Funny How Time Slips Away

Eleven years ago today, I had been a married woman for one day.

Ten years ago today, we were getting ready to attend the Las Vegas wedding of our dear friends.

Nine years ago today, we were thinking about moving out of the apartment complex in the Spring.

Eight years ago today, we went to Octoberfest to celebrate our anniversary.

Seven years ago today, we still couldn't believe that America had been attacked by a foreign enemy.

Six years ago today, we had come home from Shreveport instead of spending the night - it was NOT Las Vegas.

Five years ago today, we were recovering from a big party at our friends' house - they had a cake for us, which was a big surprise.

Four years ago today, we were adjusting to life with a beautiful new baby.

Three years ago today, everything we touched turned to gold.

Two years ago today, all the job transfers were finished and we were together under one roof again.

One year ago today, we were having a fabulous vacation to celebrate ten years.

Today, I am still so grateful that he picked me.

I love you, Dave.

Happy Birthday, Baby

An open letter to the (as of today) Four Year Old:

In the event that you ever look back and read Mommy's blog - today was your 4th birthday! Every year I remember exactly what I was doing throughout the day you were born, including the time you made your first appearance - 3:53 p.m. CDT. This year, we had your birthday party at the gymnastics place, and so many people came to celebrate. It was a great party - your friends and family from near and far came to see you for your party, and all weekend long. So many people talked about your excellent manners, and how sweet you are. I'm a little sad because you just fell asleep, and now your birthday celebration is over...we had a long weekend, and birthday-ed all the way through. I can't believe that you're already 4 years old - it seems like such a short time ago that you were a little baby. You don't have a baby book yet - all the memories of your firsts are stored up in our heads, and we go back and visit them more often than you think. When you come up with some insightful comment, we remark to each other about how lucky we are to have such a sweet, sensitive, and intelligent son...and think back to how we felt the first time you looked at us and said our names. You're a gift to us...and like a wise man once said, we'll never be able to give you enough to repay all the joy that you've given your parents. When you are older, and things lose their wonder a little bit, I hope that you'll look back on times like your 4th Birthday Weekend, and remember a little bit of the magic that comes with surprises, and playing with new toys, and jumping on a trampoline. We love you more than you will ever know, and are thankful every day that God saw fit to bless us with you.

Your parents,
Mommy and Daddy

I Always Feel Like...Somebody's Watching Me...

The world of recruiting is changing drastically - instead of using a passive method of posting a job and waiting for candidates to arrive, the focus has shifted to active direct sourcing. In order to find quality candidates, the use of internet mining skills has become commonplace.

Social networking sites are one of the gold mines for finding candidates. Profiles, memberships in professional organizations, and resumes abound in these sites. Users on many of the sites focus on their career accomplishments and current industry contacts.

Other social networking sites are more of an online meeting place for people to share personal information. While many of the "pages" are tame, others contain details of a nature that the average job seeker would not want to share with a potential employer. One site in particular was developed for college students; only people with an e-mail address ending in .edu could join. That changed, and now the site is open to anyone. Creating a membership is simple, and allows for searching profiles.

Savvy job candidates, passive and active, should keep this in mind. Think of it this way - if you check out a blind date's page before committing to spending one evening together, it stands to reason that an employer would want to look at the same information before basically marrying you. Recruiters also check out this info to make sure that they aren't presenting a candidate who could turn out to be a potential embarrassment. Sorry, but there it is. I've been told by a candidate "it's none of their business!" to which my response was "you put it on the INTERNET, pal - with your name, city, and a photograph so there couldn't be any mistakes...exactly how private did you think it would be?"

And that's really the key...we all leave our fingerprints on the internet. If they're too sticky, it's just good housekeeping to wipe them up and do some general cleaning.

I'm thinking of a certain Grammarian...

...and I think this might make her laugh.

I'm sore, and not in a World War II movie dialogue kind of way...

Recently (two days ago) I grabbed myself by the collar, and made me start working out again. As some of you may know, I lost about 50 pounds last year. It was a life and wardrobe altering event, and now my task is to maintain the less of me to love.

I also had a flash in the shower that I really want to outlive certain people I don't like, as it would greatly perturb me to see them coming to my funeral to gloat. But I digress.

