f|break: wednesday afternoon

comedy ... another @kumailn (on twitter, web) chuckle for my cubester buddy ha gow.

enjoy a fiber break with kumail (over here)
for ~ 1:53 minutes with cheese

cheese is tylenol p.m. and heroin, so really, it's ...
... shake cakes ...

f|break: sunday word fun

it looks like this ... my final paper's word cloud (via wordle over here).

(you can visit it over here, also)

thank you, wordle ... you are one of my go-to sites (over here) when i am in the mood to copy-cut-paste-wait and then go on to my next how i pass my time for now moments.

side bar - greenleaf final paper ... my paper - the place and the setting will evolve - for my foundations of servant leadership course assignment with the greenleaf academy, as described over here and with the first paragraph teaser over here, makes me want to write more. but before i do that ...

i'm in the mood again ... how about i do a little wordle-scaping of the original ...

(you can visit it over here, also)

your turn,
so i can visit!

final touches for my @greenleafcenter final paper

the foundations of servant leadership ... our paper (described over here) is due today. here is the introduction to my paper ...

THE PLACE AND THE SETTING WILL EVOLVE

There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live and

breathe in their ENVIRONMENT —Air, Land, and Water. Egos stand firm

on the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge that

being one step closer means choosing to be one step FURTHER.

My VISION is to Create Those Bridges. – Shirley Rivera

My journey as part of the Greenleaf Academy’s Foundations of Servant Leadership has reinforced the importance of remaining mindful of my 1994 epiphany, reflecting on life observed and experienced, and engaging new knowledge. With new knowledge of querencia, spirit carriers, and primus inter pares, I have revitalized my mission, vision, and values – an unexpected and welcomed outcome through five months of increased self-awareness and reflection. I continue to believe that one person can and should make a difference, and I am reminded that connections – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically – naturally exist. Because of this, I have come to realize that my journey of servant leadership began many years ago and will continue for many more years to come – not only in reflection but in manifestation.

thank you for letting me share

f|break: friday morn cloud me...

mornin' after sade ... an AWESOME date night with pho queen. new learning? perhaps my obsession with watching the move step up 3 (yes, i'm admitting it) is because of the occasional daniel "cloud" campos (on twitter, facebook, myspace) dance scenes. or it's just my guilty pleasure. regardless, thanks pho queen ...

enjoy this morn's fiber break with shakira and daniel (over here)
for ~ 3:30 min with did it again

(and if you need a little more to speed read, shakira sharing background (over here) of making the video.)

and let's flashback to wednesday's fiber break with sade (over here)
for ~ 4:05 minutes

i know my eyes already like you

thanks, pho queen, for a fabulous girlfriend date night
and
let's matchy-matchy with
our glow girlie tees in cubeopolis next week!

cubester lovin' with mr. pickle

lovin' jacqz(!) ... who has made cube-o-rama a bit more sparkly by bringing a special something into my life and the lives of others.

mutual lovin' ... jacqz thanked shirlnutkin for - uhm - just being shirlnutkin. and back at ya, jacqz!

as part of my recent post i spy squalor over two weeks ..., the yodelling pickle has been living quietly among the squalor.

however, yesterday, mr. pickle - the yodelling pickle - was set free, at least for a little while to bring cheer to a local coffee shop. more about mr. pickle's coffee break later. until then ...

enjoy your day!
(and i'll be blowing kisses at sade this evening!)

f|break: wednesday morn sade love ...

ba-boom-boom-boom ... a little over 9 months ago, got my tix. am very excited. tomorrow - half-day in cubeopolis, dinner in san jose somewhere with pho queen, and sade (and john legend).

enjoy a fiber break with sade (over here)
for ~ 4:05 minutes

i know my eyes already like you

(repost from 05/23/11)

sade ... LOVE @sadeofficial (on web, twitter, facebook). got my tickets (back in november) for the august 25 san jose show. also now have the ultimate collection.

enjoy a music fiber break this morn with sade (over here)
at that san diego show which i saw her from row h

for ~ 8 minutes singing is it a crime

it dives and it jumps ...

(repost from 11/12/10)

sade tickets ... i will be at the aug 25 show in san jose at the hp pavilion.

