Trick of the day: Bickmore "Bick 4" Leather Conditioner

Conditions, Cleans, Polishes, and Protects without darkening leather.   CC, a guest this week, brought me her bottle of Bick 4 at lunch today since I asked her advice on leather maintenance a couple of nights ago at barn dance after scuffing up my riding/line dancing boots pretty badly.

I've thought for years that the more people you meet, the more you know about the world, and the more "little tricks" you pick up on.   Tricks that make life easier, better maintained, more efficient, more enjoyable....

Bick's is the latest one of these tricks.  My boots haven't looked this good since the day I arrived to the ranch.

A day off

I cleaned cabins in the morning, sorted out a dysfunctional system or two in my department, finished up my first one-month-employee eval and meeting, and worked on pricing and ordering new kitchen towels, a ceiling fan duster, and assorted cleaning supplies.

Thursday was kebab day for lunch.  I had a cup of coffee on my porch and changed into boots before Horse Olympics.  I sat in on the event with some of the guests since I would like to learn more technical riding.  Sitting on a couch-horse on a trail ride without even trotting and looking at trees makes me want to just be on my own feet, and I've only ridden a handful of times.

Went on an evening stroll with a girl on staff named Brandi from Purdue and a Coke that ended up with us bushwhacking back through some trees, walking up part of a river in tennis shoes, and climbing along a fence to avoid stepping in boggy-snake-land.  Had some friends over to my little nook/cave/treehouse/room and shared a bottle of wine.

Went on a 12 mile hike yesterday to Three Island Lake and hung out by the lake reading a book, eating a PBJ and chatting w 2 coworkers for a few hours midway.  Fried Pickles and Dale's Pale Ale with live blues music and dancing 5 year olds at the Clark, CO local bar that evening.

Today I was back to work.  I have some really good employees.  Had a couple conversations that weren't pleasant but were necessary, so that's good.   Just got from an after-work hike to the cliffs behind the ranch.  I want to know what caused them.

Tomorrow's the big housekeeping turnover day, so as my friend Evan likes to remind me, I'll be "the lady of the hour" all day.  Each week has been smoother than the week before.  Partly practice, partly new ideas/systems that I'm coming up with along the way to make things easier, more organized, and more efficient.

Life is busy but good here. I think I'm where I'm supposed to be for right (as I tend to think about most places.)

Turnover Day: Take 1

10 cabins, 3 lodge rooms, 33 beds, 20 people, 5 hours between people leaving and the next guests arriving.   Done.  Managed.  The people involved don't appear to hate their lives.  And the laundry room doesn't look like a tornado hit it anymore.

I'd call it a success.

#breatheinbreatheout

Week 2 here we come!

Training and training and cleaning and cleaning

Housekeeping has become much more interesting now that I'm in control of teaching and training.  My neurons are firing in ways that they haven't for a while, and the organizational details can be overwhelming but mostly make me feel alive.

My crew seems like they're going to be really good.  Granted first impressions can be wrong, but they all want to do well, want to work hard, and have interesting things to say.  They'll be turning over a cabin by themselves for the first time today as a sort of "final exam."  I've hidden a few things in easy-to-miss places for them to find. Here's hoping.....

After quality is up to 4-diamond standards, efficiency will be the trick.  Quickness comes with time and real time constraints once guests are here, I think.  It's harder to teach perfectionism if you don't start at the beginning.  That's my theory at least.

I had to give a 15 minute talk to the whole staff yesterday.  I started with a somewhat revised/abbreviated history of Boston and the Boston Commons (with stick figure pictures of people, their cows, and private v common grazing land.)  Decided that the "Tragedy of the Commons" has not only been repeated in our fisheries and throughout human history but also in the history of common staff areas at the ranch and asked people to decide to be better than what we, as humans, tend to default to (destruction of common areas, overgrazing, overuse of shared but limited resources.)   Then I got into the details about where to find chemicals, what towels and TP are "guest only," and why if you take a vacuum, bottle of disinfectant, etc. you should put it back where you found it.

I honestly think I received more compliments on that 15 minute chat than on anything else I've done in my life.  Not sure if that's a testament to how nice my coworkers are or how beautiful my cow stick figures are.

