growyourwings: (CHEER Take your shoes off)
I haven't slept much, as I feared, and am off for my graveyard shift.  I can't decide if I want it to be quiet so I don't have to deal with issues or if I want it to be busy so I can stay awake until 7am.

I'm doing a lot of self-reflection lately about careers, etc.  Still really love my job.  But I have to admit, my happy place is photography.  I'm really looking forward to Vancon.

/end random 

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growyourwings: (CHEER Take your shoes off)
I worked with Rich Halley for years (decades?) at my previous workplace.   For years we sat next to each other and we worked on teams/projects together for many years.   Rich's passion is playing sax.   He used to give me his CDs when he first started producing them many years ago.

Via LinkedIn this morning I learned from him that he now has a page on Wikipedia!  How cool is that?

Rich Halley on Wikipedia.

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growyourwings: (CHEER Take your shoes off)
I ended up watching both Trek Nation and The Captains on Netflix last night (stayed up til 2:45 am!).   Really enjoyed both.

In The Captains, Shatner interviews all the captains of all the Star Trek shows and movies.   Fickleone tried to get me to watch this a year of so ago.   Shatner is a really good interviewer.   It's like he really connects with the person he is talking with.   I swear Patrick Stewart was about to go into tears at one point when Shatner asked him about the toll being on the show took on his marriages.   I loved the bit where Patrick Stewart talks about how working on TNG helped him to learn that it was okay to both work *and* have fun.   Actually I found myself being both astounded and interested in all the interviews.    Kate Mulgrew is a very strong woman.  I like how she admitted that she had a strong ego.  I was very interested in her recounting of how her profession has impacted her personal life.  How upfront she was about the toll it took on her children (and how they still resent it.)   I even found the exchange between Shatner and Mulgrew about women leaders to be interesting.   Not sure I completely agree, but the fact they had the discussion and the way the discussion was held and their responses, I found interesting.   (BTW, I loved the "captain in a box bit.")   I really enjoyed Scott Bakula a lot and even Chris Pine,  My jury is still very out about how I feel Pine is representing Kirk, but this interview gave me hope about that.

I also found the various conversations about the long and hard work days/weeks/years.   It matched up with what we've heard from the Js over the years.   As I listened to Stewart and Mulgrew and Bakula and Shatner talk about the toll it took on their personal relationship and their children, I couldn't help but think of the boys and hope that somehow they've found a magic way of resolving the conflict of long hours and also having a personal life.   Yes I know many of us, me included, have been less than pleased at some of the recent character and plot points of the show and how the brothers are just as frequently not together as together.   I think we've all realized that the guys must have negotiated some free time into their contracts.   I know they get paid a lot and it's a choice and all.   But despite the toll on the story at times, I'm still happy that they may be able to find some personal time as well.   I also found Stewart's comment about how long the crew worked (usually 6 days) and that the crew likely had even less breaks than the cast.   I'm all over the place with this, but bottom line is that the conversations about long work hours and personal life and choices and balance - have come at a point in my own life when I'm internally fighting through some of these issues myself.   Each of these people have reached a level of success in their professions (and I'm not really talking monetary success) that is rare.  And that success demanded sacrifice.  Most of them expressed regret about those sacrifices, but they also seemed ultimately happy.   Obviously (despite the ignorance of youth) you cannot get through life without regrets.

And on a related note, I found it interesting learning about Gene Roddenberry's own son who produced and was the interviewer in Trek Nation.  He also would have said that his father's profession (and ST) had a negative impact on his life as Gene's son.   Until he became an adult and started learning more about his father from the perspective of others.   Didn't chance his own feelings of hurt as Gene's son, but it did give him a different perspective.

