You gotta please yourself ... on Training and Teaching (Part VIII) (10/26/2016)

This morning I had to think about the Ricky Nelson tune entitled Garden Party and the refrain:

But it is all right now, I learned my lesson well

You see, you can't please everyone, so you gotta to please yourself

and no I do not hide any overt sexual message in this quote and I do not think Ricky Nelson did either.

Going through the evaluations of the courses that I teach there is always one or two persons that misunderstand your intentions.  This last time an introduction and update of our program was seen as small talk and stalling until all the students were in.  I find it very important to let people know what is going on.

A few weeks ago we got these answers on course review questions:

3.  What did you like best about the course?  When it ended.

4.  What did you like least about the course?  Too long for value it serves for recerts.  Just another political example of ... <our agency> swinging their small sword with massive force.  Wasted hundreds in tax payer’s money for instructors + thousands in salaries and time of certified professionals.

5.  My comments or suggestions to better improve the course are: Do away with 18 credit nonsense of self-indulgence.

Thank goodness against that are 88 satisfied customers (aka students) so I am not worried, but in those cases Ricky Nelson's tune is very appropriate, and yes, the night before the class I pleased myself with a walk on the boardwalk of Virginia Beach following a pleasant dinner.  As many of you know, I am a "child" of the sea and nothing better than walking along the ocean.

I generally shy away from selfies on my blog, but what the heck.  I should try to laugh more or make crazy faces, but here you have it, wind blown and really having fun.

But I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned here.  No, you can't please everyone, and that is a good thing.  When I was in the public radio business (yes, I dabbled in that too ... <this> was the station we started) we always said that if we did not at least got one complaint per hour, no one was listening.  So having someone complain about the class means that at least that person was paying attention.  Honestly, you can do things to the best of your ability and feel good about it.  You gotta please yourself.  If you are not happy with yourself, you do a shitty job.

Social networking, booze and politics (10/18/2016)

Social networking is fun and as a family we participate heavily in it.  We share our daily life and we all like to show off and tell people how great we have it.  Even to day on Doctor Radio (SiriusXM) they were talking about it, and telling me that boys show the sports they participate in, their vomit; while girls show selfies or themselves with a group of girls smiling and they are more inward looking.  But regardless, we have it absolutely much better that all you out there.  

Not many of us share our grief or anxieties.  So now and then a friend post "I can really use your prayers today" or something like that, and then you know they are in trouble, but they really do not share much else.  You just have to guess.  Some do share more, but often do that in blogs such as this.  

I regularly follow a blog written by a woman who bares her soul.  It is sometimes gut wrenching and there is really nothing you can do but to read it, like it (as moral support), and maybe make a comment.  Most of these blogs are a form of self therapy (naturally they are an attempt of education and sharing as well); they can be and are mostly anonymous, in particular when published under a pseudonym; a few of your friends may know it is you, but many of your other readers do not know you from Adam or Eve.  I rely on social networking during my travels throughout the state and I like it in a lot of cases.  I even wrote about it almost a year ago in this blog posts <click here>.

But why am I talking about this today?

Going through my Instagram pictures, twelve of the 220 pictures I posted feature the booze (mostly beer) that I was consuming at the time.  People that like these pictures often feature pages with only beer postings.  

My Facebook postings aren't much better.  Although I do not post many drinking or booze picture, my latest picture is one of our visit to a microbrewery in Hampton this past Sunday (see the picture below).  Even on this blog, I wrote a number of wine reviews (I need to do a Virginia brewery review one of these days).  Yes, I consider myself a responsible drinker, but darn, I do advertise my drinking quite a bit.  

I took this picture this past Sunday when vising the Oozlefinch brewery at Fort Monroe in Hampton, VA

For young people they say it is bad for you to post all these things on-line, because human resources will find it when you are looking for a job and it may jeopardize getting hired when it shows you are a party animal or boozer.  They are probably correct, but that is not what is bothering me.

