I have blogged weekly for 30 months and have published 139 posts. But this year has been different. A seemingly subtle shift happened 10 months ago, with my post about Apple versus the FBI. For 20 months, I’d pretty much avoided social commentary but there were all these thoughts demanding a voice. After that post,…
If you’d told me in 2001, when I moved into my house, people would recognize my kitchen and me from photographs, I’d not be able to imagine in what sort of world this would be possible. Yet, this year, I had 4 instances of people recognizing me from Instagram. Me and my kitchen yoga. I’m selling…
Move is to displace a thing from one place to another. That simplified meaning mocks me. Were it that simple, I’d be packed and done in 2 days,* Fueled with Dr Pepper and Lay’s sour cream and onion chips (family sized bag) I can power through mechanical tasks like painting a room, cleaning a house or raking leaves. The word…
Arghh. I have a huge project at work to finish in two weeks, I am selling a house and I’m trying to buy a house. Every time I open my mouth, there is this competition of all the things in my head trying to escape. My eyes are darting about and my conversation is punctuated with…
It’s the end of the year when I start to clear out stuff. In the past, I went room to room. This year, I’m using a new strategy, purge first. I mean a serious purge of gathering all like items in one place and starting to toss stuff out. When I finally got all my books…
Who you are in good times is what you want to be. What you do in challenging times is your nature. How you treat people in victory or defeat is your character. It’s easy to be your best self when things are good. Challenges fray nerves, shake beliefs and reveal truths. Is graciousness and compassion something you aspire to in either…
It was a spirited discussion of Trump versus Clinton with supporters on both sides. There was a moment when I just listened, observed and smiled; it was the coolest thing. This wasn’t some news program, debate or viral meme. This was dinner with a diverse group of friends having honest discussion. This was a group…
We can’t stop time, we can’t freeze the action or pause life. We can be still for just a moment. In all the craziness of opinions, information and general noise right now, I choose to calm down, sit still and be quiet. In this calmness, I can take inventory of what’s working and what’s not, what…
Lurking in the shadows of the sustainable energy efficient lightening of corporate offices are vampires. I am not kidding. This is not a Halloween fluff piece. This is the alarming truth about an epidemic in the workplace. The savvy office worker knows it is essential to show value, be it sales, numbers, creativity, etc. Then,…
The mind is the future, the body is the past and the breath is the present. This was a stressful week. Years ago when people would tell me to calm down and take a deep breath. What I called a deep breath, was actually a humph of indignation. Don’t tell me to calm down and…
Some years back, I was groped by an executive at a work event while my male peers looked on. It was disturbing, not only due to what was happening, but because my co-workers looked on and did nothing. This was a group of men I’d worked with everyday work with every day for three years. No…
I had a gourmet breakfast today. In terms of today’s food trends it was the butter crunch bowl, crisp cereal and organic milk with just a hint of caramel and sea salt. Yes, that’s one way I could rationalized the fact I just ate a bowl of sea salt caramel gelato with butter crisp cookies…
I’ve already hosed down, scrubbed and applied a coat of protectant and shine to the garbage bins (Amor All makes them look really good.) I’ve arranged the contents of the refrigerator to reflect a sense of whimsy should someone open it. I’ve used a toothpick to dislodge any debris from the corners of the windows.…
One of the cool things about good mirrors, they reflect what’s there. There is no opinion, nothing that tries to make you feel good or bad, they just reflect. The mirror does not say, oh those pants make you look fat, that shirt is to tight or that color is wrong for you. The mirror…
Executive: Look at these numbers, they have given up.They aren’t trying. Business Development Manager: Yup. I see the same thing when I coach. There is a bad play and you can physically see the whole team has give up. You see it in their body language Hearing this conversation this week made me think about resignation and…
Me: “Sorry, I cannot go, I have to write.” Them: “Why, it’s not like you’re getting paid?” It’s not an excuse to get out of doing things, it is my commitment. During the two years of my blog launch, I’ve posted weekly and I am not getting paid. But should “getting paid” be a measure of what…
How do you reset yourself? You know, sometimes your phone goes wonky and you just need to shut it off and turn it on again. You restart your computer when it goes slow and starts to flicker. So, how do you reset? What do you do when life seems wonky and you just can’t seem…
