Teleidoscope

Mon, Jul 09, 2007

Meyers-Briggs

Posted at 10:15 pm MDT to Miscellaneous

Years ago, when I was consulting at AT&T (roughly 1985 to 1990) they decided to do something about the really toxic social dynamics in the group I was working in. So they put us through a two-day professionally-run team communications building program that included serious Meyers-Briggs analysis.

It didn't help the group much, that I recall, but there were corporate political stresses keeping the whole situation dysfunctional. (Polishing mud doesn't get you very far.)

But it means that I have a Meyers-Briggs rating that was determined by a professional psychologist.

I am INTP, quite strongly. The scales ran from 0 to about 60 points in every direction, and I was in the mid 40s on my side of all four axes. The paperwork we were given said that INTP is the rarest combination in North American society, and didn't even bother to give a female example because they (we) are so rare. The male example was the classic absent-minded professor.

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Cheese

Posted at 8:17 pm MDT to Technology

I buy lots of cheese. Sometimes I think I live on fruit and cheese. But I can't remember a time I had trouble swallowing cheese or fruit, and there aren't many other foods I can say that about.

I took a class on cheesemaking once, but I've never made cheese at home. I don't buy actual liquid milk (I use instant powdered milk in my tea) so I don't have the basic ingredients for cheese around.

My tastes in cheese are fairly limited because I have mold allergies and penicillin allergies. I avoid bleu cheeses and others with penicillin related molds, like brie. Having my tongue start swelling is disconcerting. And dangerous.

At the moment, I'm annoyed. I like grilled cheese sandwiches made with thick slices of American cheese (NOT Velveeta, which is all rubbery even when it is cold) and it appears that my local Safeway has stopped carrying the blue boxes of Kraft American.

I tried buying a box of their house brand, and it turned out to be fake Velveeta, not American cheese. It makes horrible cheese sandwiches -- if I put a non-trivial amount of cheese between the bread slices, it runs and dribbles all over the place and makes a mess.

I used a chunk of the 'cheese' in some barely edible mac and cheese this evening: I've been having swallowing problems and at least this is a way to make something swallowable while I try to use the stuff up.

I hope I can find a good source of blocks of American cheese.

(I went to my acupuncturist today, and he could not insert the needles in a couple of key points because the throat muscle tension was so high. And the other swallowing-related points were very zingy. Not a good sign. Especially when I just finished a week of vacation and should be fairly relaxed.)

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