Jury duty

I’m a good citizen. This week, I’m serving on a federal jury. Okay I didn’t really volunteer for that. But I’m doing it and I’m not complaining that much. I admit, it’s interesting. And entertaining. First of all, I am shocked at how slowly it goes in real life. On TV, they’d have convicted 20 felons by now.

Secondly, you know how those TV lawyers all know what to do all the time? I’m seeing a lot of mistakes. They need to rephrase, approach, etc. a lot. And last, but most important….

The female lawyers on TV – they have beautiful suits and wear amazing Jimmy Choo shoes. These women all have really practical shoes. Not all that attractive, I might add. Kind of like these.

So all in all, it’s been an educational week. And if I haven’t replied to your emails, it’s because I’m too busy analyzing the shoe selection of the feds.

Spaghetti frittata & everyone needs a role

I got a call asking me about the Spaghetti Frittata that I mentioned yesterday. It came from Bon Appetit in 2004 and I found it by searching my favorite recipe database, Epicurious.

I’ve admitted here – publicly – that I’m not a great cook. But I am a great recipe-picker-outer. This frittata was really great. So great that my dad took home the leftovers with a copy of the recipe for my mom. Of course, being home with a stomach flu, she might not have been excited to receive the recipe at that time. But she tells me this morning (she is feeling a lot better, thank you) that she’ll make it. The recipe, I mean.

But this whole recipe-picking-out skill is something I’d like to talk about today. Some people are strategists. Some are implementers. Some are strategists AND implementers. Some add nothing. Hopefully, those folks won’t be around long. In business, I consider myself to be a strategist first and foremost.

I love the thinking process. How can we best address these issues? How can this problem be solved? Where can we go to find what we need to accomplish this?

But I almost always do the resulting implementation. It’s coming full-circle – seeing the results of the planning fall into place. Fun stuff.

I have the joy and pleasure of working (for pay and not-for-pay) with a lot of interesting people. I strongly believe that our roles are cyclical. We start out as implementers and bust our butts to become the strategists. Right? Strategists are more valued, it seems, and we work hard to get there.

In the not-for-pay world, however, I’ve decided there are only a few slots for pure strategists. Even the people at top of the heap need to get their hands dirty sometimes. And those of us who are willing to be both will always have plenty to do – or at least that’s what the doers who have cycled into thinkers keep telling us.

Maybe it’s time to be a vegetarian

Smart Money’s latest 10 things articles — this one 10 Things Your Butcher Won’t Tell You.

Thank goodness the traditional dinner to end Yom Kippur is bagels and lox! (though we’re having a spaghetti frittata, too!)

Sticks and stones

It’s not true. Words can hurt. Sometimes inadvertently. Realizing that you’ve hurt someone you care about sucks. Tonight starts the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur – a day where Jews around the world think about how to do better next year and to ask for forgiveness for the mistakes this year.

I’m on it.

Today is another day

Some days need to end. Fortunately, yesterday did. I don’t know what went wrong. Or why. But, for some reason, everywhere I went and everything I touched hit a nerve.

I wonder…why does the same action provoke a different reaction on different days? Is it the weather? It’s been cloudy and rainy here, so maybe that’s it. Is it the influence of the people we share space with? If they are grumpy, does it rub off?

I tried. Really, I did.

There was a highlight – a woman I met at the gym recently mentioned yesterday morning that her family was alone for Yom Kippur. I don’t know her well. But late in the afternoon, I called her and invited her to join us. She declined. But she was happy to have been asked. And surprised. It felt good.

Oh, and another hightlight…. Max has shown extreme interest in jigsaw puzzles lately. I gave him a 200 piece puzzle the other day and he and his brothers finished it in no time flat. He asked me for another, please. So I pulled one out of the closet that I have been hoping to get to… A Grateful Dead Collage puzzle – 1000 pieces. Yikes, it’s hard! But we worked on it for several hours and made some real progress. It was fun working together. We got all the edges done and some of the inside. Plus, it was fun talking about the Dead with the kids.

Okay, so it wasn’t really such a bad day. I have to work on that perspective thing….

BFF

Girls know that BFF means “best friends forever.” I even found a t-shirt online…. This photo of Max and his best friend made me remember. (remember remember remember…. cut to fog/dream sequence….)

Sarah and I always dressed alike. We shopped together and bought the same clothes. Of blessed memory are the two-tone brown suede shoes – my first with a real heel – and the blue and red cotton dress. Not together, though. Ewww. I remember the talent show where she played the guitar and we sang Jet Plane in front of the school. I know it doesn’t sound too horrendous, but 1) you didn’t see the granny skirts we made and wore and 2) you never heard me sing. (if you are one of the lucky few who has heard me sing, I’m still sorry.)

The year was 1967. The same year that Sarah’s family moved to my town from Madison, Wisconsin – which seemed on the other side of the world. I remember hearing that cheese and dairy were big there. And that her father had been a professor at the University of Wisconsin. I never told her that I thought he taught something about cheese. In reality, he taught math.

Sarah had a Wisconsin license plate on her bedroom wall. I guess they didn’t make you return them back then. We were inseparable, Sarah and I. Did I mention we dressed alike? We truly thought we were hard to tell apart. Which is hard to understand because she was tall and blond and I was not so tall and dark. But we were the same inside. Still are.

I don’t see Sarah as much as I’d like to. But after 38 years, we are still there for each other. We still have a relationship. And if she needed me, I’d be in the car heading 64.5 miles west so fast….

And that is one more reason why relationships are more important than one-off business deals/projects. When you know someone, you know what’s what.

I guess it’s my week to contemplate relationships. And to look at cute pictures of kids in uniform.

new logo…

I’m excited about our new logo. The designer, an up-and-comer who I’m sure you’ll see more from in the future, did an awesome job of describing us visually! The new website will be coming soon!

Another day older and deeper in debt

Okay, so that’s not the birthday song you had in mind. And I’m not really deeper in debt – unless we’re talking about the debt I owe my loved ones. Okay, now even I’m going to hurl. In all seriousness….

I always liked my birthday. I like the emails and phone calls. And I like the cards and, dare I say, even the presents. I’ve only opened a few so far. Most will wait until after the Carrot Cake that Davis made for me. No matter what it tastes like, it’ll be the best cake I ever had. He’s so proud of it! It took a long time to make and Andrew (bless his soul) was ever so patient “helping” him.

I got a poker table from my parents. Yes, they know me. From my friend who just got back from Israel, I got Michal Negrin earrings. They’re beautiful. I got beautiful pipe-cleaner jewelry which I’ll treasure always.

But my biggest smiles today were from the calls, emails and cards. So many people thought of me and I am touched. Which brings me to my point… (I had a point?)

We come in contact with people all day long for business and social reasons. How much trouble is it to connect? To remember? To ask how the dog is or to remember that your client’s son was sick or to ask how the charity race went…. Building relationships is more than a chore or means to an end. It’s a way to make the experience of working together better for all. True connections last. They matter. The supplier you used whose name you can’t even remember is not your business partner, is he? Make an effort. You’ll benefit in ways you don’t even recognize. And so will the people whose lives you touch.

And if you are curious how old I am today….I’m the square root of 1936.

ipod my baby

Adrants points to iPod My Baby, a site that sells baby clothing with the Apple iPod control wheel. If only babies were really that easy to control. Or that their volume could be changed with a spin of the wheel…..