Questions?

[susandennis]

While I debate whether or not to include any of the various memes for the year in my journal, I thought I'd toss out the old Meme of Memes...

If you have any question/s about anything that you want to ask me for whatever reason, ask away. Believe it or not, I have opinions I have not shared here. And stuff I may have inadvertently forgotten to write about, or for any number of other reasons, created a hole in the narrative that is me.

Silly, serious, important, irrelevant. Or requests. Ask away.

Comments

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

What did you do for a living?
What did you want to be when you grow up?

[susandennis]

Great Questions!

I started out, out of college, as a newspaper reporter and then spent about 20 years writing speeches for executives at IBM and finally finished up the final 20 years creating and maintaining corporate websites for my own clients, for Microsoft and for a couple of start up companies. Really, honestly, great jobs all.

Once I discovered that I did not have to get married and have children (which was a momentous discovery made when I was about 7), I knew I wanted to do something in the business world. Something in an office with staplers and a dictaphone like Daddy had.

[ellinou.livejournal.com]

I would have asked the same so thanks for the answer!

[susandennis]

excellent! and you are very welcome

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Did you have other cats or other pets before Biggie, Smalls and Zoey?

[susandennis]

Oh my yes. I actually had a great dog once. Max. He was a large (75 lbs) dog of indeterminate origins. I was a hot 20 something and drove a fire engine red Opal GT. Max went everywhere with me and as soon as I'd get out of the car, he'd move over to the driver's seat and sit bolt upright with his hands on the wheel. I'd get back to the car to find he'd attracted an amused crowd - every time.

Then, in my 30's, a friend gave me a cat for Christmas. I named her Christmas and she was the first in a long line of cats interrupted only when I lived in an apartment in Connecticut that didn't allow pets. Then I moved to Minnesota and got Bubba who was a fine fine cat.

Bubba and I moved to California where we picked up Jake. Bubba died at age 18 in 1999. Then there was Pizza (who until recently, was my favorite cat ever - I got her from the vet who had taken her in after she was hit by a car and was basically road pizza). Then there was Betty. Then Zoey. and now...

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That is quite a list!

I have had two dogs before the present two. Before that it was: a gerbil, a rat, zebra finches, tropical fish, and even a cat, Smokey.

There is something about having the companionship of a dog or cat that fills a basic need in my life. :-)

[susandennis]

So very true. I had planned to give pet owning a rest after Zoey died. That plan lasted almost 48 hours :)

thankfully!

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

I love the photos of your home. It's so colorful. What changes have you made since you bought it?

[susandennis]

Thank you, I love the colors so much. Everyone (friends, relatives and the decorator I hired) told me that this much color in the NorthWest light was just wrong and I'd get tired of it all. I ignored them and have never regretted it one bit. If the place burned down tomorrow, I think I'd change very little in the redo.

When I bought it and moved in (January 1992) it was basically builder white with light taupe carpet. I lived with that for 13 years. Then in 2005, I found and hired a designer and did it over stem to stern.

I documented it here http://susandennis.com/makeover/

That, of course, is way old news now. In 2015-ish, I redid most of the living room - ripping out the office and installing a storage cupboard and bench style desk. I hired the same designer to help so it looks like the rest. Oh and I made lighting changes then, too.

And, of course the new living room furniture this year.

I still, after all these years, love it all over again the minute I walk in the door.

[ringsandcoffee.livejournal.com]

I just read through the house makeover, and wow. I need those shelves! And postcard displays! Also, my own house so I can do that stuff!

[susandennis]

It really was (and is) a dream come true.

[seattlejo.livejournal.com]

What was your favorite New Year's?
What's the thing that surprises you most about the advancement of women in tech, and what saddens you the most?

[susandennis]

1983. My husband and I had just come home from a good friend's annual New Year's Day open house where we had a great time visiting with friends. Coming home was just the worst. I hated being married. I could find no good way out. I felt trapped. We'd been home about 30 minutes when he said to me, "I think this marriage is over."

I have never before or never since felt so much relief. I am surprised I didn't need a seat belt to keep me from floating away on relief. I promised myself I would never do that again and I did not.

I read your questions before I went to the pool this morning so I used my swim to conjure on your women in tech question... I needed the whole hour and probably my response isn't going to be very satisfactory....

I don't really see any reason to separate women in tech from women in general. In the 70's when more women decided they wanted to be special than to be equal and so the Equal Rights Amendment died, we were doomed to the world's slowest crawl to get our rightful place.

Even today, on the news and in movies, TV and books... "women and children" are singled out and classified as needing special handling and no one ever questions that. So... our world continues to be ruled by old white men.

Have we made strides? OMG yes. In so many ways. But, here's where your tech angle gets important to me. It's a microcosm of what is really wrong. And easier to see than in the world in general. Young women are marching into the field as if it is their godgiven right to stand on equal footing. Young (and old) men are sitting there where they always have just laughing. They know it is their godgiven right to rule. And there is no give on either side.

I am still most saddened by the loss of the Equal Rights Amendment.

BUT I am thrilled by the young women today who do just assume their right. I do know now that one day, they will be correct with those assumptions. It's just still such a long, hard road.

[letmesaythis.livejournal.com]

Have you visited South America or Asia? If not, would you have liked to? I think you're way over the travel bug, but if you weren't, where would you visit?

[susandennis]

I never have! Visited South America or Asia. South America, for some weird reason, has never interested me in the slightest. But, Asia... yeah, I could see that.

If I did pick up a travel bug, the first place I would go would be back to New Zealand and then to Sydney to swim in the Bondi Beach pools.

Then probably Europe - Copenhagen and maybe Barcelona.

But, my dream trip? The one that is most likely to get me out of here? Would be a swim tour. A tour of the best pools in the world - like Bondi but all over the world. Go to the city, tour for a day or so, swim and move on to the next amazing swimming pool city. Like this one... and this one...