ActiveRain - The Official ActiveBlog

Well, borrowed, more like.  I knew it was going to be cold down by the water in Seattle at 6:30a-7:00a this morning and so when I saw it just hanging out near the cracked door, I nabbed it and threw it on.  And it came in handy, too (although, it's not really my style); standing in the dark, the wind rushing past, staring down a seedy hobo who looked like he wanted to hit me up for the three quarters and a penny that were in my pocket, just waiting....waiting at the ferry dock to pick up some electronics equipment the company loaned out.

You see, the downside of being super-productive and organized (that's not a pat on the back - those are the two compliments I got in the last two days) is that I am always, always early for everything.  I set the alarm this morning for six AM, drove from Bellevue to Seattle, parked, and waited half an hour for the exchange with no coffee, no makeup, and my cellphone on its last pip.

It's going to be a long day.  Lately, I've been obsessed with productivity and efficiency, whether in my apartment (I'm redecorating), in my relationship, or here at work.  The upside to being organized is that you always know what's outstanding.  (The downside to being organized is that...you always know what's outstanding.  Urg.)  I've got a lot on my plate today; so much so that i rewrote my to-do list three times yesterday as I finished tasks and moved on.

Based on my previous post about spinning your wheels, I did take some of your advices to heart, Readers.  I really liked the idea of ripping your to-do list in half, but for the sake of my Moleskine notebook, I just made two lists instead ;) I finished all of one and most of the second yesterday (woohoo!).

So my question to you all is...  what have you been super-obsessed with lately?  As Jeremy so kindly pointed out, I am pretty AROC myself; it's easy for me to obsess over the list and put the pedal to the metal, so to speak.  I guess that's why I fit in with the AR staff - we're all obsessed about something, it seems! 

Have a lovely day, everyone :) Friday is ALMOST here.

Productive:

I'm giving Inbox Heaven a shot after reading about it on a website called Putting Things Off - PTO is a website I subscribe to via RSS, and sometimes helps me through those days when I don't really feel like doing anything.  (Yes, before you ask, I have those days, too.  I don't think Jon believes me when I say it, but ... I think it really happens to us all.)

Why Inbox Heaven?  I have MANY email boxes.  I have the AR one, my personal one, my personal-professional one (the one with my name instead of a goofy alphanumeric word as the handle), several different blog emails for the various blogging I do around the blogosphere, and a few random spam-catching emails for signing up for things, for ebay, and for craigslist.  That's a lot of email-checking!

In the category of "Why didn't I think of that?", I came across the Inbox Heaven post and did a resounding, "YES!" in the middle of the office.  This is exactly what I need.  All my email boxes in ONE spot with quick keyboard tricks and folders to help me get through it.  Naturally, GMail is picked as the basis of Inbox Heaven.  Woot woot! My favorite company EVUH.

In any case, I invite y'all to try it with me.  Inbox Heaven is a whole lotta free goodness -- my favorite price is free ;) If you're familiar with GMail, you shouldn't have a problem setting it up.  Within the first half-day of using it myself, I was hooked!

Unproductive:

Last week, we have a few freak snow showers here in the Seattle area and MAN.... one day, Mike and I skipped out around two PM because it was just coming down insanely.  Jeff tells us it stopped after about half an hour of us leaving (go fig - we're such pansies!), but these pictures are pretty neat.  Mike snapped them with his iPhone as I was driving him home (I didn't want him to get stuck on his bus).

(I realize that the pics are tiny - it can't be helped, unfortunately. Yey for iPhones!)

Here's the scenario:

You are faced with a normal, everyday task, and it requires you to call into customer service and bitch.  No one really likes having to take time out of their day to complain, but you have to do it.

So you pick up the phone, run through the automated menu by pressing '0' repeatedly, and...

...you are suddenly greeted by a pleasant voice that says, "Hi, this is Sandra.  How can I help you today?"

The corners of your lips lift a little from the deep frown that this phonecall began with.  You explain the issue that has been plaguing you for a couple days, causing you to put off the phonecall.  Sandra listens, and then responds as if...

...as if she heard every word you said.  Sandra neatly dispatches the issue, apologizes for the problems it has caused, and asks if there's anything else she can help you with today.

You say, "No, but could you transfer me to your supervisor?"  She sounds uncertain, but transfers you.  Now, ten minutes ago, before being blessed with Sandra, you would have told her supervisor EXACTLY what was bugging you, but now, your mood has lifted.  The weight is off your shoulders.  The problem is solved, and you have Sandra to thank for it.

Thus, you tell Sandra's supervisor how lucky he is to have her.  After thanking you, the supervisor hangs up with you and you move on with your life.

Sure, you just took five minutes out of your day to compliment someone, but what have you really done?  You very well might have just saved someone's job, you might have given them a monetary bonus, or your kudos may be another note on her permanent record.  It may just have been a few kind words from you, but to Sandra, it may make significant improvements in her life and outlook on her position.

