Interrelativity

Interrelativity: musings about interrelatedness

  • NPR Freeloading Considered

    It's pledge week at both of our local National Public Radio affiliate stations: KPLU and KUOW. I've been growing increasingly angry about the interruptions in news programming required to raise money to support the stations: every "pledge break" means one less news story I get to hear. I understand – and support – this practice,…

  • A short tour of small colleges in the Pacific Northwest

    My wife, 17-year-old daughter and I toured four colleges in Oregon during her mid-winter break: Reed College, Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College and Willamette University. I wanted to record a few impressions of the different places while the experience is relatively fresh, and decided to post them here, in case they are of use…

  • Positivity, Praise, Practice and Perseverance

    I was recently given an unsolicited opportunity to practice what I've preached here on my blog, about being positive (or filling buckets, as I'd put it) in the context of my family. My son came home with a mid-term report card that wasn't all As, and I immediately focused on finding the causes for the…

  • Augurs of hope, past & present: MLK, Milk, Obama & all of us’s

    Last week, on Martin Luther King Day, Amy and I watched the film, Milk, about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California (back in 1978). When we got to the Egyptian Theatre, Amy asked for two tickets to see "M-I-L-K", spelling out Milk's name. We laughed about…

  • 16 month update on my elbow Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment

    In November, I visited Dr. Allan Mishra's office for a belated followup on the platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment for elbow tendonitis he'd administered in July 2007. As was the case before my six month followup visit, I was feeling a bit disheartened at the condition of my right elbow. And fortunately, as was the…

  • 4 months, 4321 miles and 92 gallons with my 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid

    I wrote about buying a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid – my first new car in 21 years – a little over 4 months ago. My appreciation for the car has been growing over time, and I wanted to share some of the insights and experiences that have unfolded during this extended "break-in" period. First of…

  • Notes from CSCW 2008

    I attended the 2008 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work this past week in San Diego. There were a number of interesting people, papers and projects presented there, many focused on work, others focused on computer support for other kinds of cooperative and/or competitive activities. During my first few years of blogging, I had…

  • Revenge of the Community Organizers

    One of the low points of the recent U.S. presidential campaign for me – and there were many – was Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's contemptuous dismissal of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's earlier career chapter as a community organizer during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention: I guess a small-town mayor…

  • Hope and Dreams trump Fears and Smears

    The speeches of the two U.S. presidential candidates Tuesday night were hopeful and inspiring, a welcome change from the fears and smears that dominated much of the campaign … or, at least, one side of the campaign. John McCain delivered the most gracious concession speech I have ever seen, and Barack Obama delivered yet another…

  • Conservativism, Liberalism and Independence

    As the campaign draws to a close, two classic Doonesbury cartoons have been regularly recurring to me, a visual analogue to the aural experience of a song I can't get out of my head. One of them was the pithiest summary of the differences between conservatives and liberals I've ever read; the other was a…