Outfitting yourself for Winter

Compiled a handy guide for the folks in my class who are from warmer climes. I was speaking to someone in the hallway yesterday and he didn't have a winter coat yet. It's already getting below 20 degrees at night, so I think it's probably time! People who have never been in a place with real winter don't always know what they need, so I figured this list would be the best way to help find what they need, keep it in a local radius, and keep the costs down.

If you haven't done so already, make sure you buy yourself some winter essentials.

The Main Event: Winter Jacket - $60-180
Find something that is either down-filled or synthetic-filled (puffy coats) or double-layered. Double-layered jackets and parkas are ideal for winter and spring and usually consist of a wind-breaking and water-resistant outer layer that can be zipped away from a fleece-lined inner layer. Some manufacturers make the inner layer reversible as well. If you're planning on taking up skiing or other winter/snow sports, double-layered is probably the way to go. If you're small and can fit into children's sizes, they work just as well and will be less expensive. Best brands in mid-range price are Columbia, Marmot, and North Face which can be found at a variety of retailers (Appalachian Outdoors, downtown, is carrying a number of these brands). Expect to pay up to ~$180 for these brands, but sometimes you can find great sales that brings the price down to about $100. If you're looking for less pricey options, check Kohls by the Target. They carry brands called ZeroXposure and Tek which are relatively low-price for decent quality (probably 2-3 years of use, if I had to guess).

Gloves/Mittens -  $15-25
Leather gloves will only get you so far, as will stretchy polyester blends. In the dead of winter, you'll want gloves or mittens that are fleece-lined or have other heat-capturing properties. Gloves with water resistant exteriors are great for playing in the snow, and cleaning off cars when it's 10 degrees out. Look for something like this: Gloves. You can spend up to $50 on these, but at Kohls, you can probably find a decent pair of gloves for $15-25

Hat - $8-20
Personally, I'm not picky about hats. You can find fleece bands that just cover your ears, or go for a full hat. You probably don't need help on this one. Most hats do the trick just fine. In winter, I add a fleece lining to my knit hats for additional warmth, but most people don't even go that far. You can probably find PSU hats at every store downtown.

Scarf or Neck Gaiter $8-28
Between your coat and your chin is your throat, and winter likes to bite. Protect yourself with a scarf (not a fashion scarf), or a Neck Gaiter. Gaiters are a tube of fleece fabric that slides over your head and protects your throat and can be brought up to cover the nose and mouth when the weather makes your saliva freeze. Brands like Turtlefur are well-known can be bought at outdoor clothing retailers like Appalachian Outdoors. You can probably also make your own with a quick trip to Joann's fabrics by the mall. Scarves can be purchased at places like Walmart, Target, or Kohls for a decent price.

Boots - $30-$90
Good boots will keep you from slipping on ice, protect your feet from that 4-inch-deep puddle of slush you accidentally walked through, and keep your feet nice and warm. As with any shoe purchase, make sure the boots are comfy when walking around. Wear medium- to heavy-weight socks to try on boots (the idea is to keep you warm). Kohls also has a great selection of boots that should easily last you a couple of PA winters and they're usually on sale. Good boots should reach to at least higher than your ankles and ideally hit mid-calf if you anticipate walking through snow. They should also be insulated with fleece or synthetic material (this is the difference between winter boots and work boots). At Kohls, look for Totes, Sorel, or Therma brand boots. You can also find Totes brand boots at the Sears in the Nittany Mall. Additionally, there is a shoe store in the mall (Shoe Dept) that carries a wide variety of brands at discount prices. Look specifically for Timberland. With boots, you generally get what you pay for, and decent winter boots should run you no less than $30.

Extras:
Snowpants: Generally unnecessary unless you're planning for a good romp in the snow. Also usually pretty expensive. When buying snowpants, look for a pair that is water-proof and has a separate seal on the ankle cuff that will fit around the outside of your boot to prevent snow from falling in. Make sure you're able to comfortably sit and jump. Look for pockets to keep things like your ID and keys as it's pretty hard to get to these items in your underlayers. When trying on snowpants, they are generally worn over another pant-layer such as thermals, jeans, or sweatpants.

Thermals: Thermal underwear and thermal layers are generally tight-fitting layers that are closest to the skin and can be worn under jeans, sweatshirts or other long-sleeved items. They work by keeping your body-heat in and are great for days when you know you'll be outside for a long time.

Glove and Boot Warmers: you can buy pairs of packets of boot and glove warmers at most clothing outfitters in the winter. They used to cost $8 a pair, not sure how much they go for now. You can buy these for days when you anticipate having to walk home in the cold, or wait a long time for the bus. Crack a packet open and put in your gloves or boots. You'll be surprised how hot these get.

Ski Socks: The thickest, cushiest socks. Probably unnecessary unless your feet get very cold when walking around. These are pricey though and will probably run you about $15-25 a pair. Covet them.

"An Ancient Tale": The Humanist Response to a values-based assignment

Trigger Warning: rape.

