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This is the category of stuff that doesn't fit into any of the other categories.

On a Roll

Friday, June 18, 2010

This week has been pretty awesome with forecasts of more awesomeness rolling in for the weekend!

Seriously, this week has been pretty great and it’s about to get greater! It started last night with a HUGE Laker win in that nail-biting contest against the Celtic. Towards the end of the game I started getting light-headed because I had stopped breathing! And by the way, did anyone else notice #44 on the Celtics last night? I’ve never seen him in my life! I thought he was the team mascot that accidentally got suited up.

Today, my team was taken out to lunch at work because of a job really well done on a certain project. When I got back, I got 2 separate emails saying what an awesome job I had done on 2 different projects! My head was swelling up so much I couldn’t fit through the door.

This weekend is looking pretty awesome too. We have plans to go to a dinner party at a friends place and then an Erykah Badu and Lupe Fiasco concert on Sunday. Woohooo! I super excited!

And follow that all up with a Laker parade on Monday?

What at great weekend! Hope you all enjoy yours too!

Reunion Week

Friday, May 07, 2010

Every week needs a little pick-me-up. For me, I had a couple mini-reunions with friends I don’t get to hang out with that often! 

Mini-Reunion #1
Last weekend, Jeremy and Erica were down from Oakland. They are such cool friends! They were attending a wedding down in Orange County, and we were up in LA. We decided to meet halfway--which was weird because neither of us knew what existed in the middle of those two places.

I threw out some suggestions. “How about Compton?” Met with silence. “Uh...how about Hawaiian Gardens...Is that even a real place? I’ve never heard of it before?” Needless to say, finding a place to meet up was a challenge. We finally decided to go to Cypress/Cerritos area. We found a cute little cafe called Cafe Hiro that had really great food. It was good catching up again!

Mini-Reunion #2
This past Tuesday, I got to see my old roommates from back in the day when we all lived together in a big ol’ cozy house in Grand Terrace with the drug dealers across the street. The Bachelorettes (though half of us aren’t bachelorettes any more) are all amazing women who are doing cool things with their lives. It’s always so much fun to hear about what everyone is up to, new perspectives, and new goals. AND of course, we talk about relationships. We are, ahem, after all women.

And at the end, like any good friend group that consists of four women, we dutifully made plans to watch Sex and the City 2 (even though quite honestly, I’m *still* confused about what’s going on because I’ve never watched the series).

If only every week gave us the chance to see friends who are far away! 

Experiment 2: Strengths Finder 2.0

Monday, April 19, 2010

I actually had a first experiment but for whatever reason I couldn’t seem to get on it to post about it! Maybe i’ll just have to go out of order. 

Part of the self journey is to discover what it is that I’m actually good at. I started by asking people who knew me. As I was in the middle of doing this (which, by the way, was a very revealing process but that is a story for another post), my friend Christina pointed out that this may not be the most reliable method of seeing one’s strengths truly. She noted that most people see their own strengths in you. For example, if I am good at analytical thinking, then I will notice when you are good at analytical thinking. I may never have even noticed your other strength enough to say, “you know, you’re really good at having a worldview of connectedness.”

So the suggestion was that I should take the Gallup survey from Strengths Finder 2.0. I really like the philosophy that people should focus on their strengths instead of focusing on compensating for their weaknesses. I particularly have struggled to move away from the “well-rounded” approach and really building up what I’m good at instead. Anyway, what Strengths Finder does is take your answers to their survey, analyze them and outputs a list of your 5 greatest strengths. Once you know your strengths, then there are a ton of books on “strengths-based” leadership, working, etc.

So here is what I found my strengths are (according to Gallup):

1. [Primary] Input
People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often
they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

2. Strategic
People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed.
Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

3. Ideation
People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are
able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

4. Communication
People who are especially talented in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put
their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.

