Dream State is one where protesting seems a way of life. Or let's say if you were a protester of something, you'd likely end up here.
In my prior state, I can't say I recall ever seeing a protest.
Wait, I take that back. I remember one that occurred just as I was moving to my first grad school city. Unlike the ghost town mentioned in the article, however, I remember driving into the foreign city and seeing Cubans lining the streets waving Cuban flags, yelling, jeering...you name it.
It was a super awesome welcome. I nearly returned home.
Anyway. So here, it is pretty normal. I've seen people out in front of what I can only assume was a Planned Parenthood location praying and offering literature. I've also seen people protesting circumcision*. The theme in all of these protests is that they consist of a group of people who come together about a topic and I assume attempt to educate the public or at least draw attention to their issue.There's probably a social component to the decision to belong to the group and go out on a protest.
What I don't understand are individual protesters. Just a single guy with a sign around his neck yelling out whatever his slogan is for his issue. I suppose this could include the staple religious fanatic you find at probably every college in the country...but still this is a bit different. The religious zealot has a pattern wherein he or she arrives on campus say, every Wednesday and yells out Bible verses. What I'm talking about is the random seemingly ordinary person who shows up on a busy corner one day and yells. The next day he's gone, never to be seen again.
But here's what I'm wondering the most. What goes through the guy's head before he shows up on the corner? Is it a spur of the moment decision? You're just so worked up about the issue that you grab some card board, write a message, and yell? Or is it planned? You have Thursday's off so you're thinking you might head up to the corner of Main and Central around maybe 4:30. Then hang out till rush hour foot traffic dies down around 7 and then head back to watch some Bones. In which case, what if something comes up? Do you postpone your protest until Friday or the following Thursday or do you kind of lose interest and take up being a sports team groupy? What does this individual get out of his single protest? And, does he believe he really made a difference?
Today's random was yelling about: Obama-fraud, medicare-fraud, Obama-fraud, mortgage-fraud, Obama-fraud.
I think I get his point (regardless of whether I agree or not) but don't you think you'd come up with a better chant that specifies your concern as opposed to making your 'audience' guess what exactly you're protesting? I mean is the guy not wanting us to vote for Obama again, blaming Obama for the economy, saying Obama is a fraud...or something else?
I'm no protester, but I'm thinking you'd want to reduce the cognitive effort required by your 'audience' so they can agree with you more easily.
*It's got to be awkward calling in the banner order to kinkos and asking it to say in 4 foot lettering "Keep your laws off my penis!" I'm just saying.
I bet you thought this posting was going to be about my opinion about circumcision, didn't you? I hope you weren't too disappointed by the time you got this far into the post.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
What would it hurt?
I don't understand why a supervisor would tell you that there is no point in doing a particular task that is an inherent part of doing our job well. It has happened twice in the past month.
Ok, I understand from the perspective that our field isn't well appreciated in our workplace so perhaps the results of the task would not be fully appreciated. But if it doesn't cost more, won't effect my ability to do other work, and it's the right thing to do...what does it hurt?
There may be any number of reasons that our field is not valued in our organization - but I don't think we're doing ourselves any favors by not doing what defines us as valuable. I'd like to believe that someday a need will arise that we can address, that will showcase our value, and that we have prepared to be in the spotlight and represent.
That said, I am working nights to get the task done despite the supervisor's lack of support. I refuse to let someone else's apathy and learned-helplessness prevent me from doing my job to the best of my ability. I believe in it, and I feel bound to do it if only because of the training I'd received in all of my 9 years of grad school.
Ok, I understand from the perspective that our field isn't well appreciated in our workplace so perhaps the results of the task would not be fully appreciated. But if it doesn't cost more, won't effect my ability to do other work, and it's the right thing to do...what does it hurt?
There may be any number of reasons that our field is not valued in our organization - but I don't think we're doing ourselves any favors by not doing what defines us as valuable. I'd like to believe that someday a need will arise that we can address, that will showcase our value, and that we have prepared to be in the spotlight and represent.
