Travel Reading, part 4

My last installment was focused on Agriculture and Dogs.

Being that we are farmers and raise dogs, I have a good-sized stack of books on these topics in the queue.... and being (mostly) from Colorado, I've heard about Dr. Temple Grandin for a long time.  She is a professor at Colorado State University, who's Veterinary Teaching Hospital is one of the primary reasons we located in Northern Colorado in 2009.

A friend had the opportunity to hear Dr. Grandin speak recently which got me looking into her schedule and publications (autism, livestock).

I've added a couple of her books to my library.  Animals Make us Human is the first to read.

Each chapter is dedicated to an animal type... Dogs, Cats, Horses, etc.  But each chapter covers more than just the type identified.  She talks about family relationships, and how domestication is believed to occur.

I especially appreciated the discussion about symbiotic vs mutualistic relationships between humans and dogs vs humans and cats.

She also talks in depth about the Blue Ribbon Emotions (Seeking, Rage, Fear, Panic, Lust, Care, Play) and that we as keepers should be working to maximize seeking and minimizing fear thru the environment we provide for our animals

In this social media world we live in where "everyone is an expert" I find it refreshing to read a text with cited references and objectivity.  I love scientists because they are clear about what is known and what is not known... there is skepticism around certain techniques, but allowance for why they seem to work in some situations.

Nothing is 100% right or wrong.  Scientists know this, where social media posters don't often seem to understand it.

Animals Make Us Human is definitely worth a read... Especially if you don't understand why your animals are doing certain things.

Reading, part 3

For my third installment of travel-for-work reading, I've turned my focus from Change Management and Motivation to Agriculture and Dogs.

The New Farm was one of the books I found at an independent, well-curated bookstore while my Bullying book was missing.

It was really nice to have a book that left me wanting more after three that I didn't care for.  So much, that I finished reading it at home.... I could't wait for the next time I was in an airport or on a plane.  :-)

The author is a good story teller... of course it helps that the topic is near to my heart.  I enjoyed his humor, humility, and candor.  The ability for honest self-reflection is important in all we do.  It was refreshing to see it happening in print.

Showing Kunga: From Pet Owner to Dog Show Junkie was written by a friend of mine, and I'm embarrassed to say I had not read it before now.  Alxe Noden is a great story teller and is very good at sharing the humor in embarrassing and frustrating situations.

I especially love the story about a spectator coming back on day 2 of a weekend show with the sole purpose of finding her dog, Kunga, and introducing him to his girlfriend.  This man just loved Kunga... and in an instant Alxe reminds us of what's important.  We all go home with the perfect dog.  :-)

Carrots Love Tomatoes

This is mostly a reference for companion gardening.  There is useful information for solving common gardening challenges.

Holy Shit

Can you believe it?  A whole book about poo!

The author is a farmer and journalist.  Each chapter is best considered as a stand-alone piece.  It's witty and frank.  I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Books written by professional writers are always more interesting to read.  Professional/trained/experienced writers know how to tell a story.  They know how to capture the reader's interest and how to keep the reader wanting more.

The New Farm, Showing Kunga, and Holy Shit are all written by professional/trained/experienced writers... definitely a treat for this installment of travel-for-work-reading.

More Reading

I'm still travelling a lot for the Day Job, which means I still have a good amount of time conducive to reading.

This time around, you can see I've been focused on motivation.

I didn't care much for Drive or The Bully at Work.  The topics are relevant and useful, but each of these books were longer than they needed to be and I got impatient with the non-value-added portions.

With respect to The Bully at Work, I got especially frustrated.  The authors stated that they were using the word "target" instead of "victim" because they didn't want to reinforce the idea of victimization, but the book was still mostly written from the "you poor victim" point of view.  Although I do have to say that to be reading about the different bullying tactics with our current president's behavior, his treatment of CNN, and especially Jim Acosta was quite interesting.

This is a good reminder that changing words is the first step in changing thought process and behavior.... but if behavior doesn't change, the key words don't matter.  We see this all the time, especially with respect to "servant-leadership."  Servant-leadership is more than just drawing the organizational chart upside down.  Some people do it well, and others are just using the key words.

