Is anyone still out there?

I am embarassed and a little angry with myself. I knew it had been a long time since my previous blog entry, but I had no idea that it has been 5 months!

Well, for those of you who are my stalwart fans, here's something new for you: http://www.lindao.org/

It's my new webpage and I think it will have a bit more activity on it than this does! I will put a link to it from here (if I can), and I've already put a link to here from there.

Life has been going along quite nicely. My new job is now 6 months old and I'm still ecstatic about it. My friends and family, for the most part, are hale and hearty...although I do have some STC friends who are fighting cancer and having a really tough time of it. (Love to Suzanna and Janis at this tough time!)

I have two new ventures coming up in my professional life: I am co-presenting an online certificate course in Technical Editing Fundamentals for STC that starts in March and I will be teaching an online Copyediting for Technical Communicators course for UCSD Extension that starts in April. No, I'm not a glutton for punishment--I'm looking ahead to retirement someday and want to be sure I have a few opportunities to supplement Social Security!

Please do check out my website...and to be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with this site. If you are still out there...thank you for your patience! I hope to be more communicative on my new site. Heaven knows I couldn't do worse!

Blessings to you all,
Me

August, STC, and blessings

August. Summer is finally here in San Diego. Temperatures up to high 70s/low 80s near the coast…around 85-90 at my house, and approaching triple digits in the east-county valley communities. Not hot compared to the rest of the country, but keep in mind that most of us who live in older homes in San Diego have NO CENTRAL A/C! So, each morning I close all the windows and shades in my little 1100-square-foot house and leave the ceiling fans on low. I have a window-box mini-air-conditioner in my dining room, and I keep it set at 80 during the day on the energy-saver setting. That way, when I get home, all I have to do is open all the windows, and start all the fans (ceiling and floor). Within an hour or two, the house is cool, the outside temp is down into the 70s, and the breeze coming in through my bedroom windows at 10 pm feels cool enough for me to need a sheet as a cover. Ahhh, living in San Diego is truly a dream. I am blessed.

Since I’m talking about blessings, let me continue: In my previous post, I shared with you that STC volunteer work helped me land my current job as a Strategic Analyst. Well, the job is almost a month old and I love it. I’m still on a steep learning curve, but the climb isn’t too bumpy and I have a lot of new colleagues helping me climb. I think the stress of my former job helped me make excuses to back off from STC volunteering these last couple of years. But, the stress must be diminishing because over the past month or two, I’ve picked up the pace and have a begun a few things for me and the Society.

When I saw the news about submitting a proposal for the 2011 STC Summit, I did something different: I used Facebook and Twitter to ask for volunteers to serve on a panel I had thought up. Within less than a day, I had several responses and now I have a panel! It was so easy. In years past, I would send emails to folks I knew and ask for their help. That would engender a slurry of emails and phone calls and well, you get the idea. I much prefer the new way.

I also helped my local chapter the other day and sent a "Welcome to 2010/2011" email to everyone on the STC San Diego membership list. We have 84 members. I think we had about 300+ back in the days when I was the chapter president. Oh well. Everything ebbs and flows. I’m confident that the current members will keep the chapter running. The admin council is making some tough decisions to save money, but the members are supportive: they understand that changes are needed and they are ready to help get us through these tough times.

I have other STC projects in mind…as they develop, I’ll let you know about them. And, for those of you coming to San Diego for LavaCon, keep a lookout for me! I have no jobs to do, so I can actually attend sessions and learn things! What a concept.

A New Chapter for Linda

Well, that autobiography I keep threatening to write will have a new chapter...on Monday, I return to work at a military command! Today is my last day of employment with Hewlett Packard Software. It was a long 5.5 years, sometimes good, sometimes not. But, when we look back, aren't all jobs like that? So, rather than look at all the reasons I wanted to leave HP, I thought I'd focus on all the reasons I'm thrilled to be moving to this new adventure.