Avery Brooks was fascinating.   Towards the end I was murmuring that he was a bit "wacka-doodle" - but I meant it in a interesting and good way.  In fact after watching his sequences I found myself wanting to watch all of DS9, shich I'm sorry to say is my least favorite of the shows, although I know for many ST fans, it is considered the best.   I never enjoyed the more war-like and conflict centric aspect of that series.   In fact, while watching Trek Nation, as Roddenberry was describing his vision of what ST was about, I realized how much I had embraced that vision as a child and DS9 breaks, or perhaps goes beyond?, that vision.   From what I gathered from watching Trek Nation, Roddenberry might not have embraced DS9 either.  This is not to say DS9 was not a great show.  I suspect in many ways it *was* one of/the best of the all the series.   It's look and feel were just far enough away from why I watched ST that I couldn't get into it.  As someone said during Trek Nation, the original premise of ST was more cerebral and less action oriented.

At various parts during The Captains, Shatner goes to the Creation Vegas Star Trek convention.   And Valerie and Stephanie show up at a couple points during those sequences.   Kinda took me aback and out of the film for a moment (in a good way.)  :)   And wow.  The SIZE of the Star Trek convention.  Sheesh.   Seriously.   At various points over the past 15 years I've considered going to a Star Trek con.   The most serious time was for the 40th reunion, before I got into SPN at all.   I remember looking up information about the 40th reunion Vegas con (which was Creation, but that was meaningless to me), and deciding against going because a) WOW, the ticket prices were outrageous! (lol) and b) the best seats (aka Gold) looked sold out and only day tickets were available way in the back.   As much as I wanted to see Nimoy and Shatner together I could not justify buying two tickets (for me and my husband) at that cost.  LOL, oh the irony.

It was great to be reminded that I really *like* Shatner.   Yeah I hear he was a bit of a dick back during the day until he got a sense of humor about himself.  But once he got that sense of humor about himself, he is really fun to watch.   He definitely does have that charisma that draws you in.  Below is a clip from an appearance of Shatner, Brooks, and Bakula.  It's funny and entertaining.   Glad to be reminded how much I love this franchise and Shatner.




╚══════..═╝


growyourwings: (Default)
I had a conversation on FB this morning with the partner ("L") of one of my friends ("C", who is also a coworker and staff member).     Which led to me relating all this to SPN. Of course, everything's about SPN (lol.)  But this?  This is personal and core for me.   

It started with L linking to this great article, "Ready for a Vulnerability Hangover?", about Brene Brown, who's 2010 TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability, is one of my favorite TED Talks (see the TED Talk below.)



Brown has other great TED talks and a book which is now on my Kindle reading list:

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

images (1)

DaringGreatly-ArenaQuote-square
.
But how does this relate to SPN, you ask?


In which I drone on about my work and how SPN has impacted that…. )

I did not want a repeat of where I came from, rather I wanted what I observed and heard was the working conditions of the crew of Supernatural. Yes, everything's about Supernatural (lol). Whatever.  As you all know, the show has a well known reputation for being a wonderful and supportive place to work. A key foundation for that was veteran Director Kim Manners, with his, "we spend too much time together to not enjoy each others' company" statements. And we've heard Jared and Jensen state they realized that whatever attitude they adopted would be felt and spread by their coworkers. So they determined to always been supportive and positive. And it's been remarked upon over and over again by others. And it shows in so many ways.   

I try to tell my coworkers that my obsession with this show is not because they are "OMG, AKTORS!"  Or they are "OMG, GORGEOUS!"  I've been a background fangirl all my life, but I've never gone to this extreme.   What really drives my obsession, is all this I said above.   It's how it's positively impacted my personal life.   This attitude that Kim Manners, Jared, Jensen, and all the others have adopted has not just impacted their immediate coworkers.  It's impacted me.  Directly and personally.  In very many ways.  And given the phenomenon of the conventions, I think it's impacted a hell of lot of others as well. 

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growyourwings: (Default)




Photobucket
  Photobucket  Photobucket

So more on my work place in a way.

My office is located in a small building nested near Forest Park in NW Portland.   [livejournal.com profile] mrsr58 you remember where we went window shopping and saw Aldis roaming the streets when you visited?   It's not too far away from there.  It's a very bohemian part of town.  Which I love.  Lots of quirky shops and great restaurants within walking distance.  

