The end of Christmas (trees)

On to the New Year!

Activities redux

The writing project: More Skype and editing -- but just the summary.

The building project:

Storage modules for Alexis and Ethan

The admire-a-Christmas-tree project: a tour of Mark's new "space" - St Anthony's Hospital that opened in 2009 in GigHarbor.

There were several trees, but I

liked the ones in the cafeteria best (and lunch was good too!)

Captivated in Seattle

If, as I am, you are a fan of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, you will understand why I enjoyed the performance of the Nutcracker by the Pacific Northwest Ballet so much -- he created the settings and costumes. Clara's brother was particularly "naughty" (Godfather Drosselmeyer egged him on to tease his sister) and here was even a "dance of the wild thing" in the second act. And of course there was a Christmas tree that grew huge in a very special way. We all (Mary, Alexis, Ethan, Jack, and I - Mark was in surgery) had a wonderful afternoon.

Back and Forth

Over the last couple of days Ulla and I have "been on a roll" with our paper for EGOS (3000-word short paper on an ironic analysis of the hype of design thinking due Jan 10). We've been shipping it back and forth, working when the other is asleep, and Skyping each day. A couple more days and the framework of the argument should be OK. Then Ulla is off to Australia and I'll be left to finish the linguistic editing and check the references.

In between times we've been enjoying activities with Alexis and Ethan -- making balloon animals, firing rockets (that's frost on the ground, not snow),

and a trip to the Train Show at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. All successful activities!

The other side of Christmas Day

I've finished "The elegance of the hedgehog". I read it too quickly to savor all the references to Proust and Tolstoy, but those authors aren't really "my thing" anyway. But the book was engaging -- the fact that I finished it in three days attests to that. The ending was a bit disappointing -- the pieces all came together a little too neatly, rather as if the author had suddenly tired of writing.

As to my other book, I'm finding it very hard going. I hoped it would enlighten me to the consultant's perspective on design thinking. I suppose it has -- it's all the rhetoric of the enterprise ideology and, so far, little else. The case study examples are so banal as to be useless. Am I to believe that no-one struggled over any concepts, and there were no tensions or contradictions as part of the process? A while ago when Ulla suggested I should take on the editorship of a Business & Design Lab book on Design Thinking from the Business and Design Lab, I pooh-poohed the notion, saying, "That's old hat." But, after grinding my way through (actually I'm only about a third of the way through) a book on the topic published in November 2009, I have a different perspective myself. Maybe delving into the epistemology and ontology of the concept is not. More thinking and talking are needed.

Meanwhile, Jack and Ethan made a super balloon-dog.

Tracking Santa

We kept track of Santa's progress throughout the day via NORAD, and checked on the number of cookies he has already eaten (81,168 as far as Tulsa, OK). Our tree is ready ....

Books on hand

I've been reading two books "simultaneously" - no, not one book in each hand the way Karen used to as a cild because both were so good she didn't want to put either down - but rather "iteratively" - one book for a while, then the next one.

One book is Muriel Barbery's "The elegance of the hedgehog", which itself is two juxtaposed stories, one written by the concierge of an expensive Paris apartment building, and the other by a 12-year old who lives in the building. The book is translated from French, and reminds me of all that is "highbrow" in French philosophy and culture. But it also pokes fun of such culture itself. Thus I can give it an ironic read.

The other is a new book on Design Thinking edited by Thomas Lockwood of DMI. The chapters are written by various consultants and academics who understand the consultant's perspective. I think it will be beneficial to read the whole book to acquire the perspective of design consultants who work in the enterprise environment. I must take notes. It is probably just as important to understand the landscape of the design consultants as it is the content of their messages.

And in between there are the daily tasks -- which is why I hop from book to book by

using the "task interruptions." Playing, shopping, talking, checking email, and so on.

We watched the movie Julia/Julie in the evening (I'd already read the book.) Mary was

surprised to hear I have a "first printing" -

or at least an early one -- of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (the book is now in the 49th printing). I noticed Mary doesn't own one among all her cookbooks. Now, because I like to follow original sources, I suppose I should read "My life in France". (Maybe there's even a book about making the movie, but I think I will forego that!)

