Sunny thoughts

It was cloudy and rainy and, franky, pretty gross out yesterday. But you know what I got to thinking? It was actually sunny out. Really, it was. Just not where I could see it.

Just because it was rainy didn't mean the sun wasn't still shining...there was just a huge layer of clouds between the sun and me.

It felt a little less gross after that. And a little less lonely.

Help, I need someone

Ok, I don't get it. What is WITH customer service people these days. I mean really. I hate to sound like my mother (who frequently bemoans her residence in Customer Service Hell) but honestly.

People, it's very simple: MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU.

That's it.

Well, one other thing: Quit acting like the customer is stupid. Frankly, you're right. One of us doesn't get it...

Grrr...

Great lesons in film...er...lessons

National Treasure is on. I love that movie. My husband teases me that I watch it so much. The other day I was watching it in the bedroom.

"Why do you like that movie so much?", he came in and asked.

"It's a mystery!", I enthusiastically replied.

"Not by now it's not." he responded dryly.

The man has a point.

Regardless, I love the movie. Today, for the first time, I logged on and checked out the Declaration of Independence. Maybe voting has put me in a patriotic state of mind...but I wanted to see for myself what the document said.

It is very cool. And if you haven't read it since the 3rd grade (like me), then go find it now and read it again.

And here's something I realy didn't know... there's a Rough Draft. Really. I was shocked. I don't know why... I guess I just thought it is such a great document that it just wrote itself.

Which is just silly.

But, it's a great lesson for me. Great documents don't just happen without re-writes, revisions and re-do's so why do I think great lives just happen.

I'm going to do more that I'm not certain about. I'm going to stop waiting for the perfect word, perfect plans. I'm going to get it down on paper, start doing it. Then revise it. Lots of things get edited. Few things are perfect the first go-around.

What a great lesson. Now I ask you? What's not to love about that movie?

Another reflection

There's a pattern in my life. Maybe in yours too. I seem to run into some difficult people. I mean just those types that can push my buttons. WHAMMO! Zero to pissed off in six seconds.

I made a list today of the names. It stretches back to 1990. Geepers that's a list. Funny thing is...they ARE all difficult people. Even the most objective person would say "Yep, that guy/gal's a jerk. No doubt about it." There are men and women on there, young, old...a real all inclusive list. No discriminating. Was there a theme? Yeah, I guess. They all didn't understand or appreciate something they had. They should have gotten a point, figured something out, communicated better...

One lady just didn't understand business and would frequently screw up plans we would make;

One guy had to do my review, this would have been a boss I once had, and what a joke. I was ticked before the meeting. He didn't have a clue how to lead, let alone figure out if I knew what I was doing;

This other guy used to write the most arrogant emails. Really, really arrogant. The kind that just come right off the screen, grabs your guts and starts knot-tying. Man, I hated that guy.

You've probably got a similar list. Don't we all have people in our lives that are tough to deal with? So why am I so surprised when I run into "these kind of people". They are out there. We all know they're out there. Easy to spot.

I was sitting at a dinner one time with clients. It was a nice dinner. Upscale restaurant, lots of utensils all with special uses, linen napkins... A lady in the next room over caught my eye. She had long curly hair, like me. Sitting at a table full of suits, like me. What it took a few seconds to figure out was, it was me. Just a reflection from the mirror. An image bouncing back at me. Unrecognizable at first. But, clearly me. Once I took a minute I could recognize myself in a sea of others.

I'm looking at this list and thinking about that dinner and, man, my stomach is really in knots now.

This is nuts

I read an article today about blame. It said the smart person looks at the situation and rather than figuring out who to blame says "What needs to be done?" And then, of course, does that rather than standing around deciding who's at fault.

We had to cut down a tree in my backyard this week. It seemed like the right thing to do. It being dead and all. And while we were at it, we took advantage of having 8 guys out here to go ahead and take down the GIGANTORE cottonwood tree (read:weed) that had overcome most of the yard.

These cottonwoods are not really trees as explained to me by an arborist in a wife-beater t-shirt but rather weeds left alone grown out of control. This is a subject for another post for sure.

It seemed like the right thing to do.

It causes a bunch of cottony like bunk twice a year to get everywhere (typically right after we wash the outside of the house and all the windows);
It has more leaves then are physically rake-able in one afternoon;
I could go on and on... It just didn't seem smart letting this treeweed continue to grow and overtake who knows how much more of our yard.

So we had them take it down.

This morning there are two squirrels sitting on our fence looking at where the tree used to be. I am sick. They look like they are thinking "What happened to our tree?" "Where is our home, our food for the winter?" "Whose idea was this?!?"

In reality, I imagine they are not thinking this at all. They aren't like humans. They are probably resting while rebuilding their next home. They do what good, mature humans do. They aren't looking for someone to blame. They are seeing what needs to be done and doing it.

It still makes me sick, though and as I stare out at the squirrels I can't believe I let my husband and that stupid tree guy talk me into this.

Not same. Same, same.

A very long time ago, another life really, I was sitting across a long mahogany conference room table from a very short Japanese man having a disagreement. My company was making a product for this client out of a "new" material which wasn't really new it just had a new name.

I had affidavits from the vendor stating it was the same material.
I had data from manufacturing stating it was the same material.
I had MSDS sheets to prove it was the same material.
We even ran tests on the finished product to show it was the same material.

After all my documentation and dialog (actually monologue would be more appropriate) with this client, he repeated this statement: "Not same".

I wish you could hear me say it...or better yet, have heard him say it. He was unconvinced. I had the data. Let's face it. Everything proved to him that it was the same material. It didn't matter. In his mind and out loud he would pronounce "Not same" after every point I made. I would shake my head, smile and say "No, sir...same, same." He disagreed. Every. time. And if you know me, you know this went on for some time.

I voted today. I stood in line with many, many people in my neighborhood...very few of them I even knew. The line went down the sidewalk, turned, down the other sidewalk, down the school drive, down the road and on and on. It was awesome. What a turnout.

Voting is just a cool thing. I didn't always think so. If you can't bring yourself to thank George W. for anything else, maybe you can thank him for waking up so many to the absolutely coolness that we have the privilege and responsibility to vote.

I stood in line with a lady who looked nothing like me. I could infer from her comments that we had very different lifestyles, different outlooks and we were definitely voting differently. Today there will be short, tall, fat, skinny, black, white, young, old, Democrat and Republican standing in line together. But despite all that evidence, I look at Americans voting today in the most amazing country on earth and declare "Same, same." Not so very different at all.