I have had it. I saw a t shirt that said, “keep clam, it’s all about me.” People say, mostly in jest, well, it is all about me. STOP. Let’s just stop it. Time for a moratorium on it’s all about me. It’s not cute and it’s not all about you. How many times have…
I know I’m right, but I must not engage and tell someone else they are wrong. No good can come of this, but it is taking everything in me to avoid a verbal smack down on Instagram. I did a post this week for a yoga challenge and someone commented I did the wrong pose.…
Teacher/Me: Your audience has to care about your topic. Look at them, ask them do they want to hear you speak about why the Cavaliers beat the Warriors. Student: But I’ve got facts and points in the game I can describe that show the Cavaliers are a superior team. Teacher/Me: Look at the 15 people in…
Ugh, I hate trying to put in codes for gated communities. It’s stressful, I feel like people are watching me as I fumble to lower my window, read the instructions and fumble with my phone to read the code. As I’m doing my routine, a residence pulls up to the gate and it opens. I…
I heard a pedestrian shout, “Hey, what are you doing?” I was so focused on listening to my driving directions after paying the parking lot attendant and fumbling for the button to raise my window I did not see the guy on the sidewalk I was about to hit. I yelled back, “Oh no, I’m…
I got nothing for my blog post this week. I drafted three different topics and nothing is fully thought out. With that, I realized, there are times to remain silent. We’ve all experienced at work or in everyday life when someone is talking and you realize, they have no idea what they are talking about. Worse…
Teen Kills Younger Brother Because He Thought He Deleted His Pokémon. This is a hoax. The phenomenon of Pokémon Go this week has unleashed a multitude of stories, many with no foundation in reality. Recent examples of non-factual facts are a hoax and a meme. Posting a legal notice on your Facebook wall will protect…
“Those shootings had nothing to do with racial profiling me were justified .” “Yes, but you know how they always get upset. “ “There is no more racism, Black Lives Matter is bull. That was part of a conversation I heard in Starbucks early Friday morning spoken so loudly, I could not help but think, are…
Don’t fear failure. Fear being in the exact same place next year as you are today. My plans for this fourth of July? I plan to stare at the sky and daydream. I’ll think about how I have been spending my time; what I have done and what I want to do next. Then comes…
If one more person tells me drinking hot drinks will give me esophageal cancer, according to the latest study, well, I’ll probably nod and smile politely like I have been doing all week. I order my drinks extra hot – 180 degrees BECAUSE, when the chai syrup is added the temperature drops 20 degrees and…
Val: “I don’t know, is it ok to wear a little makeup to work out?” Me: “Of course, it is just putting our best selves forward.” Val: Yes, but is it being authentic or is it being fake? Am I being my natural self?” Me: “Oh please, my “natural self” has flatulence but that doesn’t…
“I’m different. Always have been. It took a while but I have accepted I am a magic not meant for everyone to understand, so they question. That’s ok. I will stay in my lane being all magical and stuff.” 1 I’ve got lots of different. One is this blog. My posts are about the adventures…
I got sick this week. I was on a business trip and early afternoon of day one, I started to feel unwell. Strange. I don’t get sick. I was a little dizzy and a little nauseous. I attributed it jet lag and dehydration, and drank water. Three hours later, still dizzy and nauseous. I am perplexed. I don’t…
Memorial Day – at times it seems we are trying to hard to forget what the day is really about. Which is rather ironic for a holiday that is all about memory. Memorial day is in honor of those who have died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Formerly known as decoration day, the…
“You should not have cut your hair, you need to wear a wig and bleach your teeth to look better.” Yup, someone told me that last week. I thought, I don’t care. But what does “I don’t care” really mean? Are some phrases used so automatically, feelings and express emotions go unexpressed? “I don’t care,”…
Reality TV illustrates a powerful sense of self and confidence. I watch American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance in amazement and puzzlement. Contestants who felt they had exceptional ability are yet stunned when turned away from the show. Did these people have no one to tell them of the disparity between their competency and the…
It is midnight and after a tense 15 minutes of driving a painfully slow 20 miles per hour on a long dark winding road, three heart pounding encounters with startled deer and a 3 point turn that turn into a8 points of panic, I’m, literally, on the road again. I was driving in the pitch…
