Dear Miss Theologian,

Any ideas?

–Winter Blue

Dear Ms. Blue,

It’s always a relief to me when the temperatures cool, but then I lose the sunlight, and with it, I seem to lose hope and gain despair. It’s hard to Get a Grip on the Winter Blues.

I’m wonder if we both have a touch of SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder (but for a complete diagnosis, you should see a therapist or your doctor as we don’t like to mess with our friend, depression).

So, assuming that you have taken care of the potential mental health issues, I think that the theological issues are fair game.

Life on earth occurs in cycles primarily. We have hot summers and cool winters over and over again. One of the reasons that human beings have holidays in the middle of winter, right around the winter solstice is that we need to be reminded that that the light will return. And we need this reminder every year.

So while there are practical suggestions for you (setting limits with needy people and with work, finding ways to nurture yourself, spending time outside), be aware that theologically, you don’t have light without dark, good without evil, body without soul.

If it’s possible, I think it’s best to find a way to embrace the darkness and to light a candle, make a fire, turn on a light (even inside yourself) to remind yourself that in the darkness, there can always be light, always be hope, always be love.

–Ms. Theologian

P.S. If you’d like to write to Ms. Theologian, send an email to ms dot theologian at gmail dot com.

Many years ago when I had an internship in Wyoming, I lived in a cabin that got its power from a generator. Now, this was something new to me, a child of suburbia, who was used to flipping a switch and having electricity flow freely. So, oblivious to the concept of phantom load, my roommates and I plugged in our alarm clocks, our coffee pots, our radios and CD players; we plugged it all in.

And then, one day, we returned to a lot of angry people in and around our cabin. It seems that we were to blame for burning out the generator and that no one in our little rural complex of cabins had any power.

You see, my friends, whenever something is plugged in, it uses electricity, even if it isn’t “on.” You probably know that your clock radio uses electricity because it’s lit, but so does a lamp if it’s plugged in, or a cell phone charger, or a radio, even if they are turned off. So all of our little toys that were plugged in were sucking electricity, just enough to cause the generator to turn on and off all day long. That explained the noise of a motor trying to start that we all heard, but ignored. What can I say? We were young and suburban.

So, after being chewed out by lots of older, fatter men, I learned to unplug everything when it wasn’t in use including lamps, cell phone chargers, stereos, radios, etc. All of it uses electricity even when it’s not on.

But here are some far hipper tips from TreeHugger:

1) Devices like the Kill-a-Watt and Wattson can point you to devices that attract the largest load, leading you to get…
2) A “smart” power strip like the Wattstopper Plug Load Control and Smart Strip Power Strip, that cut the power when your devices are off.
3) The Mini Power Minder has the smarts to shut off your computer’s peripherals and doodads when the computer itself is shut down.
4) Simply unplugging things like your cell phone charger, which is only in use a few minutes per day, will make a bigger difference than you’d think.
5) See How to Green Your Electricity to learn more about keeping phantoms, vampires and warts out of your electrical life.

Many of us travel a lot for business and pleasure. And often the weather is not the best. In light of recent tragedies, let’s review what you might need in your car (including a rental car)while traveling to deal with an emergency:

flashlight and extra batteries
crank radio
warm clothes and waterproof shoes
water and food
tire chains
flares
tarp and blanket for shelter
first aid kit

More on car emergency kits

I worry a lot when I travel on business, mostly that my laptop will die or that I’ll be stranded in the middle of nowhere without a wallet or cash. Possibly that the hotel won’t have my reservation and I’ll wander throughout the desert seeking shelter. But I don’t worry about using the bathroom facilities—until now.

It seems the energy used in one airplane toilet flush is enough for an economy car to drive 10 kilometers. Wow.

Along the same lines, a family of four on a translatlantic flight generates more CO2 than they would in a year at home.

Wow.

However, since no one intends to use the facilities on an airplane as anything other than a last resort Ms. Theologian believes that you should not worry about this.

at the crosswalk of McBean and Valencia in Santa Clarita, California at 4:35 p.m. today, I offer this warning:

put away the tote bag.

