Category Archives: Regional

Quake

At 5:23 a.m. I woke up. I always look at the clock first thing when I wake up in the middle of the night. Husband wasn’t next to me, he’d fallen asleep on the couch again. I usually sense this and wake up briefly before mentally shrugging “oh well” and falling asleep.

Suddenly the bed vibrated and the furniture rattled. My first earthquake! Actually, there were two shortly after we moved here in 2004, but I noticed neither of them. This quake was a 4.7 and the epicenter was 28 miles southeast of San Jose.

It’s a weird sensation to feel the earth move.

Volunteering Data

Here are some results from the first-ever federal report released today by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which finds that states vary widely in how, when, and what percent of their citizens volunteer (emphasis in italics added):

  • Females volunteer at significantly higher rates than do males in every state; nationwide, women with children under age 18 volunteer at a significantly higher rate (39.9%) than do women without young children (29%), and women who work volunteer at a significantly higher rate (36.1%) than women who do not work (27.2%).
  • The greatest percentage of volunteers serve primarily through religious organizations (34.8%).
  • The highest regional volunteer rate last year was in the Midwest, at 33.3%. The largest growth in volunteering since 2002 has come from the South (2.4 million) and the West (2 million).
  • The top volunteer activities by category are mentoring, tutoring, coaching, and refereeing (35%), fundraising (29.7%) and collecting, preparing, distributing, or serving food (26.3%).
  • Adult volunteering generally follows a life cycle, with people age 35-54 volunteering at the highest rate, and rates subsequently declining as people age, particularly for individuals over 65.
  • One state – Utah – led the nation in virtually all categories of volunteering, including highest volunteer rate (48%), annual hours donated by a typical volunteer (96), and overall volunteer rates by seniors (51.8%), college students (62.9%), and young adults (45.4%).
  • The volunteer rate in the Midwest is 29% higher than the rate in the Northeast, 21.5% higher than the rate in the South, and 14% higher than the rate in the West.
  • The states with the highest volunteering rates are Utah (48%), Nebraska (42.8), Minnesota (40.7), Iowa (39.2), and Alaska (38.9) – all well above the national average of 28.8 percent.
  • The states with the highest number of hours contributed by the typical volunteer are Utah (96), Idaho (64), and Arizona, Maryland and Montana (60) – all above the national median of 50 hours.
  • In general, volunteer rates for minorities (race and ethnicity) are substantially lower than non-Hispanic whites in most states.
  • While the influence of religion and the size of a state’s rural population appear to have an overall positive influence on volunteer rates, some states with lower religious activity or substantial urban populations (such as Vermont and Michigan, respectively) have very strong volunteer rates. Meanwhile, Bible Belt states have a lower volunteer rate than most Midwest and West states.

Woot!

Long days. Busy days. Today we began an all-staff strategic planning process. Tomorrow will be eight more hours. We’ll discuss everything about what, how, and why we do the things we do as an agency. There are no sacred cows (that’s the mantra). Everything is up for discussion and none of us are to fear backlash from the Executive Director (who is an amazing, grounded, authentic, and open person). This is a small staff — 14 people total including the AmeriCorps members. There’s a lot of affection among us. We understand that we are all trying to do the right thing and to effect positive change in our community. We’re allies. So the discussion today was lively and civil. Tomorrow we shall see if we can maintain this!

Meanwhile, I’m knitting but not exercising. Eating too much but not sleeping enough. Work has been demanding of so many 12-hour days in the past couple weeks that it breaks my workout schedule. I really truly need to rally myself to incorporate exercise into my schedule even when it goes whacko.

The fun news is: I will be going to Austin this month!!!!!! Yep. Originally I wasn’t going anywhere this year because the job incorporated no time off. I started with the understanding I had to work 1700 hours by October 31. Period. Last week, however, we received clarification. If we have a compelling reason why we have not reached 1700 hours by 10/31, we are permitted to work through to December 31. Our stipend payments end in October, however. Given this new information, I decided I would rather have some fun. The idea of missing another wedding, of not getting a chance to see my peeps, and of spending my birthday all alone while Husband was celebrating at our friends’ wedding felt lonely.

We booked our tickets tonight. Happy day.

If You Live In California, I Ask: Did You?

i voted

To my disappointment, Santa Clara County voters rejected a proposed half-cent increase designed to rescue the financially imperiled BART extension to Silicon Valley and restore health services for the poor.

