i spy squalor over two weeks ...

i spy MORE STUFF
(see may '11 almost all-nighter tribute)
a must-clean-up-this-shit
now that i have relo-cube-alized.

cubeopolis ... since the last squalor moment, i have moved two cubes down the aisle. i am now sitting near windows. however, some things haven't quite changed. once again, squalor has evolved. on august 11, days of squalor accumulated over the course of approximately two weeks. granted, the pot-of-gold was realized (ultimately on august 12), however, remnants of the evolution of squalor remains

deconstructed cube-o-rama slice o' life ... time to play (AGAIN!) i spy STUFF as of august 11. let's i spy STUFF (roughly from left to right)...

• clock (with 3 time zones)
• programs from a cubeopolis event that ended on aug 4
  
• empty plastic container that once held pineapple slices from l.a.g. (from earlier in the aug 8 week)
  
• silver cylinder container with paper clips
• gift from a friend of "flower power" candies
• gift from a friend (same one who gave the flower power candies) - a yodelling pickle (yet to sing its virgin voyage yodel)
  
• green alien stuffed toy
  
• red gerber daisy vinyl wall sticker
• cylinder toy that makes the noise of a sheet
• cow candy dispenser that makes a moo sound when it "poops" out candy
• stimpy stuffed toy (of ren & stimpy fame - or infamy - created by john k)
• two coca-cola zero soda bottles with ~ 1.5 inches of liquid left in each bottle (from some time who-knows-when)
• java jacket (one of many)
  
• calculator (RPN, thank you very much)
• telephone headset hanging under the desk/credenza
  
• fiber one oats & chocolate wrapper
• water container
• large soy latte (or whatever is left of it)
• container of colored markers
• USB flash drive
  (that i often forget to take home with me when i plan on working at home)
• bejeweled computer screen with a "rear view mirror" that i use poorly
  
• stickers - little hearts in a box behind my computer screen
• document holder with documents
  
• keyboard
  (likely with crumbs of what once was in the fiber one oats and chocolate wrapper)
• pictures and paper galore, including niece+nephew, pigdog, malia+javier, guac monster, sculpture (once at laguna art museum), tim biskup mini-cards, picasso postcard (from de young exhibit museum store), artwork post cards from kelly paige standard and adolfo girala)
  
• crumpled, compostable napkin
• two containers - one for pens, one for white board/dry erase markers and erasers
  
• fiber one box with other fiber one chewy bars
• gold painted piggy bank
• blue polka dot bean bag
  
• panda bear stuffed tow
• tape dispenser
  
• macbook pro
  (that still needs to be upgraded from tiger to lion ... i know - skipped over snow leopard)
• buddha board (gift from secret valentine)
• federal budget wind-up toy
• stapler
• penguin (knitted) phone holder
  
• desk accessory holding yellow stickies
• stuff under desk

time to clean up
my part of cubeopolis

i spy an almost all-nighter ...

i spy STUFF
should i really clean this shit up
before i relo-cube-alize?

cubeopolis ... until ~3:30 am and back in by ~8:30 am, this is the after-math of the near-all-nighter. i'll continue to reside in this squalor until i start to relocate on wednesday (june 1) to a coveted-by-others spot down the aisle. meanwhile, i'll add to this post later ... as i did back in april over here ...

deconstructed cube-o-rama slice o' life ... i have STUFF. let's begin with may 27 and one slice of cube-o-rama. let's i spy STUFF (roughly from left to right)...
[update on 05/29 ... from L-R-ish]

• coffee cup 1 (of 4)
• tim gunn bobblehead (the original)
• soda (sprite) can 1 (of 3)
• coffee jacket, aka java jacket (of many distributed randomly across squalor)
• telephone headset
• yellow sticky, small (of various sizes and distributed randomly - and not so randomly - across squalor)
• scissors
• bejeweled monitor
• red pencil sharpener
• coffee cup 2 (of 4)
• orange
• red flocked wrapping paper (as cubeopolis wallpaper)
• my health month rules
• whiteboard pen holder (with rogue "girl with raised pigtails" pen from pho queen)
  
