Lise's Ramblings

It is gratifying to successfully wrap something up on your first attempt. Sure, we learn from our mistakes. And yes, the journey can sometimes be nearly as important as the end point or outcome. It’s even true that collaborating with others may lead to a better outcome and getting others to review your work will likely improve it overall. I can honestly say I’ve learned many things by joining forces with people who approach a task from an altogether different perspective than mine. The trick is to avoid getting sucked into that dreaded vortex, I dub version-control hell . Not sure if you've experienced it? Well, you've been there if you’ve ever opened a file that contains so many “track changes” colours that it looks like a 1960s psychedelic experiment. Deadly. Fortunately, every now and then, the stars align and your initial crack at something turns out to be THE one. Yes, a single, delicious take. AWESOME!

I am not referring to bumping into or talking to someone with whom you've been out of touch for ages. And just because someone from your past befriends you through Facebook, there isn't necessarily a genuine connection there either. I mean truly reconnecting. You know, when without even trying you skip over awkward silences and instantly fall into comfy conversation and your old groove. That doesn't happen with everyone, but when you do experience it... AWESOME!

Distributed to email subscribers on May 20, 2010 Call me strange, but I get a little rush when I discover a new word. Flipping through a dictionary doesn’t count. It has to be a chance encounter with the new-to-me word. I trip across them while reading books, blogs and my favourite magazines, or friends play these wild new words to rack up points during our Lexulous and Scrabble matches. There's a lot to be said for the magic of language. The whacked scientific terms I find at work don’t usually count, but yesterday I found a doozer while looking for a French term in the federal translation database. I needed to know the French equivalent for freezer/cold room and the database spat out this gem: pièce frigorifique. Not saying I agree with the translation, but who knew that anything could be frigorifique? AWESOME!

I’m not talking about the spring forward time of year when we steal daylight hours from the morning and tack them on to the end of the day. That’s cheating. No, I mean those late spring and early summer days that stretch far into the evening. My earlier blog entry on the Summer Solstice introduced this topic. Now I want to share the benefits. These added hours of daylight are so welcome, because many people experience: • Added productivity – Don’t you find you get so much more accomplished during the lengthened daylight hours? Whether it is projects at work or chores in the yard, we just seem to get more done. Can’t speak for everyone, but I’m certainly solar powered. • Guilt-free breaks – That extra productivity earns us relaxing days at the beach and other guilt-free time to play in the daylight. • A break from hours of buzzing fluorescent lights – Instead, natural light floods into workplaces sparing us all from the droning sounds emitted from office lights overhead. • An overall

At last you get word. That certain someone you care about is out of the danger zone and can come home from hospital. For everyone this marks an end to the worries, finger crossing and praying. For the patient, getting released represents so many positive things: • an end to the waiting game (e.g., when will the doctor visit with more test results or news, when is the nurse going to administer the next dose of meds); • the potential of a future with much less pain; • a return to privacy, control and independence – no more poking and prodding; • hope for quieter times without noisy carts, beeping equipment, announcements over loudspeakers, moaning and cantankerous fellow patients and their boisterous visitors; • a nearly full night’s rest without being awoken for vital checks or meds; • bidding farewell to fasting or clear fluids and welcoming REAL food; • heading out into clean, fresh air and leaving behind the stale institutional ventilation, foreign smells and the inevitable bed bugs

It is gut wrenching when gorgeous weather falls on a weekday. Even the most dedicated employees can feel the beach beckoning. Tremendous will power and focus are required to resist that urge to grab your sunglasses and drive to the shore. There’s no denying it, that call of the beach is potent. At the mere thought of going to the beach, your various senses are bombarded. Listen carefully and you can hear the cries of children jumping the waves and gulls flying overhead. Close your eyes and you can practically feel the warm sand between your toes, smell the fresh sea air, taste your favourite picnic food and see the words dancing across the page of your beach read. Fortunately, every now and then, the right weather and your time away from the office will intersect, so heed that call. Grab your family or friends, then head straight for the coastline. When a perfect beach day coincides with your weekend, you're likely to feel like a lottery winner. Getting consecutive beach

Have you ever coveted someone else’s pen? Okay, not everyone feels as strongly as I do about pens, but chances are you've felt their pull from time to time. Perhaps you've noticed a particularly smooth-writing pen a cashier gave you to sign a credit card slip. Or maybe you've felt like your pens are inadequate after you borrowed a different pen from a colleague to jot down a quick thought on a post-it note while in another office. Oh, the choices abound. Gel. Roller ball. Ballpoint. Fountain pen. Hell, a quill, if that’s what you fancy. Medium, fine point or micro scratchiness. (Does my bias scream through here?) Soft finger grip or not. Thin or thick neck. A heavily weighted barrel or a pen that barely registers any weight.. Black, purple, blue, green, fluorescent, metallic or any other colour from the rainbow of available ink. Whatever you choose, make it the perfect pen for you, at that very moment. It will make the task at hand that much better, whether you’re writing i

