Barbara J. Hamby

Shades of Rube Goldberg

The link below will take you to a sketch of the print-on-demand book machine at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, an incorporated suburb of Seattle. Two of my sisters live about a mile from the shopping center where this bookstore is located. My family lived there when I went to high school and I waited for the school… click here to continue

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January, 31st, 2010

Out of Sync

This computer probably hasn’t got the date right more than a half a dozen times this entire month and today is no exception. I had to correct it. That’s not why I chose the above title, but it fits also.

It seems like unexpected trips for medical services can really throw off a schedule and we’ve had a couple of… click here to continue

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January, 29th, 2010

Lost Morning

This morning I had to miss my writing class for a fun trip to an Emergency Room. When I emailed my doctor last night to report a few minor recurring chest pains, I didn’t know what I’d triggered. When I got to my computer in the morning, I had an email admonishing me for not calling the doctor or 911… click here to continue

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January, 27th, 2010

January in Fast Forward

This is probably the fastest January I’ve almost lived through. The weather has been better than usual and, (knock on wood), I’ve not had any colds, viruses, infections, etc. I haven’t really gotten into winter projects yet and winter is half over.

The small group of Kaiser weight maintenance study alumni is still meeting in Southeast Portland on Mondays,… click here to continue

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January, 25th, 2010

Giving

It’s always heartwarming to see how people all over the world respond to desperate need after a disaster. Even in a recession, fundraisers are able to persuade donors to give huge amounts of money.

Ongoing needs, hungry and/or abused children, and homeless families get less attention and, thus less charity. It’s too bad we can’t provide sufficient services to… click here to continue

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January, 23rd, 2010

Numbers Games

I think I’ve written before about the trend today to decrease the contents of packages without noticeably changing their size. Sometimes the prices go up; sometime they don’t. I was surprised recently to buy a rectangular carton of ice cream that contained an actual half-gallon, as many formerly did. Most such containers, as well as the cylindrical ones, now contain… click here to continue

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January, 21st, 2010

Thinking About Disaster

Watching the horror in Haiti makes me believe we should all be thinking about how we would cope if it happened here. Just because our buildings are a bit better and we think we have superior systems doesn’t mean we are well prepared. We’ve seen what the lack of organization has caused in Haiti. We may not be able to… click here to continue

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January, 19th, 2010

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