1. I am returning to science and engineering. Although my employer is OMNITEC Solutions, Inc., a Bethesda-based defense contractor, I will be supporting and working onsite at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). This is their mission: The Navy's designated technical authority and acquisition command for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (C4ISR), business information technology and space systems. Although they include IT, they sure have a lot of other stuff going on! I began my career and even received my degree while working for a predecessor of SPAWAR, and going back to it now fits perfectly.

2. I am using experience I have gained in STC. For all those who suggest they get zip for their membership fees in the Society for Technical Communication, I say pshaw! My new title for OMNITEC is Senior Strategic Planner/Analyst. I would never have had the cojones to apply for this position if I hadn't had a dozen years working with STC contributing to their strategic planning. Yes, I did a little of it in other jobs, but the bulk of my experience was at STC board meetings. So, for all those naysayers, out there, I say STC ROCKS!

3. I got a nice raise. :-)

4. I will, for the most part, have a flexible work schedule that allows me to work 9-hour days and have alternate Fridays off! Naturally, sometimes, duty will call on those days, but considering my normal day at HP was 9 til 6 or 7, with NO regular day off for compensation, I will definitely be ahead of the game. (I had years on the 5/4/9 schedule before I left SPAWAR's predecessor lab--the Naval Ocean Systems Center--how sweet it is to get it back!)

5. It's closer to home. My new work site is 11 miles from home; HP was 23 miles from home. Nice!

6. The hangar I work in has walls! Well, I'm referring to inside walls, not outside ones. And, yes, I will still be working at a cubicle, but the cube is in a room that only holds about 6 cubes. Then, you walk through a real door attached to floor-to-ceiling walls into another room that has several cubes, etc. I guess you might call each room a "pod": the setup is to have everyone facing a wall with backs all toward the middle of the room, and I don't recall any divider between folks. The big bosses still have real offices with conference tables, etc. At HP, we have rows and rows and rows of cubes all in one humongous room--and it doesn't matter who you are, no one has an office. No walls except those around the bathrooms, the outside of the building and some conference rooms. We have HUNDREDS of folks all in one room. I won't miss the HP cube farm at all.

7. I get to write about cool stuff. Part of my duties is to write strategic documents, guidance documents, vision documents, etc. I will be working with program managers and military commanders (captains and admirals) and will ghost write for them. How cool is that?

8. It was time for a big change. Energetically, this was meant to be. It feels right. I visualized a place that was just like this and did a whole lot of "thinking and praying and hoping and wishing" and it manifested. Life is good.

9. Social networking works. Someone who knew someone who knew me sent me a note asking me to help network a job in San Diego. I read it, realized I wanted to apply myself, and although I didn't exactly work my network, the person who offered my name to OMNITEC sure did. I hope whoever that person is knows how grateful I am! Maybe someday, I'll find out just how Nick at OMNITEC reached out to me. Or, maybe it should remain one of those anonymous, wonderful gifts that we pass along to someone else someday.

10. It makes me happy. And, in the long run, what more is there?

Another miracle of friendship!

So, it's 1956 and my family and I have just returned from Morocco where Dad had been stationed at the French-American airbase for 2.5 years...where to next? Mysteriously, Dad's next duty station was a land-locked Ashland, Kentucky! No oceans anywhere in sight. (We did have a pond in the back of the house, but I don't think the Navy built anything that would fit on it.) Dad had just made Chief and he ran the little recruiting office in Ashland for about 2 years...we, however, lived in a small rental on Clark Street at the end of Center St in a small suburb called Flatwoods. (I'm not making this up, folks.) The population in 2008 was about 9000. You can imagine what it was in 1956!

I attended grammar school in Russell at the Advance School pictured above. And, during 4th grade at that school, I met Sharon George. We weren't really close friends at the time, and if I had stayed there, who knows if we would have been more than acquaintances. No, I moved in 1959 to California--the land of movie stars, riches, and palm trees. I was quite popular in Flatwoods (Sharon lived in Flatwoods, too) when word got out that I was moving to California. We all thought that meant you would see and meet celebrities every day! So, when I moved away I took the names and addresses of dozens of potential pen pals. My pen-pal plate was full.