Proposition 82, a 1.7 percent tax on individuals with over $400,000 annual income (and on couples with $800,000+ annual income) to support development of a public preschool program was defeated. Southern California voters supported it, but the Silicon Valley venture capitalists opposed it and spent a lot of money on negative advertising.

It remains to be seen if Proposition 81 — a measure to fund public libraries that direly need renovation and funding for acquisitions — will pass. I hope it does.

And of course there were numerous elections (mayoral, etc.) as well as the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Voter turnout in our precinct was very low, but I did my part!

Stocking Up

Yesterday I went into Commuknity ostensibly to pick up my receipt for the Stitch n’ Pitch event, but of course I wanted to see my knitting sisters and fondle some of the wares. To my delight Nathania and Chloe were there (and I was sad not to see Emy this time). And you know I couldn’t make it out of the store without indulging myself, right? The book is a great resource (if I ever get the patience to knit something bigger than scarf), and the yarn and one set of needles are dedicated to trying my hand at knitting the Little Flowers shawl. The other set of needles were selected, um, just because. You never know when you might need a size 15 36-inch circular needle!

latest spoils

Quickie Scarf

This scarf is made of Cascade 220 (not full balls, however). I began knitting it last weekend while we had company; as we rode all over the Bay showing them the sights, I knit. It’s for the Dulaan project. Quick and simple. I’ve knit six items for the project, and I may aim for one more.

orange & yellow dulaan scarf

Various

We had guests this past weekend, friends from Austin. It was perfect weather, and we went all over the place. There is an outside chance they may relocate to Silicon Valley, so part of the time was spent discussing life out here. We went to the Marin Headlands, ate at the Cliffhouse, saw huge Elephant Seals at Ano Nuevo Park, enjoyed Thai food, and took the extra-special super tours of the Winchester Mystery House.

I’m behind in email and other stuff.

I have loved the responses I got from last week’s self-portrait challenge! Thank you all for leaving your thoughts. 🙂 They have warmed me.

Have you ever been so tired that you feel angry? I have been exhausted to the core of my being for the past ten days or so. I have also been experiencing intense hunger frequently. We’re trying to start a family, and I’m wondering if I might be pregnant. However, an at-home test I took this morning was negative. Even if it did test positive, last time I miscarried at five weeks — in reality it was a “blighted ovum,” and if our technology wasn’t so advanced, I would have just thought I had a late and particularly heavy cycle. So I’m not counting on anything. I just wish I didn’t feel so exhausted. My job has been particularly demanding of late as well.

Anyhow, I’ve been napping in the afternoon when I can. However, today was a San Francisco day, and by noon I just wanted to go home. I was so tired by the time I got to the train I felt nauseous, teary, and grumbly. It probably didn’t help to learn that the holiday yesterday is not paid time. So I’m behind eight hours (in addition to the hours I lost when I was ill). When I started, I remember being told that on holidays when the office was closed (where I had no choice but to not work), that time was not docked — we were to be credited eight hours. Well, apparently that is not the case, according to someone who visited from the national network today. There has been a spate of mixed messages like this, all of which are unpleasant surprises.

Also, I have a number of projects that are not going well — low or no enrollment, difficulty getting a project leader — and this is stressful. I think the best thing to do at the moment, then, is take another nap.

Nap Time!

Tuesday I worked a long day in San Francisco. The evening project was to help paint a mural at the UCSF Children’s Hospital. I got home that night around 10:45 p.m.

Wednesday I had a site visit during the day at a wildlife refuge that brought such peace as soon as I entered that I must return often. It was wide open space, mostly salt marsh and salt ponds, and it was teeming with egret, heron, burrowing owl, avocet, and other avian wildlife (it hosts over 280 species of birds). There are also rabbits and an endangered mouse species there. The air was breezy, scented with the salty after-tide aroma of vegetation baking in the sun, and dozens of different birdcalls floated everywhere. My body felt it could breathe. Where is this wonderful place, you ask? It’s the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, and this was the environmental education center in Alviso. The refuge sits in the middle of the urban world, and it’s constantly adjusting to human encroachment. The marshes filter water before it enters the bay, and while that’s good for the bay, a lot of toxins build up. The salt ponds have been a location for the production of table salt for many, many years, and the company (Cargill) is slowly releasing the land back to the refuge to convert the ponds back into marshes. So, while the refuge is adorned with power lines and levees, these 30,000 acres of open bay, salt pond, salt marsh, mudflat, upland and vernal pool habitats remain a pocket of peace in an otherwise busy land.

