Interview Meme

Questions courtesy of Nicole ...

1. Tell me about the best job you've ever had. Tell me about the worst part of that best job.

The best job I've ever had is the one I have right now. I work part time, from home, as a web/database developer for New England INDEX. We develop websites and databases for non-profits. In MA, people with disabilities or special health care needs can go to http://www.disabilityinfo.org to locate services and providers. I also worked on the development of the Massachusetts Accessible Housing Registry, a database of affordable and/or accessible apartments in Massachusetts that has been replicated in New York and Nevada. It's very cool to work on projects that have such a positive impact. I enjoy solving programming problems, and trying to translate what the end-user needs to a method or specification for software. It's creative, in a weird sort of way. I also have a great boss (who reads this blog, and hates to be called 'boss', but too bad boss-man!)

The worst part of that job, right now, is the major lack of interaction. I'm 500+ miles away, working from home (which is great, of course) but I miss having other people around. I'm a people person, you see. Plus, I'm on the office-wide email list, and whenever the boss brings in bagels, I get the email but no bagels!

2. What is your greatest achievement to date?

Becoming and being a mom, hands down. I'm really proud of my two boys. They are smart and funny and so kind. I know I'm making mistakes as we go, but they seem to be turning out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself.

3. Name a historical figure to whom you can really relate. Tell me why.

Clara Barton leaps to mind, to be honest. I love the fact that throughout her life, even as a school teacher, she insisted on equal pay, yet she wasn't in the forefront of the fight for a woman's right to vote. It was the way she lived her life. I have always had a feminist approach to things (I had, as a kid, a tee shirt that read, "A Woman Needs a Man like a Fish Needs a Bicycle". Might explain the lack of dates in high school. But I digress.)

People think of Clara as a nurse, but really she was all about supplies and logistics and filling a need. I get that way, too - when I see something not being done that needs to be done, I tend to barge in. Clara didn't make a lot of friends that way and, in fact, late in her life she was pushed out of the organization she founded (the American Red Cross) because she lacked the political and financial skills necessary to run such an endeavor. I'm sort of that way too, all fire and passion but sometimes without the skills and training to back it up. Doesn't stop me from diving in, though, and figuring out the details later.

Clara also had the same sort of timid/bold mix that I see in myself. I have no problem standing in front of 400 people giving a speech, but I get terrified at the thought of small talk at a dinner party. I fear rejection, yet I do crazy things like enter national contests that require me to put my dream up for inspection by strangers. Yeah, me and Clara, we're simpatico.

4. As a parent with diabetes, what is your greatest challenge? Your biggest worry?

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My greatest challenge is remembering to take care of myself in the chaos of raising two active boys. My biggest worry is that diabetes will cut me down before my boys are able to make it on their own (which, as any Mom will tell you, is like not until they are 40. At the earliest.)

5. I hear you make a mean cake. Share with me your best -- or your favorite -- cake recipe...

"The Cake that Didn't Beat Vadim" was the best by far. Second place would be the coconut cake that my colleague and I made for our boss's birthday. That was actually the first one I'd made from scratch and it turned out fantastic, right down to the toasted coconut topping. Yum. And I don't even like coconut. It was a recipe from Cook's Illustrated, sorry to say I don't have it anymore.

I find that torting (sp?) the cake into 4 layers instead of two and spreading a thin layer of icing or thinned-out jam between each layer makes an ordinary cake much yummier. (I sound like Sandra Lee.)

And real buttercream icing. It's the reason I own a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

I'm happy to interview anyone who requests!