January 8, 2007

• erratic, chaotic, flaky, and happy

  A week or two ago, Doug turned from whatever he had been writing and asked me, “Just what IS the precise definition of “flaky?”  I tossed out a few words such as unreliable and inconsistent, then said, “Look in the dictionary beside the word ‘flaky’ and you’ll see a picture of me.”  I guess it’s the one word, besides “spacy,” that has been applied to me more than any other.

  I wasn’t out of bed yet today when probably the best synonym for flaky popped into my mind:  erratic.  That’s me, fershure.  Most of the time, I’m happy, joyous and free, at peace with myself, the world, and everyone in it.  Then, something will nudge me out of my state of hozho, and I feel like pouring the whole world, including myself, a big dose of

  

  Other times, I’d just like to swallow a handful of

  

  My mental focus has been chaotic lately, jumping all over the place even more than usual.  I have started two new blog entries, one with a psychosocial slant and the other more semantical in nature.  Unable to concentrate and focus on finishing either one of them or starting something new, yesterday I did some long-neglected revision on an old post.

  

  I added some new pictures, tightened up the prose, and gave it a title since it predates that nifty xTools feature.  It is now called, “I dreamed I was half naked…“.

  Since I barely find enough time at the computer to write and post entries here, much less read what you’ve been writing, or do the XHTML and CSS work on the two new websites I’m supposed to be building, I decided to branch out in two new directions, to care2.com/susitnasue and to tribe.net, where I am Kathy Lynn.

  None of those commitments, nor all of them together, is enough to keep this mind from flitting from one new focus to another.  For example, there’s this:

  

  In case you don’t recognize it, this is the latest thing in floor plans for warehouses.  The engineers at University of Arkansas and Auburn University who designed it call it “fishbone.”  They estimate it will save about 20% on pallet pickup time over the now-standard rectilinear shelving arrangement.  This is one of those things that I just looked at and thought, first, “yeah!” and next, “Why did it take this long to get it?” 

  Now I’m wondering how long it will take before it catches on and takes over.  I can’t see very many companies rearranging existing warehouses.  The legs on those steel pallet racks are set into the concrete floors.  It may take a while before even every new warehouse will be built this way, I suppose.

  

  It’s cold here, about twenty below zero Fahrenheit.  That’s about thirty below zero Celsius.  Since I sat down here this morning, I’ve gotten up twice to stuff more firewood into the stove, and once more to remove my footwear and add a pair of wool socks inside the polar fleece socks, polar fleece booties and down-filled booties I was already wearing. 

  Warm feet are happy feet, a joy, indeed!  I’m happy, but not because my feet are warm.  I’m not happy because of anything.  I’m just happy because I like being happy so I choose to feel joy — for now, until I forget and once again slip out of hozho.

  As if winter cold and deepening snow weren’t enough to occupy whatever thoughts I have left over from my online activities and the news of the world, in just 53 more days — GUESS WHAT!

  
  Iditarod XXXV
  

  One hundred and nine teams signed up and ten of them have already withdrawn, including children’s book author Gary Paulsen from New Mexico and local musher Ted English.  Of the 99 still set to start on March 3, sixteen are women, eight entrants are from outside the U.S., and thirty-six are rookies, running the Last Great Race for the very first time.

  

  One of the rookies is Hernan Maquieira from Argentina.  Last year, he was here during Iditarod handling dogs for Italian musher Fabrizio Lovati.  This year he will be running Lovati’s puppy team.  Isn’t he beautiful?  So is his wife.

  Did you know that they have sled dog racing in South America?  It’s true.  Hernan is a three-time winner of the Ushuaia Sled Dog Race, in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

  DON’T PUSH THIS BUTTON!

  

  

  • 7:45 pm
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