Be Still

Observing Yom Kippur this past week had a way of focusing me that I did not expect. I woke up on Thursday morning hearing the Lord speaking over and over to me, "Be still and know that I am God." I lay frozen in my bed for quite a while. While I lay under my cozy blankets, I experienced a peace and calm that was wonderful. Although the phone calls that had gone to my voicemail earlier that morning plagued me a little, I realized that those calls could wait until the next day. Since then, I have felt a sense of calm that I haven't had for a long time. It is a realization that God is in charge and I need to trust Him. If I get fully stressed about a situation, it does not change what needs to be done to accomplish the task. Why do I work myself into mental exhaustion? What is the benefit?

One of the things that I have realized from observing God's appointed times is that I am more open/able to hear what He is saying on those days because distractions are nearly gone. The best part is that He speaks, wants to communicate with us, and desires good things for us. Blessed be His Name.

Too Busy

Clearly I haven't posted anything for a while. There is a reason for that--I have been very busy. I thought my busyness would be through August and then ease up in September, but that did not prove to be the case. September has been almost more stressful that August was. When will it end? I guess there is a point where I have to say "enough is enough--I need my life back." I want to blog again. I want to sit and think about things other than the mountain of work sitting on my desk. I recall those projects that I put off several months ago thinking that I would get to them in September, and now it is almost October. They say time flies when you are having fun. It also flies when you are really busy.

A woman in a male-dominated field

Those of you who know me know that I work in male-dominated fields (engineering and construction). For the most part I feel like I am treated fairly and am respected by the men with whom I work. However, there continue to be remnants of male chauvinism that rear their ugly heads. Even though I am the one making the final decisions, some of the men tend to ask the other men on my team rather than talking to me. The other day, one of the engineers with whom I am working blatantly challenged my request, but listened to the men who reiterated what I had requested of him. I try not to be paranoid about it, but sometimes it is hard to ignore the fact that being a woman in this field is still a bit of a novelty, and some men don't know how to respond. When I see or hear gender-biased responses toward me, I usually choose to ignore them and act as if the person didn't mean it. I am of the opinion that if I act with the expectation that they respect me, they will in respond in such a manner. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't happen, but I am learning to live with it.

The day that went wrong

I had one of THOSE days. You know the type--when it seems that everything that can go wrong does. Some things that I didn't think were possible to go wrong went wrong today, or so it seemed. I made my list, and from 7am until 9:30 pm the number of items on my "went wrong" list was over 14. These were not little items either. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder if I can face another day of such problem solving. I guess the good news is that I was able to reach a semi-reasonable solution for most of the items on my "went wrong" list. The problem is that these solutions will definitely have a negative impact on my schedule--just when I thought I had a schedule that would work. Maybe tomorrow will be a day when everything goes right for once. I hope I can write that post.

A modern day moral tale

Last week I gave an employee a coupon, which I had been given, for a $2 grande cold beverage at Starbucks. He proceeded to try to determine the most expensive drink he could order to maximize the coupon. He returned from his trip to the coffee shop with his receipt in hand telling me that he had ordered a 13 shot, venti, soy, hazelnut, vanilla, cinammon, white mocha, with extra white mocha, caramel beverage. The total price of the drink was $11.50. He was upset that they did not honor the coupon by giving him that drink for $2. I was not surprised that he had to pay for such a crazy order, especially when he ordered the wrong drink size (venti rather than grande). I was however rather dumbfounded that he even attempted such a strategy. He said the drink tasted terrible, and after he had drunk just a little from the top his hands were visibly shaking. I told him he couldn't finish the drink on the job because I wanted him to be able to think clearly. So, I retell this tale because it is so outrageous and because it illustrates a moral lesson. Don't try to take advantage of someone else's goodwill. You will probably end up paying for it in the end, and the other party will be less likely to offer their benevolence again.

Wasted Energy

If you have worked in a wood shop you have probably heard the saying "Measure twice and cut once." I wish there was more of this type of attitude in industry. I have to believe that if we were to live by this motto a little more often we would consume less of our precious resources. One obvious area of savings would be time. I don't know how much time I have spent fixing other people's gross negligence. It is very frustrating. We all know that time relates to money, so we could save some of that too. In a more subtle way, it could be the new motto for "going green." Think about the amount of electricity, gasoline, and raw materials that are wasted by producing and transporting products that are not made to specifications. I would venture to say that the amount of precious natural resources that are wasted due to people's careless inaccuracy is astounding. Maybe we could start a new saying "Think twice, act once." That's something to think about.

When all the pieces fit

I have been in a situation at work where I always feel overworked and understaffed. I have recently hired 2 more people to off-load some of the work, and they were immediately very busy (and I am still very busy). What was I thinking? I guess I bite off more than I can chew sometimes. It all sounds simple on paper.

