Today is January 14, 2010. The paragraphs after this one were mostly written in Last year. There was a prompt about computer literacy back then so that's where the next paragraphs came from. I am going to be 65 this year, and am a total digital immigrant. I had to learn even after my daughter finished high school, so she offered little help. Never mind. Computer literacy is not my "brag about" competency. I'm better at sitting through meetings, learning about the big picture, creating funny events like "Squash Global Warming" and providing leadership in the trivia...making sure the meeting room is picked up, tallying the Ballard Market receipts and offering hands on help to other Sustainable Ballard projects when it is called for. I consider this the unglamorous glue that holds things together behind the scenes.

My introduction to computers has been haphazard, monkey see, monkey do, mostly in the realm of constantly upgraded Windows programs and over the shoulder of other people who actually bothered to come to terms with them early on. Yes, I can play Freecell, but that doesn't get me very far when it comes to turning PDF's into edited documents, hunting for templates to make my own flyers, or creating links in e-mail. I muddle through, but find myself still looking things up in the phone book, picking up the phone to try reaching someone for a ride, and otherwise trying to stay connected. It rarely works. I see the usefulness in the disembodied life of the internet, but it is awfully lonely. Well, I've had some "wiki training" from Fulvio, the guru, now, so I know a bit more than I did. Still, I find the computer an odd, uncomfortable medium. Oh, well. And it is also true, I don't have a cell phone, either... You want to talk to me, the number is 783 6963 at home...no calls after 10 PM please.

As for my life, it's just one meeting after another, interrupted by meaningful activity on occasion...like substituting in a primary grade class somewhere, or planting vegetable starts in the backyard, or making dinner for my spouse. Sunday afternoons often find us in Edmonds at my 92 year old mother's house, where we pool our leftovers and play Scrabble. My mother usually wins. My daughter lives in Brooklyn and consults to the upscale coffee business in Manhattan, running a business called TampTamp, Inc. or training new baristas in her TampCamp sideline.

Sustainable Ballard offers a constant undertow. As it evolves, I see the curse of car ownership, which results in the endless hauling of material and bodies. My Prius has become the de facto hauling vehicle. My own interests have drifted from working on home energy improvement into the general area of legislative action on climate change. I participate with Seattle's chapter of Citizen Climate Lobby, a group dedicated to creating the political will to take significant action for a sustainable climate. It is ALL worth doing, and it is hard to choose.

I am intrigued with the sociocracy method we are trying now, and will follow its evolution with interest.

In addition, I chair the board of Groundswell NW, building community parks and habitat in greater Ballard. A new park at 9th NW between 70th and 73rd will be developed this year.