Matt's Birthday Book

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Sleepless

(That is am btw)

Mike's Birthday Book

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Marko's Birthday Book

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To This Day

I stumbled upon this today while reading Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen Blog.  I thought it was too powerful not to share. 

A Resume Post (Disguised as a Book Review)

Book Review: “NowDiscover Your Strengths”

by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.

This book is based on the idea that individuals (and therefore organizations) thrive when they focus on developing strengths (as opposed to correcting weaknesses). It is written with managers and leaders in mind, but can easily be extrapolated for use by individuals. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the research and tools developed by Gallup and found at www.strenghsfinder.com.

Many corporations focus on improving employee's weaknesses. It is the authors' hope to start a strengths revolution in which great organizations identify, build upon, and benefit from it's employees' strengths. Gallup performed thousands of interviews to develop 32 strength profiles and an online test that helps identify individual strength profiles or natural talent areas. These natural talent areas can be further developed by applying knowledge and skills. Imagine an organization in which its employees are happier and more successful because they are working with their strengths every day.

The results of my strength finder test were not surprising, but it was empowering to have strengths acknowledged and to have the book justify how important it is to focus on strengths. It is also exciting to consider how I might use my strengths in my target job and future roles. The book also includes suggestions for developing strengths, managing strengths, and building a strengths based organization. I enjoyed “Now Discover Your Strengths” and would recommend it to managers and leaders. I would suggest that individual contributors read the “Strengths Finder 2.0” book by Tom Rath.

My strengths (as identified by the online tool) are outlined below with a short description and some current target career benefits:

1. Empathy: “People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others' lives or others' situations.  Current Target Career Benefits: Listening Skills, Team Building, Negotiations, Concensus Building, Persuasion, Communication, Relationship Building, Handling Complaints, Retaining Customers, Diffusing Conflict.

2. Intellection: “People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.”  Current Target Career Benefits: Instinctively gather information, always expanding my knowledge base, a natural educator / mentor, good at explaining things, innovative planning and conceptualizing.

3. Connectedness: “People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.”
   Current Target Career Benefits: determined to work for individuals betterment (customer focus), natural consensus builder (focus on commonalities), natural liaison (facilitates communication between individuals), good at connecting with people and facilitating the connection between teams, good at working with “difficult” individuals.

4. Learner: “People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.”  Current Target Career Benefits: natural ability to focus completely, curiosity draws information to me, natural information gatherer, always examining with an eye towards improvement, allows me to understand the technical perspective.

5. Futuristic: “People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.”  Current Target Career Benefits: Naturally looking towards the betterment of all involved teams, always evaluating for areas of improvement, innovation and originality, an ability to come up with options others might not think of, natural at weighing pros and cons, visionary.

S.E.F.E.

My apologies for not having posted recently.  I have been preoccupied with my latest mission:  S.E.F.E.

S:  Secure
E:  Enduring
F:  Felicitous
E:  Employment

Why?  Because I'm a greedy bastard.  Because my kids don't need me at home so much anymore.  Because I'd like to help pay for my children's college.  Because I would like a new challenge.  And because my dog eats money . . .

 

Tabasco

I've received praise, bonuses, and gifts from managers who wanted to reward me for a job well done.  But Tabasco the bull is one of the best rewards I ever received.  It probably cost my manager only $6.  She gave it to me for taking ownership, diving into the deep end, pulling out the win - or in her words "for taking the bull by the horns."  I've had Tabasco on a shelf in my closet for a number of years.  I recently pulled it out and set it on my desk as a reminder that I am responsible for my destiny.  It is my reminder to "take the bull by the horns."

Broken

I do not believe in evil people; I believe in broken people. Some are more broken than others.

We are all trying so hard to understand why, to find a person or practice to blame, to identify preventative measures. These are valid inquiries. But lets start with kindness, compassion, and love. Not just for the victims and their families. But for everyone whose lives we touch.

A kind word, a willingness to listen, acceptance, understanding, a smile. These small things could not likely have prevented the recent tragic events. But our every interaction has the potential to help heal - or deepen wounds.