This week was a media maelstrom of jaw dropping, pearl clutching moments. A hash-tagging frenzy of #LuciferInTheFLesh and #BeckyWithTheGoodHair followed former Congressman Boehner who spoke of his personal experience with Ted Cruz and Beyoncé Knowles Carter after the debut of her visual album, Lemonade respectively. Why was public reaction as if they were both talking…
I don’t have a particular Prince story, I have a Prince history. Prince released his first album when I was sophomore in college. We were both 19. Prince wrote, produced, did all the vocals and played all the instruments on that album whilst I bemoaned an early morning, 7:50 thermodynamics class. In engineering terms, my…
Most of us have seen “the face.” It’s that face that says a lot without saying a word. It turns out that face is universal and researchers from Ohio State have name it the not face.” “The face” as I call it, is an expression that indicates displeasure, disagreement, even you’re about to be in…
Board Member: I can’t do the interview in Russian. Me: “In your bio and on your profile, you list Russian as one of your languages.” Board Member: “Yes, but I didn’t mean it that way.” Me: “OK, thank you for your time.” I hung up the phone in disbelief. I run a worldwide certification board.…
“I was late for the online meeting because my laptop froze up when I hit my desk and my fingers were too cold to make the phone work.” Well, Friday was April Fool’s day, but this was not a joke. I had a 5:30 am online meeting. I set two alarms set to make sure I didn’t oversleep. I jumped up…
I perfectly planned my three-day weekend with twenty-four hour allocated to do yard work, house work, writing work and a kitchen faucet repair. I , being somewhat anal-retentive, also allocated a considerable chunk of free time to go see Batman versus Superman, Dawn of Justice. Well, I’m down to my last 8 hours and the…
Donald Trump supporters say they like him because he tells it like it is. Really? Is that a way to define leadership? Kids tell it like it is. To their parent’s chagrin, they blurt out, “there is a pirate,” at someone wearing an eyepatch or “look a cyborg,” when someone has a prosthetic limb. “Telling…
March is getting a little mad. This time is typically reserved for me to tune out the world and tune into a nonstop sports bonanza with the NCAA basketball playoffs. This March and my beloved “basketball zone,” is disrupted by Mad Hat syndrome. This is a situation where a practice is continued in spite of the…
Friend: “Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Me: “Wrong, my job is to make that horse thirsty.” I was frustrated because I’d unsuccessfully pitched a strategy and plan to implement a solution. Despite everything presented to ensure success, articulated business value, detailed implementation schedule, risk contingency and risk mitigation plans,…
Apple versus the FBI, I wonder what my dad’s position would be? My dad was a cryptologist before he retired. This week, I had a “reach for the phone moment.” Before he died, I’d grab a cup of coffee, call my dad and we’d debate issues citing references, articles and philosophical thought. Our talks were…
Why are people confused at a 4 way stop? You yield to any vehicle that reaches the intersection before you do. How are people learning to drive? YouTube? If there is a pedestrian crossing, forget it. The stop becomes a game of four car roulette. Some drivers seem to think, the first car to move is the first…
My stomach is knotted, my teeth are clinched, my eyes are squinted and I am in deep concentration. A loud sound breaks the silence and I jump and scream. That’s a problem because I am only trying to upload a picture and the sound is the phone ringing. This is reminder to me of how…
It’s that time of year where New Year’s resolutions are starting to fade and become a distant memory. Why? The intentions were great. There is more to a resolution than those verb noun statements like “get fit,”, “save money”, “stop procrastination” or “be happy.” Between the before and after is the doing. The doing is…
There is a difference between a need to know and a want to know. Over 59 million people follow Kim Kardashian West on Instagram By comparison, Kim has more followers than the population of the largest US state, California is close to 40 million and many countries, like Argentina, Spain, Taiwan and Canada, Spain are…
“Do what you love and the money will follow?”
I don’t even know where to start. This phrase morphed as if it were a part of the game where one person gives a specific message to another and by the time it is repeated to a few people, the message has completely changed. The phrase is: Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Philosophically, the money will follow and you’ll never work a day in your life are two different concepts.
“Life is too short,” is an over used, misguided cliché of fill in the blank babble. At least from an analytical view. The average lifespan for American men is about 76 years and for American women it’s around 81 years. Not that short. You don’t know when you will die, you don’t know the day,…
