Category Archives: Random

Things I love about my friend Kalyn

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Kalyn Denny

Do you know Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen? You should. Kalyn is one of my favorite people on the planet, and here are just a few reasons why:

  1. Kalyn is one of the kindest people you will ever meet
  2. Kalyn is a great organizer of people and events
  3. With discipline, exercise, and healthy eating, Kalyn lost a lot of weight and has kept it off
  4. When Kalyn feels down, she doesn’t stay there too long, she bounces back
  5. Kalyn has a great smile
  6. Kalyn has over 30 nieces and nephews and she sends them each a card on their birthdays
  7. Kalyn loves kitchen gadgets
  8. She looks great in the color orange
  9. Kalyn is an evangelist for cilantro
  10. Kalyn has taught 30 years of grade school kids, including the children of people she taught when they were kids
  11. Kalyn is not afraid to be politically liberal in conservative Utah
  12. Kalyn loves her family and is not afraid to show it
  13. Kalyn is the author of an amazing food blog
  14. When you need to blow off steam, Kalyn will patiently listen
  15. Kalyn loves vegetables
  16. Kalyn is not afraid to learn something entirely new, even if it’s difficult
  17. She doesn’t give up easily
  18. Kalyn is not judgmental
  19. Kalyn takes feedback
  20. Kalyn is extraordinarily productive
  21. Kalyn has mastered her gas grill
  22. She has a spectacular garden with raised beds
  23. Kalyn cans her own tomatoes to eat all year round
  24. Kalyn loves African art
  25. She is a great travel companion
  26. Kalyn is generous with her time
  27. Kalyn is financially responsible
  28. Kalyn can keep a secret
  29. Kalyn is brave
  30. Kalyn rolls with the punches
  31. Kalyn always has your back
  32. Kalyn never stops learning and improving her skills
  33. Kalyn is an outstanding discussion moderator
  34. Kalyn always gives credit where credit is due, and even when it isn’t
  35. Kalyn is diplomatic
  36. Kalyn keeps her chin up, even when she’s down

Love you Kalyn!

Virtual Fish Pond

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A friend of mine recently put koi pond in his backyard. Lots of work. Lots of anxiety over getting the water chemical balance just right, and keeping wandering egrets, storks, and raccoons from eating his fish.

This version is easier. Click in the pond to feed the fish. No worries about overfeeding them either.

link

The Return of Doctor Who

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Doctor Who fans, season 4 is about to start, at least in the UK. I am completely and unabashedly in love with this show and its star David Tennant. Took an episode or two to recover from the loss of Christopher Eccleston and his sexy, swagger Doctor. Tennant is decidedly more subtle in his performance than Eccleston. But, boy can he act. He skillfully fills the range required by the role. Charming, exuberant, funny, determined, loving, sad, lonely, Tennant can navigate across all of these qualities and emotions within moments. The good Doctor returns for another adventure-filled season and I can’t wait. Billy Piper comes back. Catherine Tate joins the cast. Here’s a review.

Who is your favorite Doctor Who?

It’s About Time

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Stanford announces financial aid enhancements.

Stanford University today announced the largest increase in its history for its financial aid program for undergraduates.

Under the new program, parents with incomes of less than $100,000 will no longer pay tuition. Parents with incomes of less than $60,000 will not be expected to pay tuition or contribute to the costs of room, board and other expenses.

The program also eliminates the need for student loans.

Other significant enhancements have been made to the program that will benefit aid recipients at all levels of income.

When I was at business school I heard former Stanford president Donald Kennedy speak on the need for those of us “best and brightest” to go into public service. I talked to Mr. Kennedy after his talk about the financial realities of this. When I got out of undergrad my school loan payments were as high as my rent. There is no way I could afford to take a job that didn’t pay much. In fact, my observation was that the only people who could afford to work for non-profits were those with trust funds, or those who had gone to a state school and weren’t loaded down by debt.

I didn’t pay off my combined business school and undergrad loans until I was in my mid-thirties, and then I celebrated by throwing a “zero net worth” party.

As an alumn, I’m tired of having my donations to the school go to maintaining more and bigger buildings. Stanford has a huge endowment, one of the largest in the country. There is no excuse to saddle their students with huge debt burdens that take decades to pay off and limit career choices.

Thanks to similar announcements by top tier East Coast schools, Stanford has been compelled to offer more aggressive financial aid, just to stay competitive.

All I can say is that it is about time.

Time

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Photo by Shuna Fish Lydon

Someone sent me an email to request a conversation with me tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Ever since I stopped wearing a watch with regularity a couple of years ago I’ve been struck by how tethered we are as a culture to the idea of hours and minutes. Time, as in the time of day, days of the week, is so woven into the fabric of our lives that we have a hard time organizing ourselves without considering it. We have difficulty imagining what a day would be like if it weren’t broken up into hours and minutes.

Slots to be filled with useful activities.

So, when someone wants to have a phone conversation with me, instead of just picking up the phone, they send an email, and try to find a particular slot, bounded by numbers, in which I might be available to talk with them, in a particular slot, bounded by numbers, which works well for them.

Don’t people just pick up the phone and call anymore?

The problem is that now that I work for myself, building a business that requires just my creative attention, not a consulting business that is bonded to time constraints of clients, I have a hard time with doing anything at an appointed time, and submit to it only because it is necessary and important to others. There is also TV; Dr. Who comes on at 8 pm on Friday and if I miss it, god help me if I can find a rerun. I get almost a little panicky around the hours that I need to remember, because so out-of-time-consciousness am I that I easily, completely forget. Yet when I need to wake up at a specific time, I can do so, without an alarm. Can you?

Days are a bit easier. Wednesday in the food section. Saturday I can usually get some work done because I’m not bombarded by a hundred emails that need answering. Sunday is church, whether I go or not. I’m addicted to 2 TV programs at the moment, but I don’t usually remember that they are on until a half hour before. Monday dinner, “oh, the Closer is on.” Friday dinner, “Yikes! Dr. Who starts in 5 minutes.” (Except when it doesn’t. Half the time our cable company shifts it to another time slot on Friday. Ironic. Dr. Who is a time lord.)

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