P&R 2.0

Safety Dance

For this installment of Parks and Recreation I will explore the lengths our government goes to keep it's employees safe. Each month we are required to attend a safety meeting. Now our department went 1.6 million hours without a loss time accident, so obviously we listen well at these meetings. Supposedly that is like a really good record. The record came to an end because some seasonal park worker decided to weed wack his foot. He obviously did not pay attention at the meetings. Because we have seen many limbs severed/smashed/broken/blown up, you name it.

For several years the best part about the safety meetings was our safety coordinator. He was probably in his late 50's? Always wore a button down shirt that was unbuttoned one too many buttons. Which nicely showed off his gold chain. It almost became a game to see how long the meeting would go before he made a sexist remark. We became quite familiar with the reference to "all you office gals in your high heals". Now first off, half the people in our office are guys. And the gals that we do have rarely wear heals. More flip flops/tennis shoes than heals.

The week that we were talking about chemicals he made sure that "you women when you are at home cleaning" knew to be careful there with chemicals too. He did make sure to then say "or you guys, I don't know the arrangement in your house". Well I'm pretty sure I know what it is in yours. Any time chemicals were discussed he did try to tie it to our office environment by making sure we knew that we were also surrounded by danger. And every time he would only come up with the same two examples, toner and white out. A: we don't use white out, we use those correction tape things. B: I will try to refrain from sniffy or licking the toner when I refill the copier. Ok, crisis averted.

The next best thing about safety meetings was the videos. We watch a video almost every week and let me tell you, I think they stopped making safety videos in the 70's. Or at least the city hasn't purchased any since then. Except the one where they were talking about stretching out at work and they cut from the warehouse floor to the break room where everyone was in spandex and leotards with headbands. That one was obviously made in the 80's.

Now the videos vary from one geared towards mailmen walking in the snow and falling all over the place, to a video of a guy that was in a pipe line explosion and described in great detail what it's like to be in a burn unit. I got a little light headed during that one. 98% of safety videos involve some sort of warehouse/industrial building type environment. Every month after the meetings we would make jokes about how glad we were to have learned how to properly lock out/tag out the heavy machinery that we work with on a daily basis.

I think we have joked about it for years, but my boss decided that this was the year. For our annual safety breakfast where they give us the fascinating stats about our safety record, we would create our own safety video. And we would make sure to emphasis the real hazards that surround us daily.

For your enjoyment, I am presenting the internet premier of the Parks and Recreation Department's own safety video. Now I realize that this will probably be most enjoyable to those of you that are Provo alum. And please forgive us, it is painfully clear that none of us are professionals. Painfully. And when you get to the Arts Center scene (about 3:26) don't feel bad if you fast forward about a minute. Sorry Arts. Enjoy. And for all our sakes, be safe.

Happy Me Day

A friend at work sent me this clip today, and it made me a little emotional. I'm very lucky and work in an office where I feel appreciated every day. And it's only been a rare occasion that I have felt like the last clip. Even if I HATE anything that requires me to buy food or plan a party for other people.

Park your manners

First, I know my dedicated and faithful fans are probably desperately awaiting my latest Parks and Rec installment. However, I am still having technical difficulties on the home computer front, so the delay will continue. Try to cope with the disappointment. In the meantime, this does relate to parks. I took Will to a park in Provo today on my lunch and came away with a few thoughts.

There was a guy there with his kids that was probably about my age, and several pounds above 200. The problem was he was sporting some shiny black lycra pants. Now they weren't the skin tight, tapered leg lycra pants at least, for some reason at least from about knee down they were straight legged. But the top was tight. And it really doesn't matter if he had weighed 100 pounds, guys please don't hang out at the park in lycra. I'm not sure why these pants exist, but they definitely should not leave the comfort of your own home.

