Life is a Project

Reflecting...and Christmas Shopping! On Friday I called into Probate Court to testify.  After a small technical challenge dialing in from Germany, I was through to the judge.  After answering three questions, I was told my divorce was granted and that I would receive a copy of the decree in the mail. I spent this weekend reflecting on what it means for the divorce to finally be over.  After thinking about it for a while, I realized it was like turning 21.  I was super excited about turning 21, but quickly realized nothing had changed. My AF Girlfriends - You two are awesome! In America turning 21 is a right of passage.  The age when you can legally drink in the United States of America.  I know, crazy to imagine for all of my friends from more enlightened countries.  When you finally turn 21 though, you realize that for most of us it isn't a big deal.  Most young woman have no problem getting men who are 21 or older to buy them a drink...

George Yen, DTM and Me! In Warsaw at the Toastmasters District 95 Conference, I had the pleasure of listening to the keynote from George Yen  DTM ,  Toastmasters International President in the years 2013–14 , from Taipei, Taiwan. George was interesting, entertaining, and highly quotable.  I wanted to share a few of the things he shared, which resonated with me. "A college degree is not a guarantee to success, the safety net is fragile."  This is something which I think about often when I see homeless on the streets.  Most of us are just a few paychecks away from being in the same situation.  Hearing this from a successful businessman, emphasized the point.  George Yen, Toastmasters International President 2013-2014 George also shared, "I had to find myself first." Most of us, on our lives journey, have to figure out who we really are in the world.  We often want to please our parents, our teachers, and other adults while growi...

Traveling On a recent flight I was rereading the book " Fish " by Stephen C. Lundin and Harry Paul.  This is a quick read in the genre of business fables.  The first rule of the Fish Philosophy is "Choose Your Attitude."  When I read this mantra, it hit me in the gut. These words were a direct indictment to me. A friend asked me to perform a favor.  A favor that many people would find enjoyable, but that put me outside of my comfort zone.  Instead of approaching this favor with a kind and giving heart, I fought against the situation and created a negative spiral of events.  Then, I made excuses for my attitude and actions.  I placed the blame on the actions of those around me, including my friend.  I blamed the fact that I was tired.  I was completely self-absorbed and could find fault with everything and everyone else around me.  I refused to look in the mirror, at myself. Sitting on the flight and reading "Choose Your Attit...

Shameless Selfie This week I want to share an amazing Toastmasters event with you and then my very boring Sunday at home. Live, every moment. Laugh, often. Love, thy neighbor. Laundry, it just needs to be done. Tuire Vuolasvirta - Keynote Speaker I had a fantastic weekend at the Toastmasters Division F District 95 Contest in Bensheim, Germany. The Humorous speeches were funny and the Table Topics were entertaining.  If you have never been to a Toastmasters meeting, a Table Topic is a one to two minute impromptu speech and you have no advance notice of the question or topic. Anything goes and no topic is too obscure.  Tuire Vuolasvirta, the District 95 immediate past Director, who came all the way from Finland for the weekend. was the English Table Topics Chair.  Her question was "When is the right time?"  A really thought provoking question with a lot of different answers from the five contestants. Let Them Eat Cake! The highlight for me was to ...

Recently, I have heard people say that they are no longer going to use social media because of how negative it has become.  There have also been many articles that discuss the negative effects of social media on the population.  Many say that the presidential elections in the USA are a major reason why they dread checking their Facebook. Sugar with a beer I have to question both the people and the articles which claim that "Facebook" is the problem. Social media is a tool and a way to communicate like any other.  You can share pictures of your cats or your dog drinking a beer.  You can share important life events like your new grandchild being born or small events like a dinner out with friends. You can also write terrible hateful things and share disgusting photos. Just because other people share, it doesn't mean that we have to be a part of it.  Just like in the physical world, we have the option to walk away.  We have the power as users, to fil...

On 4 August 2014 my 5k training run on a paved trail in my neighborhood, ended badly.  I heard a noise behind me, startled, I looked behind me and landed wrong. I fell to the ground.  A couple with a toddler on a bike came up from behind and asked if I was all right. "I'm Fine," I told them, more embarrassed than anything else. When I got up and started to walk, my foot hurt and I limped home about 500 meters.  I immediately practiced RICE  (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and figured it would be fine by morning. The next morning I was in pain!  My foot had swollen to the size of grapefruit and I knew this was bad.  I was registered with my team for  RAGNAR  that Saturday and I was concerned.  I figured it was just a sprain and that the hospital could give me some good drugs and wrap it and I would be on my way to running again. The Giant Cast - Day 1 After my X-ray, the technician came in and said "Ma'am, could you please si...

This weekend I truly experienced the magic of  Disneyland Paris .  I had a wonderful time with old friend and made a new friend.  I went to shows, rode the rides, met the characters, and ate some sub-standard obligatory theme park food.  All in all a wonderful experience. Post Race Princess My friends and a few thousand other runners also were able to enjoy the first ever  Disneyland Paris Half Marathon .  This was a very well organized event for a first race with so many runners. The course was well marked, the drink and food stations had plenty of volunteers and first aid was available throughout the course if you needed it.  In addition, Disney characters were available for photo ops!!!  I had pictures with two of my favorite Princesses Jasmine and Cinderella.  Cinderella even said to Charming, "Look Dear, a royal has come to visit us."  How often do you get to run 21 kilometers while wearing a tiara.  In addition, the cour...

