Trend I'm noticing

Anyone else noticing the lack of recognition between cause and effect among politicians?

I'm not talking about Michelle Bachmann's odd belief that everything she says is right, even when science, logic and even a kindergartner proves that's she wrong. More along the lines of simple every day decisions.

Case in point: the governor of Iowa is facing what a lot of governors are facing. High unemployment rates, tough job outlooks for folks, brutal economy. But this genius (or "the moustache" as he is referred to around here), decided to save money by closing the workforce development offices and replacing them with automated kiosks in libraries that folks who need jobs can go and visit.

Let's break this down.

He is going to TERIMINATE the employees that currently work in the offices, thus adding to the ranks of unemployment. Given, these are folks with education and job experience, which should help them find new work. But it's counterintuitive to completely shut down state offices without plans to help the staff relocate during a time of economic hardship.

The big one. IT'S THE OFFICE OF WORKPLACE DEVELOPMENT. These are the folks who help the unemployed find work. And it's not just giving them job descriptions. It's interview coaching, it's resource sharing, it's an extra set of eyes for a resume. We have a governor who is concerned about the unemployment rates in his state and is therefor shuttering the offices charged with helping people find jobs. Uggh.

Kiosks. Kiosks call for a certain amount of technological savvy. I'm not talking about coding or creating a web page but there is certain expected skill set that one must have if they are going to successful in navigating a computerized system. Where are these kiosks going to be, you might ask? Libraries. Malls. Public spaces. No staffing if there are issues, no one to help walk through the process. Libraries, in fact, weren't consulted in this decision. Just told, "Hey..we're going to put up this kiosk where folks are going to go. They may have questions but it's not your job to help them so just tell them to follow the commands on the screen." What crap.

I know I'm a liberal democratic. I don't hide that. But show me how this solution fixes anything? Sure...the state save $ on the bottom line because they don't have to pay for offices or staffing. But what's the human cost? How will this help the bigger issues of unemployment or unequal distribution of resources?

This annoys me.

School thoughts

Well, school has started again 'round this college town. The cyclical nature of the year suits me well. I'm excited when the students come back and I'm excited when they leave. I'm not excited about things like increased traffic and lines at Target but these are manageable. As a wise woman pointed out, in our small college town, traffic goes from a 10 minute commute to a 13 minute commute. Time to take a big breath and relax.

Theoretically, this will also be my last fall semester. I start my research in the spring and if all things go well, I should be able to finish my writing over the summer and graduate in August with my PhD. I've given myself permission to extend into August if necessary. But I'm aiming for August. So this might be my last fall of this town's heavy traffic and grocery lines. Next year, it will be some other college town. Pretty exciting to think about it that way.

My weeks look something like this. Except without "must see TV". Just Sons of Anarchy and True Blood.

Happy Friday!

I hope your weekend is filled with smiles like this.

Music thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about music in the last few days. It's always been a bit part of my life. From performing through middle school and high school to my current love of live music and frequent adventures tied to concert attendance, there's no question that music affects me in a way that not many things do.

I spent last Saturday night with my folks and Robyn at the Minnesota Zoo seeing Brandi Carlile. By my best estimation, I've seen Brandi at least 12 times. This last show was by far my favorite, even beating out Red Rocks and an intimate coffee house show.

So I go home, finally download her newest live CD (Which you should totally do if you haven't) and really feel the show. Rather than just listening, I let my guard down a bit and started back down the path of feeling music rather than just appreciating it. Which led to the creation of a playlist I'm calling "gentle".

Gentle is a playlist of songs that elicit an emotional response from me. Not a response like breaking down in sobs or dancing around a room but rather than feeling you get when you close your eyes, take a deep breath and feel connected to yourself and something greater. One particular song brings me back to a time and feeling I have yet to replicate. When I hear k.d. lang's version of Hallelujah, I distinctly remember driving back from my grandparents house while living in Stevens Point. It was a beautiful summer night, finally cool, and I had spent the day with people who loved me and connected me to a greater sense of family. As a women in my late 20's, I was just coming into my own and as I took the backroad twists and turns, I cranked the stereo in my car and sang aloud with ms. lang. The towering pine trees blanketed each turn, the windows down let in the cool summer air. It was one of the most "alive" moments I have ever felt.

For a long time, I couldn't hear that song without feeling a tinge of sadness. Much life has been lived since those nights and I'm don't think I have the same confidence that I had then. I don't have the proximity to family or the joy of late night drives through northern woods. As I listened to the song this morning while working on a curriculum that will ultimately impact my future career, I was able to take a step back, close my eyes and feel just the spark of that woman who felt unstoppable. I need to find ways to fuel that spark so she grows back. It was very nice to see her again today.

Big Weeks!

The last few weeks have been pretty intense. I've attended three concerts, survived my first seminar and had my life totally changed.

Let's start with the concerts.

On the 17th, I went and saw Sugarland at Hilton Coliseum on campus. We had the highest seats in the arena, which didn't actually detract from the concert. In addition to seeing an amazing high energy show, we also coined a new phrase: country tramp. Apparently there's huge style market that I'm completely unaware of that combines cowboy boots and mini-skirts with a little midriff showing. Think Jessica Simpson in the Dukes of Hazzard (even thought that was over five years ago). I realize that with that statement, my age is showing. Oh well...turning 35 this year means I can be a little cranky now and then.

From the non-cranky side, here's a video of what we saw that night. I'm not a huge country music fan but this was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

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Fast forward a few days and I'm at a concert at Hoyt Sherman. Hoyt Sherman is a historic building in central Des Moines that houses a theater akin to an opera house. For the Madison folks, imagine a classy Barrymore. Now add three bands: Cage the Elephant, Manchester Orchestra and Silversun Pickups. All these are up and comers with some current radion play. All are also good and loud. And unfortunately, I don't think the space was conducive to the type of music. It was super loud, super warm and a little too "thumpy" in terms of out-of-control bass. But I am a huge fan of the song below. And they totally rocked it out.



