THIS POST WAS SITTING IN MY DRAFTS FROM A FEW WEEKS BACK. I MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT...STILL, IT IS APPLICABLE FOR THIS WEEK'S EVENTS!
OK, I am not afraid to say it....I hate when people jump the gun on upcoming holidays before a then-current holiday is experienced. PET. PEEVE!
As I was making my way to the train this morning, I was inundated with the excessive Christmas advertising on the radio. And then, when I hit up Starbucks later in the day, I realized they are already utilizing the Christmas, excuse me, "holiday" cups that just so happen to be red with subtle hints of the Christmas season: such as snowflakes, etc.
While I do love Christmas time and everything about it, the point is that we are skipping over a very important holiday - THANKSGIVING!
This is way too important of a day to be overlooked by marketers. C'mon, people! It already has such a limited window of exposure with Halloween and Black Friday (do not even get me started on that.....), let us not forget what this day actually means!
Be THANKFUL for everything in your life - your family, your health, your happiness, your successes, even your failures - for they allow you continued growth. If nothing else, be thankful for your very existence, am I right?!
And in addition to being thankful for what you have in your life, let's go ahead and keep those who are less fortunate top of mind why don't we? Do you plan on making 500 pounds of food this week, only to come to the realization that you have way more leftovers than would be deemed necessary to feed an army? Maybe donate some of that good fortune? Or maybe use your time to volunteer for an hour instead of baking that 3rd (and most likely unnecessary) pie?
Food drives are such an easy way to make sure you are contributing to a necessary and worthwhile cause. Head over to Time Out Chicago for some great ideas on how you can get involved (if you are local). Other national organizations like The Salvation Army and No Kid Hungry are always active and a great resource for various programs that allow you to give back as well, no matter the time of year!
WOW - I really went off on a tangent there.... Sorry!
Here's to all of us having a happy and enjoyable time this week with friends and family! But please.... do take the opportunity to be THANKFUL before we hop right into Christmas.....
Wow - it has been too long. It seems to have been a theme in the blogging world over the course of the past few weeks, however, as many of the blogs I follow have been slacking on posts as well! In an attempt to ease back into it, I give you Friday Favorites!
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 - Yes, within the past month I have somehow become a....FAN?! To be fair, it happened by accident. My husband was traveling one weekend, and I sat down on the couch to find there was NOTHING on TV. Well, except for New Moon. I realized later that this was the 2nd installment, so I felt I needed to see the 1st one to really "get it" - this was, of course, not really necessary. In any case, fast forward a few weeks and I have now been caught up to speed on all 4 of the films to date; however, unless you are living under a rock, you are aware that the 5th and final film released this week. Naturally, I am now curious as to what all of the hype is about - Bella is a vampire now, guys! I admit, I am slightly embarrassed that I would like to go see it....
Kentucky Derby 2013 - YES, YES, YES, YES! And one more YES! for good measure... On Monday, when we all should have been honoring the many Veterans of our great nation, a select group of us took a break at noon to participate in the private sale of Kentucky Oaks/Derby 2-day ticket packages. And? NAILED IT! 2013 is already off to a fantastic start!
Birthdays Galore! - November is a BUSY month for birthday celebrations. I am going to take this opportunity to get caught up on all of those I missed, and those left to come, this month:
November 2nd - Happy Birthday, Jinna!
November 4th or 5th (I know, I cannot remember the exact day, Oops!) - Happy Birthday, Austin!
November 8th - Happy Birthday, Elliana!
November 9th - Happy Birthday, John!
November 13th - Happy Birthday, Grandma Glo!
November 24th - Happy Birthday, Jason!
....I THINK that covers it?
Wedding Bliss - Congratulations to Carli and Casey, who tied the knot on November 10th, 2012, in Naples, Florida!
Slapsgiving - No, no one actually gets slapped like Barney in How I Met Your Mother. This is, rather, an epic event that we founded around the same time the episode aired. I guess we were all out of creative ideas at this point in the year a few years back?! Nonetheless, 2012 marks the 3rd annual Slapsgiving festivities in Chicago! We are currently working on putting together the menu and I am so looking forward to it. More on this next week....
If you are like me and had way too many unavoidable work obligations to find the time to participate in the early voting, today has been on your radar for quite some time. Requiring the stealthiest of strategies to navigate the crowds, you really do have to have your game face on to conquer the polls alone...
Lucky for me, the voting location in my district is about a block away from my residence. Phew! The drawback? I got there when the polls opened at 6am to make sure I would be dressed and ready to rock n' roll for work immediately after. As I stood there in line, outside in the cold on this fine Chicago morning, I could not help but think....