• yesterday's thing - at coffee yesterday afternoon, mister-boy-working-at-specialty's asked what the acronyn "sayd" on my baseball cap meant. i told him it was a group with a female lead singer named sade. he asked if they were popular. as i started explaining, he interrupted me and asked if it was some sort of 80s band. solution? just show him the sade website. he then asked, "is that her?"
  
  
• pre-sale amex thing - i learned about the amex presales and the "costs-as-much-as-two-pairs-of-fluevogs" VIP ticket package.
  
  
• lesson learned thing - find a new memorable super-secret hiding place. i spent literally HOURS (last night and this morning at 4:AM-ish) looking for my amex card for presale tix so it could VIP myself.
  
  
• time passes and shit happens thing - in between the time when a VIP hospitality package was available STILL available yesterday to the time i found the super-secret amex card hiding place this morning, said VIP package NO LONGER available. (note to self: snag a package at the san diego show.)
  
  

good thing...
i purchased tickets this morning.

yup, i felt it ...

... also referenced (on usgs) as
event id nc71625060

just a quick 2 shakes

and then
about 5 minutes later,
another little shake
(known as
event id nc71625065)


oooo ... pretty map in color ...

magnitude 3.6
then
magnitude 2.3

nighty night

when improv meets @greenleafcenter ...

lucky me ... turns out (in my opinion) improv can provide a nice venue to practice and learn the types of characteristics associated with servant leadership.

the past 5 months with the greenleaf academy class foundations of servant leadership has overlapped nicely with the beginning improv classes i have been taking with made up theatre (mut) for the past 8 months. during the most recent mut improv class C, we were introduced to truth in comedy.

LISTEN ... be honest . connections cannot be avoided . respect choices made by others . accept and build . avoid preconceived notions . stay in the moment . nothing is ignored . there is no such thing as a mistake . welcome the silences . there is action in thought . reflect each other's ideas .

key practices in improv ... those are among the several key practices emphasized as part of an improv class i have been taking for the past eight weeks. every monday night, i have the opportunity to practice, play, and learn. unexpectedly, i have found that much of our mindset during improv is quite similar to the characteristics associated with servant leadership. and about servant leadership ...

LISTENING ... empathy . healing . awareness . persuasion . conceptualization . foresight . stewardship . building community . commitment to the growth of people . self-awareness . changing the pyramid . developing your colleagues . coaching, not controlling . unleashing the energy and intelligence of others .

nice to have the overlap as a reminder

f|break: monday morn geek stuff

a cubeopolis offering ... last week, l.a.g. (aka ha gow), one of my fave cubesters, offered up a fun fiber break that combines math and pageant chicas!

enjoy this fiber break with pageant queens (over here)
for ~2:15 minutes

as a thank you, i offer ha gow the poetic table of elements (over here or click on image below, from everypoet.com)

and the elements song (over here or click on image below)

enjoy!

gave ya #improv ...

popcorn

photographer
elephant

first show on june 11 ... on a saturday evening in june, these three words were the opening suggestions for the level b improv show @madeuptheatre (on facebook, web, yelp, twitter, youtube) at made up theatre.

• part 1 of the show - channel surfing
• part 2 of the show - montage
  

it was 6 of us who've spent 16 monday evenings learning about improv. this was our first time on stage. and this was my first time on stage.

starting off the evening ... thanks so much to sean taylor. not only is sean a great host, he is a member of 5 play improv (on facebook, web) and laugh track city (on web). and thanks to gadgetman (aka joel) for several clips from the evening.

two clips from the show ... the first clip is simply the introduction to our show, so you get to see all six of us getting paired up for channel surfing. the second clip - is from the montage portion.

enjoy the intro while learning about the shows format,
meeting the level b group, and meeting the channel surfing pairs
(for ~ 4:30+ minutes)

here's a portion of the second half of the show's montage for ~ 6 minutes

lessons learned ... the various lessons learned (in a good way) as i reflect on the evening and as my friends remind me of ...

• shooting a rifle ... the trigger is the one close to your chest; it's not at the tip of the barrel.
• blow torch ... really? i chose to defrost elephant meat with a blow torch?!
• jumping up and down ... how to say this delicately? the gals were bouncy.
  