Sharon was one of those pen pals...and she's the only one that stuck. We wrote letters to one another for 40 years. She and I commiserated about family and jobs and men. Mostly about men. We got each other through college and marriages. At some point we started to add phone calls to the letters, but the letters continued. Sharon had the most beautiful handwriting I had ever seen. She and I read the same books, saw the same movies, had the same taste in both. We shared so much and all with 2300 miles between us. In time, the letters tapered off and were replaced by phone calls, but every once in awhile, a letter would appear. Mostly from her to me...and I loved every single one of them.

I don't know for sure when I made my first visit back to ol' Kentuck, but I think it was the year my daughter, Connie, graduated from 6th grade. That would have been 1980. We took a cross-country drive and stopped a night with Sharon. For the next 20 years, our letters and calls were punctuated by occasional visits. She came to San Diego once and we drove up to San Francisco so we could share that great city and some enchanting hours in the City Lights Bookstore. One year, after the STC Conference in Cincinnati (1999), I drove down to visit her. She was living in Lexington, working on a horse farm named Buckram Oak Farm owned by Mahmud Fustok, a brother-in-law to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. Now, that was an experience! Anyway, soon after that, both of our lives got in our way. I changed jobs, got laid off, lost my mom, and did all the things I did to relocate to San Diego. She left Lexington when Fustok sold the farm and went to work for him in Florida where he owned another farm. Soon thereafter, Fustok was killed in a freak accident, Sharon's parents got ill, and she got thyroid cancer. She left Florida and returned to Kentucky. But the damage was done. Years had slipped by and we lost touch. I tried to find her by Googling, but never stuck with it. I even tried to convince my daughter to use the FBI tools to find her (no such luck--Connie is a stickler for the rules!).

But today I found her. I used Intelius and paid a little fee to get info about her. I called the number they provided, but it was disconnected. Then--you'll never believe this--I called directory assistance! I guessed that she might be in Lexington (Intellius said she was), and she was!

I called.

She answered.

Life is good.

Quick update for my readers

I need to update my blog, but I don't have much time right now...so rather than let it slide, I'll just put in some quick bullets to let you know what's going on!

• Trip to Houston was wonderful. Thanks to Connie R and Tessa W for the cozy room & board!
• Fell in love with Tessa's puppy, Monsieur Bichon Jacques (his real name is Jack)!
• Enjoyed beyond words the Obama Inauguration ceremonies. I watched it with four lovely liberal women and three happy canines who were all thrilled to witness the event, even if it was through a television. (The canines are all liberals, too!)
• Work is. And that's good.
• My therapy sessions are getting pretty powerful. More on that some other time. Just know that it's a good thing, too!
• It was delightful to see so many of my buddies in TX: Veronica, Liz D, Tessa, Connie R, Carmen E, Bruce E, Erin Z, Lin R, Deanna W, Verna D, Janis H, Sherri S, Cindy P, and Jim H. Not bad in 4 days. Sorry to have missed Barbara B, Corrine S, Deb S, and David B. Love to you all!
• Loved the quick foray into Coldwater Creek! The Sugar Land, TX, mall is really upscale and quite lovely. Much different than it was when I left. I even drove by my old house to take a look. New folks (Waggoners) are taking good care of it!
• It's been 4 years, going on 5, since I lived in Sugar Land
• My dear friend Rick Martin, Cher's S.O. is having a tough time...please keep him in your prayers.
• STC Spotlight Awards were held at the San Juan Capistrano train depot restaurant, Sarducci's, Saturday nite. I was keynoter, and it was great FUN! If you know anyone who does technical communication, please tell them to join the Society for Technical Communication. It really is worth the time, money, and effort. And, I know from many years of experience.
• 2009 marks my 30th year as a member of STC.
• The angel trumpets in my yard are blooming--even with the almost-frosty night-time temps! The evening brings out their scent and it is divine!
• My kid turned 41 and my brother turned 50 this month. I'm still 60, but don't feel a day over 40!

Adieu and Adios for now,