And lets face it, we are all a little broken. We all have our challenges and struggles. And we are all in this together.

Happy Holidays!

Stationery card

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Color Walk

Every year our family makes the arduous drive to Oak Openings for our annual fall color walk.  OK, well it only really takes a few minutes to get there, but I've never used the word arduous in a sentence, so I couldn't resist!

It was lovely!  Everyone came - even Scout (no one is too cool or too busy for it yet - phew!).  No electronic distractions, just family and nature.  We missed the cacophony of colors from a few weeks ago, but loved the carpet of brown and yellow leaves crunching under foot.  We always wander off into the woods a bit and traverse the corner of pond.  Everyone took a turn with the camera.  Here a few of the pictures . . .

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” - Neale Donald Walsch

It is easy to hide behind your fears. To settle for the easy and comfortable life. And often, that is exactly what I do. But when I listen to the yearnings of my soul, when I face my fears, and dare to be more - that is when I am really living. You are extraordinary too – let loose that fabulous beast within – follow whims, chase dreams, and above all . . . enjoy the ride!

Chicken Meltdown

This post will answer the age old question . . . What are the dangers involved in overzealous use of a meat tenderizer?

There are the obvious ones . . .

• smashed thumbs 
• smashed counters
• loud noises that scare the crap out of the dog (literally)

Well, none of those really happened to me, but excessive meat pounding will result in chicken breasts flattened out soooooo large that only one will fit in a pan at a time. Of course this will result in a ridiculous amount of time standing over the stove.  And therefore . . .

• you will get burned by splattering oil at some point.
• your family will be grumpy because dinner prep will take forever and they will be starving
• you will be so sick of cooking that you may never do so again
• AND, you will melt the salt and garlic containers until they bow (see pic - I thought that was pretty impressively pathetic).

My First CSA

Sadly, I did not get a picture of my first CSA take – it was a crazy day and I had a party to throw. Here, however, are a few highlights . . .

The Party

 The Cousins

The Kale (I was so worried about the kale, but everyone seemed to like it!)

The popcorn – so fun to pop on the cob and the cousins declared it the best popcorn ever.

The Radishes (in a mango salsa)

The Eggs (can you guess which is store bought and which is CSA?)

The End!

Matt's Birthday Book

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Mike's Birthday Book

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Marko's Birthday Book

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Spring Break

Ah, spring break! Sunshine, Beaches, Mai-Tai's . . . Oh, wait , we don't go south for break. We go north, where it is colder. But I'm not complaining! We had a lovely time visiting the fams in northern Wisconsin. A road trip does, however, throw a few kinks into the training plan and there are only 191 days till the Chicago Marathon. On Friday, I traded in a workout for the organized chaos of packing. And rather than a Saturday long run, I went for a butt atrophying snack infused car ride for seven hours. Running up north presents it's own problems. The road side slant makes me feel like a peg legged pirate running on a fun-house floor. I am, however, pretty speedy up there (darn if those chipmunks don't sound like bears when you are running alone!). But no runs this time. And to make matters worse, I was presented with (gasp!) Oreos. And I did cave. It wasn't pretty.

I did, however, get in a couple of lovely bike rides with my darling sister Bert. I love biking up north! Compared to here, it is like biking the Himalayas (they are actually just rolling hills, but lets stick with the Himalayas story). And of course it is gorgeous up there!  On the first ride, we were joined by my sisters lovely friend Kristen. Kristen has changed my life. OK, that is a little dramatic, but she did change the way I make pizza. She sent me a pizza crust recipe with an amazing secret ingredient: cauliflower - no lie! I made it tonight. No one even noticed the secret ingredient (and I'm for sure not telling them – thankfully they are among the millions that don't read my blog). This will be Bert's first year doing a CSA too, so on our second ride, we biked out to the farm to check things out.  In addition to veggies and eggs, they had chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, wool, a cafe, and soon they will have some hydro-fisho-thing-a-ma-bob that will allow them to grow veggies in the winter.  AND, this summer, they will have a creamery and will be serving goat milk gelato (a summer must try me thinks)!