That said, I am working nights to get the task done despite the supervisor's lack of support. I refuse to let someone else's apathy and learned-helplessness prevent me from doing my job to the best of my ability. I believe in it, and I feel bound to do it if only because of the training I'd received in all of my 9 years of grad school.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
ZZt ZZt
Yesterday was the day of the ZZt ZZt. Also known as the day I went under the laser to kill some hair follicles.
I've been excited for weeks but by the time I actually arrived I was a little nervous about what to expect. I'm just not the kind of person that does anything permanent to her body - I'm just that much of a commitment-phobe. Plus, there were varying reports of whether it was going to hurt.
In the end, it was less painful than having eyebrows waxed. At least in my opinion. The woman also kept increasing the number (whatever that means) because my skin was tolerant of it. She claims this means that I should require few treatments. And, there was a bit of burnt hair smell that was somewhat unexpected.
I gotta say. It was kind of anti-climatic. She warned me that it may take up to four weeks for my little hair-friends fall out.
I've got my eye on you little hairs - and you have been evicted!
I've been excited for weeks but by the time I actually arrived I was a little nervous about what to expect. I'm just not the kind of person that does anything permanent to her body - I'm just that much of a commitment-phobe. Plus, there were varying reports of whether it was going to hurt.
In the end, it was less painful than having eyebrows waxed. At least in my opinion. The woman also kept increasing the number (whatever that means) because my skin was tolerant of it. She claims this means that I should require few treatments. And, there was a bit of burnt hair smell that was somewhat unexpected.
I gotta say. It was kind of anti-climatic. She warned me that it may take up to four weeks for my little hair-friends fall out.
I've got my eye on you little hairs - and you have been evicted!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Standing up for the right reasons or pride?
I'm having an internal debate. Mostly because PC won't firmly take a side.
Here's the thing, I'm often a bit more sensitive to what I consider injustices - to myself and others. Top this off with my recent fascination with women's leadership books.*
Last week my boss and I received an email from someone who is doing some work for us. While Boss and I both have the expertise to do the work our organization often hires others to do it. Boss and I had recommended a change to a product based on our experience within the organization and based on what we believed would make the product better.
The other outside person responded back with several reasons why our suggestion would not work as we expected. I respect the opinion of those doing the work and I believe the reasons provided were valid and well thought out.
However. The email was laden with what I perceived as condescension.
Here's a completely vague example:
Dear Boss and Abbey,
We have thought a lot about your suggestion (a very good suggestion). However, we believe the suggestion (which was good) might not work as you expect. We believe that while your suggestion was very good:
1. Blah blah blah is more widely used that yours (which was very good)
2. Yours (which I might add is excellent) might be more difficult for several reasons.
3. Blah blah blah.
If once you've tested out our way, and you still think your way (which was perfectly good) is better we will change it with no questions asked.
Thanks for considering our offer :)
Yes, those parentheses comments were actually included. Yes, they actually said in writing that if we don't like our way (which we are paying them to do) won't be questioned if we still disagree. And YES there was a smiley face.
A few pieces of additional context:
This project was recently run by someone I like to call The Devil. The Devil's quick to make firm decisions with no rational based in expertise and then intimidates people into not questioning. Early in the project the Devil had made a significant decision (which we did not know about until it was handed over) that influenced the life-span of the utility of the project to less than before the project would be over. Basically completely ridiculous, a theoretical, and not blessed by higher-ups to whom Boss and I will now answer to because it is ours. It seems that while the people doing the job negotiated to expand the decision somewhat, it was still going to make the product completely useless.
Second piece of context. Boss does not rock the boat. Ever. Boss gets angry, vents to me, and then it goes no further. Boss' been doing this job for 20 years.
Third piece of context. I appear to be in my mid to late 20's despite my actual age and the people we are working with are connected with me on linked in so they know I've had my degree for 2 years and they've been doing this work for 10.
