Spring-like warm days bring out the creative chef-wanna be in me and today I made some pickle relish from scratch that could sell a million jars. I have been buying my fruits and veggies from the local Kirkwood Farmer’s Market and  here’s what I whipped up:

Ingredients:

About 12 midget sweet gherkins
1/4 yellow bell pepper
1/4 yellow onion
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

Chop up and mix up.  Voila!

On the naked branch he is perched

Swiveling his head to and fro

Vetting over the night

His nocturnal calls I hear from my window

Softly, he cries out into the void with reverence only for the moon

And I am comforted in my loneliness.

He would set up a big screen that hooked onto a tripod at one end of the living room, and we would sit huddled across the room, eating popcorn while gazing gingerly at the homemade “movie”, chuckling at his recounts of fathering 8 children. Of course grandma would sometimes chime in with a different version of that day in 1956. Ker-chunk…..ker-chunk.

I still have a big envelope full of Kodachrome slides that have been passed down to me that I hold up to a bright light every now and then, trying in vain to recapture and recreate the exact moment in time I am peering into.

My grandfather treasured those slides, although I’m not sure how often he looks at them anymore. I cannot help but wonder if these slides are lost or forgotten, how soon those memories – ten lifetimes’ worth – might be forgotten as well. Our memories fade over time without visual reminders. At what point do our memories become memories of remembering the memories? Why do we try to hold onto the past so intently?

Of course in the age of this digital revolution, I have the luxury of forever memorializing my photographs into several hundred gigs and passing them down to my children with just a click of a button, right into the electronic wilderness.

These photos can be accessed, archived, forwarded, manipulated, shared, viewed, commented on, linked to, stolen, published, criticized, interpreted, googled, twittered about, laughed at, copied, searched, gawked at, skipped over, blocked, blogged about, written about, posted elsewhere, be set to music, travel around the world, be seen my millions, archived, be turned into a digital slideshow, be printed and be deleted. All with the click of a button.

I have been using Picasa for a few months as a convenient method of sharing photos with friends and family. Photo sites like these give me the peace of mind that if I were to drop my camera into my latte, or spill my latte onto my macbook, then there would at least be one other source for recovering those precious memories. I recently started using flickr and I really admire its handy note feature that lets you comment on any object in the photos themselves.

Such a stark difference between now and the days when I would listen to my grandfather talk about yesteryear with his clicker in hand; it was an experience. Ker-chunk. I can hear his voice, picture their old house, almost smell the popcorn. I suppose my next photo archiving project should be to send my Kodachromes off to have them converted into a digital format so I can upload them to one of my photo sharing sites for posterity.

But there is a tactile relationship between those slides and my memories that take me back to a time that my macbook, even with all its innovative intent, just cannot go.

(I migrated this post over from an old blogger site)

Transitioning from a stay-at-home mom back into the working world is not an easy one, especially in this down economy that is already saturated with folks that have had the misfortune of experiencing corporate downsizing and layoffs.

My advice to her was not to think of her interviews as interrogations, even though they can be somewhat intimidating, but to treat them as  “getting to know you” conversations.  The worst thing she could do right now as she acclimates herself back into the workforce, would be to accept the first job that is offered. What if she ends up disliking her supervisor, or ends up disliking the actual work involved?  Then she would be in a position to consider leaving and having a short-lived notch on her experience list and starting all over again.

All employers want to weed out the fluff in the beginning of their candidate search,  so I suggested that she emphasize that she is looking for long-term employment,  a career, as opposed to a short-term job, with a growing company. What may be a prosperous business today, may not be in as little as six months these days.  I recommended that she consider opening up her job search to include those companies where she thinks she can contribute her talents and give back to the community.   There are several online job boards who post green job opportunities.

I also suggested that she inquire deeply into the culture of any company that she interviews with. When it comes time to ask the interviewer questions, it’s good to let them know you are interested in more than just the job.  You want to know about the people, their personalities; the ins and outs of a typical day; what makes the internal cogs go ’round; and how they are engaging with their communities. These kinds of questions will let them know that you want the position to fit you just as much as they are looking for the right person.

As we delved into the themes of prototyping, practice and play, the foggy peninsula of Monterey Bay California provided the perfect backdrop for a gathering of minds in which ambiguity permeated the unagenda.

From rapid prototyping and bodystorming (carrying out design sessions in the wild, instead of in the office) to the exploration of what makes us both comfortable and uncomfortable as human beings, what was interesting to me was the overlapping that ensued of ideas that served as cross-roads to the development of new ideas, concepts and plans.

Here is a mockup I created on the way home representing some of these overlapping themes that stood out to me:

The fusion of intellectual capital and various technologies at play during this event both energized and defused some common perceptions of old-style ways of thinking to a more creative and collaborative open-spaced style of problem solving.

During one of many exercises in innovation, I had the opportunity to discuss the implications of paper cup consumption as a social experiment dubbed “the Betacup”, a project led by Toby Daniels. We explored the common obstacles by which personal preferences, social circles and convenience affect the shift towards a more sustainable way of having that morning, afternoon and late night latte fix. It will be interesting to watch this project come to fruition.

Other collaborations included a revamp of the healthcare system in which transparency was the key to sharing medical records and history for doctors and patients alike, thereby negating the overlap of inefficiency that is all too common on both fronts.

Urban renewal through sustainable communities was the common element for one group which collectively shared their ideas and experiences concerning the decay and detachment that is plaguing major modern cities. These types of powerful breakouts and presentations provided a platform for in-depth conversations and the forging of new friendships and business partnerships.

This post represents a small sampling of the trailblazing concepts and insights that were circling around the Asilomar Conference Center last weekend. I heard it being described by more than one participant as being “life-changing” and I for one have certainly grown in many ways. It is not until we take the risks do we realize the rewards.

It was a privilege to engage with some of the brightest and certainly intriguing folks who are contributing to the social 3.0 community and I was inspired by the conversations and presentations alike. Thanks to all the other 49 people who made this a weekend of sharing I will be kicking around in my head for quite a while. My approval meter is reading green.