So, here goes me, back on my elliptical glider. If you aren't familiar with the wonder that is an elliptical glider, it's a delightful machine that uses the same muscles as running, without the jarring pain to one's joints. I do love to exercise, the way I feel after is bliss...and I'm trying to not analyze that too much as it would only make sense that the end of pain is by nature blissful. To help me in my endeavor, Dave made a playlist of music to keep me going during my self torture. The first of my dear readers who can state the historical significance of the playlist title will be featured in a future blog post. The playlist title is "Pump YOU up". Start guessing!

Three Year Old finds my exercise to be quite entertaining. Should we happen into the office, where the elliptical glider lives, he will say "Exercise, Mommy". Explaining to him that I've already tackled that part of my day doesn't alleviate his wish to see more of what I'm sure looks like Gerbil Mommy.

In other news, I'm not sure if I previously mentioned that I removed my acrylic nails around Easter. It's been a frustrating run, but my natural nails are almost grown out, which makes me very happy. When I took off my acrylic nails, I also started doing my own pedicures, for a total monthly savings of about $100! I wish that I could say these funds have gone toward savings, but in actuality they have been used for transportation and food costs. And I'll now channel Forrest: that's all I have to say about that.

Last item of the day - if you haven't seen "Stranger than Fiction", I recommend that you watch it within the next 24 hours. The writing sounds like the running dialogue in my head which I loved, it's very well acted, and keep an eye out for the interviewer on the TV show - it's none other than Kristin Chenoweth (Broken Arrow, OK native). Seriously one of the BEST movies I've seen in a long time.

Whoops, sorry, I lied. One more thing - Season 3? Outstanding. And thus begins the jonesing for Season 4...

As Promised...

Since it's obvious that people who *desperately* need to improve their e-mail etiquette have no intention whatsoever of reading the scores of articles readily available both online and in print regarding the topic, I shall proceed with my vent as follows, with names not included to protect the identity of the perps:

Item 1: Hysterical Use of the Urgent Marker
Have the aliens landed? Am I about to get fired? Will we lose our client if I don't respond to your e-mail *right*damn*now*? Are human lives hanging in the balance? Does this issue matter in the least to anyone in the universe except you? If the answer to these questions is "no", then lay off the exclamation point, for the love of God. Yes, I understand that the problem is important and urgent to you. Please understand that currently, I am dealing with several other important and urgent items, and the fact that you want to share your frustration with your inability to reach another party is NOT URGENT. Look, the longest you've ever had to wait to hear back from me, even if it's "hold the fort, the cavalry is coming" is roughly 15 minutes, and that was when I was eating lunch. Please, calm down. I'm very suggestible and you are making me twitchy.

Item 2: Answering One Part of a Two-Part Question
After I took the time to analyze the situation, determine the proper course of action, and request two stinking details, it would be really super sweet of you to actually read the whole three sentences of my e-mail. You see, I've asked for information and now I have to ask again, and wait for you to respond. This is irritating to me, as I loathe repeating the same task. Repeating the same information is no problem at all, but this is just rude.

Item 3: Total Disregard of Time Zones
Here's a news flash: in the United States ALONE, there are actually four separate time zones! They are divided based on geography, and as such, those who reside in other parts of the United States may be operating on a different time zone. As an interesting compare and contrast, when you send me an URGENT e-mail at 7 a.m. EST, it is 6 a.m. in my world, and 4 a.m. for the person you carbon copied. Here's an idea: pick up that item with buttons on it, push in the numbers of my cell phone, and hold it to your ear. It's called a phone, and back before humans started losing their ability to speak, it was how we communicated actually urgent problems. This skill may come in handy for you, as I don't think there is yet an e-mail address for 911. We can't hear your exclamation point, no matter how loudly you type.

I think that about covers it for this episode - there's a baked potato with my name on it and I'm sure that my fair readers will think I'm simmering with bile. Thank you for allowing me to vent, and please remember that a baked potato for me is ALWAYS worthy of an exclamation point.