I have learned a couple things from this experience. The first is that I can be many times more effective by delegating (I have had to work on retraining my brain in this area because as a grad student I had to do everything myself for my projects). The second lesson is that there is no substitute for quality workers. Finding people who are dependable and attentive to details is not always easy but so valuable. I don't know what I would have done at this point in time if I had not taken the risk to hire more people. Fortunately, the Lord put good people in my path--I am blessed.

A Simplified Life?

I decided a couple years ago that I wanted to simplify my life--to slow down and not run myself ragged. I don't know how good of a job I am doing in keeping with that idea. It feels like I don't have enough hours in the day to do everything that is on my list. How does that happen?

Maybe there is a false perception about technology. Because technology "makes our lives easier," which it does in many cases, we might think that our lives will be less complicated. That is not necessarily the case. I was talking to my mom last night and she was mentioning how 40 years ago, very large educational programs were run by one secretary. They had methods for charting out their filing systems for quick access to information. Now she says that in those same places (with fewer students) they have a team of office staff in order to handle the load. I was telling her that maybe the expectations are different now--perhaps we expect to have answers/solutions much more quickly than in the past.

I would venture to say that because technology has made some tasks so much easier (running water from a tap, throwing our clothes into the washing machine, driving a car to the store, doing our banking online), we tend to try to pack more into a day. We have much less patient when we want something, so our frustrations become greater. My mom was also telling me that my grandmother designated one day each week for a different task: cleaning, baking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, & ironing. Now we think all of those things should be done in a flash, so we can get on with all of our other things.

So here I am writing a post on my blog (it was on my to-do list).

Collapse

This week everyone has been talking about the collapes of the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, which was a very tragic event. I have been over that bridge at least a couple times over the last several years when I have been in Minneapolis. I have friends and relatives who live in the Twin Cities who could have been on that bridge when it collapsed, but as far as I know they were not. We can praise God that the anticipated number who perished is much lower than initially expected.

Now comes the investigation period. How did it happen? Why did it happen? Who was at fault? I am sure by incorporating video footage, forensic evidence, and circumstancial evidence (loads, temperature, etc.) that the first two questions will be answered fairly conclusively.

The last question is the one that could continue for a long time--"who was at fault?" I am guessing there will be a lot of finger pointing. The government will probably blame the engineers, and the engineers will blame the government. There will be a lot of finger pointing within each group as well. Of course everyone will want to pass on the responsibility. And in reality, the responsibility does not likely rest on one individual and is probably shared by many. Many times engineering decisions are not based solely on observed data, but are tempered by financial and political considerations. Too often significant repairs are not undertaken because the cost is great and useful service of the entity will be diminished or closed while work is being done.

I have absolutely no basis for assuming the following scenario, but this is a situation that I imagine could have happened. I imagine a meeting where bridge inspectors reported their findings to a group of decision-makers. They probably said that the bridge had some deficiencies that needed to be corrected. The people controlling the budget probably said that there was no money for such repairs and asked for a plan that would streamline the cost for incremental repairs, so they could be planned in the budget for years ahead. This scenario happens all the time in the engineering world. Engineers give recommendations for proper repairs, and the engineering plans are cut back to fit the budget. In some cases, this may not necessarily be a bad thing as it may force an engineer to focus on the essentials, and perhaps cause him/her to think outside-the-box on how to accomplish the goals in a more cost-effective manner. (I am sure we can all think of times when a "Cadillac" solution has been suggested when a "Kia" would be sufficient.) However, when budget constraints overpower sound engineering judgment, the consequences can be devastating. We probably won't really know what happened in this case for many months, but we all can learn some lessons here.

Orcas Island

Today, our lab took a ferry to Orcas Island for our annual outing. We rode mopeds around the island and went to the top of Mt. Constitution. It was a lot of fun, and the scenery was beautiful. Here are a few photos from our excursion. What a great way to encourage team-building!

Some sail boats viewed from the ferry.

The view from the top of Mt. Constitution.

Our group getting ready to ride.

Created to Create

This is another post which was inspired by the Truth Project. Have you ever thought about the fact that since we are created in the image of God that we have been "created to create?" It is quite a remarkable thought that the Creator of the universe created us to build/create too. Wow! "For six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." The Bible instructs us to also work for six days and then to rest. I have been told that the word for "work" might be better translated as "create."

Sometimes I get a little bit disturbed by American culture's attitude toward "work." There is not much encouragement for being creative (I am not meaning artistic) unless you can come up with some grand new invention that make tons of money. Everything seems so money driven. It seems that mass production, which has made many products cheaper to buy than to make, has put a damper on people's ingenuity/creativity. Many people would not know how to build/make something if their life depended on it. I know I have caught myself thinking, "I could make that, but it would cost me more in time & materials to make it than it would to just buy it." Sometimes we forget the satisfaction that comes from making something with our own two hands.