"Employers really should be doing a much better job of encouraging their employees to get out there and vote...."
Political beliefs aside, employers should be clear that they are willing to be a bit more lenient with their employees to ensure everyone who wants the opportunity to have their voice heard is able to do so. Quite frankly, it is a very simple task - a mindless practice even - to implement in an election year: inform your employees that if they need to come in a little later or leave a little bit early to make sure they are able to get their votes in, by all means.... Seriously, this could not be easier to do. Unfortunately, I fear that many employers out there either do not care or simply do not choose to do so. That, I find to be complete bullshit.
Now let's not twist my words here, I am notsaying I think everyone deserves a free day off to vote in the election per se (although, with all of the ridiculous holidays sprinkled throughout the calendar year already, I do not think 1 day every 4 years would kill us....), but I am saying this: employers should be accepting of the fact that the polls can be very time consuming, and if an employee needs an extra hour due to crazy lines and/or a missed train so they can participate in the election - that should NOT be a big deal. And not only should it not be a big deal, it should be encouraged that this is, in fact, OK. That the employer understands the situation PRIOR to it becoming an issue and having an employee opt out of the voting process entirely, only because they could not find the time in their work day to make it happen.
So I wonder... How many employers took the time during their Monday morning meetings yesterday to address this point? Sure, I am confident that there are some companies out there who recognize the importance of getting out there and making sure their votes count. Sadly, I think the majority would be categorized as the exact opposite, with this topic of discussion never being addressed at all. Sigh....
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent...whatever. That makes no difference... VOTE. Do not take for granted this inalienable right. There are still many people living throughout the world who continue to fight the battle in hopes of gaining the right to a free election - remember that. Who are we to turn the other way and disregard this privilege?
Take pride in the fact that your vote matters and, regardless of the end result, know that you were a valuable contribution to the outcome of the Presidential election.
Busy, busy, busy..... So a short one today, mainly to ensure I do not have an extreme lack of blog posts this week!
We were gone last weekend, returned to Chicago on Monday, late afternoon, and now I am off to Atlanta this afternoon for work!
Want to see what I am up to? Check out the Clear Ultra Shea Concert Series featuring Elle Varner, and follow them on their mini tour. Last week, we kicked of the concert series in D.C.
Next up: Atlanta, tomorrow night....
If you are in the ATL, be sure to see what all of the hype is about tomorrow as Elle will be in your hood participating in all kinds of activities - interviews, in-studios and a Facebook chat at 1pm EST!
Olivia's Wedding Palooza - I am heading back to my hometown this weekend to celebrate with one of my closest friends. She will be tying the knot on Sunday! Downside? I am standing up in the wedding.....next to an actual super model. Blah!
Get Yo' Hair Did - I love having my hair done. In any capacity - a trim, a shampoo, someone brushing it, you name it..... I love it. If I could have access to one celebrity lifestyle item on the daily, it would be a hair and make-up team! Ahhh, to dream. So in short, I am really looking forward to having my hair done on Sunday!
Cleaning Out The Fridge - B has been out of town all week, and we will also be out of town all weekend, so I invited a friend over last night and had my way with some pinterest recipes I had been meaning to try. It was the perfect exercise in cleaning out the veggies and various food items that would have otherwise gone bad over the weekend!
CAA Football - LOVE these guys. They are so nice - they sent me two tickets to the MNF game here in Chicago (Bears vs. Lions) as "thanks" for the recent deal we closed with Megatron! Best. Agents. Ever!
Bathroom Completion - I had to include this, because I previously expressed my irritation earlier this week, in addition to how excited I was that the end was near. So, you probably remember that it was supposed to be finalized today, right? Well, it was not. Of course, the glass was scratched when it arrived from the manufacturer! FML. So now, the new installation date is Tuesday. Fingers crossed, everyone, please!
It has already been one of those weeks. So much going on, a lot of nonsense arising on the daily, lots to stress about with upcoming work projects, etc. So a perfect time for a vent session/thought dump!
The pit of my job? Dropping everything to tend to high maintenance clients' unnecessary needs. This afternoon I was asked by a client to drop everything I have going on this week and fly to D.C. on Thursday morning for an event we have been working on for months.MONTHS. Make no mistake, it is not the fact that I was asked to attend, that is my job. It is what I do. I am happy to oblige. It is the fact that we have been speaking daily for months and this thought never entered their mind until the 11th hour, despite the multiple mentions of this exact service on my end. UGH!
