Hey Hope @heyhope - Tumblr Blog

Our uber progressive 80-year-old neighbor Harold has put his sign back up on his shed for the summer (Human beings: often clever: rarely wise). He sometimes pairs this with his “love Jews, love Palestinians” signs.

Harold frequently invites Andy to go on walks around the nearby park or for coffee so they can discuss politics and religion (something Andy has NO interest whatsoever in doing, but regardless he will accept an invitation to walk occasionally).

Harold’s wife is much younger than he is (maybe late 60s?) and she and I really get along. Though mostly retired, she will still take journalism assignments from time to time and my theory is that when she’s busy working he just can’t bear not having someone to talk at. 😆

On May 12, I submitted a report to an External Person via email, per explicit instruction. I cc’d our internal program lead.

Today, June 11, I was surprised to get a clearly-frustrated-but-polite email (with a bunch of people cc’d) from External Person’s boss like *toe tapping* “um, are you submitting that report????”

And I was like “um, yes, per the explicit instructions, I submitted it to External Person, on May 12, via email, I will forward it again and cc you.”

So I do, just to him and External Person, not the whole big cc group, and he’s all “oh so sorry, many thanks, must have gotten lost in the shuffle”

and in my mind I was like, no biggie, mistakes happen, and moved on.

But then many hours later, External Person wrote the whole cc group, “Thank you for forwarding again! While I wasn’t able to locate the initial submission from 5/12, I can confirm I’ve received it now!”

And, like, no, YOU DID RECEIVE IT ON MAY 12, and my program lead and I know this and now your boss does too. You could’ve just said sorry like he did (or said nothing since he already apologized!) and moved on? I mean, I’m sorry if you messed up your email or accidentally deleted it or whatever, but it was sent to you per the instructions, in the proper timeframe, and the problem was on your end!

So anyway, my goodwill about the situation evaporated and now instead of sending the next report to External Person, per the explicit instructions, with a cc to my program lead, I’m going to cc her boss and the whole big group!

#my small frustration for the day

Last night I had to pick between two events:

1) Bach Around the Block: a “progressive organ recital” of all Bach pieces that starts at one historic church downtown and then you walk to a second historic church and finally a third for the finale

2) My friend’s native plants talk & tour at the library where she works about how they created a Monach Waystation and then eventually transitioned all the library’s green spaces, including parking lot islands, to native plantings

An impossible choice!

#I opted for my friend’s talk and was very glad I did #I don’t have much in the way of friends here and want to keep developing relationships #and I learned that Bach Around the Block has been going on for 37 years #so I trust there will be an opportunity to catch it in its 38th year!

I’m back in MI after two weeks in WV/Baltimore, working till 11pm some nights for special events, wild times.

I had installed most of my seedlings before leaving and was curious to check on them this morning.

To my great delight, all three eutrochium fistulosum seedlings now look like this (while pretty much everything else looks normal).

It is a larval host plant for the Pearl Crescent butterfly caterpillar, so I take this as a positive sign that the plant is already doing its job. ❤️

#native plant garden #year 1

I’m in WV and because of proximity, I watch Pittsburgh Pirates games while I’m here.

Last night they were wearing their city connect jerseys, which are a very simple design, all black with yellow trim around the edges, and somehow these uniforms made every single player look SUPER sexy.

Which is in direct contrast to Baltimore’s former all-black city connect jerseys, which looked awful and somehow the font on the front made every single player look like a cop.

ETA:

#the mysteries of baseball fashion

speciesbarocus

Whelp, I just had the call with my boss. We both cried. It’s not going to become fully public knowledge for another week or two.

I requested a start date of August 3 for the new gig and once I have the official confirmation of that we’ll start rolling out a transition plan.

I kind of hate this! I love my job and it is so hard to leave it. When I’m in the office this week I know I’ll have to face the CEO which will be gut wrenching. And the board chair. And my team! My 13 year anniversary is in a few weeks.

It will all be ok, but it’s just going to feel difficult for a while because this work is important and I love this place. It helps that I’ll be staying in the same industry, just contributing in my Michigan community.

I was offered a job in Michigan. The last time this happened, with a different job offer, I turned it down because I love my current job so much.

#I have not gone seeking these jobs they have found me #which is nice

my-dailydreams

heyhope

We recently went to a show bc one of Andy’s coworkers at the grocery store had a brother in a band. When he initially told me about it, I was like oh no, this is going to be a laaaaate night. These are all young ppl, in their 20s and some of the bands are metal.

The show started promptly at 7pm and the band we were there to see played first and were done by 7:30pm.

I’m a night owl by nature, and for context, my monthly native plant group meetup at the brewery usually goes until 10pm on a Thursday night and that doesn’t feel late to me.

But for shows? Where you’re in danger of being stuck out past midnight, having stood on a concrete floor for four hours straight with nowhere to sit and your lower back screaming at you as a middle aged person? No thank you! This show with Andy’s coworker’s brother was so considerately timed! So wholesome! So humane!

