Do you ever think you should be more rugged? Like you should be shirtless more often? Climbing things? Beating other mammals up? Driving large automobiles? Growing everything out?
I’m sitting here at the Caribou-ski. Suzanne and I had an absolutely fantastic call today with our course and I’m very pleased with the turnout for the course and we have a wonderful and enthusiasitc group of folks on the call. I think we stayed in this hemisphere for this one. I always like to get some Euro or Aussie folks in there, too. I got great marks for my presentation skills. Isn’t it funny how the things that come naturally you don’t really think about? I always get nervous before teleseminars – it’s the same reason why I’m not the best party host – I want everybody to have a good time. But the group was loose and relaxed and joking from the get-go – which makes the learning stick.
Felt very unmotivated yesterday. I’m not sure why. It could be coming down from the caffeine addiction. It could be not eating out and having the usual amounts of processed sugars. I did break my stalemate on eating out today by having a victory lunch at Stella’s to celebrate how great the class went. I figure I’m entitled.
Sitting here working on a client proposal for what could be a great gig.
I ordered some new running shoes online yesterday – the usual New Balance 760 series, Size 10, narrowness D. Same model I had last time – just the new version of it.
Working with an editor in the UK for some transcripts. My goal is to have a stable of transcriptionist and editors I can gleefully ship stuff off to and know that when it comes back, it will be in tip-top shape. That’s something Maryam and I have been talking about – the old ‘It’s so hard to find good help these days.’ Which really translates into ‘It’s so hard to find someone that knows what I know and is a lot cheaper than I am.’ My temp days have made me an MS Office phreak and if someone doesn’t match my skill I can’t bear to let them do it and then it comes back and I have to correct stuff. Yes I’m a control freak – I mean who isn’t?
I am getting better at moving towards and attitude of continuous improvement instead of perfection out of the gate. As Andrea says ‘Focus on completion, not perfection.’ This is something I think is hard to learn. That it might be better to have a string of small victories – of continual improvement than waiting for the big bang.
There was a fascinating special on Nova last night about neutrinos. Very well done show that totally explained how neutrinos work, what all the hub-bub is and how one guy measured 3 atoms from a huge, massive tank of chlorine. I started to watch the Frontline special on the Insurgency but it just broke my heart so I had to stop watching. Disbanding the military was such a stupid idea. There had to have been some way to keep the organization intact one way or another – maybe not militarily engaged but at least keep the folks training, collecting a paycheck and doing stuff. When you have career soldiers pissed off and unemployed what happens? What is happening now.
Iraq is such a collossal heart-breaking fuck-up on so many levels. It is maddening. Just overwhelming and maddening. From the next generation of car-bombers growing up in Baghdad to the young kids seeing their parents come home to the U.S. with no legs, this war is going to echo through our society for a very long time.
I steel myself for the antics of the 2008 presidential election. I can’t wait to see what Karl Rove has dreamed up. We’ve had so many advances in demographics, data mining and consumer behvior tracking that they are going to be even more adept pinpointing the right hotbuttons. And I think the Democrats are going to be total pushovers and milquetoasts.
I like the word milquetoast – how many other words did I learn from Bloom County? I do know I learned the word pantywaist from The Waltons. Or chiffarobe from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Ah – it’s 8:00 everybody just left the coffeeshop. You know what that means? It’s time for AA! It is like clockwork sometimes. Whenever you see a group of beefy, clean-cut guys that look a little loafer-light walking up Broadway you know they are on their way to an AA meeting.
I hate motherfuckers that leave the door open as they come into the cafe. Letting all the cold come in. Are you not paying attention you idiots? I am sitting on the opposite end of the cafe and I can feel the cold air rush along the floor. Ingrates! Open the door and the pull closed as you come in. Or don’t hold it open forever waiting for Betty Von Fogie to saunter in. Close it until she’s near. Yeah I’m a little crazy. I just think peopel are so inconsiderate. Probably a result of being out of the corporate cubicle world. This is usually when my dad says:
So how’s Andy?
or my mom says:
Honey you’re all ate up!
See, this is why I have the personal blog. Because if I posted this minituae on my business blog people would think I’m really insane.
This Chicago winter is really creepy. It has only snowed one time and the snow didnt’ stay around that long. It really freaks me out that it isn’t butt-cold all the time. Like that cold where you can feel your forehead freeze and you get an ice cream headache just being out in the open. That cold where your cat is next to you 24 hours a day for extra warmth. Kitty does take naps with me. He always lays to my right side and will sometimes wrap around my arm or lay on his back with his head in my hand – purring like a diesel motor.
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