I am so amazed about the booze oriented society we live in and that we participate in.  Our family learned the other day that a dear and close friend of ours who we suspected of being an alcoholic was arrested for at least one DUI, had her license suspended and was caught driving without a license.  We are not sure if she was drunk at the time, but we know she is probably looking at jail time.  Last time we talked was month after her arrest and she was out on bail and she did not tell us anything.  So it looks like she does not want us to know or is afraid to admit to it; the only thing she told us was that she had lost her job but sounded very positive.  We did not know it then but we do know it now and are not sure what to say and what to do.  She does not believe in Facebook or any other social network and there is the rub.  She did not answer her phone calls and her only email address we had was through the job that she lost so we looked on line to see if she had another email address, but instead we found her mugshot and arrest record.  We are stunned and have been worried sick, but again we do not know how to approach her. 

I like my beer, my glass of wine, my single malt (not all at the same time or on the same day), but I do think publicly we are way too booze oriented.  Is social networking part of this increase focus on booze, is it a little like I have it even better than you; I drink booze that is more expensive than the stuff you are drinking; or I have more fun than you?  What ever!  But is it feeding our dependence on alcohol?  I wonder.  Also remember, one DUI and you could be without a license and that could mean without a job.  

OK people let's stop trying to poke each other's eyes out, but let's be genuinely social, interested and concerned with each other; instead of just indiscriminately liking what your friends post on Instagram or Facebook (sorry I do not do Twitter although I am being tempted in this political season).  It has already been a rough season of liking things or fighting with what were friends but now all the sudden you don't like them anymore because they are trying to push their brand of politics.  That is almost enough to push me to drinking.  So let's stop and be interested, supportive and nice to each other and have a real social network.

I promise that I am going to be less booze oriented on my social social networking sites and more supportive of my true friends.  An by the way, if you have suggestions on how to be supportive of our other friend in need let me know (but again we are not supposed to know)!

On Training, Teaching (Part VII) and Performance Reviews (October)

One performance review down and how many more to follow?  Not that it was a bad review; actually the review was pretty darn decent and I should be proud of it (yes I realize … some shameless self-promotion here), but you wonder what the use is of these annual rituals.  I always come out of these things with a bad taste in my mouth.  In private industry they were tied to promotions, raises and bonuses, and I did not believe in them back then; and let’s not talk about raises for State employees.

In a 2012 article in Forbes Magazine 2% of 645 human resources managers thought that performance reviews accomplished anything useful.  It got better, 57 % of the CEOs thought that their employees were regularly recognized for their hard work and contributions versus 9% of the employees who agreed with the CEOs.  In 2014 Josh Patrick wrote a blog in the New York Times entitles “10 Reasons Performance Reviews Don’t Work.”  Yes, I see myself in that.  I managed people and I had to review them, and it was very difficult to be honest without upsetting people or making them angry (No. 9); buy-in was always an issue (from them and from me in reviews of me) (No. 8); what follow up? (No. 6); I was never trained or given any guidance by HR in doing performance reviews (No. 3); and let’s not talk about results after a performance review (No.1).  The others did also apply, but you get the idea. 

This is a copy of a picture from an interesting article for people stepping into a performance review.  Guess what?  This is not what you do, although like me you might have felt like flipping it.

So what should be done?  I am in no way an expert or a human resources manager.  I only know what motivates me, that is: I would prefer regular feedback.  Moreover, that is regular positive or maybe constructive feedback and compliments on achievements.  But isn’t this the case for everyone?  But the forced ranking that is being done everywhere just does not work, even if it is hidden in a nice essay; you still have that ranking somewhere on the side. 

I have always been a strong believer in doing everything to the best of my ability and giving it the full 110%, in particular in my current job, where I get to teach and help to protect the environment.  I teach with the attitude that I succeed in my job today if I really educate one of two persons in my class today and they take what I taught  home and spread the word (or be a changed person).  Yes, I probably have 36 other students looking at Facebook on their phones while I teach and the remaining two probably cruising porn sites, but so be it; if I can really motivate two in a class of forty, I am happy.  That keeps me going and that is why I do the best job I can do.  I don’t need any performance reviews for that, my students write reviews of my classes at the end of the day and those are important to me.

