Walking around D’world inspired a couple of human studies ideas for me.

First, let me just say that we saw lots of cleavage, both female and male, front and back, in every color, over the past few days. I thought those images would make a remarkable coffee table book – “Earth’s Cleavage” has a nice ring to it, yes?

The other idea was to position myself near the exit of each park and record how the world disciplines their tired and cranky children at the end of the day.

Maybe these ideas have already been had and executed. I haven’t searched for them yet, so if you know about anything, please comment!

I’m almost finished with The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde, one of my favorite authors – he has a shimmer of Terry Pratchett about him, but he’s definitely an original. Read all his stuff so far. If you’re nnew tto Fforde, I recommend the Thursday Next novels first, since the Nursery Crimes series is a spin-off.

Anyway, I’m also a big Stephenson fan – um, except for Quicksilver, which should have been named Visual Valium: A Trek Through Sleep – so I’m looking forward to starting Snow Crash.

Last night, my daughter asked my husband, Chris, and I to help her “make a crap.” She was holding colored paper (we used to call it construction paper back in my day), her safety scissors, and some purple yarn.

Ah, a craft!

Chris and I had just had a celebratory dram of Jameson’s, so we had a bit of fun…

Chris: “How about we make a family crap?”

Her: “Yeah!… What do I do for the fam’ly crap?”

Me: “Eat more fiber.”

Chris (suppressing giggles): “You can thread this yarn through the holes I made in this paper.”

Her: “Ok!…” (threading yarn for a bit)… “Now, I’m going to cut this.” (picks up her safety scissors)

Chris: “You’re going to cut the crap? Great idea!”

And so it went for about 30 minutes.

We ended up ditching the yarn, and instead built this Kite Store:

It’s snowing (whimper) this St. Patrick’s day in my backyard. I vaguely remember what spring looks like, and eagerly await its arrival. Thoroughly sick of looking at snirt.

Anyway, today, I have been married for seven years to my husband, Chris. Yay for us! There are a few of you who actually attended – or almost attended – our wedding on the beach on the East Side of Grand Cayman Island, and enjoyed the sweet air and people of the Cayman Dive Lodge (which looks to be on its way to “fully restored” after Hurricane Ivan all but obliterated it in 2004). Heck, we even met an IBMer on holiday there at the time.

I’d link to the pictures of all of us diving back in 2001 (no, we didn’t get married underwater), but I can’t find them on their site anymore. Here’s what you can see at the Dive Lodge. I remember seeing a spotted eagle ray (TOTALLY thought of the theme to Batman the whole time!), about six thousand spiny lobsters, lots of eels, blue tangs, etc etc etc. You know, the stuff you expect to find in gorgeous Caribbean waters. I, of course, completely missed the hammerhead that everyone else saw.

I remember getting accosted by a small male stingray at Stingray City. That greedy little bugger was not content to let me simply feed him my handful of squid. NO. He had to beat me up for it first. The ray ladies knew the drill, though. Typical.

I also remember the dog, Lucky, who sat at our feet throughout most of our wedding ceremony. This dog had been run over by cars several times, but could still run and jump and play. Thus, his name. I took his presence as a good omen, and seven years later, I still feel lucky (awww!). We felt honored to include him in our wedding pictures.

So, today, as I watch the latest snowfall cover four months of yuck outside, I will be playing Legend and thinking of the day I got married.

(Hmmm. I see a dive trip in my future…)

Today was the grand opening of Nickelodean Universe, or as my preschooler calls it, “inside play park.” It’s at the Mall of America, or as my hubs and I call it, “the BFM.”

I was so proud of my kiddo. She jumped inside the giant pineapple – “Mom, what’s that big sponge?” (we don’t watch The Squared One) – without any adults! She’s a clinger, so we’re thrilled with any of her rare displays of independence.

Another observation: I’ve never seen a bigger Dora head than I did today. And for those of you who know Dora, that’s saying something.

Enough customers and colleagues have badgered me to start a public blog that I am thoroughly worn out from declining. You win. Here it is.

I’ll be publishing some of my “greatest hits” from my internal blog at IBM, but will probably stray into other topics as my brain wanders. I’ll post them with the timestamp of when they were originally posted, just to confuse you.

I talk about social software, IBM Lotus Connections in particular, to customers in continents ending in “America” for a living. On my internal IBM blog, I talk about the same, but also about shoes, novels by Neal Stephenson, and how froggin’ cold it is in Minnesota. You’ll probably see the same here.

Argue, agree, empathize, humorize, educate, profligate, but please, be gentle. I enjoy hearing new points of view, constructive criticism, long walks on the beach, and pina coladas. In short, I try to keep an open mind as much as possible, and play nice in the sandbox. I expect others to as well.

I went to Canada, and found a nest of scorpions. And they all work for IBM!

You client-facing folks will be familiar with what I affectionately call the IBM Bunker at any given customer site. It’s usually the former broom closet that’s been converted into a mess of miniscule, horizontal spaces that busloads of IBMers squeeze into on a daily basis.

Well, at this banking customer in Toronto, I was there after hours with my fellow IBMers. We got to networking, and found out that five of us were born under the Scorpio zodiac sign.

If you’ve ever met a Scorpio, or are one, you’ll understand why discovering that was tres cool. Every Scorpio I’ve ever met usually says, “And I’m pretty much like they describe a Scorpio is.”

Scary! (In a good way!)

Anyway, whenever I discover someone is more like me (left-handed, musical, Scorpio, one fake tooth in the front, etc.) I do the human thing: I like them even more. And that usually translates to helping them more, sharing with them more, listening to them more, buying them lunch, whatever.

The flip side of that, though, is sort of a halo effect. I tend to notice how we’re similar, and slide by all the great elements that make us different. It’s the differences that make collaboration richer.

There’s a wealth of research out there that addresses this “you’re like me, so I like you more” phenomenon (not to mention eons of wars fought over the opposite). One of them is Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Formation of Social Networks (requires HBR membership to access).

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my Canadian friends even more, eh?

Someone sent me a very funny BBC America video about the nature of men. It would be a bit inappropriate to link to it here, but it reminded me of a conversation we had at our house recently.

In the evenings, my 3.5 year-old daughter, my husband, and I snuggle up on the couch together and watch an episode of Planet Earth. We have the HD DVD version, which is amazing. The shark breach alone is worth the price.

Anyway. Invariably, in most of the episodes, two male whatevers start fighting at some point.

My daughter: “Mommy, what are they doing?”
Me: “They’re fighting over land or a woman.”
Her: “Why?”
Me: “Because they’re boys.”
Her: “I’m glad I’m not a boy.”
Me: “Yeah. Your head would hurt, wouldn’t it.”
Her: “Yeah.”

…

Her: “Daddy’s a boy.”
Me: “No, Daddy’s a MAN. There’s a big difference.”
My husband: “Yeah. Honey, get me a beer.”