So when this email came out, I immediately responded to Boss saying I was trying very hard to not roll my eyes. Boss called, we discussed, agreed it was condescending, and Boss said we'd just go with their recommendation because it was easier than arguing. Boss responded back to the others with a 'sounds good'.
What!
Alright, so here's my internal debate (assuming you made it this far). I'm fine with the possibility that the other idea is better and I am not one to insist on my way because I don't know everything and perhaps they are right. I'm even fine with giving them the opportunity to let us pre-test their recommendation. What I'm not ok is what I perceive as platitudes to our expertise and desires for how the product should be done. I think because Boss does waffles, poses desires in the form of questions and excepts no as an answer, and doesn't like confrontation that the other people think that they can speak to us this way. And, based on my reading women have a tendency to suck up these kinds of subtle slights in an effort to maintain positive relations but lose their credibility and authority.
I think this is a good opportunity to expect and request to be treated with the respect that I have earned as a professional in the field and as a subject matter expert who has an appreciation for how our organization really works.
So, I'd like to call the sender of the email on Monday and explain that I appreciate the recommendations and the rationale that was clearly well-thought out. However, whether it was intended or not the email itself was condescending and I'd appreciate it if she'd reconsider that approach with me in the future. (actually I can't come up with a good second half after the condescending part).
What do you think? How would you position your feedback to this person if you think it's appropriate to address it?
* I've been reading Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office (a quick read with some interesting tips) and Her Place at the Table (a harder read but also targeted in making sure you prepare yourself for moving up the career ladder). I highly recommend both.
Here's the thing, I'm often a bit more sensitive to what I consider injustices - to myself and others. Top this off with my recent fascination with women's leadership books.*
Last week my boss and I received an email from someone who is doing some work for us. While Boss and I both have the expertise to do the work our organization often hires others to do it. Boss and I had recommended a change to a product based on our experience within the organization and based on what we believed would make the product better.
The other outside person responded back with several reasons why our suggestion would not work as we expected. I respect the opinion of those doing the work and I believe the reasons provided were valid and well thought out.
However. The email was laden with what I perceived as condescension.
Here's a completely vague example:
Dear Boss and Abbey,
We have thought a lot about your suggestion (a very good suggestion). However, we believe the suggestion (which was good) might not work as you expect. We believe that while your suggestion was very good:
1. Blah blah blah is more widely used that yours (which was very good)
2. Yours (which I might add is excellent) might be more difficult for several reasons.
3. Blah blah blah.
If once you've tested out our way, and you still think your way (which was perfectly good) is better we will change it with no questions asked.
Thanks for considering our offer :)
Yes, those parentheses comments were actually included. Yes, they actually said in writing that if we don't like our way (which we are paying them to do) won't be questioned if we still disagree. And YES there was a smiley face.
A few pieces of additional context:
This project was recently run by someone I like to call The Devil. The Devil's quick to make firm decisions with no rational based in expertise and then intimidates people into not questioning. Early in the project the Devil had made a significant decision (which we did not know about until it was handed over) that influenced the life-span of the utility of the project to less than before the project would be over. Basically completely ridiculous, a theoretical, and not blessed by higher-ups to whom Boss and I will now answer to because it is ours. It seems that while the people doing the job negotiated to expand the decision somewhat, it was still going to make the product completely useless.
Second piece of context. Boss does not rock the boat. Ever. Boss gets angry, vents to me, and then it goes no further. Boss' been doing this job for 20 years.
Third piece of context. I appear to be in my mid to late 20's despite my actual age and the people we are working with are connected with me on linked in so they know I've had my degree for 2 years and they've been doing this work for 10.
So when this email came out, I immediately responded to Boss saying I was trying very hard to not roll my eyes. Boss called, we discussed, agreed it was condescending, and Boss said we'd just go with their recommendation because it was easier than arguing. Boss responded back to the others with a 'sounds good'.
What!
