Day Light Saving Time

Sources say that Ben Franklin is credited with the idea of Daylight Saving Time. It wasn't until WWII that it was instituted. Today we have to remember twice a year to switch our clocks. With the now modern conveniences of computers, cellphones, cable boxes, we only have to remember to change the oven, micorwave and alarm clock.
Daylight Saving Time was instituted to conserve energy and enable some people to work more hours. I think it is just added two extra fool's days to the calendar. People showing up late or early to appointments, being sleepy from loss of sleep, and having to repeat 1am
It is even trickier when you have to manage a shift work place of business. Even though someone only worked from 11pm to 7am, they worked 9 hours.

In my years of living in the wilderness I came to adopt the sun as ruling my day. On month long river trips and backpack trips during my years as a wilderness counselor we forgot about the time and just rose at sunrise and went to bed when it was dark. I have come to a time in my life when I don't want to sleep in as much. I want to get up and enjoy a quiet house while everyone else is asleep. I want to watch the sunrise. I revel in walking through the center of town and feeling as if I am the only one awake.

This morning I was happy to have light at 6 am. My dog Cali and I were very happy to greet the day early.

Single Mom No Tip

There was a recent story and was accompanied with a picture of a receipt. A single mom racked up a bill of $138.35 and then wrote in the spot where the tip should be "Single Mom Sorry." Then she wrote, "Thank you it was great."
First, who are I to judge. I am not.
Have you ever stiffed a waitress or waiter? I used to be really harsh until I dated people who were servers, and they left good tips. I think that you have to decide it you can afford the tip before you go out. If you cannot, they you don't go out.
Besides that, if you have a server who is rude, that is one thing. Then less tip.
I once was at a 50's Diner in Pennsylvania and a young high school girls spilled ice and water all over our table. She then ran back to clean it up and slipped on a piece of ice and ended up sliding under our table. She was fine, and although I was a poor, poor college student, we left her a huge tip.

John Cusak

John Cusack was the man of the 80'sand 90's.  His characters were the Wesley's (Princess Bride), the underdog, the sweetheart, and the boy next door.
I dated a John Cusack when I was in high school. Actually, it wasn't John Cusack. It was Lloyd Dobler. Yes, the ultimate of Cusack's characters!
Lloyd Dobler, if you don't know who he is, was a character from Say Anything.He ended up dating a beautiful, smart, and someone he loved from afar. He was so sweet, innocent, and emotional.
So yes, I dated this guy (minus the trench coat). What happened? No we are not married, but I am now married to a woman. (Thus the problem.) My Lloyd Dobler was very understanding of this when I "came-out" to him a few years later. He actualy jumped up and gave me a hug and said "congratulations!"
He is out in Oregon with some lucky wife and kids on the way.
I now have a best friend and I am looking for another real-life Lloyd Dobler for her.
John Cusak the man of the 80's & 90's. If you never saw Say Anything, go find it now and watch it. It will have you laughing, crying and wanting to meet your Lloyd Dobler or find one for your single friends.

CMA's 2012

I was lucky enough to wrestle the remote away from my family in order to watch some snippets of the CMA's (Country Music Awards). There has to be other country fans out here. I haven't met many though.
I wasn't always a country fan. In college, I had a hard time getting up in the morning. I didn't drink (much) in college, but I just stayed up late. I either had a late away basketball game or a lot of homework. Anyway, I set my clock radio to a local Pennsylvania country station because I knew I would get up to turn it off. Country music was THAT bad to me . . . I remember for a year almost every morning I woke to "Dust on the Bottle" by David Lee Murphy.
But somewhere between college, New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, and now New England, I became a country music lover. I think it was North Carolina and Florida that did it to me. The only stations strong enough were country stations and I needed music.
What about country? Nobody else in my family loves it. I love the stories, I love the silliness of it, and I loved the feeling of family that you see at the CMA's.
I only got a snippet of it, but boy it was nice to spend a second with windows down, twang of the guitar, cowboy hat wearing, and southern drawls.

Too hot, too cold- Get the Kids Outdoors More

"It's too hot." "It's too cold." These are the responses I get from my kids when I ask them to go out and play.
Do your remember the people on WALL-E the cartoon? They were obese, their bone density had decreased, they could hardly walk, and just stared at a monitor all day? Ok, I don't think we are there yet, but we are headed that way.
When I was growing-up (I know this is the dreaded "old person's" way to start a conversation) we only had television (a couple dozen channels) and Atari. Besides the frequent Saturday morning scheduling of cartoons, I was not glued to the television. I am so thankful I did not have to overcome the temptation today's youth have. Being able to instantly communicate via computer or text with a friend, surfing the net for information on everything, and intricate video games.
I would never have left home.
So, how do we do it now?