I always get comments when I do something like this; people seem amazed that not only would I take the time to give someone props, I would wait on hold to do it.  "Why?" they ask...and I tell them that it's simple: It all comes back around.  Every good thing that I do for someone else, I'll get back, eventually.

Whether you believe in good karma or not, there's definitely something to this 'pay it forward' mentality.  If you could change the outlook of one person during the day, and that person passed it on, and so on and so forth, you could, very literally, change the world.  Deep breaths ;)

So the next time you get excellent service or someone dispatches a problem quickly and efficiently or someone goes out of their way to make you happy, take the time to ask for their supervisor and let that super know how lucky they are to have that particular person on staff.  It may make little difference to your schedule, but it may make all the difference in the world to the recipient of the compliment.

REBarCamp is comin' to Seattle!  And do you all know what that means?  Do you REALLY KNOW?

No, you don't know.  That's why I'm going to tell you.

It means:  The entirety of the AR Staff is going to be there! 

AND THAT MEANS (excuse my excitement here)...I get to go, too!

I feel somewhat like the tag-a-long little sister of the guys here at AR, but they constantly come back with stories about how much fun they had at this event or that event; I'm the one who gets to stay behind and make sure HQ stays up and running, so the fact that I get to go and plaaaaay is very, very exciting for me.

ActiveRich has all the annoying little details, but here's what you need to know (winkwink, nudgenudge): ----I---- am going to be there.  Yes.  So you should ALL come and meet me so that I can put names to faces.

*happydance*

(This message brought to you by the un-caffienated, highly-illogical and unCLAIREified, running-on-two-hours-of-sleep redhead who runs this blog.  Any sharp, stabbing adreniline pains you feel are probably normal; afterall, excitement is contagious.)

Yesterday, I had a coffee tete-a-tete with a guy around 4pm in Ballard and so I went to the coffee shop a little early to do some work for the office, to get some coding done, and to finish up a chapter on my novel.  It was CROWDED, though - more crowded than I have ever seen that particular coffee shop!!  To top it off, it was snowing (yes! snowing!) outside and forcing more people inside.  On one hand, it was really, really funny to watch people stand in the middle of the room and look around, slack-jawed, in hopes of finding a table.  On the other hand, I was one of those (closed-jawed, thank you very much) people.

So I targeted a seat at a fairly large table that was open across from an older gentleman (I later found out that he was 75 years old) and asked politely, "May I sit here?"  He laughed and said, "Absolutely, but my wife is coming back soon, and she's going to sit here."  He indicated the other empty seat.  I winked and told him that I'd give her some elbow room.

I started typing and glanced up only a moment before becoming enthralled by what the old man was doing.  He was drawing, and not just the drawing that you see people do when they doodle in the margins of a magazine, but actual pen-and-ink on sturdy paper drawing.  It had a sort of old-style flair to it, kind of like I was looking at some of the old propaganda posters from WWII.  His hand was so very steady that I just sat and watched him for a moment, trying not to be rude, but fascinated by not only his talent, but his dedication to getting each line perfectly straight as he shaded in the dark areas with a fine-point black pen.

He caught me.  I looked up just as he did and caught his eye, declaring, "I'm sorry!" I hadn't meant to intrude on his privacy.  He just smiled and informed me that they were just the drawings of an old man.  I mentioned that I hadn't seen anyone ever draw like he was; the man had considerable talent.  It was obvious that where he may not have been schooled in the art, he certainly was practiced.

As the conversation wore on, I learned that he used to work with the circus, he'd fought in several wars (one in Cuba), he had traded arms with men in marijuana fields, he had danced the night away at various clubs, he had scammed fairway walkers out of their money at carnival booths, and he had painted signs, done calligraphy, and now....now....he was writing a book about his "evil days" - the time during which he experienced all this.

As a writer myself, I hung on every word; it's amazing what 75 years of a life can bring into the world in the way of memories.  As his wife sat down with us, I explained with a grin after she mentioned that they were going to go see a movie soon, "I'm sorry, he was just charming me with some of his old stories." 

We struck up a rapport, she and I, even teasing the old gentleman about "embellishing" those stories.  I think, perhaps, what I got out of the experience was not the stories themselves, but the way his eyes gleamed when he told them, like he was reliving times in his own mind that were truly happy times for him.  With those happy memories, sharp wit, and steady hand came the wisdom of experience: he told me that I mustn't ever pass up an opportunity for greatness, because even the most insignificant step in the right direction was still a step more than I had previously made.

I think, so often, we younger people tend to dismiss older people because they are from a different time; someone very close to me refers to the elderly as 'living fossils', a term that I hate to hear, myself, especially after meeting people like this gentleman and his lovely wife.  I took my own grandparents for granted, and now that they're gone, I really wish I'd listened more to what they had to say.  Perhaps I would know more today if I had just taken the time to garner some of that old-age wisdom.

