I can help make your dreams come true
I talked to International J this morning. She said she dreamed that I had updated my blog. She couldn't remember what I wrote about, but she clearly remembered getting up first thing in the morning to check it and reading a new post. I am happy to help make her dreams come true :). I am posting two updates at about the same time, so be sure to read this one and the baby announcements.
I wish I had some fun stories or photos to share, but my life has been pretty uneventful lately. I've spent lots of hours at the office, a few hours on the volleyball court and, one very long hour at the chiropractor's office. Let me see what I can dig up from the story bank to share here.
Hours at the office.....
We have a Mondopad in each of our four offices in our unit. Mondopads are gigantic iPads with great sound and video capabilities.
For the past year, we have been trying to a variety of things to train the staff and encourage everyone to use them more and more. As we were getting ready for this month's staff meetings, my boss and I were talking about phase 2 of the Mondopad trainings. I convinced him that we needed a friendly competition to get everyone motivated to use them on a daily basis. As I was presenting my idea, I believe he gave me a look that is similar to my one eyebrow raised look. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a dumb idea, but he agreed to let me present it to each office. One of his questions to me was what is the prize. I didn't think anyone would care about the prize. I thought they would just want to be the winner.
Our first staff meeting this month was in my "home" office. When it was my turn to present this new idea to the group, I turned up my positive energy level and tried to get everyone excited about it. The first question my dear friend S asked was "What's the prize?"
Ugh!!! Another point for my boss. He had called that one.
So rather than announcing the prize, I let everyone brainstorm. The ideas ranged from trips to Florida or Hawaii, days off work, dinner/lunch, clothes with our logo, iPads, and a lot more that I can't remember right now.
The whole point of this story is that I have to announce the final decision for the prize this coming Thursday! And I don't know what the prize is going to be. So I'm turning to all of my faithful blog readers to add their amazing ideas and connections to the mix.
If you have any great ideas or great connections, send them my way. The contest will go until the fall. The winner is the office. So depending on which location wins, I may need anywhere from 5 prizes up to 20 prizes.
Wouldn't that be amazing if we gave the winners a trip to Florida or Hawaii!?! Sometimes ya gotta dream BIG!
****************
2 stories in one...I hope I can write them so they make sense....
This past week, International J had a few minutes free so she gave me a call. I was in the middle of getting ready for work, but it had been so long since J and I had talked, that I decided I would call in late. I texted my boss to let him know
My text read "I just got off the phone with Germany. I highly doubt I will make by 8:30 goal."
He responded "Thanks for the soda."
For a little over 15 years, my 4-H role included a lot of night meetings. So I got into the habit of flexing my time and coming in around 9:30 a.m. and working late. When I switched roles, the question was asked many times if I was going to start coming into the office "on time?" Earlier this year, there was a turn of events that led to a challenge being thrown down; every day I got to the office by 8:30 a.m., my boss would go 24 hours without drinking anything with high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial dyes, or any ingredients not normally found in your kitchen.
It has been an interesting challenge for both of us.
He is losing weight, thanks to the challenge. I'm just losing sleep. He is definitely getting the better end of this deal.
So back to my original text......
Unknowingly, I had made him nervous with the mention of my phone call from Germany. He thought something was wrong. I easily forget that not everyone has a best friend who lives with a 7 hour time difference and carries a calling card in their purse to be able to make 3 cent international calls. Our call that day included a few quick stories about the kids and her husband. This morning I called her to let her know there was a great deal on amazon for a suitcase she might like. A few minutes later she called me back with a sewing question. Yeah, we don't worry about crazy international phone rates. :)
****************
One more story and then I'm done for tonight. It is getting late. Hours on the volleyball court....
In September, I started playing volleyball with a new teammate. (I don't have a picture of him, so can I use his full name???? Ugh, I better not.) I'm going to call him Hat Man. He wears a baseball hat on backwards when he plays volleyball. I'm not sure why. He has a full head of black hair.
Hat Man is a big guy. He plays outside hitter and is a very powerful blocker. When our whole team is there and we are not making adjustments for subs, I follow Hat Man in the rotation, which means I am his main setter.
Hat Man is very quiet. He is a very good player, but he does it quietly. I'm not sure if he is quiet by nature or if it is just because he is the new guy on the team. I have only been around him on the court.
Did I mention he is a big guy? He is a tough guy. He does NOT have squishy hands.
Last week during our game he made an amazing hit. He is a good hitter, so he has a lot of kills. But this hit was text book. Our entire team cheered more than normal for it. And Hat Man tried so hard to maintain his quiet, tough guy persona, but about 2 seconds later, a smile started to quiver on his lips. And the more he tried to hold it back, the bigger it got. He knew he had nailed that hit, and it felt good. I don't know which part made him smile more, the great hit or the reaction for him teammates.
There are so many great examples of teamwork that I have learned, observed, and tried to teach my 4-Hers, from my many different volleyball teams and teammates. It is one of the reasons I love to play the game. Someday, I am either going to write a book OR take my vball team on the road to teach other people about teamwork.
*********
I just reread this post. I had forgotten I mentioned the hour at the chiropractor. That is another tough story to tell.
In a nutshell....
I love my chiropractor.