1. Start them Young: Anything we can do to start kids enjoying the outdoors while they are young, the better chance they will continue that.
2. You get out. You as the caregiver/parent need to role model being outdoors. Even when I need to do some work from home, I try to bring the paperwork outside to do it (not in the winter though).
3. Go camping. Talk about full exposure.
4. Give them something to do outside. When I was trying to find out the best way to hang a swing for kids, I read something that said, "A swing entices kids to come outdoors." I have found that to be so true. Kids are gravitated to it. Get them something to play with (volleyball net, basketball hoop, back-catch, bubbles, bocce, etc).
5. Get them interested in nature. Give them a camera, bug catching kit, a nature book, or set-up a nature scavenger hunt.
6. Do planned activities outdoors. Plan a cook-out, a hike, cloud watching, a festival, picnic on a blanket, a guided nature walk, a zoo trip, etc.
7. For those who like art, set-up an easel to draw landscapes or nature.
8. Visit waterfalls or other nature spots.
9. Set-up a fort, kids area for activities, a patio or deck. A deck I have been told invites adults to come outside. I am not sure what it is about wooden planks being over a yard verse a table sitting on the grass, but hey if it works.
10. Have a schedule. Home from school, snack, and get outside.
11. Turn off the electronics. (TV, computer, games, not the fridge etc).

If all else fails, sit them down inside and start a story about "When I was your age. . . " They will be running for the outdoors.

Not sick, but not going to work.

I am a big fan of taking care of yourself. Even if you are not sick, you can still stay home from work. I get a Bizillion sick days, and personal, vacation days on top of that. I am one of the lucky people who only get sick a few days out the year, and unfortunately they are usually on the weekend.
So, what happens to my sicks days, they sit in my pay check and play poker with each other.
Take a day off! I tell my staff that all the time. Take it off, plan it to take it off, or wake up and say, "The heck I am staying home today, going to the beach, or going for a hike."
Taking Monday or Friday off is a double bonus, THREE DAY WEEKEND.
Look, as long as your are doing your job, don't worry about it.
Take care of yourself. Life is too short. It is too short. You will never get to all those place "you are supposed to go before you die." Has anyboyd done that. So circle a few and go.
Better yet, keep a list. I am big on lists. A list entitled, "things I will do when I have more time." And then take time off and do them. Have fun cutting your toe nails!

At the End of my Rope, Glad I Tied a Knot the Last Time I was Here

"I am at the end of my rope, I am glad I tied a knot the last time I was here." I have only lived for 37 years but feel that I have had my fair share of ups and downs. I am having a wonderful life. I have not quite hit rock bottom, but I definite know what it looks like as I dangled from the end of my rope.
Lately, I have been having some difficulties . . . work, money, etc and have been stressed to the point I had been losing sleep (something that has only happened 3 times in my life). I am big on using analogies and I can comfortably say I have a knot at the end of this rope. It is much easier to hold on that way.
I think eventually, I will tie several knots in this rope so that I don't slide down as easily and so it makes it easier to climb back up. I was never good at climbing ropes. When I was younger in elementary school we had this thing called Extended Learner. Some kids got picked for Extended Learner Art, Science, Math. I got picked for Extended Learner Gym. I could hang with the best of them. There were probably 20 kids in this class and only 3 were girls. I could run as fast, dribble and shoot as well, but I could not climb that damn rope! Still 30 years later I am still a little pissed at that. I could do some mean break-dancing though.
Ok back off my tangent. I think is important in life to have some perspective to ground you. For some this comes in religion or spirituality, some in philosophy. For me, right now it is that I luckily have a knot at the end of my rope.

