on the fast track and assume that it will be completed by some time in April. (Here is a good example of why it is never a good idea to burn bridges when leaving a job. Shane left under pleasant conditions, and so coming back was a possibility -- and, thank God, they just "happened" to have an opening.)

7. Well, I am going to have to wrap this up pretty quickly and get to bed before the midnight hour fully approaches. Tomorrow morning I have to get up at 5 a.m. in order to travel to north with a team of people from work to an all-day meeting in Los Altos Hills. Oh, joy! A bus ride! (I am packing dramamine!) I have no idea where Los Altos Hills is located other than in somewhat north of us, so I assumed that it must be somewhere around San Francisco (or perhaps closer, near San Jose). Since I am not driving, I suppose I don't need to know. That is good; I already have too much extraneous information in my little head!

Hoping that you have a great weekend and will get some more sleep than it seems that I am in for!

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).

7 Quick Takes Friday #3

It's Friday! It's Friday! Thank God, it's Friday! Here is my contribution to the quick takes Friday meme. My first quick take will tell you why I am so happy that it is Friday.

1. I have to travel again on Monday, returning on Friday, and leaving again on Tuesday. I figured that would give me a full day at work today (minus a heavy load of meetings, of course) plus a full day a week from Monday to catch up on all my paperwork and email. Silly me! Next Monday is a holiday; there is no work! (I have to write in my calendar book: DO NOT COME TO WORK. Otherwise, I forget it is a holiday. No wonder my neuroscientist daughter says she is worried about my brain!) So, I stayed and finished everything! I got home after 11:00! Worth it, though. I am going to have a real holiday in a week! It reminds me of the time that my boss called me at 2:00 in the morning, then asked what I was doing up so late! My response? "Talking to you!"

2. Friday is a great day not only because it is the last working day of the week but also because it is the Muslim holy day. Since I have many Muslim friends, I frequently enjoy Friday. One of these friends took me to his home for lunch. All his family had gathered, as they do every Friday, for a family meal of couscous with vegetables and chicken. Yummy! And amazingly, we managed to get there, eat, relax with friends, and get back to work, all within the allotted lunch hour.

3. Today was a day of discovery. First, I discovered that there were some problems with my travel arrangements for the next two weeks. From that I discovered that I should enroll my admin assistant in a geography course. Looking at my arrangements for next week, the flight was excellent: comfortable departure time from California and arrival time at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC. Then I noticed the hotel: it was in Seattle! (Wrong Washington!) After that, I figured I had better check my arrangements for the following week in Nebraska. Good thing that I did! My flight flew in very nicely to Omaha, but the hotel was in Iowa! Yes, indeed, I am looking for a course in geography for my assistant.

4. I don't normally get much relaxing time during the week, but last night was an exception. My co-teacher for catechism came over so that we could plan our lessons. Since we have the same age group (teenagers in first-year confirmation) as last year, we have a lot of materials that have already worked successfully, so it took us very little time to work out the syllabus for the year. Then, we ordered in pizza, looked at my pictures from Korea (laughing at my Tae Kwon Do lesson -- short, uncoordinated people attempting martial arts moves look funny in pictures), and had a long discussion about just about everything under the sun with Donnie. I discovered that co-teacher had a friend who has an autistic child, and since I have a friend who is both mother to an autistic child and a PhD holder with a background in special education, I was able to network them. (I love closing those links to make chains that help people!)

5. I got a good lesson in remembering everyone, not just some folks, on my trips abroad when I dropped into the parish office on Thursday enroute to work. I always bring little things to my secretaries and chocolate for Fr. Ed. This time, the parish staff oohed over the German chocolate I brought Father. They clearly would have liked some. One of the staff was actually leaving to visit her brother the same day (!!) in the same part of Germany (!!). I told her where she could get the same chocolates so that she could bring some back for the staff. Next time, I will bring chocolates for Fr. Ed (who is addicted to them) AND for the staff!

6. Cats in Jordan talk. I am serious. They have about a dozen different sounds: differing ones for jumping up, jumping down, wanting attention, expressing dissatisfaction, requesting food, and so on. American cats just miaow -- or so I thought until recently when I noticed that the abandoned cat that we took in from our local streets has now developed a "vocabulary" of 5-6 words. It seems that Murjan (Arabic for coral; he is white and red, like coral), our alpha cat, has not only been grooming the little girl; he has also been teaching her to talk! What a great big brother!

7. When I am done with this blog, I am going to answer one of the emails I read today. It came from the vice president of an organization over which I presided (as president) 15 years ago! He wanted to know if I was still working at my organization. How well he knows me! I have a considerable amount of wanderlust in me, so it is an immense surprise that I have been in my present position for four year. A surprise and not a surprise because for some reason God clearly wants me in this job.

And now I am going to go contact my old friend and former veep. I wish you a weekend full of good times with good friends! And if real people are not around at this time, then remember that a good book can be a good friend, too!