But the best thing about a trip up north is family. Here are some pictures from our adventures (albeit not very good ones – you will just have to trust me that we had a lot of fun).

Shockingly, this is not the worst picture I took.

Not sure what is going on here . . .

The flamingo sisters.

The happiest fighters ever.

Teague and his cheese stick.

What is with these people? (no nonsense Mike)

Uh . . . No idea about this one.

Scout and Kuzzy

Kuzzy and Daria

Dog Butts!

Night's Storm

Hello darlings! I've been thinking about Emma all day today. Emma is one of my alter-ego's. She is my most spiritual, ethereal, artsy side. She is in love with life and in love with beauty. She see's the good in everyone.  She is also suppose to be in charge of keeping the house lovely.  This frequently involves laundry and cleaning the kitchen, but despite having a particularly Emma day, I am behind on both (again).  Emma would much rather write in her journal, flip through a magazine, or toy with a poem.  I was feeling bad that Emma is so under-represented on the blog, so I'm posting a poem she wrote in March of last year (my apologies to anyone who was hoping for rhymes – it has none).   I do think it touches a little upon why I'm blogging . . .

NIGHT'S STORM

by Emma (aka Marlene)

The night's storm has slowed to a gentle trickle

Its energy spent in bright bursts and loud claps

My own storm has gathered while I sleep

Potent clouds darkened by whirlwind thoughts

I roll out of bed to find paper and pen

And the storm unleashes upon the page

Finally, spent, it dulls to a drowsy patter

Emptied, Exhausted, I return to my bed

MANual Entries: Agreeable Disagreements

Whenever I'm tempted to lecture the boys, I start a new "MANual" section.  They don't want to be lectured anyway.   

“The MANual” is a guidebook, written with love, to help my boys become the fabulous men that they are destined to be.   It is a work in progress.  My boys roll their eyes at me, but if they didn't, it would mean I'm not doing my job right.

March 5^th: WIN-WIN

4th of July 2011

I don't mind arguing with myself. It's when I lose that it bothers me.
-Richard Powers

WAYS TO END AN ARGUEMENT

• Losing sucks!
• Winning is good! But at what cost? What if the relationship with your opponent is important to you.
• Sometimes there is a solution that is better than winning. Look for a way that both parties can leave the argument happy. Maybe it will be a compromise. Maybe you will agree to disagree. Or maybe you will find a solution that is better than you ever imagined.

March 6^th: LISTEN IF YOU WANT TO BE HEARD

Halloween 2011

When I'm getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say -- and two-thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say. -Abraham Lincoln Make an effort to understand your opponent. Really listen and try to understand their point of view. Find some common ground. Find a way to validate something he or she said. If they feel like they have been heard, they are more likely to hear your side.

March 7^th: TREAT YOUR OPPONENT WITH RESPECT 

Crazy Folks!

If you want to win an argument, treat your opponent with respect . . .

• Do you like to be interrupted? Then don't interrupt.
• Do you listen to crazy hysterical people? Then try not to sound (or look ←) like a crazy hysterical person.
• Do you like it when people insult you or your opinions? Then don't them or theirs.

March 8^th: DESPITE YOUR FABULOUSNESS, 

THERE MAY YET BE MORE TO LEARN

A deep thinker

Truth springs from argument amongst friends. David Hume Now, this section might not be necessary for a regular boy, but you are no regular boy. You are an incredibly intelligent boy and you know it. That is the problem! You do not realize that you can continue to grow in your fabulousness and knowledge. Keep an open mind, and you may learn from your opponent and come to an even deeper understanding of the issue.

March 9^th: WHY ARGUE?

It's “affect” not “effect” you idiot! (Scout and Cuzzy)	Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs. -Jack Lynch
	Whenever two good people argue over principles, they are both right. -Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
	It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. -William G. McAdoo
	I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. -Dave Barry