Nature Deficit Disorder III (9/30/2016)

This weekend I am doing a presentation on Nature Deficit Disorder at the Adult Education Classes or what is called the Forum at my UU church, so I decided to put a summary of my interest/research in words in this blog.  This is the third entry on my blog with this title and if you look at the labels (keywords) there are 29 posts where I either mention the concept or somehow deal with the concept (that is including this post).  So here it goes.

Our church used this photograph of me in their announcement of my talk.  This picture was taken by Donna Briedé during our hike in Maine earlier this spring.

I guess we all know what the definition of nature is. But just in case, it is: "the physical world and everything in it (such as plants, animals, mountains, oceans, stars, etc.) that is not made by people" (Merriam Webster online dictionary).  So this includes the green and blue nature that I so enjoy and need!

On a recent morning on my way to work I drove by this lovely scene in Yorktown.  It is emblematic of the juxtaposition of the natural world and the man-made world to me.

Earlier readers of my blog know that I need to get out in nature to recharge, to get my sanity back, to get inspired, to meditate, you name it.  I am not the only one who needs it.  In the 1850s Henry David Thoreau wrote about the need to recharge (recreate) himself:

"When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most impenetrable and to the citizen , most dismal, swamp.  I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum."

In the first paragraph of Moby Dick Herman Melville writes:

"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."

Reading this paragraph you see that the only way he can keep out of trouble or from killing himself (pistol and ball) is by taking himself to a ship and going out to sea!

So whether it is the green nature of Thoreau or the blue nature of Melville it does not matter nature helps with sanity.

This principle was known for a long time by man-kind, but first articulated by Richard Louv in 2005 in his book "Last Child in the Woods" as Nature Deficit Disorder.  The author related it mostly to children, but later on and in subsequent books also relates it back to teens and adults.  The premise of the theory (book) is that we are spending less and less time in nature as civilization has progressed.  This has led to some of the ailments in society that we are currently experiencing according to Louv, or maybe we could cure some of the problems by bringing people into nature or nature to the people.

Naturally, the world is much more complex than Louv describes it in his books and I try to make it out to be, here in this blog.  But every little bit helps, at least on a personal level.  For example, Louv describes how he saw an almost 180 degree change in a gang leader from west LA when he took him for regular hikes in the nature of southern California.  Studies abound on hospital patients that heal faster when their window looks out over a natural scene as opposed over a city/non-natural scene.  Office buildings now have atriums with plants.  People with nature scene wallpaper and screen savers on their computers appear more productive at work than those who do not.  So maybe there is something to that movement that tries to fill those empty inner-city lots with pocket parks and vegetable (victory) gardens. 

In his book "Blue Mind" Wallace Nichols writes about how science now shows that being near, in, on or under water can make us happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do.  I wrote a previous post about it called "Sailing meditates me" (Yes you can click on the text and it will send you there).  Blue Mind is a fascinating book that takes you on a trip in neuroscience, ptsd, health, you name it, it is a fun and informative book to read.

But all shameless self promotion aside (and I do not consider myself a great writer or thinker), nature really does meditate me; in fact being in any type nature meditates me, like for so many others.  Some do it in groups or alone like walking meditation (click <here> for a great description of a walking meditation), or you can practice nature meditation <click here>.  Interestingly nature meditation can be done sitting or walking and I think it is nature meditation that I do when I walk in the woods or even when I sail.  My mind is usually empty or when I think of what is troubling me, I can easily divert it and go back to being in the moment and experiencing what is around me.  I have even read of guided nature meditation groups, but somehow I am not a group kinda guy. 