One of the interesting aspects of Business school (B-school, what have you) is that you get to discuss all sorts of hypothetical situations and you usually do it first in a small group (my team has 5 members) and then as a larger class -- where it's usually much more difficult to voice your opinion or have a good, thorough discussion. My team is composed of 4 incredibly sweet and gentle individuals (5 if you include me, though I'm not sure that's quite a fair assessment of me) with rather varied and diverse backgrounds. For future reference, our team composure:

A: Male, American Military, Married with 1 child
B: Male, South American, Married, Background in Supply Chain
C: Female, Indian, Married, Background in Marketing
D: Male, American, in a steady relationship, Background in Public Policy
E: Female, American, Single, Background in Technology.

I'm E. In case you hadn't guessed.

For tomorrow's assignment in our Teams class, we were asked to read and discuss An Ancient Tale by J.B. Ritchey. You can read the assignment as well as the first four questions here: An Ancient Tale

As soon as I read this story, I knew I'd be bringing an unpopular opinion to the table at our group discussion, particularly since my first reaction to this story was pretty visceral. Well, not the story itself, but the implication of the questions.

The link above actually does a good job of explaining the reasoning behind the exercise: help people understand different weighted ethics and moralities that others impose on the world around them. By assigning blame in a situation like that of the princess in the story, we can better understand the relative weights of the beliefs of our peers.

A summary of the case at hand: A princess is married to a wealthy lord who's always out visiting neighboring kingdoms and she thinks he might be cheating on her. A handsome vagabond comes along and she's all, "yeah, you're kinda cute!" and they go gallivanting off to do some away-from-home cheating. But the vagabond leaves her and she realizes the only way home is through a dangerous forest. She goes to her god-father for help and apologizes for her actions, and he forgives her but refuses to help her through the forest. She goes to a white knight who says he'll help her, for a fee, but she has no money. So she decides to brave the forest on her own, where she is found by an evil sorcerer who has a dragon eat her. The End.

Ok. So the big questions on this case are who is at fault? The case only provides you the options of the princess, the husband, the vagabond, the godfather, the knight, or the sorcerer.
Who's the second-most at fault?


My team was split between the fault lying with the princess (personal accountability, yo!), and the sorcerer (guy is convincing dragons to eat people. Not cool, bro).

The reasoning my team delivered was that the sorcerer told the dragon to do it. Alternatively, if the princess hadn't left home with the vagabond, she never would have been in the position to have to go through the forest in the first place. 

Firstly, I want to address that I recognize that the point of the exercise is to generate discussion and high levels of emotional response. The author wants to encourage a conversation about personal values and how it affects decision-making. And in that way, this assignment does exactly what it's supposed to.

BUT. It's problematic because it reinforces harmful societal norms.

I agree with none of the given options. And the dragon isn't an option, but even if it were, dragons don't really exist, which means their relative morality and ethical basis is not exactly a given. I guess I can't really buy that the sorcerer is the end-all-be-all of a dragon's actions. I've read plenty of stories where dragons can talk, reason, and have moral values. I've also read stories where dragons have entirely different moral structure than human society. Them's the breaks. 

Moral aptitude: unknown

What DOES exist is society pressure and victim blaming.  You may have guessed this from my trigger warning up top, but what I see here is an allegory for rape.

Here we have a girl. Maybe she  spends an evening with a guy friend when her boyfriend didn't know what she was up to and maybe she got drunk. She made some bad decisions. When she's ready to go, she realizes she's on the other side of town and she's got to get home. There's a bad neighborhood in between here and there. She calls a family member and admits her wrong-doing but he says he won't help. She calls a taxi, but it turns out she has no money to pay for a cab. She decides to brave the walk and go on her own. A stranger sees her walking home and encourages his friend to rape her, which he does.

Who's at fault here?

The girl's just trying to get home. The actions (or lack of action) of the people around her is not a reflection on her or her previous actions. It is NOT karmic payback. It is NOT deserved. A girl (or guy) walking home should be able to walk home unmolested regardless of their previous decisions, regardless of their character. It's is not the girl's fault for being on the wrong side of town, for being out late, for taking that path home, for wearing something revealing. It is not the boyfriend's fault for not being attentive to his girlfriend. It is not the guy-friend's fault for not escorting her home or kicking her out. It is not the relative's fault for deciding not to take her home (yes, it's a dick move, but his personal accountability in this situation is nil). It is not the taxi cab driver's fault for not driving her home when she had no money. There may be some maleficence to the stranger who encourages the misdeed of his friend and certainly, he's not a good person. But the person who is at fault here is the person who harmed the girl, the rapist.

This representation did not play well with my team. In fact, it made them very uncomfortable. As a graduate from an all-women's liberal arts college, this kind of interpretation is front-and-center to me, but my peers at this larger co-ed institution are less inclined to lean this way or be comfortable with a discussion centered around a topic like this. Some would say this is a feminist issue, to which I say it's not. It is a humanist one: Be a human being. Treat others like human beings. These rules, regardless of gender should result in something like a happy ending for stories like the one above.