Remodeling. The bathroom looks stellar, but.....I want my damn glass door installed already. Everything is half finished and it is driving me insane. We still need to paint, have the glass door enclosure installed (which is happening on Friday, thank God!) and get all of the little details like the toilet paper holder, towel racks, etc. back in order.
Wedding details. The. Worst. Thing. Ever. I need my dress shortened, which is fine, took it to the seamstress and they are dealing with it. Or so I thought.... I now have to go back in today with my shoes to make sure it is the right length. Admittedly, this is my fault, I should have known this was coming and it makes complete sense. Except for the fact that I have no idea what shoes I am wearing.... F!
Another pit of my job....Clients who think they know how to do my job better than I do, yet they are CLUELESS. Suuuuuuure, you want to draft an LOI and ALSO do an offer and then long-form agreement because you think it will be more efficient, despite my telling you it will create about 15 extra unnecessary steps? BRILLIANT.
So, I have to be honest here... I had no idea this little thing called the Space Jump (or Red Bull Stratos project) was even happening yesterday. Sundays are football days in my household, so when my parents called and asked if I was watching the live feed from the jump, I thought they were nuts. WHY? Why would I be watching that over The NFL Today on CBS?
When there was a commercial break, I figured I would turn it on to see what all of the fuss was about. I was captivated. This tiny capsule was transporting a human into space via what can only be described as a giant, oversized balloon. WHAT. THE. HELL? I had to watch....
I must say, it was quite boring for the first hour and a half as Felix Baumgartner was just floating up into the sky with no real activity. Sure, there were multiple camera views, shots of the earth and what not, but...we have all been on a plane. It just was not that exciting....
Once he hit about 90,000 feet, then it started to get more interesting. You could start to see the curvature of the earth through the wide lens camera angles, and when they showed the camera view from the bottom of the capsule looking up, it was pitch black. Space. How cool is that?!
I found myself starting to fear for this guy's life when he surpassed the target jumping altitude of 120,000 feet and ground control was still in the process of attempting to trouble shoot an issue he was having with his heated visor. Then, I started to feel bad for him, knowing that he might actually get all the way up there and not even be able to jump....or that he might get stuck in that capsule, just drifting off into space. Later, I was informed that the capsule would be returning to earth in one piece and, worst case scenario, they would simply return the capsule to earth with Felix inside.
Turns out, if you connect a parachute to any kind of object, you can just pretend to fly and then return to earth at your command. This is of course a joke, but it does pose the question: why are there no parachutes available on commercial airliners? SERIOUSLY?!
Finally, when Felix had floated above 128,000 feet, they began to go through the check list and deflate the giant balloon to start descending. That check list was the most nerve racking part of all of this. 1/2 the time it was difficult to determine whether or not Felix was really paying attention, or if he was simply just saying, "yes, roger that," to get on with show...
When the door to the capsule finally did open and he stepped out onto the tiny ledge, standing on top of the world, that is when the stupidity of what was happening settled in. This guy could totally die doing this. F! So, I kept watching.
I continued to watch as Felix leaned over and began to tumble. Actually, that is putting it lightly. He was literally spinning out of control. He was falling at upwards of 800 mph and, because the air is so thin at that altitude, it appeared as though he was plummeting faster than the speed of sound to his death.
What was really kind of wild was when Felix did enter the earth's atmosphere again. You saw him falling with no purpose, breaking the sound barrier, when all of a sudden - BOOM. He regained total control and began free falling like sky divers tend to do. It happened so quickly, it was almost unbelievable.
After that, everyone in ground control seemed a little bit more enthusiastic about what was happening. Felix had broken multiple records, but he did fail to break the record for longest free fall. Which, coincidentally enough, is held by the man who acted as Baumgartner's mentor throughout this mission. I am sure Kittinger is secretly happy to have held on to one of the records!
As crazy as it was to watch all of this and comprehend that someone actually had this dream, saw it through.....and survived, even more insane was the fact that Felix landed so gracefully on the ground, on his feet, without falling down.
Think about that for a minute.... About 5-10 minutes prior to landing on earth, you were sitting in a capsule, floating into space, on top of the world. You then jumped, falling faster than the speed of sound. Once the parachute opened, it was smooth sailing to the ground, despite receiving incorrect wind coordinates from those whose sole task was to get you back to earth safely and in one piece. Finally, you landed on your feet, back to reality.
For the sake of science, I hope we were able to gather relevant data for the future of space travel and safety - or maybe even air travel altogether - which it does appear they were able to do. Because if not, are we all bat shit crazy for contributing to this nonsense?!?!
