Ignite Charlotte - Fizzled Out

/

For those who didn't see my FB post, I will NOT be speaking at Ignite Charlotte 5 this coming Tuesday. I was unable to complete my slide deck before I left for Italy and they couldn't accept the deck once I got back.

The event organizer was quite gracious about the whole thing--much more so then I would have been. I've organized my fair share of events and am (I'm now embarrassed to say) snide about people who fall short on their commitments. "Do these people not own a calendar?" I ask. "How hard it is to do what you say you're going to do?"

Lesson: We become what we mock. 

I have my reasons for being unable to complete my deck before my trip, but the bottom line is I knew I was cutting it close getting the slides prepared. I didn't leave any room for contingencies that might arise and, as this blog post shows, a few landmines blew up. I should have started the process much earlier. 

The good news is I don't think I burned any bridges and I'm still interested in participating in an Ignite event. You can bet the next time, I'll have my deck ready before I even send my application in.

Best Wishes to all the Ignite Charlotte 5 speakers!!

Dena

The Italy Diaries: Random Encounters Maybe Aren't So Random

/

Buongiorno! Ciao! Grazie! Gelato!

This concludes my study of the Italian language, undertaken during our recent 10-day foray to the land of pasta, wine, and really expensive leather shoes. 

I've got a lot to say about the trip. While any trip to Italy is of course fabulous, this trip was also fraught with landmines - tour buses almost overturning on hairpin turns in Tuscan hills, being trapped on a ferry during a storm with passengers tossing their cookies right and left, lost luggage, misplaced passports, fevers, sickness, and much more. But for all of that, I'd do the trip again in a minute. I fell in love with Italy and the people we traveled there with.

But all that is for a later blog. Today I want to write about the "random" encounters of the trip. (And yes, photos are coming. We just haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Soon, I promise.)

Read More

The "Are You F'ing KIDDING ME" Blog Post

/

So apparently when I said in my blog post earlier this morning that I would "handle" whatever was thrown at me today, God took that as a challenge and threw down. 

I am about 20 seconds away from losing it, big time. I have a sign taped above my computer that says, "BE THE TYPE OF PERSON YOU WANT TO MEET." I'm looking at it, trying to remind myself that I don't want to meet a hysterical, sobbing woman ready to bury her head in the sand, but it's a challenge. 

Deep breath. So here's where things stand. 

Read More