Then (yes, there’s more), yesterday evening I worked at Second Harvest San Jose Food Bank. I and a dozen other people were assigned to the reclamation room. This is the room that receives all the discarded packaged goods from the grocery stores. Some food is past the “best by” date. Some packages are smashed or torn, cans are dented — whatever isn’t pretty enough to stay on the shelf is sent to the food bank. Much of the stuff is usable. We inspected each item, taped up boxes, threw away any package that had exposed contents (bags of sugar, pasta, drinks). We cleaned off containers that were sticky. We then sorted them into major groups: food, beverages, diapers, health and beauty, pet goods. By the end of the evening (two hours), we had sorted four tons of food.

And this morning I headed to San Mateo at 7:00 a.m. (a 28 mile drive that took an hour and 15 minutes) to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. A corporate group arrived at 9:00 a.m. to accomplish four big tasks: the organization of animal supplies for disaster preparation; socialization of dogs at the kennel (behavior training); painting the doors of the after-hour drop-off kennels; and painting the entire cat room. The last project got a late start because the room wasn’t ready. The agency had a new floor installed, which was to have been completed yesterday, but wasn’t. They were finished by 10:00. My job was to supervise this task primarily but also to check on the others throughout the morning. Everything was finished and cleaned up by the appointed time (12:30), and people had lunch and left. I wanted to take home all the cats, by the way. So sweet. One had been there two years; his name is Tigger and he was the sweetest guy. The center also rescues wildlife of all types. Last weekend someone brought 4 peacocks in. They will live there until a home is found somewhere. (They were gorgeous!) Oh, their public service announcement was very touching. I confess it brought tears to my eyes.

And I? I walked a couple miles at least, and I’m spent. So if you don’t mind, even though it’s only mid-afternoon, I’m going to curl up with my cats for a little while. Tomorrow, thank goodness, is a “normal” office day. It will seem like vacation!

Tuckered

Insomnia last night; well past 2 a.m. I was tossing and turning.

Up at 6:00 a.m.

Picked up co-worker at 7:00 a.m.

Arrived in SF at 8:00 a.m.

Began to sort painting supplies into four groups to prepare for the volunteers arriving at 9:30 a.m. About 20 people from a large, local corporation had arranged to volunteer for the day. (The corporation donates money to my agency for our service of matching volutneers with projects and coordinating everything.) They had requested projects that involve painting murals. The recipient of this generosity was the Koret Family House on 10th Street. They offer free lodging to families that live over 50 miles from SF and who have a child with a life-threatining illness. Many families come to the nearby medical center for treatment. Hotel costs are prohibitive, even for short stays. The Koret House provides “a home away from home” that permits families the chance to focus on getting their child well instead of financial worries.

It was a great bunch of people, very enthused. Each floor had a different mural: a world map, stars and moon, frogs fiddling in a pond, and ocean fish. My job was to check in periodically to see if they needed anything. There were four groups painting, on four separate floors. I ran up and down stairs all day. They finished at 3:30 p.m. and left, and I stayed with my colleague to finish up small tasks. Then I drove us home.

I got in the door at 6:00 p.m. I’m hungry (though I did eat lunch) and exhausted!

Tomorrow I will attend a gardening project at 9:00 a.m. and a soup kitchen project at 3:00 p.m.

Time for bed. Soon!

A First Time for Everything

Oy, what a day. It was fuller than I expected.

It started with a meeting at 10 a.m.; it was only a half hour. Sweet! (We are very conscientious about ending meetings on time; we assign someone to keep track.)

Then a project leader called about supplies for a large project on Saturday (it morphed from a simple mural and mulch project to a huge painting/gardening one for an elementary school). No one had ever trained me as to procedure on how to get supplies to leaders. I’d been copied on the emails between the agency and leaders, and I skimmed them, assuming they were sent as a courtesy to keep me in the loop. Last week while I was out ill, the leader sent a list of supplies needed and ended with, “Let me know if I need to fax this to anyone.” I dutifully skimmed and filed the email. I was playing catch-up, and it got by me.