Far too often, hectic work schedules lead us to skip lunch and breaks. We arrive early and leave late. In between time, we motor through the day, juggling meetings, emails, calls, tweets and impromptu hallway updates from colleagues. Somewhere in that mix, we scrounge stray minutes and blocks of time to tackle plans and hammer out project deliverables. Oh, what a difference it makes when we manage to score time to take a quick break. Maybe you dash out to meet friends for quick bite at the local farmers’ market, scoot to your favourite restaurant to snag something delicious, sit at a picnic table with colleagues, or grab a sandwich and go for a brief walk or jog. Wherever you choose to go during your midday escape, the food you consume will fuel your body. The bonus is that if you stop for lunch you'll not only get the energy boost from eating, but the break will also recharge your mind and maybe even give you a fresh outlook on the rest of the day. So much so that you’ll be tempte

As many of you know, I finally decided to take my health into my own hands and get serious about fitness. As a first step, I signed up for Ufit’s grueling bootcamp classes this spring. Bootcamp ran through until July 20th. Step two has been to keep up the bootcamp homework sessions and alternate that with cardio workouts. So far, I’ve been uncharacteristically disciplined. My body is screaming at me, but I’m bound and determined to make this work. Having a dedicated partner in crime helps too!!! Step three is to cross the nearly 13-km long Confederation Bridge on FOOT. Yes, on September 19th I will walk/jog across the world’s longest bridge (to span ice-covered waters). What was an engineering feat for Canada will become a feat of endurance for me. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to participate in this special 30th anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope. My trek across the Confederation Bridge will also support cancer research to honour those I’ve lost to cancer as well as

It is such fun when you discover unexpected functionality in something you have had for years. When these hidden capabilities make you more productive, then they are even more appreciated. Maybe it is a quirky, but useful app for your mobile device. A quick and simple way to override your camera’s default settings. A one-touch button tucked away in your car to save you two or more steps than other buttons and gauges. Or a colleague shows you a software shortcut for your electronic calendar. Zip, zip, zip. Who knew you could dash about that quickly. Control – Alt – AWESOME !

Meetings can either help move a project along or eat chunks out of your work day. While some meetings are essential to our jobs, many meetings are unorganized and dull. Sadly, other meetings deteriorate into whining or worse yet, unprofessional and unconstructive fingerpointing. Coping mechanisms can help you get through the many meetings in your work week. Preparation. Thick skin. Bringing along a mug of your favourite tea. Certain meetings can also bring joy. You know the ones. They are cancelled at the last minute and cause an unexpected gap in an otherwise busy day. No matter how you choose to spend your "free" time, the beauty of a postponed or kiboshed meeting is in the surprise opening in your overcrowded Outlook calendar. AWESOME!

Ahhh, sink right on in. Your neck is well supported. There’s room to fold your legs up under you, but your feet can also touch the floor. The chair is tucked away in your own quiet nook. Sun can pour in through a nearby window to make you all toasty. The chair's fabric is cozy, not itchy or smelly. When you climb in, the chair doesn’t squeak or make any embarrassing sounds. So reach for your book, sip your tea and settle in. And if that's not up your alley, then boot up your laptop to catch up with friends via social media, or close your eyes and drift off to dream in your comfy chair. AWESOME!

Fun Dip, Bottlecaps, Starburst, Bazooka, Jawbreakers, Sweet Tarts, Juicy Fruit, Pez, Popeye Cigarettes, Candy necklaces, Swedish Berries, Pop Rocks, Jelly Belly beans, Kraft Caramels, Thrills, Chiclets… Sugar rush + blast from the past = AWESOME!

Squeals and shrieks. Giggles and guffaws. Laughs of all kinds, barring the highly annoying ones (recall Janice from “Friends” fame). A good belly laugh does wonders for just about anyone’s mood. Step that up a notch to contagious laughter and it's priceless. In the past week, I’ve been fortunate to be swept away by just such fits of laughter on a couple of occasions. The first time involved a young girl seated in the row ahead of us during a Sunday afternoon showing of “Despicable Me” at Charlottetown's Empire Theatres. Every time an animated character would say or do anything related to farts, the girl down front would let out peals of infectious laughter, which would cause our shoulders to shake with giggles. She may have made me chuckle as much as the movie did. :) The second case of giggle-itis was a serial episode. On two consecutive days this holiday weekend, I shared countless laughs that carried across sand and water. At both Greenwich and Lakeside—and I’m sure countl

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy indulging in food that really isn’t that good for you. With any luck, you’re better than me and you do so far less often, but that’s another story. For me, such indulgences mean popping into a Wendy’s. After debating whether to order something sweet or salty, I may opt for the former and order fries instead of a Frosty. The teenager at the cash register rings in my order, takes my pocket change and heads over to the stainless steel bin under the heat lamps. To the teen’s dismay, the drive-thru staffer has just scoffed the last of the fries. The teen looks forlorn and shifts from one foot to the other with impatience. Oh darn. I’ve missed out on the less-than-hot, straggler fries. I’ll just have to wait all of 30 to 45 seconds for first dibs at a fresh batch of salty yumminess. AWESOME!