That’s all. And that’s why I pig-snorted as you crossed the intersection in your suit with the tote bag of assorted paper. I don’t care if it carries everything. That is the point of a briefcase.

I weighed all kinds of scenarios in my head: perhaps your briefcase had been stolen, perhaps you could not afford a briefcase, perhaps the briefcase caused you backpain and so you used your wife’s, a second grade teacher, tote. Perhaps you were making a statement against the corporate appearance of most Santa Claritans. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

I’m not Go Fug Yourself, but I do know this: tote bags are not the friend of the businessman. They do not exude professionalism. And, yes, I’m being shallow. But you work hard. You deserve a little something to carry your work and lunch in without making me snort like a pig.

Please.

I worked as a chaplain in a hospital back in the day (1998). I really enjoyed it. I proposed adding a chaplain at my workplace, but it was too corporate at the time.

Now chaplains are moving into the corporate business model, according to the New York Times in At Bossess’ Invitation, Chaplains Come into Workplace and on to Payroll. The focus of the article is on a chaplain in a Tyson chicken slaughterhouse, which sounds pretty grim. But I found it interesting that chaplains function much as social workers do in these settings: helping people rebuild their families, enter rehab, find some rent money, fix a leaky roof. But of course there are issues of confidentiality and loyalty when the chaplain has a corporate employer.

Marketplace Chaplains is an organization that provides chaplains to businesses. As with most things in business, they attempt to interest people in the bottom line: making employees more productive. It makes me wonder more about confidentiality of chaplain services.

Santas face job risks, including being coughed and peed on, not to mention the tears. And it seems most kids also give the beard a big tug to see if it’s real. Man, it sounds like a tough job. No wonder most Santas don’t believe kids who say they’ve been good–they haven’t seen kids at their best

The photo is from Scared of Santa where you can see many more delightful moments when Santa and child did not bond as planned.

It’s that time of year: people are acting nutzy at work for no apparent reason, people are spending more time with the office tree than with office work, and people are scheduling the dreaded office holiday party.

Now, I know at least one reader is an office party fool. She loves those parties! She schedules, she plans, she buys. She loves the celebration.

I envy her.

On one particular office party, aboard a ship in Boston harbor, the bartenders were apparently not told to charge for drinks. This led to a lot of drunk coworkers. At ten in the morning. I’m not sure there is any memory of an office party more precious to me than this little oversight.

Post your office party stories in comments, if you wish. (And I wish you do)

Holiday Office Party Tips on NPR

Emily Post’s Tips for Holiday Parties

Office Legal Tips for Hosting a Holiday Party

Packing materials seem to generate a lot of waste while ensuring that your product arrives undamaged.

Consider some of these options for packing:

Constarch Packing Peanuts
Mailing boxes made from recycled materials

Tips via Ideal Bite

I’m not sure where exactly in a religious text it says, “Kill others,” but apparently many folks are finding that in writing and setting out to help God.

On September 11, 2006, a dude who shall remain nameless (I’m not into letting criminals get fame) drove his car into a women’s health center in order to set himself on fire. He believed the health center provided abortions. He was wrong.

Read the entire article here

Via Feministe

Here’s one take on it from Slate Magazine:

There are three possible answers. The first is that innate differences between the sexes mean that women either don’t seek high-risk jobs or don’t perform as well at them as men do; many conservatives, for example, have seized on social science studies that suggest women demonstrate an aversion to risk-taking. The second is that conscious discrimination still exists—that sexism is alive and well in the workplace. In 1998, for example, Mitsubishi paid $34 million to female workers who claimed the company had allowed employees and managers to sexually harass them at its plant in Normal, Ill. The third is that, even though formal barriers to women’s workplace advancement have been dismantled, unconscious bias continues to interfere, influencing, for example, awards and honors.

Read more at Positions of Power: How Female Ambition is Shaped

I’ve certainly found that any innate differences don’t seem to matter in the face of sexual harassment and bias. It’s just too much to continue in a job in which you don’t feel valued. It takes an enormous psychic toll. Anyone else want to share opinions?

I think it’s Friday (I hope it’s Friday) so it’s time for a quiz.

Have a Sixth Sense?

More Quizzes