Things have been busy, but hopefully I'll have time to post sometime in coming weeks between cookouts, game nights, barn dances, cleaning, meetings, and other "managerial responsibilities"

How to prevent shop talk after work

Spent an hour after dinner with my friend (and coworker) Lisa playing with her three new ducklings.  Didn't spend even a minute of it thinking about work, planning, orientation, cleaning, or new staff.  To avoid shop talk, just add ducklings.  (Don't get too attached.  It's a ranch.  We'll be eating these two at the end of the season.  Hopefully they won't be quite as adorable at that point....)

The Internet and the human brain

"Are sudoku puzzles the only thing stopping the species turning into a horde of attention-deficient, socially-dysfunctional, email addicts – part human, part smartphone?"

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I woke up to a BBC article titled "Does the Internet Rewire the Brain?"  Being a blogger, a psych major, and a general neuroplasticity geek, I was impressed with how accessibly and succinctly it was written.  Here's a clip to hopefully get you hooked into reading the whole thing:

Fear not, there is some good news from neuroscience. But first, it is my duty to tell you the bad news. You may want to put down your phone and take note, this is the important bit.

The truth is that everything you do changes your brain. Everything. Every little thought or experience plays a role in the constant wiring and rewiring of your neural networks. So there is no escape. Yes, the internet is rewiring your brain. But so is watching television. And having a cup of tea. Or not having a cup of tea. Or thinking about the washing on Tuesdays. Your life, however you live it, leaves traces in the brain.

 Worrying about the internet is just the latest in a long line of fears society has had about the changes technologies might bring. People worried about books when they first became popularly available. In Ancient Greece, Socrates worried about the effect of writing, saying it would erode young people's ability to remember. The same thing happened with television and telephones. These technologies did change us, and the way we live our lives, but nothing like the doom-mongers predicted would stem from them.

But is the internet affecting our brains in a different, more extraordinary way? There is little evidence to suggest harm. Here we are, millions of us, including me and you, right now, using the internet, and we seem okay. Some people worry that, even though we cannot see any ill-effects of the internet on our minds, there might be something hidden going on. I am not so worried about this, and I'll tell you why
We regularly do things that have a profound effect on our brains – such as reading or competitive sports – with little thought for our brain fitness. When scientists look at people who have spent thousands of hours on an activity they often see changes in the brain. Taxi drivers, famously, have a larger hippocampus, a part of the brain recruited for navigation. Musicians’ brains devote more neural territory to brain regions needed for playing their instruments. So much so, in fact, that if you look at the motor cortex of string players you see bulges on one side (because the fine motor control for playing a violin, for example, is only on one hand), whereas the motor cortex of keyboard players bulges on both sides(because piano playing requires fine control of both hands).

So practice definitely can change our brains. By accepting this notion, though, we replace a vague worry about the internet with a specific worry: if we use the internet regularly, what are we practicing?

For the rest of the article, visit: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120424-does-the-internet-rewire-brains 

Missed Connections

Sometimes when I'm alone I read Missed Connections on craigslist.com from different cities. Today while reading the Indianapolis section, I came across one to the garbage man.

My Garbage man - m4m - 23 (North Keystone)

Date: 2012-04-15, 6:17AM EDT
Reply to: ft96v-2944894550@pers.craigslist.org

You are my garbage man. I helped you with my trash once. Friday you must have dropped your pack of cigarettes by my curb. I felt bad cuz only 2 were missing so you clearly just bought them. I still have them. If you dont read this you'll just have to wait till next Friday to get them back. If you Do! Let me know the brand and I'll tell you where to get them : ) ps.. I don't smoke so it still a full pack
Location: North Keystone
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 2944894550

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For a few years now, I've been following a blog by watercolor artist Sophie Blackall who paints scenes inspired by missed connections posted in NYC. I love the interactions between strangers and wondering what might have been. Check her blog out when you have the chance



Monday, May 3, 2010
- m4w - 25 (Astoria)
We both purchased owl statues today. You are the classy looking dame in a red dress. I am the mustachioed gentleman. I think we should meet up and discuss further wildlife decor.

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Sunday, February 21, 2010
- m4w - 27

I am a nice, quiet guy, and I am about to have a missed connection with someone at my local laundromat when I go in a half hour to do my laundry. I'll probably be sitting in a corner reading, because I don't like to leave my laundry alone. Maybe you're there doing your laundry too?

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Friday, January 22, 2010
L Train
Hey, guy that got on at 1st Ave dressed all in black with the throat tattoo. Thanx for existing.