The Shape of Things to Come

Things I Have Been Doing Lately Instead of Posting on my Blog:

1. Keeping a secret (see #2)
   
2. Learning my new job (yay!!!!)
3. Taking a weekend trip to Dallas
4. Laundry
5. Bringing home a kitten
6. Watching Season 3 of BSG (thank you, Brian!)
7. Cleaning up the kitchen
8. Suffering from seasonal allergies
9. Trying to win the lottery
10. Most important - stepping away from the computer and spending time with Dave and Three Year Old :-)

I would say that I promise to improve the frequency of my posts, but I'd hate to be a deadbeat blogger - making promises that I know I can't keep. So, I'll say this: as much as possible, I'll regularly update my blog...now that's an achievable objective :-)

Multitasking vs. Prioritizing

I dislike the term "multitasking". Anyone can say they multitask - by virtue of the fact that a human can breathe, digest, and walk at the same time, we're all multitaskers. In reviewing resumes, recruiters look for content - specific information that gives some kind of inkling as to how the job candidate spends his or her days. Then we use a term like "multitasking" to describe the position we are advertising.

A few years ago, a study came out stating the human brain isn't meant to multitask in the way the term is commonly defined. We are supposed to focus on one concept, then another, not two or more simultaneously. Personally, I think it's an evolutionary step - our environment and our jobs require that we filter out extraneous noise, evaluate and accept or reject incoming data while simultaneously completing tasks. We're bombarded with information, and at some point we had to learn how to take it in without allowing it to consume the focus of our thoughts.

From my view, a better way to find out if a person has the ability to successfully manage incoming data, noise pollution, and the tasks of the job is to focus on the ability to prioritize and change focus quickly. A question from a manager may not be more important than the task at hand, however it has a higher priority and must be addressed as expeditiously as possible. A good interview question to learn about this ability might be "Tell me about a time when you were working on an important project with a tight deadline, and your manager asked you to answer a question. What did you do?" For an entry-level candidate, the best answer is "I asked my manager for direction as to which was higher priority, the question or my project". A mid-career worker would probably say "I answered the question and returned to my project, and met the deadline". A high-level employee might respond "I delegated the question to a member of my staff who had the data readily available, and followed up with my manager to make sure the information was delivered." These are all the right answer, and appropriate responses.

Sadly, the need for prioritizing is simply lost on some people. In terms of skills, this is a trainable area of focus for those of us who mentor, supervise, or coach. For some people, this is an innate ability - they know that you don't open your e-mail based on order of receipt, but instead on order of importance. (I'll save my diatribe regarding non-urgent items marked as urgent for another day - but that's coming, too). There are many books and articles available with great suggestions for learning to prioritize.

From my perspective, here is the best question to ask when trying to decide which item is most important - who do you LEAST want calling your boss to follow up? There's the first priority of the day.

Why Mess with a Good Title

I am far too lazy to set up an entirely new blog. Besides, I have about 83165841 logins and passwords taking up valuable real estate in my brain. So, the song remains the same.

Today I will share a little nugget from HR Land, where the roads are paved with checklists and we love process outlines. Twice in the last week, I've had the distinct pleasure of fielding questions regarding candidates who decided that "f**k" is an appropriate word to use when communicating to a recruiter the sense of loss felt upon learning that they would not be moving forward in the interview process. To clarify, I am not referring to the sideways "f**k" that slips out during conversation, I'm talking about the written "f**k", the "f**k" that took time, fingers, and a mouse click on another 4 letter word, "send" to deliver unto the recipient's inbox. Please don't misunderstand, those who have had the distinct displeasure of speaking with me when I have reached my saturation level of frustration know that if swearing were an olympic event, I'd do my country proud. We're all our own marketing and sales department when it comes to looking for a new job - I guess some people aren't meeting their quota this week.

Changing My Focus

After a discussion the regarding the merits and lack thereof related to blogging, I've decided to change my focus. I think the best path is going to be discussion related to my field, to give my blog some direction and focus. So, I'm working on the new model and I'll update this one with the new address as soon as it's up and running.

Thanks for reading!

Lost and Found

I have found new glory in wearing glasses, since I got these. I picked burgundy. Thank you, vision insurance.

I have lost my patience completely. Please let me know if you find it.

The Joys of You Tube

I think this is funny. Europe was awesome. In a way that is not awesome. As in I don't feel the need to revisit their music. But this is pretty good.

Happy Easter!

I enjoy this. Have a great Easter!

Going Through the Change

Last month, I embarked on an adventure, an experiment of sorts. I decided that until further notice, but at least for the rest of this year, I am on a shopping ban. That's right. I heard of others doing it, and decided to give it a whirl.

Dave's not a shopper - he sees things that he wants, but I honestly can't remember the last time he went to the store and bought something for himself. Seriously.