Sort of like when I go swim suit shopping and see bikinis in my size. Now if you are comfortable with your body, good for you, but you should not be wearing a bikini if you shop in the plus size section. Sorry, I just don't approve. So back to mr tighty pants. One thing I noticed was that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Which doesn't necessarily mean he's not married, but my first thought was, is this what I have to look forward to in the 30+ dating field?

Second issue, park etiquette. I have tried very hard to teach Will that when you are at the park you wait your turn in line. You don't climb up the slide, you go around and use the stairs. You don't throw wood chips on other kids, you know, basic manners. The problem is, I go to the park and feel like I am the only parent that has tried to do this. For the first time today I did actually see another mom tell her daughter that she needed to use the stairs and not climb up the slide. And I've been to the park a lot, and seriously, first time.

Now I understand that climbing up the slide can be another fun use of the equipment. But if you are at a busy park area and lets say there is one slide suitable for the younger than five crowd. And yet there are three ten year olds just hanging out on the bottom of the slide, laying across the slide, blocking anyone else from using the slide, it gets annoying.

So I'm not sure what approach I should take at the park. Do I become playground monitor and in a nice way tell the kids to get the hell off the slide? Are you risking getting yelled at by another parent by saying something to their kid? Cause lets face it, my experience with disrespectful kids is that a lot of them learned it from somewhere. Do I just let kids be kids and do what most parents seem to do and ignore what's going on?

I feel bad when I see my kid waiting patiently for his turn and his reward is never getting a turn because bigger/meaner kids just push by. And how do you walk that line of wanting your kid to be able to stand up for himself, but not become a bully. And on the other hand, be willing to let someone go ahead of him, but not become a push over?

Another issue that has come up at the park is seeing Will deal with the social anxiety that both his parents passed along to him. Sometimes he will just start running around chasing other kids just joining in their play even if they are ignoring him. And then other times he stands off to the side wanting to go play with a kid, but too shy to make the first move. My heart breaks for him because I feel anxiety just watching him learn how to be a social person, and I'm not the best example. He came up to me last week and asked if I would go see if the boy wanted to play with him. I was thinking yeah right, there is no way I'm going up to that kid, and it was a kid. Like four.

I'm suggesting a class be added to kindergarten and preschool, playground manners. And if you fail the class you lose playground privileges. I will volunteer to be the first teacher. Or maybe it needs to be added to prenatal classes, lets start with the parents and make sure they have a good understanding of what some expectations are.

Australia

My sister and I watched the movie Australia tonight. I was a little thrown when the opening credits began with the following:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers should exercise caution when watching this film as it may contain images and voices of deceased persons.

My first thought was, What the hell? Then the more I thought about it, the more I am interested in learning about their culture and the meaning behind the warning. Did they film in sacred areas where they believe that they would be able to hear or see the deceased? Is it everywhere in Australia? Was it things they referenced in the movie? Gonna need to find out more about this.

The other comment that both myself and my sister had during the second part of the movie was that I don't remember ever knowing that Australia was involved in WWII. Are we so focused on our own history in school that it never got brought up? Were there just other events surrounding WWII that were deemed more important, and not enough time to talk about everything that happened? I'm curious.

It's seeing things like that, that make me want to go back to school. But not really because I don't want to take tests or do homework based on what someone else thinks is important for me to learn. Because obviously our school system didn't think it was important for me to learn about Australia's involvement in WWII.

Maybe I just need to read more. That would help. Although I like the classroom environment when it includes discussion and insights that you otherwise wouldn't get just from reading a book by yourself. Maybe I need to start my own school for adults where you just get together and learn about what ever you want to learn about and take turns deciding what the subject matter would be. Or is that called a book club? Either way, sounds like work, so probably never gonna happen. Maybe someone else could get on that.

And thank you Maiken for mastering the universal remote so that after four months I no longer have to see the time counter display thingy on screen every time I watch a movie.

Bound to happen

While buckling Will in his car seat after picking up pizza, I was making some weird sound just goofing off.

Will: Mom, that's too much noise. It's embarrasson.

Might as well start the trend now, cause there is no way to stop the inevitable.