Tis blog is quite and advertisement for Amazon!

11 hours and 58 minutes after Prime Time Shuttle picked us up in Fairfield we arrived at Mary and Mark's home in Gig Harbor, Washington. Our flight was crowded -- it took an hour to get through security and there wasn't an empty seat on the plane. There were piles of baggage sitting waiting for people who'd been stranded because of the snowstorm and hadn't yet reached their destination. The (Christmas) trees in the airport lobby were a more welcoming sight!

Lots of tasks

Spent the day doing all the things we needed to do before heading for Gig Harbor, including: post office, laundry, vacuuming, suitcase packing, laundry, suitcase repacking, actually writing a paragraph on an ironic view of design thinking, UPS, and practising our latest moves.

Jack's activities

Before ...

And after!

More trees

We took time away from the computer and other holiday preparations to enjoy the trees at the Mystic Aquarium donated by various community groups -- and to enjoy the exhibits without a crush of other visitors.

New? project

Yesterday, while in New York, we stopped at the Portuguese Travel Office. Jack needed information to prepare for our "anticipated" visit to Lisbon for the EGOS colloquium next June. He read through the various brochures on the train home, and kept saying to me, "Look at this! Shall we go here?" All I could say was, "I can't look till our paper is accepted, and it's hardly started." I've a lot of work to do before January 10!

But Christmas shopping and helping Ulla with the final edits to the EU grant proposal intervened. What excuse will I have tomorrow?

Sounds and images

Wednesday - Handel's Messiah in the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Holy Spirit performed by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Cathedral of Saint Joseph Schola Cantorum. Awesome! The singing was wonderful and the orchestral accompaniment appropriate for this great work. Before the performance we were "treated" to a lecture on the mosaic by the University President. Watch a slideshow...

Thursday to New York to see the Bauhaus exhibition at the MoMA

Wonderful! Only trouble was, I reached "saturation" from examining and reading and digesting before I had looked at all the pieces. I was particularly interested in the examples from the first course (I hadn't realized that Bauhaus was a "real" school/university as well as a school/style) where students learned theories of colour and form. I was a little surprised that there was not more furniture -- another misconception from my incomplete knowledge. No photography allowed, and the exhibition catalog was $75 (I refrained from buying). ADDITION: 12/27/09, New York Times review of a new book on the Bauhaus.

We also walked quickly through the Tim Burton exhibit -- very crowded and lots of lively drawings, sculptures and videos, before the calming experience of Monet's waterlilies.

And, what would Christmas in New York be without seeing the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree?

Or, what would Christmas

in Fairfield be without seeing the GE Christmas tree?

This one!

Did you ever have any doubts?

Here's what you might have missed (click on the link to read the post):

One done!

Today's output

Preparation

Ways of working

Events back in the northeast

Monday

Sunday

Catching up on work

Morning ritual

Changing beaches, continuing topics

Thinking wicked

Why this new blog?

Dilemma

What to do -- tell followers to go to Jill Temporariiy (Re)Designed to catch up with my doings of the past month when this blog was removed by Google robots trolling for spam, and continue HERE, or link this original blog to the one I have been writing for the past month?

To be resolved ...

The celebration continues

Today we celebrated

- Karen's birthday, and also Amelie's birthday (Karen's cousin's daughter) by Skype.

- Jill submitting a proposal to the Design Management Review coauthored by 5 members of the Business & Design Lab

- Karen making headway on her poster presentation

- Steve demoing various web 2.0 opportunities

- Jack transferring all his Palm info to his PC

And I bought a new 13 inch fully loaded Mac-Pro from the online Apple store.

My Thanksgiving cooking task

I was assigned to bake dinner rolls from a "simple" recipe clipped from a magazine. It was simplified to the extent of omitting certain technical details. I think I'll stick to pies in the future!

But they all disappeared along with many other delicious dishes at the Thanksgiving dinner with Steve's brother and his family at their home in Redondo Beach.

