Pizza Pragmatism

I’m told there is this management idea (in various journals and Dilbert), possibly from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, of meetings never being for more people than you could feed with a couple of pizzas. As someone parenting ravenous teens, I’m a little dubious of that math, but I do enjoy economies of scale using pizza.

Really, I just enjoy pizza. One of the fringe benefits of church work is there’s often an excuse to order pizza—especially when you work with children and youth. 

Why is pizza such a ubiquitous church food? Well, it gives people a warm meal, yet it is portable, and requires precious few dishes/silverware. It is relatively inexpensive and yet most people consider it a treat. There’s some flexibility when you’re unsure of your numbers—some days you need to implement a 2-slice limit, and other times you’ll put a pie in the fridge and staff has lunch the next day. (Oh darn, says church staff!)

It is also quite customizable-vegetarians and meatatarians can exist in peace!  Get the right pizza place and you can even feed the gluten-free and vegan! Condiments are relatively simple-grated Parmesan, maybe a little crushed red pepper flake. I’ve seen folks dip their crusts in any number of sauces and (ranch!?) dressings, but I’ll admit that I don’t really understand that. (My true prejudice, though, is people who don’t eat their crusts.  Oh my goodness…)

What’s my point?  (Do I need one?) Pizza--both practical and delicious.

Any interest in an online book group meeting?

I recently read a most intriguing book about churches, volunteerism, and leadership--Connect: How to double your number of volunteers. It has a lot of potential and yet it also requires some translation to get motivations out of the very Christian. I have been recommending it to folks, who recommend it to others, and at some point I blurted out that we should have an online book group, specifically looking at resources that might be helpful to leaders in Unitarian Universalist congregations.

1) What platform would we use? I would love to do something real-time, preferably with a video component. It is good to actually see each other's faces. My first blurt was google hangouts, but I know there are many options out there- my computer has fuze and zoom and probably a few others on it.

2)  Monthly, or some other period?

3) How big can the group be? (This is partially related to #1, but also there are questions of critical mass.)

4) What books would we read? Stick with pragmatic texts, or is there interest beyond that? Would there be polls to consider books? How far in advance might we plan out a calendar?

5) What other questions have I yet to consider?

I would love to hear your ideas, and let me know if you're interested in what might develop!

Digital frequent flyer (but not native)

I was raised in the 80s, so we had some sort of computer in the house for most of my childhood.  We had cartridge games for our Vic 20 and did some Basic programming. At school we did LOGO things on the Apples, and you don't want to know how many hours I spent playing Lemonade Stand when I was done with all of my classwork and sent to the library for 'enrichment'.  I never really got to the point of comfort where I was doing my own programs or hacking, unlike a certain partner of mine who figured out how to make the Lemonade Stand temperature 900 degrees...

I got my first email account in '92, and spent a fair amount of time on MUDs and MUCKs, as well as various Usenet groups and email distribution groups. The only computing/tech course I took in college was a computer skills for educators course--most of what I remember is the shortness required of file names in the past. (I thought of this the other day, while saving "Summer Sundays Half Sheet Insert 2014.")

When I got pregnant and had my kids, the parenting boards of the web were a blessing and a curse. (I could write a whole post here...) When I was on bedrest, we had a 100 foot cable across the house... I learned just enough HTML to make a Tripod website.  I became an administrator of various mailing lists.  I had a couple of livejour

Learning on a webinar while sitting
on my patio. Thank goodness for wi-fi.

nal accounts. I wrote yearly novels with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.)

As I started writing Sunday School lessons, I gained quick proficiency in Google searches. Eventually it was my church work that led me to join Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest and Google+. (I'm better with some of these than others...) It was church work, too, that got me doing web conferences and google hangouts as we discovered new ways to meet and to learn.

Saturday night I had a work things come up-- I needed to set up my new phone as a mobile hot spot so I could use my netbook to send on an attachment to a wide group of people. At a restaurant as we were finishing dinner. It was a bit eye-rolling, but it was a lot less disruptive than having to head home right then and there. Some days I love living in the future.

There are so many more things I could learn--it's more than a little daunting, but I'm also excited to see what might come next.

Popcorn - Delicious Transformation

Saturday morning we celebrated our Coming of Age experience with a brunch and some words, before rehearsing for Sunday's service. Here's about what I said to set the stage and thank the mentors. (The minister then talked to the youth and the parents.)