If you don't have a chiropractor, I highly recommend mine.
An hour is a normal appointment time with him.
When I leave my appointments, I feel like I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.....or just keep playing volleyball at my age. :)
I wish I had some fun stories or photos to share, but my life has been pretty uneventful lately. I've spent lots of hours at the office, a few hours on the volleyball court and, one very long hour at the chiropractor's office. Let me see what I can dig up from the story bank to share here.
Hours at the office.....
We have a Mondopad in each of our four offices in our unit. Mondopads are gigantic iPads with great sound and video capabilities.
For the past year, we have been trying to a variety of things to train the staff and encourage everyone to use them more and more. As we were getting ready for this month's staff meetings, my boss and I were talking about phase 2 of the Mondopad trainings. I convinced him that we needed a friendly competition to get everyone motivated to use them on a daily basis. As I was presenting my idea, I believe he gave me a look that is similar to my one eyebrow raised look. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a dumb idea, but he agreed to let me present it to each office. One of his questions to me was what is the prize. I didn't think anyone would care about the prize. I thought they would just want to be the winner.
Our first staff meeting this month was in my "home" office. When it was my turn to present this new idea to the group, I turned up my positive energy level and tried to get everyone excited about it. The first question my dear friend S asked was "What's the prize?"
Ugh!!! Another point for my boss. He had called that one.
So rather than announcing the prize, I let everyone brainstorm. The ideas ranged from trips to Florida or Hawaii, days off work, dinner/lunch, clothes with our logo, iPads, and a lot more that I can't remember right now.
The whole point of this story is that I have to announce the final decision for the prize this coming Thursday! And I don't know what the prize is going to be. So I'm turning to all of my faithful blog readers to add their amazing ideas and connections to the mix.
If you have any great ideas or great connections, send them my way. The contest will go until the fall. The winner is the office. So depending on which location wins, I may need anywhere from 5 prizes up to 20 prizes.
Wouldn't that be amazing if we gave the winners a trip to Florida or Hawaii!?! Sometimes ya gotta dream BIG!
****************
2 stories in one...I hope I can write them so they make sense....
This past week, International J had a few minutes free so she gave me a call. I was in the middle of getting ready for work, but it had been so long since J and I had talked, that I decided I would call in late. I texted my boss to let him know
My text read "I just got off the phone with Germany. I highly doubt I will make by 8:30 goal."
He responded "Thanks for the soda."
For a little over 15 years, my 4-H role included a lot of night meetings. So I got into the habit of flexing my time and coming in around 9:30 a.m. and working late. When I switched roles, the question was asked many times if I was going to start coming into the office "on time?" Earlier this year, there was a turn of events that led to a challenge being thrown down; every day I got to the office by 8:30 a.m., my boss would go 24 hours without drinking anything with high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial dyes, or any ingredients not normally found in your kitchen.
It has been an interesting challenge for both of us.
He is losing weight, thanks to the challenge. I'm just losing sleep. He is definitely getting the better end of this deal.
So back to my original text......
Unknowingly, I had made him nervous with the mention of my phone call from Germany. He thought something was wrong. I easily forget that not everyone has a best friend who lives with a 7 hour time difference and carries a calling card in their purse to be able to make 3 cent international calls. Our call that day included a few quick stories about the kids and her husband. This morning I called her to let her know there was a great deal on amazon for a suitcase she might like. A few minutes later she called me back with a sewing question. Yeah, we don't worry about crazy international phone rates. :)
****************
One more story and then I'm done for tonight. It is getting late. Hours on the volleyball court....
In September, I started playing volleyball with a new teammate. (I don't have a picture of him, so can I use his full name???? Ugh, I better not.) I'm going to call him Hat Man. He wears a baseball hat on backwards when he plays volleyball. I'm not sure why. He has a full head of black hair.
Hat Man is a big guy. He plays outside hitter and is a very powerful blocker. When our whole team is there and we are not making adjustments for subs, I follow Hat Man in the rotation, which means I am his main setter.
Hat Man is very quiet. He is a very good player, but he does it quietly. I'm not sure if he is quiet by nature or if it is just because he is the new guy on the team. I have only been around him on the court.
Did I mention he is a big guy? He is a tough guy. He does NOT have squishy hands.
Last week during our game he made an amazing hit. He is a good hitter, so he has a lot of kills. But this hit was text book. Our entire team cheered more than normal for it. And Hat Man tried so hard to maintain his quiet, tough guy persona, but about 2 seconds later, a smile started to quiver on his lips. And the more he tried to hold it back, the bigger it got. He knew he had nailed that hit, and it felt good. I don't know which part made him smile more, the great hit or the reaction for him teammates.
There are so many great examples of teamwork that I have learned, observed, and tried to teach my 4-Hers, from my many different volleyball teams and teammates. It is one of the reasons I love to play the game. Someday, I am either going to write a book OR take my vball team on the road to teach other people about teamwork.
*********
I just reread this post. I had forgotten I mentioned the hour at the chiropractor. That is another tough story to tell.
In a nutshell....
I love my chiropractor.
If you don't have a chiropractor, I highly recommend mine.
An hour is a normal appointment time with him.
When I leave my appointments, I feel like I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.....or just keep playing volleyball at my age. :)
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