Keep in mind that while we have good taste and discerning style, we haven't lived an extravagant lifestyle. For the year prior to the purchase of our home in Texas, we purchased no new goods. Earlier in our marriage, I wore a pair of Dave's jeans for the better part of a year - mine had worn out, the weather was warm, and participating in "jeans day" wasn't the point of my existence. We pack our lunches, do our grocery shopping at three different stores to get the best deals, subscribe to no movie channels, etc.

Back to today. It's a matter of efficiency and economics. We live in a moderately sized home, the majority of which is taken up by the belongings of a little boy. There is really nothing that we "need". We have plenty of clothing, cookware, linens, etc. Given the current economic climate, we decided that the best we could do was to live as frugally as possible, and save every extra dime.

There's a limit to how much can go out the door, anyway - when it costs over $3 per gallon to put gas in the vehicles, something has to go - last month it was Netflix, this month it was my acrylic nails. And so dwindles my contribution to the GNP.

That said, I love to shop. I love the order in the stores, the organized racks, and all the pretty colors. I love the brief exchanges between shoppers, shared compliments and anecdotes. I love the camaraderie of being around others who like the same things I do. The smallest purchase can give me a great amount of satisfaction. The purchases I love the most are the ones where I score a new thing for a great deal. What I realized when examining what I like about shopping is that the buying part isn't really what I enjoy most. I can still have all the parts that I enjoy - but my wallet doesn't get to come out and play.

This has been very empowering - I feel smarter, and more savvy. I like that I don't have to feel guilty about buying a new decorative plate when I don't really need it, or finding some way to justify a new bag. As an added advantage, we generate less trash.

There are exceptions - gift items are still allowed, as are things for Three Year Old. If I wear out a necessity item, and don't have a viable substitute on hand, that's game. (I can't think of an existing substitute in our home for, say, tires.)

The whole thing has been nice - a decision, rather than a necessity. I guess that I just changed my mind.

The Kiddie Nostra

I think it's amazing that children seem to just know when it's time to do something new. So, this is how I think it works - every month, they have a conference call. They use their little toy cell phones, dial in, and it sounds something like this:

"Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining. The beeps are slowing down, so I think we can go ahead and get started. Please remember that there are a lot of people on this call, so be sure to put your phone on mute. It's 'star 6' to mute, and then 'star 6' again to unmute. As a reminder, this is 'Three and a Half Year old Boy' call, so if that's not you, go ahead and drop off now. OK, thanks.

We'll start off this month's call with the add/deletes. The list is pretty short, but let's run through. The biggest delete this month is pooping your pants. That one's over, guys. The other items on the delete list are naps on the weekends, substituting the f sound for the s sound, and pretending not to know where your toys go - we're not saying you need to consistently pick them up yet - that may never make it on the list - just make sure to read the signals and if it's going to result in a spanking, put the toy away. We need to start focusing on ways to save our butts, literally. Finally, the last delete is Blue's Clues - it's run it's course for us.

On the adds list, if you haven't already done so, make sure to incorporate the words 'always' and 'never' as much as possible into your vocabulary. It's critical that we do this - we aren't at the stage where we understand time completely, and extreme statements are going to help get us there. Some good usage examples are 'I'm NEVER going to get to play with my toys again', and 'You ALWAYS make me go to bed'. Get started with these statements, and be creative - think outside the toy box. A major add for this month is zipping your own jacket. Also, putting your clothes on all by yourself is another one - these are big, so congrats to everyone on all the hard work to get them done.

As a heads-up, there will be an add on a future call for writing your own name. Two months ago we covered recognizing the letters in your name, and we know that you've all been working hard to master writing. Be sure to cooperate with at least every third request from your Mommy and/or Daddy to do writing practice. This is an important one, guys - it will never go on the delete list.

Also, keep in mind that it's still cold outside, so we should still be demanding to wear short sleeve shirts, shorts, and sandals. There will be a reminder on the August call that you should be throwing a fit on a weekly basis to wear your winter coat.

Finally, because there have been so many big add/deletes this month, next month's call will consist primarily of a workshop entitled 'Pack Your Toys, We're Going on a Guilt Trip'. This skill set is critical, and we want to make sure everyone has the tools to really drill down on Mommy and Daddy guilt - drop off at nursery school is a great opportunity for practice. Those of you who don't attend nursery school will have to make a big push on nights when Mommy and Daddy go out to dinner. Remember, the bigger the guilt trip, the shorter the date night - however, you have to be asleep before they return, so stay away from sugar and caffeine for at least 4 hours prior. Performance enhancers are great, but you need to learn how to build this skill naturally.