Alright, so here's my internal debate (assuming you made it this far). I'm fine with the possibility that the other idea is better and I am not one to insist on my way because I don't know everything and perhaps they are right. I'm even fine with giving them the opportunity to let us pre-test their recommendation. What I'm not ok is what I perceive as platitudes to our expertise and desires for how the product should be done. I think because Boss does waffles, poses desires in the form of questions and excepts no as an answer, and doesn't like confrontation that the other people think that they can speak to us this way. And, based on my reading women have a tendency to suck up these kinds of subtle slights in an effort to maintain positive relations but lose their credibility and authority.
I think this is a good opportunity to expect and request to be treated with the respect that I have earned as a professional in the field and as a subject matter expert who has an appreciation for how our organization really works.
So, I'd like to call the sender of the email on Monday and explain that I appreciate the recommendations and the rationale that was clearly well-thought out. However, whether it was intended or not the email itself was condescending and I'd appreciate it if she'd reconsider that approach with me in the future. (actually I can't come up with a good second half after the condescending part).
What do you think? How would you position your feedback to this person if you think it's appropriate to address it?
* I've been reading Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office (a quick read with some interesting tips) and Her Place at the Table (a harder read but also targeted in making sure you prepare yourself for moving up the career ladder). I highly recommend both.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bummer
Yesterday as I was dealing with the unfortunate consequences of procrastination as it relates to not remembering to get my prescription filled, I noticed at the top of the prescription sheet the my age was listed as 34.
I have to admit I was a little pissed that my insurance company couldn't get my age correct. I mean for goodness sakes, they have my year of birth! "Do the freaking math!" I thought.
I logged into my insurance account with the intent of updating my age only to find you can't do that online. I looked to see if there was some option to send a strongly worded email but after a few minutes got distracted and didn't finish my search.
All day yesterday I was kind of annoyed.
This morning the discussion of age arose with PC, seeing as how his birthday is coming up this week. I was teasing him about his age. This reminded me of my experience the day before and I told him the same story.
He says, "Well, are you 34?"
I said, "No, I'm 32. Perhaps 33...I haven't really done the math...but I know 34 is wrong."
He asks, "What year were you born again?" I tell him...he literally counts on his fingers (I think just to mock me).
Turns out I'm 34.
Bummer.
He says I can be 32 if I want to be.
I have to admit I was a little pissed that my insurance company couldn't get my age correct. I mean for goodness sakes, they have my year of birth! "Do the freaking math!" I thought.
I logged into my insurance account with the intent of updating my age only to find you can't do that online. I looked to see if there was some option to send a strongly worded email but after a few minutes got distracted and didn't finish my search.
All day yesterday I was kind of annoyed.
This morning the discussion of age arose with PC, seeing as how his birthday is coming up this week. I was teasing him about his age. This reminded me of my experience the day before and I told him the same story.
He says, "Well, are you 34?"
I said, "No, I'm 32. Perhaps 33...I haven't really done the math...but I know 34 is wrong."
He asks, "What year were you born again?" I tell him...he literally counts on his fingers (I think just to mock me).
Turns out I'm 34.
Bummer.
He says I can be 32 if I want to be.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Calling the stats gurus
I'm hoping someone out there can help me with this SPSS problem. I'm trying to calculate an index score. However, the index score isn't a simple summation of several items - perhaps weighting some, perhaps recoding some. No. Because I know how to do that.
The scale is calculated as the average of the percentage of respondents that answer 4 or 5 on one item, a 4 or 5 on item 2, and a 4 or 5 on item 3.
Let me give you an example. Let's say we have 10 respondents. On item one, 5 people give a score of 4 or 5 - or 50%. On item two, 4 people rate a 4 or 5 - or 40%. On item three, only 2 people give a rating of 4 or 5 - or 20%.
The scale score would be (50% + 40% + 20%)/3.
Now yes, I fully acknowledge I could do this formula in excel. However, I'm not any good with excel beyond basic arithmetic. And, I've already created some new variables in SPSS and the file won't export into excel.
