I am quirky; this my friends know. I have an affinity for the dentist’s office, hospitals, and needles. I don’t mind blood draws, I think hospitals smell nice, and I have a tendency to fall asleep while getting my teeth cleaned. I can’t help it, I am just stressed out enough and just enough of a hausfrau martyr that the only way I can relax is through forced confinement. Hospital stays are the only vacations I get from my kids, and the dentist’s chair, these days, is the closest I will get to a spa.

» Continue reading “Interesting Moments in the Dentist’s Chair”

I am currently reading a book called “Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge the Debate Community on Race, Power, and Education.” I kid you not, that is the name on the cover. Cross-X is what adorns the title page inside the book, so we will go with that for the remainder of this post.

» Continue reading “Book of the Day”

Follow this link to view the presentation:

How to Lead When You’re Not the One in Charge

I thought this was a good presentation on harnessing/leveraging personal power. It’s particularly relevant for people like me who have chosen career roles that place them outside of the management hierarchy. A couple of years ago I made a decision to take a senior, non-management role at my company, and resign my management position, in order to lead a more personally fulfilling life. My current position allows me to work from home, offering me a decent wage with benefits and personal flexibility. What it does not offer is an opportunity for advancement or positional power. One of the first things that I had to learn was how to collaborate and not dictate, and how to disagree and commit. This series of slides has other good information on how to be a leader when you’re not a manager.

Coming into the season of Lent, after a year I alternately wish I could do-over or wipe from my memory, I am looking to affect positive change in my life. I am bipolar and I have spent the last ten years of my life workshopping my shit and doing all the things I am supposed to do to take care of myself. I don’t take medication because I have historically suffered adverse reactions to it. Last year, after seeing advertisements for newly approved medications for the disorder, I decided to give medication another try. What I didn’t know is just how bad a bad reaction to medication can be.

» Continue reading “It’s Lent and I gave up sugar, so I’m blogging”