Toast To Good Friends

Yesterday was one of the extreme days of work hectic, drama filled, chaos. I walk away for a one-hour meeting and I had over 9 emails come though to my Inbox for the same exact issue! I had voice mails then instant message going all over the place.

As I complained to my friend (who has left my group to join another one), he and his wife immediately invited me over to dinner just so we can gripe together, especially when my other-half is half-way around the world. Hahahahah! At first I worried that it may be a 'couple-thing' they were looking for...and I would feel kind of left-out....but nope...it was just dinner ;-).

It was a relaxing evening to be at their house...very warm and easy-going. Got to play with their 18 month old daughter for a little bit. Very cute & adorable! Dinner was excellent...pork chops, potatoes, and apsparagus (Mmm! Yummy!) and I even had 1/3 glass of white wine with it....something Blanc (meaning white...hahaha). I brought a lovely Just Desserts cake to their place...and I was so stuffed after dinner that I couldn't even eat dessert!

Just feels good to know I am surrounded by good friends! It was a very nice & relaxing evening.

Goal Oriented...I Am... Are You?

Background
For the past 4-5 weekends, I've been sacrificing my Sunday mornings to meet with my classmates on a Strategic Planning case-study and presentation. Tuesday night was our show time where we present in front of our class, as consultants to the company board, our recommendations on how the company strategy should change.

Sounds kind of boring, huh? But in reality, it was one of the most intriguing piece of team work I have done. This is the class where the entire class got BOOTED out, literally! The professor is just very determined to challenge your every comment and every move. So everybody was on the wire about this class.

Little Rewards You Look For
I was mighty nervous when we presented and felt as if we didn't prepare enough. BUT we thought of all the little professional details that a team could think of. It's the soft skills that really made the 1st impression (name tags, the way we dress, etc). We were a visually eye-pleasing team. So as a result, our professor gave away (just a little bit) that he was pleasantly surprised at our preparation..He walked in...and saw the Starbucks Coffee & Cookies at the 'reception' table...and all he did was 'raise a small eye-brow'. That's it!

Presentation Resultsu
It took the 5 of us over 30-40 minutes to present. At the end, we thought it was over...but NOPE. We had over 40 minutes worth of Q & A. I tried to stop the QA session by setting up a hard attitude by challenging a classmate to analysis preparation...but was immediately reminded in a subtle way by my teammates not to. So it was my 1st time being a hard-ass and right after the presentation, I walked up to my classmate and said no hard feelings because that's what I was doing...just following our professor's lead.

However, the 'guilt' of being mean to somebody in front of class...Was weighing in my head, while all my classmates laughed at the other classmate's expense. I'd hate to make somebody feel like that. So does that mean I don't cut it in the management world? Am I just way too nice & friendly? Hell no! If I need to stand-up for my team, I can take it ;-).

Afterwards, as the prof read out the feedback...it was clear that he was impressed. Although we did miss some minor points and could improve in our presentation (who couldn't?!)...He stated "this was more than I expected in the 2nd presentation". AWESOME!

Goal Oriented
I found out tonight that my personality has slowly changed from being a people conscious to being goal oriented. By my single action of getting the result I wanted from my prof (a good grade) at the possible expense of another classmate. It was quite clear. My personality has changed. I would have never done it if I was still in Undergrad or maybe just a couple years ago. I would have been too worried whether people would still like me afterwards. Now I am starting to challenge and question everything from work to school because if you don't...you'll never get the real answers. But at the same time...I still went up to my classmate to apologize. Hmmm....

Is this a good change or is this bad by not caring as much of what others think?

Mmmm...Sunday Dinner

After a long day of chores and yardwork, I rewarded myself with a quick 'Rachel Ray' style dinner :-). Thanks to the 30-minute chef and also my hubby, Chhimi, for showing me how to make this dish. I made my new favorite, Broiled Potato with Dill Butter Sauce! It was accompanied by a large Spinach & Avacado salad with raisins and almonds. Very Yummy!! It was fabulous! I even have enough for a whole other meal.

In fact, with Chhimi being away, I have lunch / dinner for the next 2 days! Man! I have to eat all those left overs :-(...not that its not good...but just not used to having to eat left overs for more than 1 meal!

Okay, that's it for now. Ta Ta!

Day 7

Well, after last night's computer mishap and staying at work past 2am, I woke up bright and early (after only getting 4 hours of sleep) for my class meeting. We are working on a project presentation for 'strategic management' and we're going to knock them out with our presentation!

Solitude Lunch
After my 3 hour long class meeting, I decided to take a breather and head over to Borders Books and Cafe. It is one of my favorite hang out places...like a library but much nicer...and they allow food and drinks plus they have music for you to listen to! I selected a few magazines and headed over to the cafe to order myself a little luncheon (half black forest sandwich, cup of 'cheesy brocoli soup', and a sweetened tropical iced tea. I sat myself right by the window, gazing out to the 'parking lot'...but at least I'm near the sun :-). It was just a perfect way for me the unwind in a hectic place. I contemplated in hanging out with my friends...but in reality, I love this solitude. I get to do whatever I want...whenever I want :-)...nobody else to worry about. It's fabulous!

Back To Weekend Chores
My front and back lawn have been growing hay-wire, thanks to the sun. So I decided to bust out my handy-dandy lawn mower...and do yardwork. I hate yard work...but at the same time, I'm a perfectionist ...so I bite the bullet and decided to spend my Sunday weekend mowing my lawns, trimming my lawns, watching my neighbor's dog pee on my tree (Yes, you read it right!).

As I was trying to start my lawn mower...two big black dogs came out of my neighbor's garage and decided to urinate ...NOT on their own tree...BUT marked my tree as their terroritory! Then I hear my neighbor's son come out and call the dogs back (without seeing the whole ordeal of course). I really wasn't too worried...but man! I wanted to tell his son to take his dogs and train them to pee on your own lawn! If I see a Yellow-Spot on my lawn...I'm definitely going over there!

So back to my lawn story...I also trimmed and weeded. Headed over to Home Depot (all by myself...this is Chhimi's favorite store...he literally knows a couple of the employees there by first name basis!) All I wanted was the thread for my weed wacker...but then I thought, hmm...I need some brushes for touch up paint here and there. Hmm...there's some scratches and dents I need to repair. All of a sudden, my hands were full and as I did the self-checkout, the total came to .... $25.00 :-) ha! Fooled you...thought it was going to be triple digits, huh?! But still...I only wanted a $5.00 thread!....so if you think about it, Home Depot suckered me in paying 5x as much! BooHoo!

After fixing all my little to-dos, now I'm going dive my head back into work and the rest of my weekend chores. But for tonight, it will be popcorn & a movie @ home ...I'm going to watch 'Bridget Jones Diary #2'. I liked it at the movie theater so I'm going to watch it again :-) hee hee