When I saw the building the first time as I drove up for my interview, I thought I was in the wrong place.  It's a well kept building.  But it does not look like an office building.  In fact the building is labeled as a "service center."  It's located amongst a bunch of warehouses.  I really re-checked my interview information as I thought I was in the wrong place.   

Just a 5-minute walk away is one of the many entrances to Forest Park, one of the country's largest urban parks.   

Stretching for more than 8 miles (13 km) on hillsides overlooking the Willamette River, it is one of the country's largest urban forest reserves. The park, a major component of a regional system of parks and trails, covers more than 5,100 acres (2,064 ha) of mostly second-growth forest with a few patches of old growth. About 70 miles (110 km) of recreational trails, including the Wildwood Trail segment of the city's40 Mile Loop system, crisscross the park.


A lot of scenes in the TV series Grimm is filmed in Forest Park.  And Leverage films a lot around the NW Portland area as well.   I've lived in Portland for 40 years and the NW Portland area was one of the areas I'd spent the least amount of time in because it is a bit unaccessible via car.   The streets are smaller and have a lot of foot traffic.   There are little to no parking lots.  Everything is street parking.   It wasn't until I started working in the area a couple of years ago that I've really been able to explore it properly.

I knew there was a Forest Park entrance near the building, but it wasn't until earlier this week that I decided to walk over to check it out.  The name of the park is Lower Mcleary Park.   I was amazed at how close it was.  It was practically in our back yard.    And it leads to miles and miles of trails.   I was only there for about 20ish minutes, but here are the photos I took.  



photos under the cut... )



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Full Moon

Nov. 11th, 2011 01:47 pm
growyourwings: (Default)
Photobucket  Photobucket  Photobucket

Just finished an 11-day in a row work schedule.   Anywhere from 9-14 hr days.   It was the final implementation of a software upgrade that I've been leading for the past 7 months.  Boy was I tired, but it went really well.   I've been told it was the smoothest go-live ever.   Now I'm on a three-day weekend!  \O/  So need it.

I celebrated as I left work yesterday by pulling over by the edge of the Willamette River and taking some shots of the full moon over the river.

photos under the cut... )

On the SPN front...I am REALLY enjoying this season and am looking forward to tonight's episode.   Fickleone and I are signed up for both the LA Con in Burbank in March and Vancon next August.   It will have been a year and a half since my last con by the time March rolls around.   Really looking forward to it.

growyourwings: (CHEER Take your shoes off)




Epic Trip  Epic Trip  Epic Trip

Madison Trip Photos

Grrr.  I did this post once before.  Got it all done.  Pressed post.  And got an internal server error and lost the whole damn thing.  Grrr.

Here are some photos from my recent trip to Madison for training at Epic.  The campus is HUGE.  And they are still building.  One of the new buildings will be an auditorium that seats 15,000!   Their current auditorium seats only 1,500.  

The training was in Voyager Hall, their training center.   It's just one (big) building in a very large campus.  They have walking tours, but I was not able to take advantage this time around for several reasons.  I'm going back in June and July and hope to take one then.  

The training center has many training rooms--each with a theme.   My room was Raiders of the Lost Arc.   There are pieces of artwork all throughout the buildings.  I'm told employees are given an allowance to go out and purchase any artwork they want to put in the campus.  

I know no one but me likely cares, but these photos are not very good.  I didn't want to lug my big camera on the trip, so I only had my small point-and-shoot camera.   I'm going to stay a few extra days in July in St. Paul to visit a cousin, so perhaps I'll bring my big camera then (or even bring it in June.)   It's an issue of how much I'm willing to lug through airports.  This time I already had way too much and just about killed myself with the weight of it all.

photos under the cut... )




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random

Jun. 11th, 2010 01:38 pm
growyourwings: (Default)
man I LOVE my job and this company.

/end random

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