Interrelativity

Interrelativity: musings about interrelatedness

  • The Darkest Hour

    There are a set of songs that always provoke a visceral reaction in me, with symptoms including tingling, goosebumps, teary eyes and, on some occasions, even sobs.  One such song is Long Time Gone, by Crosby, Stills and Nash, which I just played, and which had the intended cathartic effect. Amy has been in more…

  • Major Combat Operations have Ended … Not (Week 5 update)

    Last week, I thought — and wrote — that Amy would be done with chemotherapy and radiotherapy yesterday (Friday).  I was half right, in that the chemotherapy is over; however, her radiation oncologist wants her to undergo three more radiation sessions — with a narrower field — to help ensure that the anal cancer is…

  • Christopher Paolini on Multiculturalism, Synchronicity and Dwarven Operas

    I took Evan and two friends to see Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and Eldest, speak at Mercer Island High School at an event sponsored by Island Books on Tuesday night.  Paolini gave an engaging presentation on a number of themes related to his books and his writing process.  He said that second books of…

  • Howard Schultz on Human Needs: Community and Health Care

    I keep coming across inspiring references to Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks.  Last week, I discovered a recent interview in KNOW Magazine entitled The Art of Creating Passionate Consumers, which included the following quotes: … consumers are demanding more. They want products or services that create a powerful and enduring emotional connection. The fracturing…

  • Blogging as Therapy

    A recently published Blog Trends Survey, sponsored by AOL / Time Warner, provides some evidence that people often seek therapeutic effects from blogging.  The press release reports that Nearly 50% of respondents say they write a blog because it serves as a form of self-therapy. One-third of bloggers write about self-help and self-esteem topics. Fifty-four…

  • Getting Technical Again, with Head First Java

    After 9 years of little or no programming, I’m taking the plunge and getting technical again.  I’ve been threatening to do this, regularly, throughout this period, but ever since I finished graduate school, I’ve had the mixed blessing of working with very talented people who were more technical than I was, and so I instead…

  • The Health of our Nation: CodeBlueNow

    The Seattle Times printed an opinion piece today from two former governors on "Re-creating our health care system".  Arne H. Carlson, a Republican and former governor of Minnesota, and Booth Gardner, a Democrat and former governor of Washington, highlight the instability in our current health care system in the US and the risks such instability…

  • Reinforcements Arrive before the Final Battle (Week 4 update)

    It occurs to me that we’re actually at the end of week 5 since the start of Amy’s cancer treatment, but given that she had a week-and-a-day hiatus from radiotherapy, this can still be considered the end of week 4 based on the number of treatments (20) … and that way the headers on my…

  • Three NWEN Authors on Sex and Intimacy, Interpreneurism and Foundering Founders

    Friday morning I attended another inspiring NWEN Venture Breakfast, headlined by three authors — all of whom are NWEN members — sharing their insights and experiences in the entrepreneurial world.  Due to the short time frame (one hour), each author was asked to focus on 5 takeaways from their respective books. Prior to the three…

  • Meeting Industry Summit: Climbing, Relating, Stategizing

    I attended the Meeting Industry Summit at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle on Thursday.  It was, as one might expect from an event run by meeting professionals (primarily from the local chapters of PCMA and MPI), well-planned, well-organized and very worthwhile. In the opening keynote, Sue Ershler shared her approach of…