Life as an Extreme Sport

Author: Kelly

technology is rarely foolproof

blog as therapy, life and living

Sometimes, I have the overwhelming urge to leave people little notes that say something along the lines of “Hi, I’m both smarter than your technology, and than you think.” But then the manners Mom drilled into me as a kid resurface, and I (mostly) behave. In public, anyhow. Kind of. Passive aggressively, anyhow.

As a matter of point, passive aggressive seems to be the name of the game lately, and it’s a game I strongly, strongly dislike. Might even go so far as to say hate. It’s gotten so bad, just the culmination of everything and all, that I slid into driving meditation tonight, something I only ever used to do, in my previous life, when it was the only way to clear my head. (Microsoft got sort of pissy with us after we rather over-zealously used the provided stress relief toys, causing building damage…)

It’s a pretty simple method. Some people do walking meditation, I just take it a step further – a natural step, for someone who tends to see herself so damned augmented by machine. Get in car, pick a stretch of road to go Very Fast on, and go Very Fast with Very Loud and Angry music. Do this for a while, then switch to wandering strange side roads with soft, calming music. Rinse and repeat until it’s time to turn around.

Head back the absolute fastest way possible, going Very Very Fast with Very Loud and Angry music, again. About 10 miles from home, switch to another calm and soothing artist, and sink into the moment and take the time to do your final destress.

Granted, I had an excuse this evening – went to pick up an automated litterbox cleaner from someone a bit north of here – but it was still nice, and needed. I went through my Nine Inch Nails and various gangsta rap albums, wandered through Waterford to Eva Cassidy, spent a while sitting in what was truly the strangest cemetery I’ve ever seen – full of small, glowing/illuminated crosses. Very grave of the fireflys, without the nuclear holocaust. Came back home to more NIN, and finished it all up with Josh Groban.

I managed to hold on to the serenity all the way through dinner.

Go Tracy Go!

...and everything else

Alright, everyone think amazingly positive juju for my sister, Tracy. She’s got her first med school interview today, at her first choice school. And, because she is utterly made of awesomeness (she is my sister, after all), I know she’s going to do fabulously well!

…but juju never ever hurts, either. 😉

nightstand, mid-Sept 2007

...and everything else, Academics, AMBI, life and living

My nightstand post was apparently such a hit, people have been asking again to see what is on my nightstand. Never say I didn’t bow to request…


If you were to guess I’m finishing a project, your guess would not be that far off. Although, in all honestly, the nightstand has, at this point, overflowed to the side of the bed I’m not using… (The stuffed animal is Bones. I’ll talk about him some time down the line,…)

the gifts of teaching

...and everything else, Academics, University of Washington

I am asked one of two questions quite frequently. Those who come over ask about the art on my walls. Those who create the art, ask if I really hang it up. So, here are some examples of the art in my house – these are all student projects, bits and pieces that I fell in love with, and my students were kind enough to give to me at the end of our classes together.

So, the short answers are: the art in my house primarily consists of things my students have done as part of their academic work, and yes, I do actually display the art, with significant pride.


This door and wall show art from several different students and classes. The pieces on the left are from a class called Eye and Mind, centering on Merleau-Ponty, and bringing freshmen humanities students into a lab to see that science doesn’t have to be a scary Other. This particular student fixed and stained osteoblasts multiple colours, figured out how to photograph them via the microscope, then created a series of images from world religions in “stained glass” – transparency paper and the photoshopped images.

The pictures on the right are from a technology/communication course, and deal with how we see and how we read the body.


The petri dish in the upper left corner is also from the Eye and Mind course. My student figured out how to dye and fix his osteoblasts that shade of green, and then, using a dental implement, traced, in multiple petri dishes, the life cycle of several pacific northwest trees. He also wrote a corresponding paper on emergence, and tied the two together. You can see a closeup of the petri dish here; it was my favourite of the etchings.

The flower and the dry erase marker were gifts my mentor gave to me at the conclusion of our first class teaching together. A single white rose, and a dry erase marker in purple. The purple was a very sentimental touch; following the advice of a friend’s mother, I had taken to grading my papers in purple (so that the papers didn’t appear to drip blood). My teaching cohort graded in brown ink, and was given a brown dry erase marker. I was extremely moved by the level of attention and detail my mentor showed in selecting such a thoughtful gift… and I have it, and the rose, on the wall as memorial to everything that class was for me; it, more than anything, is why I now am here, where I am – thanks to that mentor, and those amazing students.