I learned that there are such things as light-up knitting needles!
Month: February 2011
Ski the Track
I learned, from my neighbor, Barbara, that our new Parks & Rec director has been grooming the local running track for cross-country skiing! We went over and checked it out – it looks great.
It may be going in circles (ovals) but it’s two inches from here and it’s free!
Same Page
I have learned that when I meet with my manager, or with anyone in a situation where the stakes are high, and I go with another person, it is really really important to be on the same page going in. Same message, same facts. If there are numbers involved, even more so.
Ouch.
The River is Wide
I have learned to never ever ever burn your bridges. There is nothing to be gained by it, it never feels as good as it seems like it might, and it’s a REALLY small world.
So just be nice.
Mail Early
I (hope I) have learned to mail earlier rather than later.
I love sending packages to Loved Ones, and I always think they will take less time than they actually will. Because of this, I end up paying more than I would if I had just packed it up and hauled it down to my cute little small-town post office, where they address you by name, a few days earlier!
I have, for sure, learned to never use those pre-paid return stickers for returning mail-order stuff. They charge $6-7, or more, for something I can often mail myself for under $3. I need the difference, you see, to pay for my procrastination, above.
Ask / Unscented Edition
If there is one theme to the lessons of the year-plus of this blog, it is “Ask!”
Steve got tired of those heavily scented inserts that come in magazines as ads. He figured that, in this day and age, there must be a way to avoid them.
He went to the magazine’s website, clicked on some options, and lo and behold, no more perfume cards!
All he had to do was ask.
Notes Are Our Friends
Dmitry has taught me the value of good design meeting documentation and how to really use it to move forward.
We are working with some fast-thinking researchers, who are great at talking through their design decisions. When they re-visit the decisions, they keep making use of the good notes from the previous meeting, in order to remember and pick up the thread of thinking and move forward.
I have never seen notes put to such positive use before. This is a Big Lesson for me.
Router Reboot, Really?
Steve’s work Helpdesk asked him to reboot our household router to get his laptop to see the internet, even though he was not wireless, but wired, and the SAME wire worked perfectly in the family computer.
And it worked!
And now we both know to try this.
Tights Are Not Pants (.com)
OK this is not really a lesson learned for me. I never thought tights were pants. OK, maybe for a few days when I was 4 or something, but really not since then.
But Kat told me about this website a long time ago and then recently Sally proposed it as a lesson, and I have to say that there are many times on the Green Line when I really would like to point out to someone (older than 4) that tights are NOT pants!
Jane's Lessons Learned 