If we would all just stop and listen to those with more experience, perhaps we would make it farther than we would be by pretending we know everything.  Me included.

Whether you support our new President or not, I highly recommend everyone watch the Inauguration Ceremony, even if they must watch it after it happens on Tivo, Hulu, MSN - wherever.  Why?  Because every one of us, as American citizens, have the right, honor, and duty to participate in the Democratic process.  It is a historic day in Washington, D.C., not only because today we inaugurate our first president of a non-caucasian race, but because we inaugurate a new President, period.

The Ceremony is only ceremony if you take nothing from it.  I lived in Washington, D.C. for five years, and as a very political city, there was no day that passed that you didn't hear of some scandal or edict coming down from Capitol Hill.  I have stood in the National Mall and I have seen these places that are now being shown on camera.  To me, to know and to have touched these amazing monuments, watching this ceremony makes my heart do nostalgic little spins in my chest.

I do fully recognize that today is a historic day for more reasons than the ones that make it historic to me.  And as I've said before, I fully support our new President and yes, I voted for him.  I exercised my honor, duty and right to vote in this country, and I respect the full extent of our freedoms.  Now, I sound a little uppity about all this, I know, but when was the last time you sat back and said, "Man...I look at the world today, and I am so damned proud to be an American.  Our ancestors sacrificed life and family to give us the freedom we have today."

Unfortunately, I think many of us forget that we are so very lucky to lead the lives we lead, to have the rights we have, and to honor our country the way we need to.  We are too closeted in the boundaries of our own lives and own problems to remember, sometimes, how very lucky we are.

From the ceremony today, I take with me the knowledge and fact that whether it's a good change or a bad change that we have put into office....it is a change, and our nation will never survive without change, at least not on the path that we have already started.  From the ceremony today, I take with me the fact that I am, as we all are, part of this nation's government and faithful to our ancestors want of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  I may not, myself, be able to change the world, but if I can change one life, one person's outlook, I have changed THEIR world.

I urge you all to find what you should take from this Ceremony and hold true to it in your hearts.  It is only with that purpose that we'll be able to collectively heave ourselves out of this hole we've fallen into.  It's time to rebuild, America.  It's time to honor those who come before us, and those who gave their lives for us. 

It's time for this generation, my generation, who have never seen real conflict or have war thrust on our own borders to rise up and participate in this country, to learn how to lead and appreciate the true meaning of being an American, to have faith in our principles and our rights, to further the message that the Constitution was created to preserve, and to support the foundations of our country.  We need not only to appreciate our freedom, but protect it with our actions, no matter how large or small those actions may be.

Deep breath, America.  Uncertain times lie ahead, but with a little determination and some hard work, we'll get through them together.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

(From Our 44th President's Inaugural Address.  Thank you, President Obama.  Welcome to office.)

It surprises me sometimes that the children of the current generation have no idea why today is important; instead, they're happy to have a day off from school so that they can play video games or eat ice cream for breakfast.  Without getting too far into the rant regarding the corruption of the culture of our youth, I'll digress and move forward.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is often seen as a leader of Black people in America.  He is often seen as a preacher.  He is very often seen as a man with a big mouth, and most oft remembered for the fact that he got assassinated for having one.

Unfortunately, few people remember that he was also a civil rights leader, a brilliant man, and a regular joe, just like the rest of us, who wanted to see a better world for his children, and his children's children, and their children's children.  Most know of the speech he gave, his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, but I was amazed to find out how few people had actually listened to the speech or read the text.

I am probably the whitest of the white girls; I can mimic valley speak to boot, I generally date white guys, and some in my family were what would you consider prejudiced against all other races.  I know there's probably a lot of people out there just like me who were raised in a specific way but choose not to believe in those same morals and choose to regard people for their merits rather than their color. 

That is why Dr. King matters.  As a civil rights activist, Dr. King knew the danger he faced, speaking out against the injustices done to a sect of people in our country.  He knew the struggle we would face after he spoke up.  He knew the effects of his words on all people, not just those with darker skin that listened to his words religiously.  But most importantly, he gave himself to this service, body, mind, and soul, in hopes of improving America and holding true to that freedom on which we built the pillars of this country.

Lack of civil rights is not a race issue, it's a human issue, and I believe Dr. King understood this.  Today, the third Monday of January, is a day of service.  I would ask that any person who was blessed with today off would sit down and consider what service they can do to their neighborhood, city, or state that will help forward the civil rights cause.  I would ask that they find a reason for being today, and that they give themselves to the service that they do for us all.  Today, my friends, is a day of selflessness, and I can only hope that there's still a little of that left in the world.

I leave you with a passage from Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech:

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.