Thanksgiving Eve

The day included traditional chores such
as shopping and baking, though not in traditional mode

It also included two good work events - things to be thankful for: Hearing that I now have an official affiliation at the University of Gothenburg (including a salary!) , and FINISHING the Worldview paper.

And things were left almost finished so there is something to do tomorrow morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - but I'll wait to give that news when the tasks are complete. I didn't read my book about Design Thinking.

Workday in Irvine

In some ways my work environment was no different from any other day with Skype connections to Massachusetts while I worked with Jeanie on the Worldview paper, and to Gothenburg while I worked with Ulla on the DMR paper. I did learn that research group at the Business & Design Lab has nicknamed me Miss Marple! In other ways my work environment was quite different, with bougainvillea climbing over the garden wall, and decorated palm trees at the mall (That's Karen and Steve on the right.)

Switching coasts

One of the good/bad things about going away for a festive weekend is finishing work due before/not having enough time to do everything needed on the project. In the last couple of days I sent back my piece to coauthors of three different papers/proposals. I'm hoping for a few days of peace, but past experience suggests that they too will try to get work off their desk before the holiday. How many times can we trade drafts before turkey day on Thursday?

On the 2,800 mile flight across the land mass of the US I started to read Peter Rowe's "Design Thinking." For the trip I decided to pick the oldest unread book on this topic from my collection, and it is providing me with good background on the topic. I especially enjoyed the first chapter with various case studies of the architectural design process, and the second chapter fills in theory on different forms of decision theory -- which I believe I've met before as "design methods."

So, now I'm on the "left coast".

Condo in depersonalized design

It's real!

Friday marks the end ... for a while

How many times have I said, "We're almost ready to put the Fairfield Condo on the market"? That day has arrived. Even the basement is "ready"! It will be listed tomorrow. To celebrate our final work day we stopped at the Equinox Diner at the corner of I95 and Rt27 for supper on our way home. The place opened earlier this year, (there was a Howard Johnson's there for years) and we've joked so many times about stopping there that this time we actually did it. Like getting the condo ready for sale, it was an experience I'd prefer not to repeat.

The difference that makes a difference

8 AM and I was at work - at a BDL (Business & Design Lab) meeting about a paper for the Design Management Review. There were 6 of us - 4 in Gothenburg, 1 in Stockholm and 1 in Connecticut -- connected via group Skype. Ulla had some initial thoughts, Ana, Markus, and Katerina had ideas for the different sections, I kept us focused on a practitioner piece, and Mary-Jo came up with the title. Now everyone is writing a short piece, then Ulla and I will create the one page proposal due before the end of November. If it's accepted, the 3000 word paper is due for a March edition. This is an interesting collaboration: industrial designers, an artist, a critical feminist, and an ironist, or broken down in a different way: doctoral students, an established professor, a post-doc, a rogue researcher, and a visiting professor. Quite a diverse group! That's why we're writing about stereotypes and meaningful differences.

Crisis midday when I discovered that I had been eliminated from the Sacred Heart University system so could no longer access the library. What a terrible shock! IT support couldn't help me, so it was Lynda to the rescue with an email to "Sys-Op". Apparently a request from the Registrar to remove my name from a distribution list was misinterpreted as "remove from across all systems." Poof! and I was gone! So far efforts to reinstate me have not been successful. I hope I'll be back tomorrow.

The other major accomplishment of the day was the F-pie, no, not swearing, but Frozen Marble. Ingredients were cream, butter, chocolate, sugar, sherry -- it had to taste good!

But I had trouble adding the melted chocolate to the whipped cream, egg white, and sugar so the "marble" wasn't as much of a contrast as it should have been. The result earned a "3 pie" rating (out of 5)

Working, not designing

I've been in Fairfield for the last couple of days so haven't thought much about design or anything other than getting the condo ready for sale. We organized the patio and I vacuumed and dusted like the white tornado. Must return on Friday for the final touches -- it's "going live" on Saturday!