That wraps up everything we needed to cover today - does anyone have questions?"

Random Poll

Dave and I have come up with a list of new possible "theme months" - all the ones in the calendar are taken, however there seems to be a good amount of overlap among the focus groups. So, please vote for your favorite:

1. Go Beige! Month
2. Scrotumular Fortitude Month
3. Watch TV for the Cure Month
4. Dust Mite Awareness Month
5. Coulrophobia Awareness Month (that one's for you, Brian)
6. Fight Back Fat! Month
7. Something Having to do with Multiculturalism Month

Real Life Parenting

If you've never had a Three Year Old, and are curious as to how a typical conversation goes, this is pretty much a solid reflection of my experience as a parent.

Blegh

We have a visitor at our house, and it's called the flu. I've been sick since Monday, and Dave's got it now, too. I haven't had the flu in years and years, and now I remember why it's such a blight on mankind. We've been extremely busy lately, and I'm sad to say, burning the candle at both ends, which probably played into this revolting outcome. So, lesson learned and all of that. From everything bad comes something good, which is that being sick took care of my problems with quitting smoking. Three Year Old hasn't gotten the flu yet - he has an ear infection - mainly he hasn't contracted it because he's been away from us for the better part of this week. We miss him so bad we can't stand it, but we don't want to have him get sick as a result of his parents' selfish wish to snuggle him.

So, Three Year Old, we know that you don't read Mommy's blog, but if you can get blogvibes - we love you very much and hope you're having fun - and tomorrow we'll have movie night on the floor with no shoes.

Earth Passes through Tail of Comet...Film at 11

Again, I don't have much new to report - I'm just not very exciting right now! I am in the process of quitting smoking - even though I'm not Catholic, I've decided to give it up for Lent. I'm not trying to be a smartass here - I know that I will break my self-improvement promises to myself on a whim. It just carries more weight when it's a promise to God that I'm going to do better. Today I've smoked 7 cigarettes so far - this may not sound like progress, until I say that I've usually smoked 7 cigarettes by 10 a.m. at the latest. The cinnamon nicotine gum isn't bad either, after you get past that whole "tingle", which would better be described as "razor blade feeling in your gums". I haven't been overly snippy either, even though I was presented with several choice opportunities for annihilation of my enemies today. Hence, the "Earth is passing through the tail of a comet" theory - I've been rather amazed at the level of idiocy that I encountered today - it went across racial, geographical, and political boundaries. This disturbing trend first presented itself at my desk almost 2 weeks ago, during a full moon. I used the "cycle of the moon" explanation, and moved on with my life. Here I sit, two weeks later, wondering what fresh hell will be visited upon me via my work e-mail. From the ridiculous to the sublime, really. Fortunately, since I'm mentally ill, I've been able to keep my sense of humor about it, to the point of including photos from www.despair.com in my PowerPoint presentations to my team. If they don't think it's funny, at least it will serve as concrete evidence if I need to go on short term disability for a sabbatical at the local establishment for the very very disturbed.

On another note, I moved into a new office. This office is far better than my old office, as it is much larger, and sports a ceiling in addition to doors and walls. Please heed my advice here - if you ever have an office with doors and walls but no ceiling, the acoustics will be such that if you want to have a private conversation, leave the door OPEN. I'm located near a door, a restroom, and the cafeteria - it's quite wonderful. I also have very kind security guards seated right outside, and that makes me smile too.

...and we're back.

The last week has been an insane whirlwind of activity...trip to Florida, meetings there, trip back from Florida, visit from Mom, visit from Dave's parents, and getting back to work.

I've decided that the only way I can possibly come close to being a decent housekeeper is to either invite houseguests, or host parties regularly. I don't tolerate filth, but I'm not so great about clutter...and since I'm blind, I don't really see the dust...I just know that it's there. Our house usually gets a deep cleaning on the following occasions:

1. Prior to Three Year Old's birthday parties
2. Prior to Houseguests Visiting
3. Prior to Events Hosted at Our House*

*when the guest list includes individuals who don't frequently drop by, and are therefore not accustomed to my comfort level with a "lived in" look.

