Office Holiday Stuff

I just got word that my division's holiday party is set for next Monday, 1-5 PM. I have no excuse not to attend: it's during business hours in the conference rooms in my own data center. I'm sure management will be taking notes who attends.

It's not that it'll be a horrible event but I'm not fond of office socials, especially mandatory socials. My professional relationships are not the same as my family relationships or friendships: I prefer to keep them separate. Events designed to manipulate one into another feel unnecessary invasive into my otherwise normally ordered world. Still, when the time comes, I'll grin & be appropriately cheery, partake in the food & beverages and schmooze as needed. Once I'm sure all the appropriate levels of management have noted my attendance, I can slip away quietly.

In other news, my employer is doing a toy collection for local charities. This year, a large tree is in the lobby of our building, decorated with tags; each tag is from a child in a shelter or who uses a food bank who describes what they'd like for a holiday present. Employees are invited to take a tag from the tree, obtain the gift, attach the tag to it, and place the wrapped gift under the tree by next Wednesday for delivery to the child. We've always done a gift drive, but I think this is the most elegant, best organized and labor-free mechanism used thus far. It certainly beats having volunteers trapping people in their cubes asking for cash donations.

Office Holiday Stuff

I just got word that my division's holiday party is set for next Monday, 1-5 PM. I have no excuse not to attend: it's during business hours in the conference rooms in my own data center. I'm sure management will be taking notes who attends.

It's not that it'll be a horrible event but I'm not fond of office socials, especially mandatory socials. My professional relationships are not the same as my family relationships or friendships: I prefer to keep them separate. Events designed to manipulate one into another feel unnecessary invasive into my otherwise normally ordered world. Still, when the time comes, I'll grin & be appropriately cheery, partake in the food & beverages and schmooze as needed. Once I'm sure all the appropriate levels of management have noted my attendance, I can slip away quietly.

In other news, my employer is doing a toy collection for local charities. This year, a large tree is in the lobby of our building, decorated with tags; each tag is from a child in a shelter or who uses a food bank who describes what they'd like for a holiday present. Employees are invited to take a tag from the tree, obtain the gift, attach the tag to it, and place the wrapped gift under the tree by next Wednesday for delivery to the child. We've always done a gift drive, but I think this is the most elegant, best organized and labor-free mechanism used thus far. It certainly beats having volunteers trapping people in their cubes asking for cash donations.

DC Lambda Squares Monday Mainstream Class

We're coming close to the end of the fall Mainstream square dance class. Last night, we covered:
centers in, cast off 3/4, spin the top, fold and hinge. We also introduced "cross run" and "cross fold," although didn't do much with those: we'll work those a bit more next week.

I was anticipating all sorts of disasters with "spin the top," but it went smoother than anticipated. After 3-4 repetitions, they had it down.

Next week, we do walk & dodge, tag the line, half-tag, recycle and spin chain thru. I'm hoping that working spin the top this week will help rather than hinder learning spin chain thru: the similar names may cause issues but I've been wrong before. They've effectively been doing recycle the past number of weeks: we've just called it as centers U turn back and everyone wheel & deal... hopefully simply tacking a name onto it won't be a problem.

The following Monday will be the final class where we simply review & drill all of the calls and add flourishes. Graduation is set for December 21 at the holiday party/club night.

DC Lambda Squares Monday Mainstream Class

We're coming close to the end of the fall Mainstream square dance class. Last night, we covered:
centers in, cast off 3/4, spin the top, fold and hinge. We also introduced "cross run" and "cross fold," although didn't do much with those: we'll work those a bit more next week.

I was anticipating all sorts of disasters with "spin the top," but it went smoother than anticipated. After 3-4 repetitions, they had it down.

Next week, we do walk & dodge, tag the line, half-tag, recycle and spin chain thru. I'm hoping that working spin the top this week will help rather than hinder learning spin chain thru: the similar names may cause issues but I've been wrong before. They've effectively been doing recycle the past number of weeks: we've just called it as centers U turn back and everyone wheel & deal... hopefully simply tacking a name onto it won't be a problem.

The following Monday will be the final class where we simply review & drill all of the calls and add flourishes. Graduation is set for December 21 at the holiday party/club night.

He did it to me again, II.

Remember this posting from Dec 1, 2005?

jearbear65oh just sent me a video recording from his cell phone to mine. It's 30 seconds of the class singing that evil song.

Shoot me now.

Evil like this should be shared... as soon as I figure out how to post the recording itself to LJ, I'll add a link here for your listening pleasure.

He did it to me again, II.

Remember this posting from Dec 1, 2005?

jearbear65oh just sent me a video recording from his cell phone to mine. It's 30 seconds of the class singing that evil song.

Shoot me now.

Evil like this should be shared... as soon as I figure out how to post the recording itself to LJ, I'll add a link here for your listening pleasure.