• glasses (for distance)
• soda (diet coke) can 2 (of 3)
• not-yet-assembled john fluevog pencil holder
• paper-umbrella i-quit-my-corporate-job and here's-why mini-flyer, handed out during the going away luncheon
• soda (pepsi) can 3 (of 3)
• not-yet-eaten raspberry muffin (which STILL remains uneaten and in my backpack)
• zen board (desk version of a buddha board)
• coffee cup 3 (of 4)
• to-go soda container (from chipotle) with diet coke
• pictures and paper galore, including niece+nephew, pigdog, malia+javier, guac monster, sculpture (once at laguna art museum), tim biskup mini-cards
• colored felt markers strewn on my desktop squalor
• penguin coffee mug (without coffee)
• folders under desk
• felt marker pen holder
• tarsier with red fez and red wine
• printed box with girl stuff in it
• solo cow in moonlight
• chipotle to-go bag with 2/3-eaten chicken bowl (aka compost, later in the morning)
• stimpy (of ren & stimpy fame - or infamy - created by john k) peeking out behind the chipotle bag
• shoe magnets
• pedestal desk first drawer ajar (aka the napkins collection area)
• coffee cup 4 (of 4)
• albert einstein bookmark (with quote "great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds")
• hard drive
• signed glossy (to top chefardy) from top cheftestant, ryan scott (on web, facebook, also is 3 sum eats that is at OtG here/there) - and here's the deal about the glossy ... he and top chef, season 4 winner, stephanie izard (on web, her restaurant girl & the goat, ), were featured at the top chef tour many years ago when the tour dropped by the bay area ... i've given a cubester stephanie's glossy
• incase maroon laptop sleeve
  
• magnetic container (regularly used for spices) with coveted small binder clips
• fake roses in a coffee mug
• some sort of writing pad (i didn't realize that was atop the shelf)
• and ... apparently not a window cube, but that's o.k. ...

(not in picture - plant trimmings
hanging on for dear life
... and more squalor)

answer to question:
NO.

plaid in cubeopolis

tights ... from @leg_avenue (on twitter, facebook, web), my plaid tights with my operetta black malibrans from fluevog were quite eye-catching in cubeopolis. (thank you leg avenue and 23 skidoo vintage)

plaid day ... it was unofficially plaid day yesterday, so said shiny penny andy. both he and i were shackled-cubesters, tied to an on-line event, so neither of us quite got to plaid-walk together around cubeopolis.

i spy shirlnutkin's cube-o-rama ... in the world of cubeopolis, each cubester has his/her own personal cube-0-rama, framed by four beige walls where push pins and magnets find a reason to exist. then there are just the surfaces where STUFF just happens. for some cube-o-ramas, it's a tidy sight. for others, it's an a.a.d.d. celebration of sorts.

deconstructed cube-o-rama slice o' life... i have STUFF. let's begin with one day and one slice of cube-o-rama. let's i spy STUFF (roughly from left to right)...

• to go coffee copy
• shotglass (gift from a cubester)
• bejeweled computer monitor
  
• red pencil sharpener
• red, flocked wrapping paper
• my health month rules
  
• squirrel postcard
  
• albert einstein bookmark (with quote "great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds")
• whiteboard pen holders
  
• pen with punching girl and pigtails standing up
• leather classes case
• 23+oz plastic water bottle
• black malibrans (from fluevog's operettas)
• plaid tights
• black leather planner
• zen board (desk version of a buddha board)
• pink piggy bank (from nashville, tn ... thanks kate and gwen)
• felt marker pen holder
• pictures and paper galore, including niece+nephew, pigdog, malia+javier, guac monster, sculpture (once at laguna art museum), tim biskup mini-cards
  
• tarsier with red fez and red wine
• solo cow in moonlight
  
• printed box with girl stuff in it
• distance glasses
• empty ziplock bag
• scooping yogurt
• shoe magnets
• reading glasses
• coffee-stained (years of...) teeth
• and ...
  

... i'm sure it looks different today.
what do you i spy?

r|cubicle: pre-post for the post

(this post is a follow-up to yesterday's post over here)

the answer is: still cubeopolis.

the question is: the same question recast - where does a pre-meeting (preceded by a prep-meeting) occur for "the" meeting?

recap (from the real cubeopolis) ... i was in the prep meeting on monday afternoon. i was not in pre-meeting yesterday morning. what does this subjectively mean in cubeopolis? i am on a lower rung (figuratively speaking) in cubeopolis. objectively stated, i was not invited (directly or indirectly) to the pre-meeting. so as might be logically deduced - i am not invited to "the" meeting - which is occurring later this morning.

recap (from the real girlnutkin) ... monday morning i wrote a blog post which was my prep-meeting - brainstorming ideas, options, etc. and yesterday morning, i had my own pre-meeting during coffee/muffin time. the objective of the pre-meeting? to narrow the landscape of context for writing posts about willingly, knowingly, and surprisingly re-entering cubeopolis. some time today, i will have "my" meeting (given i will not be at "the" meeting). meanwhile, here's the shorter list culled from yesterday's girlnutkin pre-meeting - a kind of next steps precursor to today's effort ...