Finally, I got to see my third Brandi Carlile show of the year at the O'Shaughnessy in St. Paul. After a delightful dinner at the Happy Gnome, we went over to St. Catherine's for the show. The O'Shaughnessy is a staple in the Twin Cities music scene and I couldn't have been more impressed. Amazing acoustics, great seating (except for that the rows are VERY long and without a middle aisle, which made getting to the bathroom a little annoying for those to my right) and a classy feel for an older space. This was the first Brandi show I have seen that wasn't more acoustic in nature. She had a great drummer and some wonderful steel guitar pieces. Below is a clip from the concert of one of her newer songs, Dreams, off of the album that will be out on October 6. In addition to seeing a great show, we went with some folks who wanted to have Brandi sign an album afterward. So we hung out for a bit, me lagging back a bit because I have a kind of weird belief system about performers. I recognize that musicians like to hear how much they are appreciated and how wonderful their music is but I also like to think of it in terms of strong boundaries. I'll sit in the audience and enjoy your show, you sit on stage and enjoy putting it on. Maybe it's the growing introvert in me but I wouldn't have considered hanging out outside of a tour bus waiting to meet a musician. But I did on Wednesday night. And here is the outcome.



Gah! I managed not to stumble over my words and say something rediculous like, "you're pretty....." but it was still a little thrilling.

And it's also my Facebook pic.

Here's the video from the concert.

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Seminar....blah. There's a required seminar series that all PhD students are required to take. The outcome of the seminar was me rethinking whether or not I want to get my PhD. There was a bit of useful information to it but generally speaking, it was in direct opposition to the mantra of "you're an adult and your time is valuable" message that is shared by the department. All in all, a bit of a frustrating day.

Finally...life changing.

On Tuesday, September 22, the first day of fall, Madison Marlee Olds made her presence in the world. Eight weeks early, weighing in at three pounds and thirteen ounces, she's here! (leave it to an Olds woman to do things on her own timeline and in her own way....) Matt and Heather have updates on their blog that include some wonderful pictures of her looking up at her mom and dad with so much love and trust. And she has a head of dark hair, even at this early of a time. I could go on and on about how amazing it is to be an aunt and how I didn't sleep very well until I saw the pictures of her and her tiny little fingers. Or how talking to my brother and hearing the awe and love and fear all in one voice made my heart ache. But I will leave it at this. She is a lucky lucky little girl and I have spent so much time thinking about how lucky I am to have the family that I do and the life that I do. I cannot wait to see her grow into the woman she will be. But first, I can't wait to meet her. And for Matthew and Heather, I could not be more proud and happy than I have been this last week.



OK...back to studying for stats. Real world awaits.

Hello!

Hi there, have we met? I'm Kris...you must be Kris's blog. You look familiar but I can't place from where. We must have been friends a long time ago.

*sigh*

There have been a few things that have come up in the last couple of weeks where I thought, "gee! That would be a great blog post!" For example, Patrick Swayze dying. I distinctly remember being at an 8th grade graduation slumber party at Linnea Kuhlmey's and watching Dirty Dancing on VHS and using the remote, which had a CORD, because this was 1989, to rewind to see if we could Patrick Swayze's butt as he crawled out of bed after he and Baby had their big moment. The answer was that you couldn't, which was probably what kept it at a PG rating. But that movie was the first time I thought "Hey...there's an awkward smart girl who catches the attention of the super good looking hero. It Can happen." At various time through my own awkward years and even into my less awkward but confused and conflicted adult hood, there would be the line "no one puts Baby in the corner" and I would smile. I realize this reads as incredibly dorky and not a little teenaged-ish but it does hold a dear place in my heart.

Classes are going pretty well. I have a stats class that has started to kick my butt. The first few weeks were a pretty decent review of what I already knew but now we are on to formulas that mix numbers, letters and greek symbols. I never considered myself a purist but I just don't think my brain knows how to make sense of those combinations. So I've been spending a lot of work on that.

I'm helping facilitate a class for first-year Construction Engineering students around the area of leadership and learning. There a few of them that don't look a day over 15. They are really exciting to work with in terms of being at the beginning of their academic careers and the growth I can see occurring on a weekly basis. Some of them are also a little skeptical of the "soft" stuff we are talking about so it can be a challenge to keep them engaged. But it does feel great to be back in the classroom.

Willy continues to be great. He had his first vet appointment since moving to Ames is a healthy 30 pounds. He can be a bit squirrely, as most puppies can be, but his endearing factors outweigh his annoying ones.

That sums it up as halftime of the Packer game has ended. Go Pack go!

remember me?

As I write this, I'm sitting at the bar that I've been working at for the last year. Working here WAY more than drinking here, which is a nice change.

Speaking of changes, I also start my PhD program tomorrow. I have an assistantship, I have a classload, I have the beginnings of a Capstone project. Because I did my masters here, most of my classes will roll over and I should only have 3 semesters of classes and then I'm giving myself a year of writing. So in theory, two and half years from now, I will be Dr. Kris Olds.

CRAZY!

But it does have a nice ring to it....

edit:
this is my horoscope for today. Quite fitting, if I do say so.

You're about to embark on an extraordinary opportunity or relationship. Be receptive and open to the influences that are intent on presenting you with experiences that will shape your mind, body and soul if only you are willing to relax your sense of control and deal with what comes your way. There's no need to decide one way or the other what your course of action will be. Instead, watch, wait and listen for your golden chance.



Post in the next few days will probably tackle the "relax your sens of control" thing. Been thinking a lot about that lately...