<Hold up a popcorn kernel.> 
This is a popcorn seed. Not much to look at, and if you keep it in a dry place it will stay just like this for years and years. But if you give it a bunch of heat, something remarkable can happen--see, there's moisture in the kernel and when it gets to boiling, you have a tiny pressure cooker--when the pressure gets over 135 pounds per square inch, the hull can't take it any more and the starch gelatinizes--the kernel explodes from a hard indigestible seed to a fluffy piece of deliciousness.

Transformation has occurred.

As teenagers, you are in a time of many transformations, often all at once. And like popcorn, those changes often happen in times of heat and pressure, anxiety, drama.  That does not mean that life will ever be without transformation, or without heat and pressure, anxiety and drama--I know I've still got plenty of those things. 

When children are babies, their parents hold them close and try to keep them secure. As they get older, though, the children need more space... and yet, they need a safe place for their transformations to happen.  This is one of the blessings of religious community--that we can have a church and a coming of age program, loving teachers and compassionate and listening mentors. So our children can develop their amazing potentials without flying all willy-nilly. 

So for each of our mentors, what I have here is a little symbol of the work you have done this year--in this package is a jar of popcorn kernels. The wrappings are paper lunch bags.  See, you can add a little popcorn to the bag, fold the top over twice, and with just a couple of minutes in the microwave, that transformation happens, this time for a nice little snack.

We could not do the Coming of Age program without you, and we are so grateful that you have been available to support our youth and act as a sounding board as they have gone through this year. You have helped us to build this safe and sacred space where our youth can grow. Thank you.

This was inspired by an article in Christian Century about popcorn--paid subscription required.

What's My Line?

I watch an awful lot of movies. Like almost every evening. And I love love love dialogue. The lines that stick in my head or make me bust a gut.

I have the slightly spammy habit of posting favorite lines to Facebook. It is fun to see how quickly people identify the movie and how quickly people jump in with their own favorite lines from the film. And how quickly someone asks which channel it's on.   It's like we're in each other's houses, while all on our own couches. 

Tonight it's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I could explain the deep meanings and whatnot of the movie, but let's face it- I watch it because it is hilarious. The Baby Jesus Prayer is a scene I can watch again and again. SO can my friends, if my Facebook wall is any indication.

At the same time, I know it's more than a little bit insider. (Not to mention dorky.)
 

Simplicity, or not

I needed four slices of crumbled bacon for a recipe.
So I bought a pack of bacon and figured we would have BLTs for supper.

Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato. 
Mayo. 
Toast.  
Simple.


But my partner does not eat tomatoes. So avocado enters the picture.

And we were pretty much out of bread--I picked up some nice onion rolls.

It was a skimpy pack of bacon... how about we do some farm-fresh fried eggs for protein.

And look--we have a little cheese to use up...

All things told, those simple BLTs were more like ACME BLTs. (Spouse's was a BE CALM.)
And they were delicious.

Who Has Time for Joy?

Spring is often a busy busy time in my line of work. Finishing up the 'church year', marking milestones, preparing for all of what comes next--I'm doing All The Things and working All The Hours.

I love the work I am doing. But I know that I did not really see my sons today. (Half-asleep, I could hear someone crowing about eating pie for breakfast.) I know that my fridge really needs to be cleaned out and I still haven't finished pruning my rose bushes. 

Long work hours mean that all those normal adult undertakings of life, like bills and laundry and grocery shopping are being shunted to the nooks and crannies of the day and heavily distributed to the other people I live with. Thank goodness for their understanding, or at least their dedication to the common cause.

And we all know that I will be quieter times at work, less urgent details and looming deadlines. I will spend more time with the family, cook complete meals, empty the long-forgotten Rubbermaid containers.

In one of those serendipities of life, the Sunday school lesson I prepped today uses Mary Ann Moore's "Things God Made for Joy." This alternate creation story tells us how God went about her work very seriously, then stopped to add some whimsy and wonder.  The beauty of snowflakes, interesting patterns and habits of every animal, human feet that are tickly and voices that giggle.

It wasn't until I'd printed the lesson AND found pictures for the story AND was sliding the pages into binder sheets that I got the point.

So the next time I went to grab papers off the printer, I snapped this picture of a bird on the other side of the window. I stopped to make jokes with a coworker.

And when my family and I are awake at the same time, dagnabbit, we're going to do something for joy.