a map in my own mind

There are two teams working on a single project.
Each team has a distinct and separate part in the project,
both are required for completion.

The Ralph Shaw Law of Cooperating Companies (which I just made up and named for the guy from whom I learned to live it) says that in order to have the least opportunity for miscommunication, misdirection, or misunderstanding, one and only one person from team A represents official conversation to one and only one person from team B.

I propose that for each added person to either team the opportunity for mistake or misunderstanding expands by a pretty big number. But I don’t know how to figure out what that number is. If you can, I’d love to see it.

Here’s the back story:
Ralph Shaw owns Shaw & Sons Amusements. I was the volunteer chair of the Baltimore City Fair, a giant three day celebration of life in the city of Baltimore. Ralph’s organization was responsible for the rides and midway set up to compliment the neighborhood and other exhibits that were the showcase of the event.

The Fair needed the Midway to entertain the huge number of people for longer than the time to walk thru the exhibits. The Midway need the Fair as a reason to block streets and set up in downtown Baltimore.

Each organziaiton had its own team of workers who knew their own jobs. But as you can imagine, it’s important that not just anyone from the Fair’s team could go to any one on Ralph’s team, for example, on the day before the event and say.. “OH, gee, we don’t like where you set the merry go round. Could you move it over there?”

So there exists one person from the Fair — the chair — who talks to one person at Shaw & Sons — Ralph — about any major decisions affecting the the event.

This is not to imply that other people in the organizations can’t talk together or work together. I think the referenced conversations are sort of contract level discusssions. We will do this; we won’t do that.

My hypothesis:
In any conversation where instructions are given there are three options for out come.. Do it, dont do it, or do something else.

So if there are two people in the matrix, then there are six options (each person could choose any of the answers) ? Or is it only three?.. because it’s only one instruction?
And if you add a person to one side, how does that number increase?
And what if there are two people on each side? Then what?
What about more?

Do you get the math? Could you send me an equation? I’d really like to know.

PS.. Don’t tell my old math professor, Marv Brubaker, that I can’t do this on my own.

My office is in the sun porch of our 1920s home. It’s a wonderful room and probably one of the biggest reasons we bought the place 30 years ago. This spring I put a copper bird bath in the shrubbery outside my window. I’ve had great fun watching the birds playing in that water.

I was sitting at my desk yesterday and noticed a lot of flapping wings out side. What a surprise! A hawk had found my bird bath. I’m not sure what kind of hawk. I looked at some pictures to see if I could tell. But no luck. I checked out some on line conversations about hawks in my area. But still I’m not sure what kind he(?) was.

I have a feeling it was not very old, seeming particularly ungraceful at take off. But perhaps that’s what happens when you’re in a too small space for your normal flight path. He lighted for a short time on a low hanging branch of a tree. A squirrel started up the tree right for the bird! Man, I thought, this is gonna be bloody. But then the bird flew away.

I brought my camera downstairs so in case he comes back I can snap a picture.

I was thinking about flying when there isn’t really enough room, about being intimidated by someone much less powerful than you. And you know, that bird just flew away. He stumbled a little in his flight plan, and he flew away from a squirrel. But I am guessing it didn’t keep him from finding his next meal or enjoying the sights when he got high enough to see them.

One foot in front of the other. What must be done now?

Fidget to Focus – Outwit Your Boredom: Sensory Strategies for Living with ADD
Roland Rotz, Ph.D. and Sarah D. Wright, M.S., A.C.T.
IUniverse © 2005
$14.95
126 pp

Do your kids swear that listening to music while they do homework actually helps them concentrate? Can you sit still OR focus, but not both – simultaneously?

If your answer is “yes,” you might already understand the art of effective fidgeting – using simultaneous sensory-motor activities to increase your ability to pay attention.

Based on the collected stories of hundreds of people, authors Roland Rotz, Ph.D. — a licensed child and adult psychologist — and Sarah D. Wright, M.S., A.C.T. – a professional AD/HD coach – propose sifting the paradigm: Give yourself permission to fidget. “Restlessness is not just an expression of trying to ‘get out of the fidgets’ in order to become calm. It is rather an attempt to self-arouse to become focused.”

The beauty of fidgeting in order to focus is that it works for everyone, not just people with ADD. Moving your body is particularly effective. Running, walking or even plain old recess activities help many people attend even after those activities have stopped. Personally, I find knitting to be a great way to keep myself focused while attending mlong meetings. It actuates the sense of touch, and it’s much better than picking at my nails. Color coded file folders are more plesant to look at so they help make the drudgery of filing a bit more interesting.

Key is to identify socially acceptable forms of fidgeting. Whether it’s doodling in a notebook while listening to a lecture, chewing gum while taking a test, or racing against the clock to finish a tedious task like cleaning the kitchen, what makes it work is using different senses for the fidget and for the focus.

This short book is structured with review points at the end of each chapter. It aims to help you identify your own socially acceptable devices to keep one part of your brain busy while allowing greater focus by another part. The strategies suggested in the text and in the “Fidget Strategies Workbook” included with the appendices will likely lead you to think of other techniques that will work for you. You’ll find suggestions for using your senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell as well as movement, time awareness, or a companion.

A couple of big points from the book:

“Effective fidgeting uses a second sensory-motor activity, one other than that needed for our primary activity, to help us stay alert and focus the primary activity.” These secondary activities might include listening to loud music while doing housework, racing against the clock to finish a tedious task like cleaning the kitchen, doodling in a notebook while listening to a lecture, or chewing gum while taking a test.

“Some of the strategies we use to simulate ourselves into interest and thus action, e.g. procrastination or emotional conflict, can have undesirable side effects.” The authors warn that if you don’t actually choose your method of fidgeting, you could wind up doing something harmful: perhaps something as simple as picking your cuticles or more problematic smoking or engaging in some other addictive behavior.