Worldview in view

Today was worldview day. Jeanie and I met and now have the paper within striking distance of being finished. We're both comfortable with the focus and placing it in a lesser journal (Cabells listed, 60% acceptance). It's about the development of an assurance of learning rubric for a short travel course, and provides an example of using the rubric for programmatic AOL using the data from three courses. We sat together and hammered out details -- the rubric needs to be inverted (again - back to original rows and columns!) and our demonstration data cleaned up. Plus the conclusion needs writing and various sections of the text have holes in them. So we each have a list of tasks to be completed before I head for California on Monday. Then we can email final touch-ups back and forth and submit on time. I started my new research notebook - the backup notebook, not my original choice -- so there's no going back now! The photo is of a poster in Jeanie's office - today's inspiration for Worldview - if you click on the picture you will enlarge it so you can read the text.

Intersections - or clashes?

Today my three of my current writing projects clashed - and crashed. Just as I was finishing a Skype conversation with Ulla about our abstract, "In praise of fads," for a DMR article (due 11/23) and a "state of the BDL" brochure/CD to be in print by the middle of April, Diana was at my door to work on "wicked problems" symposium proposal (due 12/7). By the time she left there was something in my email from Jeanie for our meeting tomorrow to finish our "worldview rubric" paper (due 11/20). The rest of the day my mind flitted from one project to another -- as soon as I started developing a line of reasoning for one, I'd convince myself that one of the other projects should have priority, so I moved on -- and kept on moving round the triangle. Truth be told, I' was at the stage of bouncing ideas about, not yet ready to write, so I might as well juggle with three balls as just toss one up in the air and catch it.

Fortunately I had a diversion this afternoon - Brahms Requiem with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Chorale. No clashes there! The conductor, Constantine Kitsopoulos, is a candidate for the Music Director position. He's the first of seven (5 men, 2 women) who will be visiting over the next two years. I think it takes about 5 years from the start of a serach to the new conductor being installed -- even longer than a Dean search!

Conundrum

Yesterday I used the last page of Research Daybook 8 (started 4/10/07). Some time ago I picked out Daybook #9 and have been carrying it about in case I finished the current one. But now, can I find the new one? No! I've looked in every place I can think of. Not there. I have a couple of other empty books that I could use, but I'm sure that as soon as I actually write in one of them, my chosen book will appear -- and it's against the rules to switch without using every page. What shall I do -- have no new research ideas or plans? (Or "grow up" and not take these notebooks so seriously?)

Unable to generate new ideas (ha!), I spent my workday doing some linguistic editing - or "De-swinglishing" as it is affectionately called. I worked on a couple of interesting papers on user-driven innovation. It's a clandestine way of learning about current topics!

I read a few more pages of Tim Brown's book. I'm enjoying it less now -- I'm finding his "narrative" lacking in structure - or recognizable themes. Ever so often there's a page that makes absolute sense, but the context for that particular thought is elusive.

Thursday's accomplishments

Work: Washed outsides of kitchen cabinets, cleaned venetian blinds, washed and waxed hardwood kitchen floor = kitchen is "done"

Fun: Visited Steve Brown's BU299 Decision-making class to act as a resource for the Where to make the charitable donation exercise. Great to see the different ways the teams started to tackle the problem = going back next week.

Thinking: The first question Bruce Nussbaum asked yesterday (18 of 20 responses to his tweet asked it) was, "How do you start?" None of the panelists answered it. It's a question I'm thinking about too. Here's as far as I've got: First you need to have a personal experience of the design process -- this frequently happens when working with an architect on a building. Second, you need to have a group learning experience about the nitty-gritty of tools, techniques, and processes (with both designers and managers as instructors.) Third, you need a period of individual reflection, then have (shared) responsibility for a real project. = sounds just like Kolb's adult learning cycle!

Craving: This came upon me during the drive back to Fairfield -- I haven't made one in ages (check earlier posting for actual date.) So, in less than half an hour, I produced the "L" pie!

(My-T-fine lemon meringue package mix.) = Delicious!