Movin' Chairs with My CEO

Yesterday I had a new hire start. I usually spend a few hours on my team members first day going over paperwork, policies, etc. During this time my new hire stated, "It is very important to have a supervisor whom you can trust." (I am not sure if they said whom or who.) I paused for a second, and took a few deep breathes, and said, "Yes, you are so right."
A few days ago my company moved sites. We moved from a small venue to a huge office building and merged with four other programs of our agency including the Administration Office which includes the VP's, CFO, HR, and CEO. If you have ever gone through an office move, it can be very hectic. I am lucky because my team has taken it like champs. They have dealt with not having internet nor access to our shared drive along with not having our physical mailboxes and mail room set-up.
I have a huge all-day training today and went up to the training room to see if the room was set-up. I went up and to my dismay the room not only was empty of furniture I needed, but had boxes and chairs that were being sent back to the dealer in it. Let me say, I was a little disappointed and anxious about where to sit 20+ people for the day.
In high-heels and with a smile my CEO came out of her office and helped me move chairs in the training room, move the boxes to the closet and delegated to get the room set-up for tomorrow. I was so in awe that she took time to do this. (Not that she usually was not helpful, I have limited interaction with her.) I was so thankful for her help and time.
When I thought back on it, I am not sure why I was in awe. I am very similar. I have a roll your sleeves up and get to work kind of attitude. When I was a residential director I was out in the mud and rain helping de-escalate a youth. Just a few days ago, I was on the floor plugging in computers. Last week I emptied the fridge and cleaned it out at work.
I go by the motto, "I would never ask my staff to do something that I would not do myself."
I have decided I am a great supervisor, and my supervisees are lucky to have me. I should email them about the party they should have for me. (I can't help but think the title of this post could be a country song.)

How to Give Potentially Bad News

Lately as a supervisor I have had to give potentially bad news. Throughout our lives we have to give "bad news" to people. As a leader, it is tricky of how to deliver bad news. At times, you need to hold back your own emotions on the news, but also validate how this change or information impacts the team.

First: I was thinking of the phrase "potentially bad news." You first have to decide if this is actually bad news. I might think it is bad, but will my audience think it is bad? If it is only me who thinks it is bad, then I need to deal with it myself.

Second: You are confident the audience (your team, your family, your friends) will consider this bad news. Now you have to come up with a game plan. There are several tactics I have taken.

• Downplay the news. This seldom is fully successful but might take some of the bite out of the news.
• Distract. Tell the news but then change the subject.
• Validate & Empathize. I think this always has to be an ingredient. It, however, cannot be overused and has to be coupled with "how are we moving on from here."
• Donuts & O.J. Couple something good with the bad news. This back-fired on one agency. Everytime they had to tell people bad news, they brought a ton of food to the meeting. The workforce came to associate food with bad news.
• Fictional Horrible News. You can tell them untrue bad news. For example, if you have to tell your staff that they have to sign-in and out of the office everyday, tell them they are are going to be given gps devices so you can track them. Okay that one is a little far-fetched. I have seen kids use this tactic on parents. There is the classic letter that was sent by a college girl to her parents stating: she moved across the country, married into some cult, got a tattoo, etc etc. Then at the end of the letter she writes, no I actually am just failing math.
• Have a Plan. This is probably one of the most successful tactics I have had. If there is a change or some bad news, how are you going to weather this information? What is your plan moving forward? Have the team come up with some plans. This should be coupled with some accurate amount of empathy and validation.
• Don't Say Change is Opportunity! That translation is wrong anyway. At least that is what I read.
• Radical Acceptance. Teach people the DBT term. It means figure-out what you can change and not change. Change the things you can and find a way to accept then ones you cannot change. This is very similar to the Serenity Prayer.
• Be supportive. If you are a strong leader, people will look to you. There are few leaders who I would follow into a raging inferno, but they do exist. I feel like my team would follow me blindly into a charge. I do not take that trust lightly. That is a big responsibility.

My Best Wake-ups

My best wake-ups.

Above & below are pictures of a sunrise viewed from Cadillac Mtn. in Acadia N.P.
This makes me think of some of my favorite G-rated ways of waking-up.
Waking up in the Florida Everglades with tree frogs looking down at me through my tent mesh. Under a Utah sky in the middle of some random dessert.
In June falling asleep on the grass under a star filled sky in the Grand Tetons. Pulling my Sierra Design mummy sack drawstring so my eyes were uncovered and peered at the star above. Waking with my sleeping back covered in snow, me still warm, and sitting up to two moose 30 yards from me.
Waking facing the blue sky with a gunnel on each side of me and thwart in front of me as my canoe meandered around a small lake.
Waking after publishing my first book, Trail Swap.
The outdoors renews, revives, and inspires.