25 things about me…

   I’ve been tagged so many times on Facebook that there’s no choice but to give in…

1. Reading a well-crafted personal essay is my second-favorite way to spend ten delightful minutes.
2. I enjoy learning and teaching, but am clearly not the university sort.  Becoming deeply expert in a narrow field is just too limiting (and the pay wouldn’t support my aspirational lifestyle).
3. I would rather take action than debate alternatives: I learn more by trying an experiment than by sitting back and observing.
4. I have a tin ear for picking up on subtle hints in conversation.  It could be that I just don’t process information as well when it is presented in audio instead of visual form. Or maybe I’m too distracted and impatient sometimes to notice the cues.
5. I think “Good to Great“ is so overrated as to actually do more harm to people and organizations than good.  I believe that this is true of most business and self-help books.
6. If I chose a statement to best characterize my life today, it would be “It’s hard to make big changes, but impossible to avoid it.”
7. I get a lot of satisfaction from making art and wish that I had more time for it.  I prefer doing charcoals and life drawing, but want to be better at watercolor and aspire to pen and wash landscapes.
8. I’m also happy when sailing, curled up reading, or winding down the road listening to podcasts.
9. I love living in Europe where the quality and balance of life are better, but I worry about always being an outsider and that I’m not learning the language quickly enough.
10. I also love quiz  nights, but, too often, my teams win the chocolate rather than the wine.  Lately, I’m frustrated that we keep losing to the “Canadian Beavers” team.
11. I support a flock of Blue Cranes at Chester Zoo in the UK.  They take my money for food but fail to produce little baby cranes.
12. I don’t understand why computers had to become impossible to configure and program.  I used to tinker with settings and connections, optimizing and fixing.  Now everything is complex and locked away and I’m not certified to touch it.  I suspect that people who used to tinker with cars and radios feel the same way.
13. I’m appalled by what passes for news and information these days: it’s no wonder that people struggle to make sense of events and to fail to act effectively when institutions.
14. I had a model hit on me in art class once. It was very flattering, especially since she was 30 years older than I was.   This would not have happened if I were a fisherman.
15. I am better at learning by logical construction than by rote memorization. This makes it hell to learn new languages or chemistry, which is why I majored in physics and business.
16. I fight against giving in to situations that create insecurity or damage self-respect.  They cause me undue worry and distraction, and I hate to get involved in poo-flinging despite being a dead shot.
17. Trust is the most important quality in my social, work, and personal relationships, and I always assume trust unless it’s proven that someone doesn’t deserve it.
18. There is a spiritual element woven into the universe, but religious institutions do an awful job of capturing or explaining it.  So I have little patience with people who want to convert me (‘nor with people who like Sarah Palin).
19. My best escapes to be long journeys in high, open places or in close, quiet conversation in a wine bar.
20. I still look forward to attending classes and listening to  lectures: it keeps me up with fast-moving technical and medical knowledge and gives me perspectives that put my own experiences into context.
21. I don’t understand why untalented people should make more than the talent that they manage, but it happens all the time.  And don’t get me started on the bankers and brokers.
22. I have a morbid fear of knives and peach fuzz gives me the shivers; pre-sliced nectarines are appreciated.
23. I always wished that I’d attended a top-tier university to spend time with really knowledgeable and insightful people.  When I finally got the chance at Cambridge it didn’t disappoint me for a minute.
24. I used to be a disk jockey in Nashville; one of the big delights of social networking was re-friending colleagues from the radio station.
25. I’m always delighted when creative people transcend the over-serious auditors and gatekeepers who stand in their way.  And, if they can give these minions a jab as they pass, so much the better.