Part of the problem is that I piddle around when cleaning the house - instead of just straightening up the bathroom, I clean out the medicine cabinet, fold the towels, bring in some candles, hang a picture, you get the idea. Therefore, cleaning the house is a day long process for me, culminating in my frustration and anger at the world when I'm down to the wire and still haven't mopped the hideous linoleum in my kitchen. (Seriously, it's a waste of time. The only thing that would make that floor look good is a new floor. Why bother?)

Upon reading this post, I'm actually getting kind of proud of me. I'm a very "Type A" personality, and I hate that reference with a passion. I'm detailed, picky, and a perfectionist. When a coworker asked me how I lost so much weight, and I said "stress", she replied that when she got stressed out, she ate more. I told her that she needed to worry more, because the diet doesn't really work until you're nauseated by the thoughts of impending doom circling in your brain. So, maybe it isn't so bad that I'm not the most wonderful housekeeper in the whole world - maybe that means that instead of getting wrapped up about how the house looks, I'm doing what I really want to do at home - spending time with my family. Maybe other people like to drop by our house because it is comfortable - there are stacks of magazines to read, plenty of places to put up your feet, and an inflatable bed if you're too tired to go home...or if you break your neck trying to walk across the room and need a place to stay while you recover.

On a totally unrelated note, we saw "Cloverfield" this weekend, and it ROCKS. If you are a fan of disaster movies, this one is not to be missed. Go see it, and think of how I told you it was good during the discussion of "flaming homeless guy".

Trepidation...

At 6:00 on Tuesday morning, I depart for sunny Orlando, FL, for 3 days and 2 nights of meetings and socializing with my colleagues and management. It's the semi-annual meeting of the "Leadership Team", which I think should be renamed to "The A Team" - not to insinuate that we fight crime while riding around in a van, but rather to offer up possibilities for the meaning of the "A". Attentive, Aspiring, Apathetic, Androgynous (well, that doesn't really work), Argumentative (that does) - the list goes on and on.

In my quest to remain positive (despite the fact that I hate being separated from Dave and Three Year Old for one day, let alone for this long, and I don't like air travel, and it's supposed to rain the whole time I'm there so my hair will look like shit, and I'll have to work at night after the socialization time which means I'm going to be very tired), below is a list of things I'm looking forward to about this trip, in order of importance:

1. Getting to see the wonderful Jennifer, who never tires of being "voice of reason" in the face of my tendency toward "loose cannon".
2. COACH OUTLET!!! AND I HAVE $75 IN GIFT CARDS!!!
3. COACH OUTLET!!! AND I HAVE $75 IN GIFT CARDS!!!
4. Moving on, as a corollary, the fact that my Director is taking me and Jennifer to the COACH OUTLET on Thursday morning. She's also the source of one of those gift cards.
5. Walking through Disney on the boardwalk, finding perfect presents for Dave and Three Year Old.
6. Trying to top the "Buzz Lightyear Phone" gift to Three Year Old from August 2007.
7. COACH OUTLET!!! AND I HAVE $75 IN GIFT CARDS!!!
8. Seeing my other colleagues and managers face to face, which only happens about twice a year.
9. The Heavenly Bed at the Swan Hotel where I am staying, courtesy of my employer (nice, huh?).
10. Sending postcards to my family and friends.

I'll update with a recap upon return - things are very hectic right now, so please forgive the delays between posts.

Have a great week!

Resolved: New Years Resolutions Require Serious Life Choices

As a debater, I can't hear the word "resolution" without creating a value proposition and constructing a prima facie case. It occurred to me this morning, as I was drafting and rejecting new year's resolutions, that when one decides to make a change, he/she is actually choosing a new life. For example, resolving to entertain more frequently requires a corollary resolution to be a better housekeeper. In another parallel, all resolutions must follow more or less the same path - it's not possible to resolve to be a better employee while simultaneously resolving to learn the ancient craft of embezzlement.

My resolutions are hazy at the moment - I'm attempting to clarify them, and keep their numbers to a real and achievable level. Given my tendency to overcommit, and associated leaning toward harsh self criticism, I don't want to set myself up for an uncomfortable conversation with me later this year.

Hope your 2008 is great so far! My first goal is complete - 1-800-CONTACTS has received my order, paid with my shiny new Flexible Spending Account card. Now THAT'S an achievable goal.