another thought....

My friend was bitten by a dog on Friday. I am so concerned about her, I just want to tell her how much I care for her and think about how this accident that happened, looking for the "why" in it all. So far she's healing beautifully and I hope that continues. I am praying for you, girl! Luv ya!!

"If you are going through hell, keep going."
--- Sir Winston Churchill

Great IT Community

meeting talented people

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting a great group of guys! These guys are talented IT profs that work together to produce fantastic projects. I could feel the synergy in the room when they were interacting. They are a very close group and are tightly fit. And did I mention how funny they are? On my! It was a blast!! Reminded me of days of old when having fun at work was "allowed". Thanks guys, for having me over!!

One of their projects is the The Cincinnati Zoo, it's a great site, with a perfect use of flash. There is a butterfly and an exotic blue-spotted frog on the homepage that look 3-D! It's wonderful. The rest of the site is HTML and is full of zoo information, upcoming events, and conservation info with compelling reasons to visit the zoo.

Another site that they have created is the Arborwear tree climbers clothing line. I am unfamiliar with this clothing line, although I've heard of it. Apparently, the target audience are professional tree trimmers, tree climbers; in other words, people that are proficient in using chainsaws on trees!! They have an interesting-looking guy on the website that is their "spokesperson". (It's just his head as far as I can see.) He points out the various features and benefits in each style of clothing. My favorite is Oringal Tree Climber's Pant and the saying is "Protect your crotch. I can't stress that enough." Something I never pondered to be important to a guy who's climbing a tree - OUCH!! Seems like good advice.

Thanks guys! I enjoyed meeting you!

Managing All Parts of My Life

wearing my project mgmt hat

Seems like almost every situation in life requires management to some degree. Seems that I am either managing time, organizations, procurement, risk, moral & ethical issues, budget, scheduling, prioritization, people and/or communications both at home and at work. Well, it's my job, so I expect to be wearing my PM hat at work. And at home, managing a house and teenagers definitely requires management skills. So why am I sometimes surprised at the positive outcome my life has and my work has. I love what I do both at home and at work! It's easy for me, comes naturally :)

As you know, I have a daughter that's a senior in high school and a son that's a sophomore in college. Both of them live at home, which I totally LOVE!! They are great kids that don't give me any trouble whatsoever. I'm truly a blessed mother. I've raised them by myself with a lot of help from my friends over the years. There have definitely been some bumps in the road, but we never gave up, we stayed the course, pressed on every day and I never quite believing in my family - my kids. And now, it's all paid off. I feel like we've made it to this point and are very successful, that makes us all very happy. I just can't say it enough! They are wonderful.

The interesting part of all of this, is that now that they are young adults, they act more and more responsible. They encourage each other and me. They are truly interested in the things that I have going on in my life, just as I am interested in what they have going on. They even like to spend time with me and invite me to join them from time to time. It reaffirms that I have done my very best (as I always try to do) and with alot of prayers and patience, it really pays off!

Some of my friends have told me that I should write a book about my life experiences. Not an autobiography, no one would want to read that, but I would love to write a book about certain life lessons. But I am not sure about the time commitment to do that. In an ideal world, someone would front me money so I could stay home and write, write, write. That would be great. Even going off to some remote place with no distractions and compose my compelling story.

I could probably do that if I wasn't also trying to balance family, work, community service and personal life. You know, there's something to admitting that I am not SUPERWOMAN!! The "S" on my chest must stand for "something else"!! But just because I am not Superwoman, doesn't mean I'm not a "SUPER" woman :) (oh my, that was too corny wasn't it?) I think I am a terrific person. I try to be compassionate, caring, nurturing and loving. If my legacy is a life of honesty, integrity, morality and ethics I would be very happy. I would love for people to remember me for those characteristics. I have never asked someone to do something that I wouldn't do. I have a high expectation of myself, therefore I have the same expectations of those around me. I strive for excellence and expect all others to do the same. Sursum ad Summum!! Rise to the Highest!!

So, as I embark on time off of work and shift my priorities to my house, I am excited. I will accomplish those tasks that I have identified as higher priorities. I will do a great job and enjoy doing the work!

I'm off to the paint store to get started!!

Time Flies.....

are we having fun yet?

The year is quickly flying by. I totally enjoyed summer, growing my garden, sunning myself on my deck, hanging out with my sweetheart and the dogs, relaxing when I could. Fall is going by so quickly, I just can't believe it. Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas soon to follow.

This Thanksgiving, like all the previous, will be enjoyed with my cousins. My grandparent, parents, aunts and uncles have all passed on now, so it's up to "us kids" to keep things rolling along. We have a blast when we get together, laughing and joking; catching up on what everyone's doing; sharing vacation pictures - Oh, I can't forget to take mine with me; and of course, eating and drinking and watching FOOTBALL!! It's a wonderful thing, lots of fun for me and my sweetheart.

Now, then, there's the kids. Not too much going on for them. There isn't many other kids around the same age as mine, so needless to say, they get bored. This year, however, they are not going to be bored because they are going to their grandma and grandpa's (on their dad's side of the family). They will have a blast. Lots of cousins their own age and interests. Plus their grandpa just had major heart surgery and the whole family will be there to celebrate and give thanks. This year, I would venture to say, that they have more to give thanks for than most years in the past!!

To prepare for a blissful and thankful day, I am taking some time off of work. :) I have about 11 days that I still need to take between now and the end of the year. So, I'm going to take holiday beginning this Thursday until after Thanksgiving weekend - sweeeeeeeeeeet! I have quite a few projects that I am going to be concentrating on during that well-deserved time off.

I'm having a contracter come out tonight and estimate my kitchen floor. I think that I would like pergo, first choice, but if I decide to use linoleum or something else, that's ok too. I just need a price to start comparing.