#the kids are alright

thulium

This is f-ing terrifying.

I was tagged by @justanothermiddleagedchick

Rules: without naming them, post 10 of your favourite films and then tag 10 people to do the same.

FOR WHATEVER REASON IT WON’T LET ME ADD THE FINAL GIF, which is Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) saying “The result was only ruination and despair.”

#I decided no documentaries for this list #I am tagging you if 1) you saw The Drama recently #or 2) you love 8 1/2 but are afraid ppl will poke fun if you put it on your list

Hiring a new staff member on my team and one of the candidates we were going back and forth about including in the interview process (not the strongest candidate, but we thought, let’s give them a chance) has not returned my calls.

Which is not a surprise since their voicemail message talks about how if you know them you should just text them & how they don’t pick up the phone/like talking on the phone.

…and this is a job that requires you to be making and taking phone calls every day. (I mean I don’t like talking on the phone but I do it! It’s part of my job). So it’s like…you’re applying for this specific role…why?

In other hiring news, please, if you are *truly* interested in a role, submit a cover letter! Our HR system doesn’t require them and I am shocked at the number of ppl who do not submit one just because it’s not required. Every single person on my interview panel (all millennials, if that makes a difference) for this role was like “what, no cover letter? Are they even really interested?” and wanted to put cover letter-less people in the “no” pile (and most of them did end up there).

#I always call instead of email to set up the interview so I can get a bead on this exact thing!#this is not an entry level position

On Friday, my native plants group hosted a screening of a documentary called The Extraordinary Caterpillar (link is the trailer) at a community arts venue.

I loved it, it had a fun vibe & amazing cinematography, but during some parts, I was kind of embarrassed to find myself tearing up? At a CATERPILLAR DOCUMENTARY???

The real reason started to emerge as I sat there. It is so easy to be discouraged with and overwhelmed by *gestures vaguely* everything. And I was watching people on screen (the people at The Caterpillar Lab and the other ppl interviewed ) who care really deeply about something important-yet-misunderstood and are working, day in, day out, to make a difference in the world.

And I was sitting in a packed theater with people of all ages who also care about something and want to learn more and want to do what they can to make a difference.

And it made me think of how many wonderful people I know (including YOU) who also give a damn about all kinds of things and try to make a difference, to be a net positive force in the world in some way, even though things can feel so hopeless sometimes.

Anyways, thank you for being a net positive force in the world in whatever ways you do, and thank you for being a net positive force in my life, friends. You are an extraordinary little caterpillar to me!

#crying at nature documentaries #just a normal Friday night

A lady in repose

#Debra #clotu

I got up on a ladder the other night to take a before picture of my new garden bed, and this morning I went to the opening day of the local native plant nursery.

It was pandemonium! The nursery is tucked into the woods in a clearing, and there is isn’t a parking lot, you’re kind of parking in between trees, so they have a bunch of people directing cars and it was absolutely slammed, which made me happy to see.

I came away with some things that I have seeds for but ran out of room to start (so I’ll start them now and hopefully plant more in autumn): little bluestem, rattlesnake master, prairie dropseed, purple coneflower.

And also some things that I don’t have seeds for and am excited to try: prairie smoke, tall coreopsis, hollow joe pye, rose sedge, showy goldenrod, a type of gentian (not andrewsii but I can’t remember) and baptisa bracteata (can’t remember the common name).

And then I’ve got all the stuff I started seeds for too!

There is a lot that can be done with all the other garden beds, some of which I expanded last year, but I’m most excited about this one.

#Shelby Robert Ellis #clotu #native plant garden #year 1

My doc ordered bloodwork to try to help figure out this rash (it’s still kicking on my face and both hips!) and a side benefit of that is I got to see my kidney values a little earlier than the 6-month checkup that Frenemy Transplant Nurse Josh will conduct.

And the kidney values are all in the “normal” range for someone with *two* kidneys, which of course wasn’t the case with the values back in December a week post surgery, and they said could take a year or two to even out, assuming the remaining kidney did its work well & started getting a little bigger & etc. Immense gratitude to see that.

And I’ve gotten to see a few pictures of my little recipient lately looking happy with his best friend and on a trip with his mom and, like all 4-year-olds, he looks SO much more grown up every few months. My heart can barely take it.

Anyway, thank you rash, for giving me this little glimpse into post-transplant kidney health!

#kidney stuff

Ok, the Saugatuck dune ride guide was corny but it was fun, almost like being on a little bit of a roller coaster, and then I did a walk on Oval Beach and then came to downtown Saugatuck, which is a very cute beach town and it is getting me very excited about beach season, in spite of my disturbing visage (and hidden, yet also disturbing hips).

#adding Oval Beach to the list #which currently includes #Tunnel Beach in Holland and Silver Beach in St Joseph #Michigan has taught me that summers can actually be enjoyed????

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Hey Hope