Is Your Room Clean ?

In anticipation of having visitors staying at our house, I went through the 'guest' and other 'common' rooms for what I had thought would be a quick inspection and 'tidy up' process.  Most of the way through I was pleasantly surprised that we we ready to invite some out of town family into our home.

And then I found this ...

     

     

     

     

To be transparent, the bed on it's side was my doing - this was a necessary step to FIX the bed frame, which, upon inspection, was found to be broken.

But other than that, the mess of clothes, toys, papers, shoes, candy wrappers, trading cards, sports equipment, and trash was just as it appears in these photos.

Two loads of laundry plus five large boxes and one kitchen trash bag later, the room was in a much better state.  After my son returned home from school (yes his first day of school was today as well), I sat down with him to outline the 'next steps' in keeping his room clean and earning his stuff back.  He sorted his now clean clothes into 'keep' and 'doesn't fit anymore' piles.  He took the trash out to the garbage can.  We discussed extra chores and a timeline for completing them whereby he can earn the items he wishes to keep back from their boxes.

Hopefully it never gets this bad again.


Song Of The Day:
I would never actually refer to this room as a "Beautiful Mess" but the song by Jason Mraz doesn't just say mess so this will have to do.  The melancholy feel of the song works for my mood upon clearing the mess from the room too.

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Who's Thinking About Insurance Right Now?

First Denver Nuggets game experience - Post #4

I continue to love working at Progressive ... and I have plenty of confidence in our advertising geniuses ... but I sometimes wonder how certain promotions or advertisements can be effective.

Take for instance, the following signage at the Nuggets game.

I am certain the placement is more focused on the exposure to a TV audience than people at the arena, because who is thinking about insurance needs while at an NBA game?  I would guess that number is close to zero if not already there.  If not, I have to wonder who goes to an NBA game and finds themselves so lost in thought that they consider their insurance needs?


Song Of the Day:
I'm a pretty big fan of Jason Mraz's lyrical creativity, but some of his songs are more about the tune than just the words.  I'm featuring "Absolutely Zero" here, as my answer to the blog post title question, but it's a great song besides the fact that it fits nicely here.  Just because music is melancholy doesn't mean it has no place in my otherwise peppy and upbeat musical catalog.  Sometimes a brooding tune is just what you need to hear.

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Do You Think We Can't Read ?

In a recent meeting I was attending, the facilitator demonstrated a severe lack of understanding about presentation etiquette.  Not only did she read ALL the words and information on a slide we were looking at ... but she went on to explain what it all meant.  This may not seem like a major faux pas but it was actually a basic bar graph that any 2nd grader could have understood.

I was taught, long ago, that your powerpoint presentation should provide slides and information that your audience can look at while you're speaking.  The material should support your narration, but the worst things you can do are to put too many words on the slide ... or ... actually read the information on the slide to your audience.  This is Presentation Basics 101.

My real question is ... how did this person get to their senior level position without this basic skill?  Although not always the case, it stands to reason that the higher up the ladder you go, the more likely that you will be doing presentations to large groups.  So in addition to your technical or project knowledge and experience, you would need (at some point presumably) to become better versed in disseminating information to peers or direct reports through presentations.  This might not be a deal breaker in hiring interview, but it seems like it would be a high priority on the "learn how to do this" lists.

So please, if you can, avoid reading or explaining basic details on slides in your presentations.  May I suggest an alternative?  Post the slide.  Be silent for about 30 seconds.  Then ask if anyone has any questions about the material contained therein.  If no one does, just move on.  And consider the lack of questions a testament to your amazing slide creation skills, for you have just conveyed information without even having to talk!

Song Of The Day:
A brilliant lyricist, Jason Mraz came to mind while I sat bored out of my mind during this portion of the meeting.  His song "Did You Get My Message?" was running through my head.  Listen to the words and you can see why I was envisioning the facilitator asking herself this unnecessary question.

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Do You Ever Sleep In ?

Some people never sleep in.  I call these morning people.  No matter what time they were up until the night before; no matter what they don't have going on that next day; no matter how exhausted their body is; they just have an internal alarm clock that wakes them up and forces them out of bed at roughly the same time every day.

I am NOT one of those people.

I believe, given the right circumstances, that I could sleep well into the afternoon hours.  Of course the guilt afterward for having "wasted" all those precious daytime hours would be terrible, but who's to say that our bodies don't need that occasional "reboot" which only comes from a system shut down that exceeds the normal pattern?

Today is one of those days.  I won't say when I slept in until, but it was plenty of time (more than a typical night of sleep should account for).  Of course I am somewhat more refreshed while also disappointed in the "wasted" time on one of my two days off ... But there is not too much regret.  I still had time to finish my "chores" and run the errands I had committed to today's schedule.  I just had to forego a few other activities that I know I would have enjoyed.

Song Of The Day:
I love how you can buy an artist's CD based on one song you like, only to find out later that it is not your favorite song on that CD.  This doesn't happen as often as it used to, especially now that you can buy individual songs and also preview portions of every song on a CD before making a purchase.  That said, today's song is one that I happened upon after buying Jason Mraz's first CD.  The song is titled "Sleep All Day" and (as always with his music) the words to the tune are just as enjoyable as the melody and music.

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