Potential Break

One of my friends emailed me with the following: "Let's go on vacation." She needs a few days off. I offered her to come to SF and just hang out, get away from LA. She agreed and then said she wanted to go to Napa and tour the wineries.

The prime reason people visit Napa is for the wine tasting. I don't drink, so I'm not looking forward to that. I wanted to go hiking but she axed that idea pretty fast.

This should be interesting. It's easier to vacation with people that like the same things.

Endless

It's been one of those painfully slow weeks. My motivation was non-existant. It's amazing what the start of lay-offs can do. Endless speculation and worry.

Needless to say, deadlines don't wait. Deliverables need to be met. I felt like I was pulling my own teeth trying to get tasks completed.
One more day and this week is over!

#6

Lance Armstrong did it again. He set the record for most consecutive wins (6) of the Tour de France to date.

2,087.8072059 miles (3,360 kilometers)

in

83 hours. 36 minutes. 2 seconds.

Hell, I cheered for all the cyclists. I was taken by surprise by the selflessness of the team members propelling their respective leaders to the win.

For me personally, having a cancer survivor succeed is very motivating. So many people, myself included, place obstacles in their own paths where in actuality there are none. Mr. Armstrong helps to remind us that life is what we make of it.

Next...the Olympics.

Cuba

I should have been in Cuba today, if it wasn't for the tiny fact that the government does not make it easy for me to get there. I don't meet the criteria for the handful of flights that leave from the States and frankly travel to the island nation is discouraged. My other options were to leave from Canada or Mexico. I did look into the alternatives, but decided not to go. I better send my friend a great gift, since I'm missing her wedding. Who says online dating doesn't work?

Closer to home, less than a mile actually, I will be attending a co-worker's post-wedding dinner. It should be fun. I've psyched myself up for the comments and questions:

"Have you thought about settling down?"
"You're next."
"Don't you want to have kids?"
"By the time I was your age, I already had X kids."
...

Men don't get this crap.

Update: Only one comment. Pretty good. ;)

T-shirt

"Damn. I forgot to have a baby."

I read an article that made a reference to the famous t-shirt and I started to laugh. The timing of this reading seemed appropriate considering hours before I had the unsolicited, marriage/baby talk.

Feedback

In general, feedback is good. There is your perception of yourself and then there is the perception of you that those around you have. If you are in tune, those two perceptions are pretty close. If not, someone has some work to do and it is likely you.

Negative feeback is hard. I'm direct, but I don't like to be the author of someone else's hurt or sadness.

It's easier for me to deal with someone I have pissed off or angered than someone who is hurt or sad.

I gave some feedback today and I ended up f*cking crying. It was only two tears in two seconds.

For a few years, I've thought of myself to be tough as nails. It turns out I have a heart and tact. Pleasant reality check, but I still want the tough as nails.

International Panel

China. England. Honduras. India. Russia. Those were the countries represented. The topic was cultural differences. There was one common theme: the perception of Americans as arrogant. The funny thing is some of the most arrogant people I have met have been foreigners, but I know not to label their fellow countrymen arrogant. To me, labels like that are earned on an individual basis.

I question who they deal with on a day to day basis. I am American and am far from arrogant. I have dealt with Americans my entire life, I am surrounded by them but my run-ins with 'arrogance' have been minimal. Call it my good luck.

When the panel was questioned further, what I heard was a confusion between confidence and arrogance. What's wrong with acknowledging you can do something, when you know you can?

Another difference was asking questions. I have no problems stating when I don't know how to do something and asking for help. Neither do most of the people I know. It's work. Get over that learning curve and proceed. Projects need to reach completion. The majority of the panel expressed a fear of asking stupid questions or stating a weakness.

The panel pointed out American directness/straightforwardness. Ambiguity wastes time. I enjoy taking what comes out of a person's mouth at face value and not having to decipher what was really meant. (This coming from a person accused of being too direct.)