What makes this such an interesting case is the lack of availability of the dragon as an option for the person at-fault. You're given any other choice but I suggest that the choices provided are an unacceptable reflection of victim-blaming and apologist behavior in our society. The consequence of being drunk is a hangover. The consequence of being on the wrong side of town is sore feet from walking home. The consequence of cheating on your husband is guilt and maybe STDs and/or pregnancy if you didn't use protection. Not getting eaten by a dragon. By accepting the options given as our only choices, we're continuing a myth that a person's actions are a defining aspect of their 'story' and that karma is an acceptable defense for bad things happening to people, rather than addressing the real problem of those who acted in or performed roles in the negative event.

From a humanist point of view, I reject these options. Let's change the narrative and the followup questions to ask: As a human being, what are my rights? As a human being, is it ok for my rights to infringe on others'? As a human being, what are my responsibilities?

The Newest Journey

I've been away from this blog for a little more than four years, owing mostly to my last job which had some level of Fight Club Rules 1 & 2 about it. While there was plenty of content to discuss, I didn't feel that I could reliably do so without endangering my contract.  I avoided writing at all to ensure that I wasn't at odds with the job. I'm still bound by a contract, but I have other things on my mind.

A lot happens in four years. When I last wrote, I'd returned home to New Jersey after working in California for 2+ years. I was in the midst of an in-between job that entailed gift-wrapping goods from a small local overpriced boutique (and you can head over to Head2Desk if you really want to know how thrilling that role was).

In October, I was hired by a company in St. Louis, Missouri to be a specialized on-site consultant at a company in Connecticut. I did two weeks of "training" in St. Louis (where I found that I adored this "Gateway to the West" and the people were just about the friendliest you could hope for, and the food was fantastic). I moved to Connecticut and consulted for 10 months before the host company decided I was a good fit and I was hired there as a full time employee.

 

St. Louis: Home of the friendliest people, the best barbecue, and the worst sushi

 

I worked first as Help Desk support, then eventually as a process engineer in 2012-2013. And to be honest, I kind of loved it there. It was stressful and hard to get things done, but I relished working in an environment where my ideas mattered and my coworkers were willing to challenge me. And somewhere in there we had this test.

On the scale of soft-skills acceptance, I'm probably somewhere in the middle. I accept things like the MBTI and discussions about gently coaxing your staff to do what you want like a 10-week-old puppy with general understanding and a few grains of salt. I 'get' it, but I also think people should challenge these "tools" and "scientific schema" because accepting blindly isn't really how science works and it's not how I like to approach the world anyway.

So, this test. A lot of the new-agey stuff about how you are thinking about your work and your role and, ok, yes, yourself. This was a real opportunity to truly consider what what made me happy and was I 'working toward' that happy goal? If not, why not? What was I doing, not working toward being happy?

So there I was, in the middle of this mandated self-reflection having a little bit of an identity crisis. What do I love to do? Lots of things. I have a hobby-problem. Too many of them. But I like baking. And I like feeding people. And I like making other people happy. And it's hard to be unhappy when you're being fed. I've always kind of thought about opening a bakery or a tea shop. Well, why the heck not?!


But here's the thing. I don't have any experience running a business. I don't know about supply chain, or really managing people. I don't know about negotiating contracts or doing the books. I don't know about tax law. Man, there's a whole wealth of things I don't know, and Wikipedia can only get me so far.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything you wanted to know about 30% of life on earth. 

For the other 70% you'll need to conduct your own research.

My mother had been talking about me going back to school for years. Well, for Biology, but still. As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I thought I was already doing ok, and frankly, getting more (and more expensive) education wasn't high on my list of things to do to achieve success in science... it just doesn't pay off at this point in American society. But Business School is probably exactly what I need if I'm going to start . . . well, a business.

And so I began the harrowing process of applying to schools. A lot of them. Cornell, UNC, UofWashington, UofArizona, Penn State, Georgia Tech, UofIllinois. And school visits. God, that was exhausting. And interviews, and resume writing, and talking with a smile and a twinkle in my eye, like I know they want me to. As a pretty hardcore introvert, this process was daunting and terrifying and so unlike anything I wanted to do. I wanted the knowledge, but not the process. But that's not how the world works.

I'll probably relate a little bit more about the admissions process some other time. A lot goes into it and I'm already teetering on the edge of long-winded here. But the end result, is that some schools received my resume and did not immediately assume I was a know-nothing poser or incapable of completing the work. And some schools even offered me excellent encouragement to attend their particular institution.  And that is how I wound up at Penn State.

 

Hope you like mountain lions. They're obsessed with them here.

You're going to be seeing a lot more of this guy. 

And I moved into an apartment that I currently don't share with anyone (though that might change), and I get treated to beautiful views like this at sunset.

The aftermath of a sudden thunderstorm lights up Happy Valley. 

Taken from my back porch.

What remains now is the rest of the journey. I've got 2 years of Business School ahead of me, and 6 years of real-world experience behind me. I'll be giving a little bit of first-hand account of women-in-the-workplace discussions and more importantly, personal anecdotes of my experiences. Not just business-related but life experiences too. Let's take a meander together, shall we?