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| Finally Updated the Bookshelf with Book Covers I've been meaning to do this, and tonight I finally had the time.
This is a partial snapshot. Click on the books to see the current list.
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| Email The email is our company's primary tool for internal communication. My responsibilities include producing reports for various groups of people, which I distribute via email. I also analyze established processes, make recommendations, and champion corporate policies and procedures. Occasionally, I would send out reminders, or seek feedback. The point is: I send and receive a lot of emails.
It recently dawned on me how staggering the number of exchanged communication is in the workplace. So, for no special reason, I've decided to test people — my email recipients, more specifically. I wondered, if any of them actually read my notes on the email body, or just download the finished product without bothering to read the accompanying message.
In a set of the reports I sent out on Friday afternoon, I've included some unusual text in the email body. At the very bottom, below my signature, I wrote in tiny font size: *Just checking to see, if you pay attention. (I bet they'll miss it altogether.)
The email that was sent to international associates read this:
"If you have any questions regarding the bonus policy, procedures, your current balance, or the local weather report, please contact me."
The email that was sent to domestic associates read this:
"If you have any questions regarding the bonus policy, procedures, your current balance, or the winning lottery numbers, please contact me."
I'm hoping for at least one response come Monday.
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| Big Deal Little Things Last night he came back home from a business trip. I had missed him those few nights, and it made me happy to see and feel him again.
This morning I came back from walking the dogs to find him in the kitchen, back from an early morning appointment, cooking breakfast... for me.
He cooked a full breakfast for me.
I guess you have to know us well enough to understand why little things like that I consider a very big deal. Chalk it over on the left side of the list.
I love him. Very much.
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| Yesterday I spent my lunch break aimlessly creeping up and down the aisles of a book store.  I avoided the usual large cup of coffee from Seattle's Best Coffee (side note: Did you know that SBC used to stand for Stewart Brothers Coffee?), and instead opted for a bottle of Tazo tea drink.
As I gazed upon a discount shelf — purse over one shoulder, tea bottle in my left hand, bottle cap repeatedly twisted by my right hand — I noticed a random paperback. The cover had a photograph of a peachypink knit sweater hanging on a clothesline outdoors. A woman's hand was sticking out of the sleeve, daintly holding on to a wedding band with her fingertips.
I picked it up and started reading. It was called Happiness Sold Separately, written by Lolly Winston — the same author who wrote one of my favorite books, Good Grief. I read a few paragraphs, and before I knew it, I was hooked. But, lunch time was limited, so I put the New York Times Bestseller back on the shelf, and quickly made my way back to the office.
 Today I returned to Borders to purchase the book, but it had disappeared from the discount shelf. I spent some time digging through the sale bins to no avail. Finally, I found a single copy at the bottom shelf, under W, back in the Literature/Fiction section. I purchased it at full price. It might have just been misplaced yesterday; I didn't really care.
I bought two bottles of tea, found a comfy chair in the SBC corner, and started reading.
Lolly is a gifted writer. Her easy-flowing prose has a natural tendency to grab my attention and pull at my heart strings. A few pages into Happiness, and I feel just about ready to cry. A sharp lump has made a home in my throat that I had to take a swig of my tea to hold back the tears from escaping.
I hate to say it, but Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe will just have to wait its turn.
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| Recently, I've come to terms with a few observable truths Being an intelligent and mature person means... ... you know the difference between the big stuff and the small stuff
... you can admit that you sometimes sweat the small stuff
... you do so at that moment to avoid dealing with the big stuff
... you pick which battles to fight today, and which to push off another day
... you discern between tolerable idiosyncracies and inherent tendencies
... you choose which to live with, and which you can utterly live without
... you have to be assertive, and follow through your decision
... you are always allowed to change your mind, and
... you can be just as crazy, confused and conflicted as a nincompoop
With that in mind, other observations include:
Boys are stupid.
Boys are really stupid when it comes to girls.
Men are just boys with suits.
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