So lets stop being afraid of nature and embrace it.  If we cannot get out in nature lets bring it to us.  Lets push for the greening of our inner-cities, it will not stop the crime, but what do we have to loose?  As Louv puts it in a summary of his book "The term Nature Deficit Disorder refers to behavioral problem that has been seen in children and adults that can be almost directly related to the lack of exposure to nature.  A lot of these problems can be reversed by taking persons with these issues out into nature."  Maybe by bringing nature back to the people we can reverse some of the problems as well.

Roots (2) (9/18/2016)

Of late I have been fascinated by roots.  I wrote about it earlier in the year, and today I would like to revisit it.  That blog of earlier this year had more to do about how our present is rooted in our past, not bad for a biologist turned amateur psychologist I would think.  In the real world I hear they have remade the TV series called “Roots” and I constantly hear about the genetic testing to see what your roots are, but that is not where I want to go with this post.

Today I am really interested in the real roots, the things that feed plants.  Those are the ones that have fascinated me for a long time, and the interest has grown even stronger.  What has happened that sparked this interest?  Well, for the past 30 years I have wanted to grow bonsai trees.  I have had trees in training since that time or should I say I have had trees that I kept in benign neglect.  I have not managed them probably for the past 10 years, just kept them in their pots and they have not done much.  Finally this year, I somehow figured it was time that I spend some time with them.

My 30 year old Japanese Black Pine, as you can see the trunk is still really small.  The tree had almost died this spring, I root pruned it pretty severely and planted it in a new pot.  It seems to be doing well.  I wonder what next year will bring.

Well the plants were root bound.  It was surprising that the plants were still alive.  Moreover, it was not surprising that they had hardly grown and still looked like seedling after the 30 years.  After untangling the roots, I cut them some and repotted them in what I thought was a very loose soil mix and yes they are growing great (that is, compared to the past 10 years).  They really seem to like what I did to them.  Then I started to look on YouTube at various Bonsai channels and was amazed how others hacked at roots, combed them out, arranged them to make them look like a “natural” tree with spread out roots, you name it.  I hurt and I cringed when I watched them hack at the roots.  But the plants recovered and did great!  (Here is one of the channels I watch).  I was way too gentle. (And wow I just realize, going back to my first post on roots that I mentioned above, maybe cutting all or most of your personal roots may be OK in some cases; you can grow new ones and be fine).

An overview of my selection.  A lot of these plants are close to 30 years old.  I need a bigger table and bonsai pots, but we are getting somewhere.

We all know what roots do; they anchor plants and take up water and nutrients.  Well, there is much more than meets the eyes.  In my teaching I tell my students how roots assist with the decontamination of polluted stormwater.  It seems that the root tips shed sacrificial cells (a.k.a. root cap) as they push through the soil.  These cells serve as nutrients for microorganisms which in turn absorb the pollutants that are in the water and break them down.  The roots will grow longer and the microorganisms will run out of these sacrificial cells to live on.  Eventually they will die and now these pollutants that have been broken down by the microorganisms will be released and become available as  nutrients for the plants and be taken up by the roots that fed them in the first place.  Pretty cool eh?

So it is understandable that combining my interest in roots, my interest in bonsai and my background in botany with a vacation that included hiking in the woods resulted in some photographs of some cool root structures.  In bonsai we are always interested in roots over rock, or showing a nice radial root structure over the ground.  When working with ficus trees, it is fun to get aerial roots.  In other words, I have been walking in the woods being aware of roots.  Here are a few pictures of some roots I have seen lately.

We found this root in Bigelow Hollow State Park in Connecticut.  The soil must have eroded quite a but to expose this much root since roots do not typically grow like this over the air.  You only get to see them when the soil erodes away.  This tree does not look very old, which leads me to the conclusion that erosion was very fast in this area.

This photo was taken along the Appalachian Trail in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (where we went for a 7.3 mile hike).  This one looks somewhat older but again the soil has eroded quite far.  Grated this is on a ridge, but still.  I love it the way this root has found its way in and around the rock.

During our visit to Pittsburgh in July we went for a hike on the Trillium Trail and tripped over this root structure of this massive beech.  Here again, soil erosion is very evident.