• apparel adjustment ... speaking of, be mindful of adjusting while on stage.
  
• alphabetical or numerical order ... absolutely love the cleverness of listing transgressions in such a way!
  

thanks to alejandro, joel, leslie, nicole, roberto, and scott -
for taking time out of their saturday evening
to support the show
with other level b friends & family!

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

final class @greenleafcenter

our final class ... the certificate program of the foundations of servant leadership, which has lasted 5 months, has come to a close this morning. during class, i had a few references for participating in this morn's discussions, not to mention accessing the wiki, my blog posts, and my springpad.

30 seconds to describe servant leadership ... among other activities and readings in preparation for this morn's class, we were asked to prepare and share a 30-second description of servant leadership. toward the end of this blog post is my 30+ seconds of describing servant leadership. meanwhile, a quick overview of my journey through this class ...

the beginning ... we started in april (over here). our class has a variety of people, primarily u.s.a. based, with one gentleman in europe. we come from different walks of life. we share many different levels of interest about servant leadership as part of our life, our reality, and the reality of others. during the first two months of class, i shared several posts (over here) about my on-going greenleaf-inspired thoughts and feelings. i also was quite active on our class wiki.

and then ... cubeopolis happened, life happened, and something (or someone - me, perhaps) started to shift ...

prolific writing lull ... toward the end of may, i became very, VERY mindful of our class readings as i observed life around me and my own choices, behaviors, and actions. (also, my 8-week improv class was coming to an end with a first show on june 11.) while at cubeopolis, there were many times i observed the lack of (and the pleasant surprise of) those characteristics that have been used to describe servant leadership. and for whatever reason, i spent EACH DAY of june and july compelled to take note (on my springpad) of at least one quote, action, behavior, or observation that not only fed my interest in servant leadership but also fed my growing interest in improv. now it's august. and this morning's class has ignited a little flame.

lull no more for final class paper ... with my final paper due in a couple of weeks on saturday, august 27, our paper is -

... expected to reflect learning, knowledge and insights that merit the certificate

... while also being mindful that -

Greenleaf says that the journey to servant leadership begins with self, and reflection is part of that journey. The paper should reflect our journey through the class.

thoughts about paper ... with that said, i have had several ideas throughout the class about my approach for content development of the final paper -

• self-reflection to self-awareness journey
• evolution of ah-ha moments
  
• observations of those work-day behaviors and actions that are and are not supportive of servant-leadership characteristics
• generations (as shared in this previous blog post over here)
• the potential nexus of servant-leadership integrated as part of cross-boundary collaboration
  
• how a weekly improv class learnings has brought to life many of the key characteristics of servant leadership
• my 1994 epiphany and how this servant leadership class and journey continues to shape my mission, vision, values
  

one other inspiration ... yesterday, i took the opportunity to talk with a woman i met a couple of weeks ago through a cubeopolis effort. our chat was filled with mutual admiration and thankfulness for crossing paths. and for me, my brief experience with her has certainly shaped my contribution to this morn's class. here is what i shared/spoke for my 30-seconds description ...

(starting with the context of my core vision)

my '94 epiphany ... as part of my class/public journal, i shared part of what i felt led up to what' i've called my '94 epiphany during a very early morning -

There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live and

breathe in their ENVIRONMENT— AIR, LAND, and WATER. Egos stand firm

on the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge that

to get one step closer they must go one step FURTHER.

MY VISION IS TO CREATE THOSE BRIDGES. – (shirlnuktin)

my mariel-inspired share ... as part of helping summer interns refresh their resumes, i felt a nexus to servant leadership and described it this morning to the class ...

one can experience servant leadership when engaging with people by ...

• acknowledging each person's voice and story,
  
• connecting each person with his/her personal gifts and talents,
  
• seeking to understand each person's values, goals, and objectives,
  
• creating opportunities and tools to empower each person, and
  
• providing a framework for mutual follow-up through direct involvement with others.

it has been a wonderful experience and pleasure to be part of the foundations of servant leadership certificate program. i am looking forward to the next class - applying the key practices of servant leadership.

thank you isabel,
greenleaf center for servant leadership,
classmates,
and
life observed & experienced!