Don't Touch the Floor

Did you ever play that game as a child where you and your brother or sister pretended that the floor of your bedroom or living room was really shark-infested waters, and if either of you touched the floor you'd die a horrible shark-chomping death?

 I was reminded of this game yesterday when our younger tabby cat Olivia decided she'd had enough combing for the time being and jumped from my lap to the desk in our office. Lucy (black and white cat but with an outlook on life remarkably similar to that of a chomping shark) was prowling around on the floor beneath her.

Olivia managed to avoid Lucy (shark) and wind her way around the room to her favorite chair via the circuitous route of big desk to little chair to smaller desk. Smaller desk to green chair to ottoman. Ottoman to windowseat, back to ottoman and then coming to rest on the other green chair. I just burst out laughing as it so much reminded me of being young. We used to see how far we could make it around the house w/out touching the ground, stepping on toys or swinging from lamps, if need be.

Wow. How long has it been since you've done something completely silly like that? Blair mentioned perhaps we'd go out for Chinese tonight but I think we have other plans.

Something involving sharks... 

Just Say NO to Glamour Shots

I'm thinking of starting a national campaign to ban all Glamour shots.  Is there anything more embarrassing than to walk into someone's office and see a picture of their wife in 80's hair, soft pink lighting, and a cowboy hat  tipped to match the angle of their head as they raise a manicured hand to the tip of the hat and offer what I'm sure the photographer assured them was a coy smile?

Ladies, please. What are you thinking?

I go Friday for my headshot. It will NOT be the "I work for a real estate company and decided to glamour it up" headshot. I'm aiming for the fun/professional look--something to use on my website, brochure and in the magazines that publish author photos with bylines.

I'm probably taking half my closet with me for a 30-minute shoot. I want one casual, relaxed shot and one "business" shot.

I think it will be fun. The photographer I'm going with takes as many shots as she can in 30 minutes (or an hour) and then you select two. 

Pray for good hair on Friday.

Runner's World

Sunday morning I had what is probably my best run ever at 6 1/4 miles and just under an hour. That's not an especially fast pace but what made the run so good was that it was easy.  Breath, speed, rhythm--everything came together. The first time I got tired and looked at my watch I was already at 52 minutes.  Plus, I ran into the neighboring town and back which made me feel like I'd actually been somewhere versus running in circles. Blair has informed me we'll no longer use the car and gas to get groceries and instead he'll just send me.

I'm amused how nothing gets missed in a small town. I go to the bank and people say, "I saw you Monday morning on Murphy Street." I go to give blood and hear, "You were down by Hardee's on Sunday around 7:30."  There's no chance of me ever going missing because apparently I'm being tracked. During the week I run with Royce and Margharita. Royce and I run a little faster pace and sometimes pull ahead and someone told Margharita they saw Royce running with another woman. Margharita's reply? "I know. I'd do something about it if I could catch her."  She cracks me up.

Today's run was not quite as joyful. We pushed to make 50 minutes and you could have mopped the floor with me when we were through.  But it's still a great feeling to be up and outside, sweating and knowing I'm getting something done as I run past houses still black, or cars pulling into McDonald's for morning coffee and pancakes.  No matter how tired I am when I come back in the house at 6:30, it's always a good tired, knowing I've already got a big checkmark to put against my to-do list for the day.

And the runs are getting easier. 40-45 minutes is a no brainer now. Which is good as starting in September we pick up the time and pace. And if you ever need to know where I am, just call the local bank or clothing store or any neighbor in town and I'm sure someone there will point you in the right direction. ;)

Speakers Gone Crazy!

There may not be as much skin as in the "Girls Gone Wild" series, but there is drama nonetheless in today's dramatic and riveting episode of "Speakers Gone Crazy."

I tell my public speaking students that they must be ready to adjust their talks at a moment's (if even that much) notice and yesterday gave me the opportunity to practice what I preach. My friend Pam Cable and I were invited several months ago to speak at a celebration for Women's Equality Day, hosted by the Commission on the Status of Women in Greensboro. We were asked to prepare an hour and fifteen minute presentation.

When we got to the event and looked at the program we saw we were scheduled for an hour. No big deal. Then breakfast started late, which meant the keynote speaker started (and ended) late. The day was then supposed to be divided into morning speakers, 15 minute break, afternoon speakers.  The people who spoke before our session went WAY over time limit. They blew through the break period and went right on talking up to the start time of our presentation, with no indication they had any intention of stopping.

I was livid. More so at the event organizer than the speakers. How hard is it to step in and say, "I'm so sorry to cut you short when you have such wonderful information to share, but we need to take a quick break and start our next sessions. Let's have a big round of applause for...." ?  Didn't happen.

We were scheduled to start at 11 and at ten after I left the room and found the event chair who was in the foyer.

"Are we cancelling the afternoon sessions?" I asked.

"Oh. No. We just got a little late start but they'll start soon."

"Really?" I asked. "Because the speaker in our room just launched a 10 minute video presentation." 

Eight minutes into the video the chair came in and signalled them to cut it off.  And so finally, with 35 minutes left in the day, Pam and I started our speech.

And it was fine. Both of us thankfully are able to go with the flow and we got the main points across and had a fun time. But I find it inexcusable on the part of the chair to have let matters go the way they did, and the only reason she stopped the session when she did is that I went out and got her.  Pam and I volunteered to do this and each of us probably put in 4 hours of prep time, getting the handouts and information ready.  There was no apology for wasted time, no acknowledgement that things could have been handled better.

I went home and was telling Blair what happened and he grinned and said, "This is why men still rule the world." He was kidding, but I'm frankly inclined to find some truth in the matter.  This is how a group of women wanting to celebrate women run the event? It's too bad, because there were great speakers with great information there. And chances are strong I'm much more bothered as a presenter than I might of been as an attendee (although  maybe not--I'm pretty anal about start/stop times all the way around). =)  But in the end everything turned out okay, we delivered the talk and went on with our lives.

And it was a good lesson that even when you're handed a prescribed length of time to talk, always be prepared to extend or shorten on the spot.