Yesterday the other co-leader emailed a long list of supplies, and this time I went to a supervisor to ask how to proceed. They needed to get them today, because the entire staff will be out of the office tomorrow. We would have to rush and gather items (paint brushes, trays, drop cloths, rakes, wheelbarrows, hoes).

Ah, but we had scheduled another meeting, and we had to follow through. It ended at noon.

Our agency stores project supplies at a non-profit in Pacifica (who lets us use space for free). Pacifica is 50 miles from my office. We were to meet the project leader there at 1 o’clock to give him access and help him load his truck. However, I was assigned to go to Home Depot on the way to purchase paint sponges and more brushes. It takes about an hour to drive there without that detour, and I had exactly an hour available.

I made the purchase (no thanks to Home Depot staff who didn’t know where anything was). I had clear directions from Google. I was mellow despite the fact I was already 20 minutes late. I motored slowly through the sleepy suburban hills of Pacifica at 20 miles an hour, headed down a hill looking for street signs for Oddstadt Boulevard, when suddenly I heard the whoop of a police car and saw lights flashing.

What? Who, me? I pulled over. Mr. Policeman gets out of the car and walks up to my window. “Good afternoon, ma’am,” he says. I said hello. He said, “Did you not see that stop sign back there? You didn’t stop.”

Huh? No, I honestly had not seen a stop sign. I didn’t even know how far back it was. This is not a bustling town; there was no traffic on the road at all. (It was a 3-way stop at a T-intersection; I was on the main road.) I said, “No sir, I’m sorry, I really didn’t. I’m not familiar with the area. I’m trying to get to the Boys & Girls Club.”

Mr. Cop: “Where do you live?”
“Santa Clara.”
“Well, I believe they have stop signs there too.”
“I’m sorry, I simply didn’t see the sign. I’m trying to find Oddstadt Boulevard.”
“Do you have an outstanding warrants or are you on parole?”
“No sir.”
“Have you ever gotten a ticket before?”
“No, I’ve never had a traffic ticket.”
“Well, I need to see your license, registration, and proof of insurance. I’ll be happy to give you directions in a moment.”

I handed over the requested items (why did my hand tremble?), and he returned to his car. There he sat for 10 long minutes. He returned with a ticket in hand and explained that I need to deal with the office in South San Francisco (crap! so far away!), and that I can probably get the points removed if I take a driving class. I asked what the ticket cost, and he said that’s determined by the court.

As I signed the ticket (which he said “is not an admission of guilt”), he added that police cars have video cameras now, and they are recording all the time. “So we have proof in case you decide to contest the charges.” Then he cheerfully directed me to the street I sought. I was less than half a mile from my destination.

I’ve never ever gotten a ticket for a moving violation. I’ve been lucky, I guess. But I was disappointed in myself. I felt unhappy because here I am, trying to do my job which for the moment has become another fire to put out (driving to Pacifica was not on my agenda for the day), and I’m honestly unsure of where I am, and damn, I get a ticket. So much for the myth of first offenders getting off with a warning. (But at least my life doesn’t bore me!)

I made it to my destination and handed over the paintbrushes, and after that had another meeting to attend. At 3:30 I headed home.

Relieved to get home without being stuck in highway hell, I kicked off my shoes and headed for my favorite seat, the green sofa. There, where I usually sit, was a little pile of partly digested cat food. Oh, a gift from one of the cats (Stella)! In all the years she’s been with us she’s never actually barfed on the furniture. This sofa was the Big Purchase we made a few Christmases ago. It has now been thoroughly christened. I cleaned it up; fortunately it was, er, not one of her wetter, messier bouts.

But still!

I believe these events qualify me for a comfort-food dinner tonight.

Tech Transition

We experienced a gadget revolution recently at Chez Mindful Life. The huge clunker television, which Husband acquired prior to meeting me, blew a convergence IC or amp (or something technically complex that I don’t understand). Although he rarely purchases anything, he enjoys learning about the latest in high-end stereo and television components. This machine was his pride and joy, a 50-inch screen 4×3 CRT Rear Projection HDTV. I hated the thing. It was enormous, boxy, black, and it overwhelmed any room it occupied. This became especially true after we moved to California, when the living room was too small to have the TV and bookcases; we put it in the guest bedroom, and the giant eyeball dominated it.