Now, I also realize I could do this by hand. Herein lies the problem. While the score is interesting, I want to be able to conduct t-tests for the people that responded to the measure before an event (pre) and after an event (post). The theory is that people after the event responded more positively or negatively than those who responded before the event. And, I further wanted to do an analysis of responses by day of the week to see if there was any pattern about when in the week was the most positive or negative results if at all (I don't think there is but my boss keeps saying it's true and we've never conducted actual analysis to verify).
As far as I've gotten at this point is it feels like dummy coding is needed. So 4 or 5s are now 1 and 1, 2, 3 are now 0. When I run frequencies I can get percentages...but now I am stuck.
Help!
The scale is calculated as the average of the percentage of respondents that answer 4 or 5 on one item, a 4 or 5 on item 2, and a 4 or 5 on item 3.
Let me give you an example. Let's say we have 10 respondents. On item one, 5 people give a score of 4 or 5 - or 50%. On item two, 4 people rate a 4 or 5 - or 40%. On item three, only 2 people give a rating of 4 or 5 - or 20%.
The scale score would be (50% + 40% + 20%)/3.
Now yes, I fully acknowledge I could do this formula in excel. However, I'm not any good with excel beyond basic arithmetic. And, I've already created some new variables in SPSS and the file won't export into excel.
Now, I also realize I could do this by hand. Herein lies the problem. While the score is interesting, I want to be able to conduct t-tests for the people that responded to the measure before an event (pre) and after an event (post). The theory is that people after the event responded more positively or negatively than those who responded before the event. And, I further wanted to do an analysis of responses by day of the week to see if there was any pattern about when in the week was the most positive or negative results if at all (I don't think there is but my boss keeps saying it's true and we've never conducted actual analysis to verify).
As far as I've gotten at this point is it feels like dummy coding is needed. So 4 or 5s are now 1 and 1, 2, 3 are now 0. When I run frequencies I can get percentages...but now I am stuck.
Help!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Back on the wagon - though the wheels could use some fixin
I've officially made it through a little over three weeks back with Weight Watchers. I've had some overall frustrations with the new plan from the technological perspective more than the actual diet plan.
In my opinion, if you're going to roll out a new system and not give users any option to stay with the old plan, you better have your freaking ducks in a row. But despite the new system being out for 7 months there's still major glitches in their point estimators. And, I'd completely forgive that if the algorithm was something you could kind of eyeball like the old one.Now, without a true point value for many of the foods I eat, I have to guess or possibly accept the higher point values that the website seems to give.
That said, I'm down nearly 10 pounds with minimal exercise. This is significantly faster than when I used the old plan, so that is positive. Plus, I figure if I add in some exercise the weight should come off even faster. Granted I'm only looking for another 5 pounds down to get to my fantasy weight...but still.
* It seems that when you enter something like oatmeal it gives you a high number, but when you actually enter the nutrition values into the calculator its something like 5 points higher than true. As someone who only gets 29 points a day, a 5 point over estimate is the difference between a real dinner or a salad.
In my opinion, if you're going to roll out a new system and not give users any option to stay with the old plan, you better have your freaking ducks in a row. But despite the new system being out for 7 months there's still major glitches in their point estimators. And, I'd completely forgive that if the algorithm was something you could kind of eyeball like the old one.Now, without a true point value for many of the foods I eat, I have to guess or possibly accept the higher point values that the website seems to give.
That said, I'm down nearly 10 pounds with minimal exercise. This is significantly faster than when I used the old plan, so that is positive. Plus, I figure if I add in some exercise the weight should come off even faster. Granted I'm only looking for another 5 pounds down to get to my fantasy weight...but still.
* It seems that when you enter something like oatmeal it gives you a high number, but when you actually enter the nutrition values into the calculator its something like 5 points higher than true. As someone who only gets 29 points a day, a 5 point over estimate is the difference between a real dinner or a salad.
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