Welcome & Introduction
This month's blog features electronic payments information, you're never too old to learn to tricks, Charlie's new job, and women's equality day.
What’s going on with S4SB?
Katherine Almy
I’ve harped on this before, but I have good reason to bring it up again. I believe that paper checks are a thing of the past, and will soon be entirely eradicated, so it’s time to start getting used to making electronic payments if you haven’t already. What brings it up for me this time is that Melio, the bill payment app that’s built into Quickbooks Online, will begin charging for paper checks to be sent, starting August 17th. Using Melio for a lot of us has been a way to ease into the idea of electronic payments, but if you use Melio and ask them to send a paper check, it’s not quite the same as an all-electronic payment. It still involves the risk of having your bank account and routing number printed on a piece of paper and sent to your vendor, which is beyond your control. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been wanting our clients to move away from paper checks.
If you use Melio, you also have the option of requesting your vendor to enter their banking information and having the payment sent as a true ACH - no paper involved! And since your vendor is putting the information in on their end, they don’t have to share it with you or anybody else. Melio is encouraging you to do that by charging ($1.50 a pop) for the paper option. If you have us pay your bills for you, we will be moving in this direction for all vendor payments. If you are doing the bill paying yourself, look into this option, and let us know if you have any questions.
You’re never too old to learn new tricks
Katherine Almy
I was listening to NPR the other day and heard an interview with children’s book author Katherine Rundell, and something they were discussing stuck with me. The author was describing her research process. She took trapeze lessons to learn what it felt like to let go of the flying swing and be caught by another person, and she learned how to fly a small plane. She wasn’t very good at either skill, and even suffered some injuries, but she endured. Both of these endeavors helped her breathe life into her characters and their exploits. But there’s more to it than that.
The interviewer, Anne Strainchamps, states “...that feeling of learning something is connected to the feeling of adventure and the feeling of possibility in the world,” and compares it to the feeling of reading a children’s book, in which anything can happen.
I had an experience a few years ago of learning something new. I can’t say I enjoyed it all that much. At times, I hated it! I decided I wanted to try being in a play, so I auditioned for HLOC’s Wizard of Oz. Just auditioning was a new experience for me. Being in the play itself was humbling and aggravating and exciting all at once. I had thought I would love being in a play, and that it was just a lark. I was surprised to find that it was really hard work! And, as I said, sometimes it was very uncomfortable. I thought about why it was so hard at times, and I realized that I’d been spoiled for several years. I spend most of my working time being an expert. I’m used to people asking for my advice and showing others how to do something. But as an “actor” with a bit part, I was being given direction. I wasn’t in charge and nobody was very interested in my ideas about how things should be done.
Rundell states, in her lovely British accent, “There is a great liberation in, as an adult, deciding to learn something, even if you’re quite rubbish at it at first, because I think as adults we become used to being quite good at what we do. I have taught myself to be willing to be bad at something for a long time, and that has been an enormous pleasure.”
I’ve found I have much more patience with being bad at something than I did as a kid, my acting experience notwithstanding. I used to feel like I shouldn’t do something unless I had a natural talent for it, but that can limit your world. I’ve noticed, especially in the last ten or fifteen years, that I’m much more forgiving of myself if I’m not good at something right away. And Rundell’s words make me realize what a gift that is. I don’t know if I’ll try being in a play again, but it does feel adventurous to think that I can try my hand at anything that strikes my fancy because I don’t have to be good at it. That’s what learning is all about - going from not being good at something to being tolerable at it, and then maybe even moving on to excelling.
So I’m looking for ideas. If anyone has any suggestions for something new to learn, let me know.
New Job Yay!
Charlie Maupin
I’ve worked for several different companies since moving to Colorado. I finally feel confident to share my current position since starting in late May. I am the Environmental Education Coordinator for a small K-12 charter school nearby where I live. I get to coordinate volunteers, field trips, guest speakers, and teach in classrooms. We have three goats, three barn cats, and about fifteen chickens that I help take care of too! I feel so lucky to have found this position. Environmental Education jobs are rarely year-round, it’s usually camp programs that pay $15 an hour, no benefits, etc. I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot! Today was the first day having the students back at school and it was so much fun. I can’t wait to see what the year brings. Also - I now know how to trim goat hooves like a champion, all it takes is some pool noodles to prevent them from butting me.
DEI Discussions & Community Opportunities
Women’s Equality Day
Charlie Maupin
Friday, August 26th is Women’s Equality Day. This holiday celebrates the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, right to vote. It’s so interesting to me what's happening with Roe v. Wade to take a look at the history of this holiday. According to the National Women’s History Alliance, Women’s Equality Day was “the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention….”. It is mind boggling that yet today, so many years later, women are still fighting for their rights. More specifically, rights relating to their bodies and their choices. With all this being said, Women’s Equality Day, in my opinion, should be every day!
Thank you for reading our blog and supporting S4SB. Make sure to enter your Full Name and Email to subscribe and receive a monthly email to notify you when our blogs come out on the 1st of each month. If you’d like to submit something to add to our blog, please email crm101@humboldt.edu. Feel free to reach out with questions, concerns, or other ways to support our community.