I mostly enjoyed reading Delivering Happiness.  It captured my attention and I looked forward to the next time I could pick it up.  But a lot was left out...  The stories were presented primarily as Tony Hsieh seeking the next adrenaline rush without working too hard, rather than a driven process with a long-term plan.  There was so much focus on the euphoria that I found myself asking "How does he not have a substance abuse problem?"  The book was longer than it needed to be, but Tony is a good story teller and it's worth the read.

One wonderful thing.... I had left the Bullying book on my inbound plane.  I didn't realize until the next day and hadn't finished reading it yet.  So I filed a lost item report online, thinking I probably would never see it again.  Then about 10 days later, I got an email from SWA.  They had found my book and were willing to mail it to me, and I was able to finish reading the book.  That's pretty awesome customer service.

Of course, being without that book meant I needed to find a new one for my ride home...  I found several at this new, well-curated, independent bookstore next door to my cousin's first coffee shop.

I will continue travelling, frequently and indefinitely... so I have plenty of future time for reading.  I'm loving the dedicated time to make a dent in my stash of books.

Happy Reading!

Time for Reading

One nice thing about travelling for work is that the transit time is well-suited for reading.

I've finished a few books already.

You can see I've been pretty focused on Change Management.

Is There a Restaurant Nearby That You Like?

Hubba and I headed out to one of our favorite restaurants on Friday night... Tasty Harmony in Fort Collins.

We forgot it was Great Plates, so they were slammed and had a line.  We weren't in the mood to wait, so we decided to walk around a little... but as I said, it was Great Plates and it was Friday night and it seemed that everyone was slammed.

Great Plates is a two week festival of sorts, highlighting some of the restaurants in Downtown Fort Collins.  30 restaurants are participating this year. Each puts together special dishes highlighting things about their place and offers it at a significant discount.  It continues for another 10 days, so we will participate... we just weren't in the mood for waiting on Friday.

So we went to the Book Store.  I had heard great things about Old Firehouse Books.  I follow them on Twitter.  I had tried to find the store a few times... it was always cold and I didn't have anything in particular I was looking for, so I hadn't been successful.  But this time, I had their address.  It turns out I was really close, but I kept turning right when I should have been turning left.  doh.

The book store was great.  There's an adjoining tea house.  They have a terrific selection of new and used books and the place is completely accessible.

We found a few books that came home with us...

The clerk was very friendly.  Which honestly is always the case... It seems that people are always friendly where ever we go.  Have I mentioned here how much I love being back in Colorado?

So we asked her, "Is there a restaurant nearby that you like?"

She listed off a few places that we had already tried then said, "Oh if you like Chinese Food, I really like Taipan.  It's in the parking garage."

"In the parking garage?  Yeah, let's go there!"  No, I'm not being sarcastic.  :-)

It was a two-block walk and yes, it's in the parking garage...

It turns out that this is the back door.  They do have a proper store front that is street-facing.

It was delicious, with a nice ambiance and great service.

Fiber Arts Friday: The Fiber Fool and Nourishing Knits

I met Kristi Schueler a few years ago on Twitter.  Hubba and I were living in New Mexico and planning our return to Colorado.

Kristi was a knitwear designer based in Colorado.  I was smitten.  :-)

After Hubba and I got settled in our Colorado home, Kristi and I realized we were almost neighbors.  We met a couple of times.  She helped me overcome my fear of cables.  I was still smitten.  :-)

She invited me to join her knitting group.  I was intimidated.

I came a few times when my travel schedule allowed.  I was at ease.

Kristi wrote a book.  I want to tell you about it.

As a matter of fact, a few of us will be talking about it.  Today is the first post in a blog tour highlighting Nourishing Knits.  Kristi will be announcing a couple of giveaways over on her blog today, so you will definitely want to check that out.

Nourishing Knits is jam packed with delicious recipes and beautiful knit designs.  I have had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of some of these test recipes and the name for one of the patterns came from a suggestion I made.  :-)

The Alpaca Dog has been a taste tester as well.  One night, he knew there was something in my bag for him as soon as I walked thru the door... He devoured it and begged for more.  This dog doesn't generally care for treats, so let me tell you...  If you get this book for nothing else, get it for the Bow Wow Biscotti.  Your best friend will thank you.  :-)

It's pretty easy to write about something that's fantastic.  The trouble is finding the one piece I wanted to focus on.  I have 5 or 6 of these designs in my queue.  Not just the favorites.  They're in my queue.  That means I will make them.  It's only a matter of time.