• i got some 'splainin' to do - my sept 2007 thoughts 2 weeks after i joined cubeopolis serves as a good framework for topics.
• what makes me a bit unique in cubeopolis - in the last week of october, i wrote a cover memo for a position within cubeopolis where i reminded myself about my mission, vision, and values established back in 1994.
• another book and blog to read - i came across pamela slim's "escape from cubicle nation" blog. when i mentioned it to my friend at work, she encouraged me to write about my perspective of re-entering what slim calls cubicle nation after having my own business for 13-years.
• brubaker - i do love the movie (also described here in imdb and rotten tomatoes). yesterday, during one of my elevator-survey-moments, i did learn that at least one of my co-workers has seen brubaker, and he (that would be my co-worker because brubaker is a fictional movie character played by robert redford who doesn't work with me in cubeopolis) and i chatted a bit. he has been with cubeopolis for more than 20 years, so he was ripe with perspectives and spoke in terms such as system, meat grinder, circular, frustration, etc., while also speaking in terms of patience, change, challenging, and rewarding.
• reawakening some ideas - earlier in october i mentioned a bit about my friend, kit, who is writing a book about her system, as well as some reawakened ideas to consider as part of this effort.
  
• dream zappers - still not a fan of them, but i have LOTS to choose from in cubeopolis.

and two other items came to mind during yesterday's collection of thoughts ...

• therapeutic coaching® (new item, kinda-sorta) ... no, this is not i want to become. however, during a recent emotional discussion with a friend (which actually may result in some level of unfriending, so to speak), i was told that i have this tendency to do therapeutic coaching, and she was having none of it (loosely stated). she did not need the whole positivity thing, and i cut her off during her share/stories. she's right, i did, and still thinking back, i do not know if i would have changed my choosing to interrupt her. needless to say, this has stuck in my head. maybe it is relevant to this or not; i shall see what happens today.
  
  
• remembering jengyee (special memories item) ... as i was thinking through this re-entering cubeopolis writing idea, yesterday afternoon i realized that today - 11/10/10 - would be two years since my friend jengyee liang died of complications from lupus. (her obituary is over here and her charity over here.) my friendship with jengyee began in 2004 when we were mentor/mentee - we shaped each other's lives. as part of her february 2009 memorial service, i shared with her friends and family the back-story to the book she wrote and the back-story to a blog i started about the internship experience at my former consulting practice. (side note: my foreward to her book over here and my memorial service sharing - "no telling when i would have sat down ..." over here.)
  

looks like i am taking the time to sit down
(thank you, jengyee, for continued inspiration)

r|cubicle: planning for the pre-post for the post

the answer is: cubeopolis.

the question is: where does a prep meeting for a meeting occur to plan for a pre-meeting for "the" meeting?

to celebrate this phenomena ... this post is the beginning of my thoughts about re-entering (and for now staying in) cubeopolis - after 13 years of self-employment/business ownership. i haven't quite (re)formed my thoughts, but here are a few thoughts that have been swirling and reswirling in my head ...

• in 2007 i joined cubeopolis, and within 2 weeks (after drying the tears that collected in the hollow of my neck) i was like "what the fuh... did i get myself into?! i got some 'splainin' to do."
• two weeks after joining cubeopolis, i took leave without pay and went leaf-peeping in VT where i made a new friend, jennifer, who i have come to learn is like a soul sister (prepping here, hanging here and there,and coming home for tail end mini-vacay) - it's about friendship like the one i have with jen!
  
• a month after joining cubeopolis, i took a few days off for a weekend training where i learned about reiki and then some.
  
• prior to joining cubeopolis, i had to eliminate conflicts of interest resulting in essentially putting my consulting practice into deep freeze - 8 active clients transitioned to other service providers.
  
• it has been 3 years, and recently, i reminded myself about my mission, vision, and values (established when i first left cubeopolis back in 1994) and what makes me a bit unique in cubeopolis.
• i came across the escape from cubicle nation blog - it's about being part of a corporation to becoming an entrepreneur
  
• i love the movie brubaker (described in wiki, imdb, and rotten tomatoes) - the concept of change from within
  
• i continue still to be interested in self-identity, ignorance, race, authenticity, and mutual fairness, so i read a variety of articles, blogs, books, yap with people, etc. absent classwork or others of whom i am unaware also as may have similar interest - my thoughts here and here, and an author, tim wise, whose books i'm currently reading.
• and i'm just doing my other "stuff" resulting in reawakening some ideas.
• i used to love PINK, the magazine for women, and now ... meh (but i'll still thumb through an issue)
  
• i do not want to write about being an interpreneur.
• i am not a fan of dream zappers as described by ashley.
  

i will work on a little more planning
for the (next) actual pre-post content