{mountains}

The longer I live in Washington, the more I love the mountains and the water. I don't visit either often, but I love knowing they are near.

recently, a friend posted this image she had taken when visiting Seattle and the poem along with it. I love both, so I am remembering by sharing. 

Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.

-Denise Levertov

{written about mt. rainier}

the eternal optimist

yesterday, as I was picking up shampoo for my roommate (you have got to try getting it on Amazon...save so many trips to the store!!) I stumbled across a nail polish called 'eternal optimist' -

also note the clear top coat - it promises 'Xtreme' durability...we'll see how it holds up at the rock wall...

not only is it is a nice light blush color, but now every time I look at my hands, I recall the name, reminding myself that I should keep an optimist's perspective on life. This is espically helpful when reviewing for my solar cell class test or doing solar cell class homework. 

I also recently purchased a new fun notebook for solar cell class review notes. I feel a smidgen better when I think about the class - at least I get to write in my fantastic notebook created from an old book!

if you can't read backwards/make up the missing word, it says "the young folk's shelf of books' :)

in all honestly though, you should know that it took me a solid 40+ minutes to paint my own nails. let's just say it's been awhile.

exploring fath & science

I'm finally getting around to listening to Pastor Richard Dahlstrom's sermons on the relationship between faith and science. I've only made it through the first one so far - Genesis and the Environment - and was reminded of this graphic that I ran across on the internet:

(via)

Incredible.

My thoughts on the sermons will probably show up in later posts, but you should take the time to listen to them as well, unless of course you go to Bethany and already heard them :)

you should also watch Prof. Cox's TED talk below

life, tangled

the way my life feels right now:

 I have good anchors, but the me in the middle is tired, stressed, confused, and conflicted.

Surprisingly enough, I have been getting enough sleep, 8+ hours a night.

But I think tomorrow is going to be a self-care/mental-health day - maybe sew for a little bit, clean my room, and maybe go see a ballet performance in the evening - even if I have to walk the two miles to get to the theatre.

umbrellas

(via)

not only is this so true - umbrellas for rain and sunshine - but it made me all nostalgic about the trip I took to the Philppines almost 2.5 years ago now. Wow! so long ago!

 
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from the SPU team that recently served the same community on a study abroad trip that developed out of our trip. I was excited to see that the Seattle community continues to serve the people of Cuatro in Valley Golf, Manila, as well as working with the people serving through Kids International Ministries.

booth babes

ommph. I would audibly express my frustration, but my roommate is trying to learn how to nap (I know, who doesn't know how to nap?!) so I'm going to write about it. I'm also putting off finishing homework, but that's nothing new.

you all know how I struggle with appropriate dressing in a male-dominated science field, but there is absolutely no reason booth babes should exist.

'Booth babes' stir controversy at 2012 CES
(for some reason, BBC won't let me have an embed code, but you should click on the link and watch the video, it's not too long)

Booth babes are insulting to women working in the tech field and only encourage gender stereotyping and inappropriate behavior. Regardless of if a women voluntarily agreed to work as a booth babe, she should not be subject to inappropriate comments and behavior from men, as seen in the BBC clip. (I also hate the way women are dressed in most video games and sci-fi books, but that's for another post.) I also finding it insulting to attendees to just assume that they would not be interested in a product if they don't have a scantily-clad model holding it. The problem only doubles when models are hired and not expected to know anything about the product. A company engages an attendee by objectifying a woman and then can't the sell the product because the rep doesn't know what she is handling - awesome marking strategy PR department (a marketing team probably all filled with men, but I won't put it past a woman to set something up at a male-heavy expo) Someone attending something like CES is there specifically to find out about new products, so I really don't see the point of hiring booth babes to introduce new products. And to the gal in the red shirt who though what they were wearing was fine because they weren't practically naked and laying across the hood of a car - if the clothing isn't appropriate for the tech workplace, it shouldn't show up at a tech conference.

Violet Blue, over at ZDNet has a humorous and pointed discussion about what it would be like if booth babes were male. also awful was the number of men taking pictures of the women without a product in her hands (link is from another gaming conference where apparently booth babes were supposed to be absent. it's quite funny, actually). If you're a guy who would go ask about a product because of the women holding it, not because of the actual product itself, I never want to work with you. That behavior quickly translates into an uncomfortable atmosphere in the workplace and I want nothing to do with it.

I also found the model's comments on women not being interested in technology telling about what she values and how the low visibility of women in tech makes entering the filed intimidating. I don't believe girls will see science and technology as a viable career to pursue until we get more women doing high-profile awesome things in a non-exploiting manner. Which is tricky, because minds, values, and attitudes in the industry have to change now before more women will join. I'm not sure what exactly to do to help this change happen, but I think that starting by mentoring girls and showing them how they can excel in those fields and supporting women like my friend Meredith, who is blazing trails through the tech industry.

for more discussion about booth babes, there are some other articles that have popped up on the internet:
another ZDNet one
one from The Guardian - apparently women were dancing in thongs at CES....really?!!!
from The Atlantic Wire
CNET (via huffington post) posted an except of a Women in Tech Panel - and look how awesomely they all were dressed!!!

and a whole ream of photos of booth babes - can you tell what they are marketing?
oh wait - there's more
and look! some gadgets, but don't forget the booth babes.

I'm done ranting now, but if you read all the way through this, I'd be interested in hearing how you would/do respond to the idea or presence of booth babes at a conference.

Also, no relevant pictures in this post, because the only related pictures would be of scarcely clad women, and I don't want that on my blog. But I can give you a cute kitten picture!

I would totally check out a product if a marketing department used kittens to sell it.....

{young} women in science

so encouraged today - learned that the winners of Google's new Science Fair were all female.



slightly discouraged at the rate of rejection from the people the girls reached out to for assistance, but I'm not sure if the rejections were based on their age (13-18), type of experiments, or because they are female, so I won't judge the rejectors too harshly.

and nope, this contest was not targeted towards women/minorities, it just happend that these intelligent, curious and persistent women found the mentorship, support, and encouragement to continue working towards doing great and innovative science.