On a different cultural note, one of my co-workers implied I should have been on the panel representing a second Latino perspective. The missing blond hair, blue/green eyes and Spanish last name made him question my not volunteering. When I am in Mexico, people tell me, "Tu no entiendes, eres Americana." I'm in the States and people assume I am Mexican. In retrospect, I dare say I got the best of both cultures. (It could have been the worse of both cultures, but thanks to my parents and those that have crossed my path it did not turn out that way.) Let me guess, that came across as arrogant. ;)

Okay, I'll end with a quote.

"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."
-Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith

le Tour de France

I am so caught up watching the bicycling event at the moment. I wake up early to catch a snippet before I go to work. I stay up late to find out the results. (This means avoiding any sources that will spoil the results for me.)

I am in admiration of the discipline required. The fortitude. The passion...it has to be a factor in something so grueling.

I'm cheering for Lance Armstrong. For years, I have recognized the name, now I recognize the face. I thought this guy was in his forties, he is only 32.

I must say if I was one of those cycling, I'd have to hit some of those fans. They get too close to the cyclists. They've showed clips of past years where fans have caused cyclists to fall. Ridiculous. Stay behind the barricades people.

I get to see beautiful foreign landscapes. And the best is yet to come.

In the Book Zone

As of this entry, it has resided 69 weeks in the New York Times bestseller list. Yep, I am talking about the The Da Vinci Code.

Should it be made into a film, I imagine Kevin Spacey (or Vince Vaughn) and Audrey Tautou (or Jennifer Garner) in the lead roles along with the controversy that will accompany such subject matter.

This was very interesting reading. I was hooked from the first page until the last...so hooked I missed the announcement my train was being rerouted. When I looked up, I did not know where I was...this was 45 minutes after the announcement. It took me 2+ hours to get home and yet I didn't mind.

Macabre

I was glad to find out I am not the only one who watches shows about serial killers and/or unsolved crimes such as murders. While talking to one of my more consertive co-workers, he volunteered that he likes to watch the same kind of shows.

It's a bit unnerving to find yourself watching these shows. And I'm not talking about CSI: Crime Scene Investigation either, I'm talking about the real deal.

Don't know if this new genre is a step up or below the awful dating shows. I'd probably rather not know. hahhaha

Old School

You know that funny feeling you get when you see/hear things related to previous phases of your life. That's been happening a lot lately. Sometimes it makes me chuckle, other times it makes me gasp in disbelief.

You see, I cannot believe that music of my youth is played on old-school radio stations. What the hell?! Those tunes were in constant rotation just yesterday. ;) Now you have the Beastie Boys, The Cure, George Michael, and even Lionel Richie releasing new albums. I'm hoping for a Natalie Merchant release one of this days.

Strawberry Shortcake stuff for today's kids. What's next...She-Ra?

As it is I am thoroughly enjoying The Cosby Show reruns on TV.

Old school fun was tag, cops & robbers, kickball, marbles, hopscotch, tetherball and...

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Freaking dodgeball! This movie was hilarious. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller two of my favorite funny people delivered again.
Maybe it was the painful memories of having been hit in the face with a dodgeball! I was told it wasn't on purpose, but with kids you never know. hahahah

Mini-vacation

Work has been crazy for far too long. With offshoring to India, the company's latest cost-cutting announcement (read: lay-offs), more work than is healthy for anyone...I said, screw this, I'll see you in a couple of days. My only regret is that I did not make it ten days as originally planned.

At first I was toying with the idea of taking time off. Then we had a meeting with one of our vice presidents. He said we needed to decide for ourselves if it was worth it for each of us personally to proceed through the remaining of this year (probably longer) with anxiety/rumors about job security. That was my sign to take a break...to mentally prepare to stick it out and let the chips fall where they may or start looking for another job maybe even a career change. I walked out of that meeting and bought my airline ticket for the next day within an hour.

I've opted to let the chips fall where they may only because I am in a prime position to continue learning and continue being challenged. On the side, I will be updating my resume since I will also be playing it by ear. If it gets to be too much, I'm ready to move on.

Hanging out with my family was great, as always. I again questioned my decision to be so far from them after seeing how my parents have aged. I feel overprotective of them and the need to be near.

I also laughed more than I have in years. The kind of laughing where control is fleeting and breathing is almost impossible. This thanks to M.

Time to start planning me next getaway.