Imagine my barely suppressed joy when he decided that paying $600 to fix it wasn’t a good investment, since the machine had four other of the same thingies that could blow at some point. Besides, it had “outlived” its original lifespan; he’d had it seven years. I negotiated for a smaller screen. We went down to 42 inches — not a lot smaller, you’d think, but we also chose a plasma screen, which meant it would be skinnier. The new television now sits on top of a 3.5 foot tall bookcase — out of reach of small hands (should we ever have a child). It was an excellent value at the price we paid, and the high definition screen is all it’s cracked up to be.

We also upgraded to a new DVD player. I can’t remember the reasoning he gave, as the one we had works fine. Yet since he rarely buys things (he’s a man of simple wants), I wasn’t opposed. But then we had the task of figuring out what to do with the old devices.

Enter Freecyle. If you have stuff you want to just get rid of, that you don’t want to lug to Goodwill or try to sell, there is a community of people just dying to take it off your hands. I sent out notices to Freecycle Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Within half an hour I had a dozen responses for the DVD player, which has now been picked up. A bit later I got a nibble for the television. Someone is on his way over to look at it and, I hope, pick it up today. At 217 pounds and dimensions of 43 x 51 x 21 inches, moving it requires a truck. We shall see. I’m looking forward to its absence so I can get into the garage again.

All In A Day’s Work

Despite its length, this was a really good day. First I drove to Oakland to meet with the Executive Director of the Center for Community Benefit Organizations. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss how they might revive the Hank Rosso Library, a resource collection providing information to help non-profits thrive and fulfill their missions. The library has existed for quite awhile, but due to staff changes, use of the library lapsed, and the newcomers don’t really know what was done before. My task is to do a little research on what software programs might be useful for a small library like this. I also talked about Library Thing as a possibility. She is going to develop the budget for next year soon. If you have a recommendation for a library management system (for a PC), do let me know.

Then I spent the afternoon as a panel speaker for the Northern California Youth Leadership Seminar. The theme of the panel was “Jump Into Action”, and four of us talked about the work we do, how we got into it, and why we pursue non-profit work. The room was packed with 120 high school sophomores, and they had a lot of energy. After speaking, the panel took general questions, and then the kids broke into small groups, and we speakers rotated through each group to answer additional questions. So I felt good about all this. I had a chance to convey my message about service and what it means.

What happened after all that, however, made a greater impact on me (I’ve left out details that would give identifying information). I’d mentioned I was a counselor in my presentation. A young woman approached me after to ask if she could get some advice. I asked what was on her mind, and she revealed to me a recent experience of sexual assault by an acquaintance (classmate), and mentioned subsequent behavior that indicates a stalker’s mentality. She hadn’t wanted to talk to a school counselor because she’s afraid of “ruining” the guy’s life, and also she’s fearful of backlash. She assumed if she told it would automatically set legal wheels rolling.

Wow. I hadn’t expected this. At all. So we talked about 15 minutes, and I hope I helped. I listened, I validated her experience, I encouraged her to call the rape crisis hotline to get advice, and I suggested she talk to her mother. She was reluctant to tell her mother because she thought her mother would cry. I encouraged her to approach her mother anyway and reminded her that mom would want to know and help, even if the news was upsetting. And I also reminded her that the perpetrator chose to do what he did, and if his life ends up “ruined,” then it’s the consequence he brought upon himself.

Despite advances in social dynamics, many females are socialized to be victims in that we focus on taking care of others, even when they do things that hurt us. I couldn’t do much in the short time we had, but she looked relieved to be understood. She hugged me. I hope she gets the help she needs. The encounter made me realize the I’m still a counselor at heart too, and I rather miss that work.

Reporting In

Busy week. Monday in Milpitas. Tuesday was in San Francisco until 9:30 p.m. (my colleague drove). Wednesday was Milpitas. Today I drove (my turn with the coworker) to SF; we left at 7:45 a.m. and arrived at 9:00. I was in meetings from 9:00 until 4:30. We left SF at 4:30 to get back to San Jose for an evening work event. We arrived there at 7:00 p.m. Now I’m home and barely coherent.

And guess what? Tomorrow I have to be in Oakland by 9:30 a.m., which means I will probably leave here at 7:30. Then I have to be back in San Jose at the university by 12:30 p.m. so I can present a talk at a panel from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

I will be so glad to sleep in Saturday.