Friday, November 30, 2007

Random Musings on a Friday Night....

Howdy.
I am sitting in my hotel room in Miami, Florida. Was supposed to get with some friends tonight but those plans fell through so I went to a reception that some friends were having and then came up to the room to take care of some business before tomorrow's trade show. I'll be going back down to the hospitality suite at 10:30 pm to support my friends from Alabama who are hosting the suite and then I'll head to bed. Tomorrow will be an early morning.

I am attending the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners Fall Conference being held in Miami, Florida. It's been seven years since I've been a registered attendee at NCBMP! My reason for not attending in the past is that my company did not support my membership and it was too expensive for me to pay to attend on my own. After coming back and remembering all of the great relationships and mentors that I've met along the way in this organizations (and some of my best friends in the industry are from this organization), I've come to realize that I need to support the organization and pay for my own membership if the company that I work for will not. You can't forget where you've come from and I grew up professionally and personally in this organization. No more excuses. I'll just make one of the conferences a working vacation if the company won't support it and go network and do business with my friends.

So, what else is going on? Had fun at Thanksgiving. My friend Bryan (well, we have not really put "labels" on our......relationship but.....we're dating) came up the Friday night after Thanksgiving and met the folks. He was a really good sport and helped with the Annual Christmas Trees preparation! We all (Mom, Dad, Bryan and me) had a great time and I think the folks liked him. Dad actually mentioned meeting him in his blog so that's a good sign, I suppose.

OH yes, Daddy has a blog now. And he's doing pretty good in updating it. I'll ask him if I can share his blog address so those of you who check out my blog and know my Dad can keep up with him, as well.

Work is ok. One of the sessions I sat in today talked about knowing if you want to be in the game. You have to decide if you want to be in the game or not and commit to your decision as ppl will notice if you have checked out. I noticed that I had checked out for a bit from my job but this conference has helped me put some priorities back in line and check back into the job and into life. Hmmm, I just realized that I can go work out right now since I have a couple of hours of free time as I've not worked out in a couple of days and have been eating a bit more than usual. I've made some pretty decent food choices while I've been here - however, a bit more working out will certainly not hurt in preparation for the Christmas parties, etc.

more to come.....

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone. It's quiet in the house with my parents asleep (it's way past their bedtime) and I'm just chilling in the family room before turning in myself. My mom and I are going to go shopping tomorrow and then put up the Christmas trees (yes, that is plural for two trees - my mom is a Christmas freak so...we have the decorator tree in the living room and the family tree in the family room).

My Dad started a blog today. Won't that be interesting? I have not been as current with my blog as I would like to but....there's always tomorrow, right? Since the busy part of the work season has finally subsided (thank goodness), we'll just get caught up in everything else that I have going on.

The home refinance is complete - YEA!!!! The beautiful part is that I don't have to pay a mortgage again until Jan 2008 so extra money to pay down some credit card debt. I don't have a lot in the first place (PRAISE GOD); however, it's always a good thing to pay down what I do have.

My friend Bryan is coming to visit me and meet the folks tomorrow. Should be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing him. I am in serious like with this guy....not sure if that's a good or bad thing but...I'm just rolling with the punches and just enjoying the experience - come what may.

Work....is work. Our company is an interesting company. Some of the decisions that are made really don't make sense and they (management) get upset when you question the decisions. I just want to understand the logic to get on board but......it's a trip - in any event. Never a dull moment. I did put setting a date for my GMAT and filling out the grad school applications on my task list so now it's looking at me every day that I don't do it. I'm looking forward to that new challenge.

OK - gotta pay some bills and start getting some Christmas gifts so.....hugs to all. Have a wonderful holiday season!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Is honesty always the best policy?

Time is just flying this year. I cannot believe that it's already that time to start planning for Christmas and get that last bit of dieting in before the feasts of Fall begin.

It's been a crazy fall thus far. After I got from Puerto Rico (which while beautiful, was a bit of a stressful trip), I had about 4 days and then I headed to Washington DC to do another client program. That program went very well - thank goodness - and the clients were happy with us. Love it when you've got good stuff going on.

Had a small recent set back with a client who felt I was "too direct" - what does that mean, anyway? But, I volunteered for the good of the company to back away from the account and the client. It's a shame that the client could nto come to me but I guess that would have been "too direct" for her to do that. I've always believed that communication can work through almost any problem. It's a shame that other people cannot find a way to communicate clearly, honestly and effectively to resolve conflict instead of going behind people's backs and acting ugly toward others.

It's kinda interesting - a recent conversation with a friend that we discussed how she finds it creepy to find out that people are talking "about" her instead of "to" her. I told her to get over it b/c people will ALWAYS talk about you and in fact, the bigger a role you take (in anything), the more fodder is provided for people to talk about. I move and conduct myself with honesty, integrity and compassion in all things and accept responsibility for my actions. Frankly, I feel blessed that I have the ability to talk with anyone about anything (some call it a gift and some call it a curse) and to be able to discuss (and hopefully resolve) conflicts in a calm and clear manner.

When I make a mistake, I am the first to take ownership and clean up whatever was messed up. It's amazing to me that I run into so many more people who cannot handle that. Why is that? Ego? Fear? Denial? What is that about?

I was feeling anger towards the client and towards the fellow Projection staff person who had a hand in this situation and who lied to me directly when I opened a conversation to see if there were any conflicts and/or issues that the client had with me that I was not aware of and then at the same time was arranging a meeting between the client and MY BOSS. Praise God that my boss has supported me throughout this trying time as it has weighed heavily on me. It's tough to not know what you've done wrong (in someone's eyes) but for them to cut off communication and/or act in an untoward and ugly manner to you. But, I'll have to just move on. Thank God my other clients seem to like and appreciate my work on their behalf.

OK - still owe you pics of the new home office. Someday soon..... Hugs,