First thing is I'm going to work on my kitchen. Going to buy the paint and supplies that I need on Thursday. Tape it off and start painting on Friday. (Friday night, I'm heading to the Contemporary Arts Center to a Gallery Walk! Private showing of some of the exhibits - will be a great time!) Hope to have it all done and put back together by Sunday. I'll post my progress in pictorial view on the site :) Then I'm going to make the roman shades with the gorgeous fabric that I bought over the summer that is still riding around with me in the car - to avoid dog hairs!! I also have a rug in my trunk and plan on picking up some new pictures, dishes (that I am going to try to order today) and decor. Maybe even a new kitchen table - unless I can urge my sweetie to have the chairs "professionally" repaired.

Then on Monday, I'm going to a friend's house and we are going to work on jewelry for part of the day. Fixing what we can, matching up missing stones and making repairs to jewelry that needs glued, tied, rewired, etc. That will be fun, mostly because it will be someone to do it with and she and I will have a MAJOR gab-fest!! Lots of relaxing fun for that.

Tuesday will be a day to take care of some personal things, such as shopping for the turkey and all the goodies that I will prepare on Friday (yes, the day AFTER Thanksgiving I traditionally prepare a nice meal and invite lots of people over for that.) Maybe, I'll try to get some Christmas shopping done that day. Just a few things - well, that's all I'm buying really. I'm actually sticking to a budget and not going over. In the afternoon, I'll work on the basement and continue to get things organized and done down there.

Wednesday, I'll continue on the basement. My goal is to have the whole house whipped into shape by the end of the weekend. If I just work on it during a normal working day time, I will be successful!

Well, lunch is over, gotta get back to work :) as time flies by.............

Visit from a Friend

I have to visit Japan!!

A dear friend of mine from my days at UC came to visit Cincinnati from Japan this week. She and I have now been friends for almost 9 years. Her husband works for P&G, home-based out of Kobe, Japan. She now works there too and is tops in her career!

In school, she was a year ahead of me, but we quickly crossed paths as I was double majoring and taking many core classes very quickly to get done on time. When we met we knew right away that we would be friends. She was the "Student of the Year" for her graduation year and a year later, I was the "Student of the Year" and Valedictorian for our college. We both interned at school in the networking department. And we both absolutely LOVED working in the networking department. I had entirely too much fun working there. Her project became mine to implement, maintain and enhance.

After she graduated, her husband's temporary US assignment was over and it was time to move back to Japan. That was very, very sad for all of us at UC because we loved being with her so much. But when she got to Japan, she was quickly hired by P&G and began her illustrious career! She just won a prestigious award for the great job she does!! Congrats!

She's visited Cincinnati a couple of years ago and fortunately, was with a group at P&G that I was doing business with, so we were in meetings for part of the week together! That was totally cool. This trip, we just made sure to have time to visit.

Went to PF Chang's in Norwood for a scrumptious dinner: ordered SICHUAN STYLE ASPARAGUS and STIR-FRIED SPICY EGGPLANT served with Brown Rice and a red wine that was highly recommended by our server (my boyfriend's son) and for dessert we shared BANANA SPRING ROLLS which were to die for!!

And even though the dinner was absolutely delicious, the time with my friend was the MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING!! We shared pictures - funny, I brought mine in a digital camera and she had hers on a camera phone - very techhy by accident of course! We chatted about our kid's, careers, coworkers, spouse/boyfriend, parents, health, and school. It was as if we see each other all of the time. Now that's a real measure of a friend, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting me, I look forward to coming to Japan to visit you!!

Oh Dear! It's a Deer!

Funny thing happened to my friend...

One of my friends at work told me today that last weekend something unfortunate happened to her while driving on the expressway. The truck in front of her hit a deer and the deer "flopped" down in front of her Cadillac, then she ran over it. All four tires left the ground, making her car airborn. The deer grinded under her car from front to back. Fortunately, she was not hurt and amazingly, her car was driveable!! What a freaky thing to happen!

Well, the comedy actually started this morning. She had been noticing a "burning roast" sort of smell while she's driving her car. So she stopped at the Cadillac dealer to have the car checked. The Service Manager came out to discuss what he found when the car was checked:

They removed a hoof from under the car and offered to show her the rest of the deer meat that is still clinging to the underbelly of the Caddy. She gracefully declined the offer to view the dead meat. But then, to her surprise, they refused to do the cleaning of the car! They charge $75/hr and refused the work! Unbelievable! So now we know where all those guys that don't change diapers work! They work for the Cadillac dealer in the service shop!

Good luck finding a detail shop my friend! and Thanks for the laugh! But most importantly, glad you're ok.

TGI Monday???

Monday's can be good days too :)

Well, it's a Monday and I would have never suspected that it could be such a good day, but lo and behold it was! I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things this morning, and that's meet with clients. It's nice to hear good feedback and to know that I can help them with their project needs. Plus, I feel the relationships are good so that's really what it's all about.

I met someone new today, a real team player. He is all about the relationships too. We talked about how the relationships really are the key to building business. Oftentimes, projects come from small building blocks, so if you don't mind starting out small with some companies, they appreciate it and come back with more and more. I've seen it happen all too many times. I've built upon each win over the years and learned from both the wins and losses.

I had a mentor years ago that taught me to give people what they wanted and in return, I would also get what I wanted. The philosophy was hard to understand at first, but then by putting it into practice, I began to see the pay-offs. And today, after many years of putting others needs first, I have not been disappointed in having my needs met. It's great!

So today, I would like to tip my hat to my great mentor, Lenny, oh so many years ago! Thanks Lenny, your advice was timeless!!