This sounds like SOP for many businesses, too

The Six Phases of a Project

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Weak
6. Praise & Honors for the Nonparticipants

There are many philosophies about what makes a person. You are what you think. You are the work you do. You are what you love. You are where you live. You are what you read, said Francois Mauriac, "but I'd know you better if you tell me what you reread."

-- The House at Royal Oak by Carol Eron Rizzoli, 2010

Secret Babies

I recently became aware of a series of books published by Harlequin on the curious topic of "Secret Babies." I find peoples' apparent interest in these story lines hilarious. Sometimes Harlequin combines the Secret Baby theme with its other series topics like "Nascar" or "Sheiks" or "Millionaires" or "Mistresses."

Times have changed. The old Harlequin Romances used to be about meeting rich men at ski resorts, getting into the Candy Stripers to snag a doctor or having a falling out with the boy next door. Now the hot guys are into oil, hedge funds or some other sort of high finance.

Some favorite titles spotted:

Lock, Stock & Secret Baby
Secret Baby, Convenient Wife
Secret Sheikh, Secret Baby
The Mediterranean Millionaire's Secret Baby
Motive: Secret Baby
Triplet Secret Babies (!!!)
The Secret Baby Bargain
Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame

I swear, these are real Harlequin titles and you can actually buy them for very few buckerinos. One might ask, HOW can a baby be secret . . . especially triplet secret babies. And how can a wife be innocent and yet have a baby of shame? And do the Secret Sheikh and the Secret Baby know that each other exists?

I may have to actually read one of these things to find out what the attraction is.

And I still might not get it.

ALERT!

Harlequin has posted another blog entry on Secret Babies and the folks who looovvvve them.

Trail of Breadcrumbs

This one made me laugh!

See more illustrations and creativity at:
http://lightnightrains.blogspot.com

Knit picker

Like the strange little creature in Edward Gorey's illustrated book, THE DOUBTFUL GUEST, I now have a nice little scarf. It is handmade, blue and green, composed of lots of tiny knitted squares and I found it waiting on a metal railing as I walked to work this morning.

It was colder than I had expected (but not too cold). Just about right for putting the little handmade scarflet to work.

Since I have decided to no longer bring precycled and found items to work, or to spend my own money baking stuff for the same place it's nice to adopt something for myself. Particularly something unique that didn't cost anything, was not made in China (I assume) and, no doubt, has an interesting history.

Lines written in the days of growing darkness

Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends

into a rich mash, in order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out

to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing, as we must,
how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality of what will be?
I don't say
it's easy, but
what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?
So let us go on

though the sun be swinging east,
and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.

-- Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author, most recently, of "Swan: Poems and Prose Poems"

Shameful behavior

My level of disgust at the election process has reached new highs this year. I've avoided most of the stupidity because I got rid of the television and don't answer the phone in the evening. I voted early after educating myself by reading and checking up on the candidates. Good thing I did, because the two candidates for Governor gave us only ONE public debate. There should be a law against it . . . or a law requiring candidates for major political office to hold yeah number of public debates so that people have something to base their balloting on other than a lot of slanted ads and name calling.

At any rate, Oregon Public Broadcasting finally gave up expecting the candidates to agree to even one more debate and put up a "Virtual Debate" on its website. It includes questions that should be asked and comments by both candidates that relate to these questions. Its truly sad when a public radio station has to go to that degree of trouble to present information that candidates are apparently afraid to give us face-to-face.

The link is:
http://news.opb.org/elections/questions-candidates/

In case you have not held your nose and voted.