Today would have been the 40th birthday of my childhood best friend. I think about how much that would have freaked him out; milestones always did have that effect on him. We’d only had sporadic contact during the last few years, but we knew each other inside out. All it took was one call, one…
Category Archives: life
The Body Snatchers
Queen for a Day? A friend recently went to a team-building event for work, and came home with the following question: If you could do a Freaky Friday sort of switch, taking over the body of someone in any job for one day, what would it be? No pre-existing skills are necessary, and your presence…
Thank You!
Fundraising with Team in Training As most of you know, I’ve spent the past five months as a captain with Team in Training, raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And I have to admit, it was a lot of work. Being a captain is kind of like being the team mom: it was…
NBC: Have you Heard of Wikipedia?
Why Are the NBC Olympics So Awful? While social media users jump on the #NBCfail hashtag and coffee shop conversations revolve around how awful and inane the commentary has been, I’ve been reluctant to jump on the NBC-bashing bandwagon, in spite of the fact that they’re mocking us for it in London. What I do…
A Kickstarter for the Classroom
It’s that time of year again: the time when we get the pleas for donating to The Fund at school. The Fund is designed to funnel money into more than a dozen different programs at the elementary school, including: Class size reduction for K-3 Art Music Physical education Custodial services Technology Library assistant Reading programs…
The Marketing Machine
I’m as much a part of the marketing machine as anyone, creating the messages that try to convince select niche markets that they absolutely, positively need to spend their money on a particular product or service. And yet, when presented with a holiday like Valentine’s Day — something that’s hyped from the youngest preschool classroom…
Lego for Girls
In the past week, I’ve heard lots of people talking about the new Lego Friends (a.k.a. Lego for Girls) and how they wished that they would be released in time for Christmas so they could give them to their daughters, granddaughters and nieces. Wired did a great overview of the forthcoming sets. The main characters…
The Volt
Here’s all you really need to know about the Chevy Volt: it’s a car that you want to drive. I used to have Prius envy, pretty much ever since my father got his in 2004. I rented them from Hertz at every available opportunity. There was something about the Prius that soothed my inner do-gooder…
Why You Hate Public Speaking
Everyone hates public speaking, right? Ask almost anyone, even the most accomplished speakers, and they tell you that they get twitchy before they go on stage. But why? Public speaking is just talking, and everyone I know can talk. I blame school. (I have no doubt that my teacher friends will be stopping by to…
The Three Jobs
I told my son that at this point in his young life, he has three very important jobs. Listen to your parents/teachers/grandparents. They’re telling you things for a reason, and no, you don’t know better than they do. Tell the truth. Always be curious and try new things. If he does these things, the rest…