Last week, after a long and stressful meeting, one of my coworkers invited me to walk to the local coffee shop.  I didn't want to go initially because I knew my e-mail inbox would already be full, but decided to go anyway.  After the short walk to the coffee shop I was already in a better mood and ready to tackle my day.  I almost didn't need the coffee anymore...almost! Walking has been been known to have calming effect and relieve stress.     According to the  Mayo Clinic , walking has great benefits including trimming your waistline, reducing risk for diabetes, and improving your mood.   With all of the wonderful benefits of walking, why is it sometimes hard to follow through? I am fortunate, because I have a four-legged walking machine.  Today, when I came home, I was greeted by my best friend.  He doesn't ask a lot from me, but one of his expectations is to be walked at least twice a day.  On a day, like today when it is a gorg...

This is a short story for my Sister,  Barbara Madison , who thinks that books are more interesting than her real life.   Once upon a time there were two sisters. They grew up and the older sister enlisted in the National Guard. The younger sister went through ROTC and was commissioned as an officer in the US Army. When she was commissioned she gave her "Silver Dollar" salute to her older sister. Many years later the two sisters were able to spend time in the Green Zone together, where the younger sister was a contractor and the older sister was serving with the National Guard on a deployment. The two sisters had the opportunity to meet on a trip in Washington DC together and remember all of the women who have served and died for the United States of America. Barbara Madison ...sounds like you have the lead in for an amazing book.... More on Barbara Madison and her hometown of Hartford, Michigan can be found at: http://www.hartfordmichigan.com/wwwroot/hartfordhistory/Milit...

When I arrived in Dulles on my flight from Germany this Sunday, I was frustrated and tired, like many of my fellow travelers.  I don't understand why Dulles Airport won't or can't automate announcements instead of having TSA agents screaming at you from the moment you land.  Of course International flights have a lot of non-English speaking visitors and the poor TSA agents are screaming at you solely in English.  Automation could certainly resolve this issue and create a better experience, both for passengers and TSA agents. I want to yell back at these agents, but realize it is pointless. TSA agents are still men and women who are doing their best to earn a living.  They are someone's Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Daughter or Son and deserve to be treated with basic respect, even if their jobs make our lives harder. TSA struggles with the highest turnover rate of any government agency.   This turnover includes everyone from top level executives to the ga...

Sometimes life is busy and we forget that it is the small things that matter.  Today, I had to take my three boys to the vet.  Getting two cats into a carrier, is literally, herding cats! The dog is bit easier, as he can easily be lured to the car with a beef stick.  Once we were at the vets though, he knew he should have held out for a higher value treat. Sugar The first one to get seen was Sugar.   Sugar has the dubious honor of being the only dog, so he gets to travel quite a bit with us.  He even has his new Euro passport now!   Sugar doesn't question where we are going, when the leash is out, he is ready for adventure.  He was the first of the three to get his shot and he didn't even make sound.  Even the vet said he was a brave little dog.  Watching him I realized that often I spend more time whining, then just taking my shot.  I can learn something from this little dog. Sugar Next it was time for Spinkles to get his ...

I love going to modern coffee shops like  Starbucks . There are so many amazing choices!  When I go out for ice cream, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the amazing options and flavors at establishments like  Baskin-Robbins .  The United States of America is a country that strongly identifies with a concept of being unique and different.  The rights of the individual is more important than the rights of the collective.  So, why do we only have two major political parties to choose from?  Really??!?!   Democrats  or  Republicans ?  I have more choices for coffee and ice cream options. If you feel strongly that one or the other of these parties reflects your core values, that is great.  If like myself and many other citizens in the USA, you feel that you need more choices, I agree.  When I tell people that I have only voted for a major party candidate once for President of the USA, they are often offended. They claim my choi...

Today I finished the Stuttgart Half Marathon within four minutes of my goal time.  I am very happy that I kept a solid pace and met a wonderful person along the way.  When I first saw the balloon, I thought it was a pace runner, but I learned that she was actually just a runner with a balloon.  She was on Team Sanwald and we ran almost 20 kilometers together.  It was a great experience and I enjoyed the views along the route. After the race, we enjoyed a post run beer , as advised by German researchers.  I felt really good after the race and even after a few hours, I'm not as fatigued as I have been after previous half marathons.  I really attribute my success for both my run time and my recovery to proper training.  All of the time that I put in prior to this day was really worth it. I am a big fan of  Hal Higdon  and his great training plans.  Whenever I have followed a plan, especially the long runs, I have better race times and ...

Recently we have been getting a lot of rain in Germany and I have been trying to schedule my runs around the rain storms.  For those familiar with risk management as defined by the Project Management Institute , there are a few different options to handle a risk once it is identified.  The four options are risk avoidance, acceptance, transfer and mitigation Risk transfer is when you can pass the risk on to someone else or another company.  This is great for IT projects, but not really an option as a runner.  It would be great to have someone else complete my run for me, but that doesn't actually help me with my training. Risk avoidance is a technique which I have been practicing the past few weeks.  I research the hourly weather charts and then try to calculate the best times to run with the lowest probability of ending up in a rain storm.  This reduces the chances that I will be in a rainstorm and getting struck by lightening.  Of course not runni...