My day - Monday

Got up in the morning. Molly was still asleep when I left the house

Driving on 280 today, since I was headed to Stanford for the morning

Had a meeting at Stanford with a few professors in the morning

Then headed to work (the office) in the afternoon.

Delightfully, my friend Paul Sherman (from UT) was in town... we took him to dinner at Tomi Sushi.

Came home and watched "Sesame Street"

Life

I'd like to be much more "global" than I currently have managed to be. I'd like to travel much more of the world, the cities and the countrysides... we live in such a rich source of EXPERIENCES!

Challenge

Clutter - my biggest challenge is dealing with all the STUFF in my life.

Desk

This is my desk at home. I also have one at work, but keep forgetting to take a picture!

Loud

You are probably wondering how such a green picture could represent LOUD. Well, this is a picture of our back yard. That wall at the back of our yard is a large barrier between our yard and Interstate-880. Yup, the loud freeway is in our backyard! We don't spend much time in the backyard, and the sound is much more muffled in the house.

Shopping

I was at Urban Outfitters, scoping out menswear for a work activity. Didn't buy there, but did buy at Diesel and Old Navy today...

Family

Adam and Molly... of course.

Morning Routine

I wake up in the morning and head to the bathroom. Brushing my teeth is first thing, but there are lots of other things that I end up accessing in my medicine cabinet in the morning. Then, when I'm lucky, I get to get a kiss from my little girl when she wakes up...
There's always the dilemma of what to wear... (a glimpse into my closet here)
And then I drive to work...

Fun

Playing music with my family. We sing together and play musical instruments all the time. Here Molly plays piano with Adam and I. Fun!

Who I am

I struggled with this one for a long time, but decided that this is a picture of something that represents me... It is an acrylic "award" from my company's leadership development group. I won two awards in the past year relating to my work as a leader, teaching other employees at Intuit how to conduct customer research, apply learnings from customers, and generally increase leadership skills.

Yes, this is my work life, but it is pretty central to who I am. I am a teacher. I always have been. I remember playing when I was a child... I'd line up all of my stuffed animals and teach them. When I headed to college, I thought I'd be a high school teacher. In college, that vision shifted to being a college professor. Eventually I ended up in industry... and I am still teaching. This passion has to do with my belief in the value of education, in the potential of people to learn and grow, and my deep need to share my knowledge and connect with others.

Delightful

There is so much about this that I find delightful... first, this picture is just great. Molly is smiling and looks very much as happy as she really is. I have this picture sitting next to my desk at work, and in the entry at my house.

And, of course, I find Molly herself delightful. She was laughing and jumping for joy last night while listening to Adam play the guitar. Her squeals of delight melt my heart...

Past

This was me when I was 18 years old, living in the dorms at Fresno State. My past includes long dangly earrings (like these), bright skin and lots of formal education. My life right now has none of these things...

Future

This awful, blurry picture is a mom walking her child to school. Yes, it will be quite some time before we head off to big kid school, but school is once again my future. (Only 5 years until kindergarten!)

Frustrating

Driving to work in the morning can be frustrating. Especially trying to merge onto 101...
Notice that the metering lights are on and I'm only going 5 miles an hour. Yes, the 15 miles to work took me an hour today...
This is also frustrating to me. I can set the heater/ac only to a specific temperature. I can't just say "Blow hot". I used to be able to do that with my Corolla. Somehow making it smarter has made it LESS delightful.

Photo Diary Activities

The entire study will go over 3 weeks.

For each item, label either the title of the blog entry OR the "label" with the name of the activity. You can, of course, take multiple photos for any of the assignments!

Week 1 Activities:

1. “This is me”
2. "Who I am" - Take a picture that tells me who you are (anything that reflects your values, beliefs, personality or other….) and describe it for me
3. "Past" - Take a picture that represents your past
4. "Future" - Take a picture that represents your future
5. "Frustrating" - Take a picture of something you find frustrating
6. "Delightful" - Take a picture of something you find delightful
7. "Fun" - Take a picture of something fun

Week 2 Activities

1. “Morning” - Take a sequence of at least 4 pictures representing your morning routine
2. “Family” - Take a picture of someone in your life that you consider to be family
3. “Desk” - Take a picture of your desk (or where you work, use your computer, etc)
4. “Shopping” - Take a picture the next time you are shopping and describe where you are, what you are doing, and why
5. “Challenge” - Take a picture representing your biggest challenge
6. “Loud” - Take a picture of something loud
7. “Life” - Take a picture that represents something you would like to do with your life

Week 3 Activity (final week!)

1. “Day” - Pick a day and take pictures throughout the day to document your day. Describe what went well and what didn’t go well during this day (include pictures, if you can).

This is me

Photo taken this morning in front of my closet.