The one I've been thinking most about knitting next are the Challah socks.

I am a new (and excited) sock knitter... and Kristi helped me overcome my fear of cables... and the socks in the book are made from alpaca.  So really, I do think this is the perfect choice.  :-)

I have selected a charcoal/green Malabrigo to knit this pattern.  I hear Malabrigo is lovely to work with, and now that I've wound the skeins into cakes, I'm getting excited. :-)

I'm about half-way into the first cable repeat for the first sock.  I am trying to follow only the charts, but I am cheating a little and looking at the written out instructions every now and then.  Since I don't have a lot of experience with charts, I want to make sure I'm reading the marks correctly.

I do have to say that I like following the chart in the round... it means I'm always reading it from right to left.  :-D

And I love seeing the roots of cables forming...

I am enjoying these socks so far and am looking forward to some dedicated sock knitting this weekend.  :-)

If you don't already know Kristi, follow her.  You'll learn something.  You'll be inspired.  You'll have good food too.  :-)

The Fiber Fool on Twitter
The Fiber Fool Blog
Designedly, Kristi on Facebook
Designedly, Kristi on Ravelry

And of course, be sure get your copy of Nourishing Knits soon!

Photos courtesy of Kristi Schueler

Then once your finished checking out all of the Nourishing Knits goodness, please also check out the other fiberistas who have linked in for Fiber Arts Friday.

Books, Alpacas and Marathons

Hubba left for Japan this morning.

He is headed to Oita City for the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.  It is the largest wheelchair-only marathon in the world.  This is his fourth time competing and the 30th anniversary of the race.

I have been to several races with Hubba and the Oita event is by far the most organized.  There are a huge number of volunteers that help to make the entire trip a wonderful experience.

The importance the Japanese culture places on being a good host comes through...

because of that, we feel it is important to show our gratitude.

We continually say thank you, try to experience the city as much as possible, tell them how much we love being there, and we bring a few gifts that are a small part of who we are or where we are from.

Since this is Hubba's fourth trip to this race, he's gotten to know many of the volunteers.  They know that we have moved to our own farm and raise alpacas.

So I felt it was important to find something that reflects alpacas and/or Colorado... enter Mary King.  She and her husband own and operate AlpacaKing in Fort Collins.

Mary wrote a book about one of her alpacas.  It's a fantastic and uplifting story about believing in something even in the darkest of times and seeing it through to a positive outcome.  The book is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes... in a good way.  :-)

Alpacas are relatively new to Japan and therefore quite popular... especially with their cute faces.  So one of Mary's good friends, who is from and lives in Japan, had her book translated and published in Japanese.

I thought this was the perfect gift for those volunteers who help so much during the race.  Since I am not making the trip this year, I told Hubba to tell them the book is from me to thank them for taking such good care of my beloved hubba.  ;-)

If you're interested in reading the story of Rocky, you can get the book from Mary directly or email her if you're interested in the Japanese version.

If you would like to watch the race and won't happen to be near Oita City on Sunday, there is a live broadcast, 10:45 am to 2:00 pm, Japan time on Sunday, November 14th... that's Saturday evening if you happen to be State-side.

Books

I love books.

I know many people say that print is dead, or on the road to dead. But I can spend hours in a book store.

For me there is nothing like a good book. I love the smell and feel of a book. I love the typeface and the white space. I love the possibility a new book provides. Because of this, I completely lose track of time when I visit a book store.

I usually go to find one specific book or a book on a specific subject. I find the appropriate section and scan the shelves noticing titles, fonts and colors. I open the books so I can look at and feel the pages with my fingers. I read the summary on the back jacket and then the first few pages. I read the blurb about the author and a few pages in the middle. I check out the table of contents and of course the price. I build a stack to bring home.

I especially love bookstores that have wood floors and tall wood shelves, comfy chairs amongst the books and an espresso bar. This enhances the wonderful sensory experience of being surrounded by books. But, there is little more satisfying than finishing a well written book.