5. Achiever
People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and
work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

What does this all mean?
As far as I can tell, these strengths are the way I cope with problem. The order is important. So when faced with a new problem/issue/challenge, I first gather all the information I can (Input) and then map out a plan to get whatever I want done (Strategic). I try to make sure that all concepts are sound and that the things that can be connected are properly integrated (Ideation). Once a plan is settled on, then I make sure the idea is communicated to the proper people (Communication) so that it gets done. I then do the daily grind work that makes sure that the project gets done (Achiever).

Pretty cool when I can see my process articulated in this way. I’m still interested in seeing what that means as I move forward into bigger and better things.

What about you?
Have you ever taken this test? What were your strengths?

Embarking on a Year-long Journey

Monday, March 15, 2010

This year, I have undertaken the mission of discovering myself for the purpose of figuring out where I am going. 

I want to do something or be something. I’m compelled to do something with my life that doesn’t include sitting in a cubicle, working as a cog in a giant machine of a corporation. Don’t get me wrong - there’s nothing wrong with putting in your time for a company that’s worthwhile, but somehow, that just doesn’t fit me. So here I go on my journey.

The premise is simple really: just take time to learn who I am, what things I like and what I am good at. It may, in fact, sound too simple. The odd thing is that I’m one of those people who simply doesn’t take time to figure out my strengths. I am well aware of weaknesses and things I struggle with what I can do to remediate these issues, but when it comes down to it, knowing that isn’t going to propel me in one direction or another.

This year, the way I am going to explore is to:

• Talk to people who know me and can give some insight into what you think I might excel at in the world
• Try things that are new and interesting to me, things that challenge me and bring out a sense of adventure within me
• Read and research new ideas and innovations
• Listen to people who have forged their own path and are the wiser for it

I’m really excited about this! This will definitely be an adventure.

If you are one of those people who knows me and want to give input, please contact me! I’d LOVE to hear from you!

Stay tuned for more adventures in my journey of self-exploration.

Watch Dennis' Doritos Commercial!

Friday, November 06, 2009

The more you watch, the more hits it gets, the more likely you’ll see it at the Superbowl 2010!

Tell all your friends to watch this!

Prayer Style for the Attention Deficient

Monday, October 26, 2009

I don’t know about you, but prayer has always been something that is very difficult for me.

I think it has to do with my inability to actually focus if there’s ANYTHING else around within a mile radius that might emit a sound, interesting visual or odd smell. Yup, pretty much anything disrupts my concentration on trying to communicate with the divine. I think mostly it has to do with a sort of aimless wandering approach that I’ve “developed” over time. I’ve tried various prayer formulas, like the ACTS formula.

For those of you not familiar with the ACTS formula, it’s an acronym that helps guide your prayers by topic. Here’s the breakdown:

A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplications

This was great for awhile. And then it turned very generic. I’m not sure why, but all my prayers ended up sounding the same. It was very frustrating. I guess if you think about talking to a friend, you never use such a formula. You just talk about what’s on your heart. Needless to say, ACTS fell by the wayside.

Recently at my church we had a series called, “Praying the Psalms.” That was pretty great actually! We would read through a Psalm and then literally pray it by ourselves, as if we were the author, sometimes rewriting the sentiments in our own words. While it wasn’t something I could do on a regular basis, it gave me a clue into my own needs for successful prayer time. I apparently needed time set aside for a very focused task. I guess I pray like I work.

So I’ve come up with the formula that is working for me for now. I have made up a short series to pray over: in this case, the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Every day, I pray about one characteristic, whether it’s kindness, gentleness or faithfulness. Sometimes I have to repeat them if they didn’t sink in or if I had a particularly trying to applying it for that day. I have to admit, I think I took 3 days each on Patience and Faithfulness. Those ones were hard. But that also pushed to me look up those things in the Bible (another thing I’m not particularly prone to) in order to see where those things come from and what they actually mean.

Somehow the idea of keeping thing short and focused allow me to actually DO this. It’s been good so far and I’m looking forward to figuring out what my next series is going to be. I just wanted to share in case this helps any of you!