Author: Allie P.

At least I get to keep my miles

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

I was standing in the middle of a pre-dawn parking lot in Florida dressed in a crumpled tee-shirt and pajama bottoms waiting for the booming horn and pulsing strobe light to signal it was safe to return inside the building while hoping beyond hope that my boss wouldn’t see me. Actually I preferred no one see me. This is not how I planned to start my day.

Some of my Asian based colleagues were visiting the US and several of us were asked to accompany them on customer visits. I am not a huge fan of business travel, preferring to sleep in my own bed, or at least travel with my family, but you do what you have to. Perhaps I should have protested a little more.

My travels began yesterday. The first plane was late arriving at its gate. It must have experienced some technical issues earlier on the day. I was immediately hit with a dry heat the moment I entered the cabin. We were told that one of the auxiliaries was out and that air conditioning couldn’t kick back in until we began taxing for take off.

It was a full flight and I was stuck in a middle seat only a row or two from the lavatory. Perhaps it was my proximity to the facilities or perhaps one of the other passengers experienced a bad dinner, but periodically the smell of old fart wafted through the air like some twisted automatic air freshener. We only cruised for thirty minutes, but I felt every one of those minutes.

The next flight wasn’t nearly as notable. There was a brief turbulence that made you feel like you were riding a bull at a rodeo and a rumor of yet another mechanical issue, but overall nothing to compare with the first. Soon I had joined with my traveling colleagues, collected the rental car, and was on my way to our final destination. Along the way, we discussed our itinerary for the following day. We had another round of travel immediately following Thursday’s visits which would take us into the wee hours of Friday morning, however our first meeting of the day Thursday wasn’t until mid-morning.

It was a good thing we discussed the plan while we were still in the car. Although it was close to midnight on a Wednesday night the lobby was anything but empty. Speakers blared as a handful of guests sang karaoke a few feet from the registration desk. It turns out that the hotel hosts karaoke one Wednesday night each month and we were just lucky enough to arrive on the big day. I quickly grabbed my key card and made my way to my room as fast as I could drag my roller bag with me.

As I settled into my room for the night I looked at the clock and was excited to realize I didn’t need to schedule a wake up call. It was a glorious feeling. My youngest has recently figured out how to open doors. I am grateful that he lets me pee alone (most of the time). Sleeping in then is rarely an option, and I was going to make the most of it.

That is, I was, until the fire alarm triggered this morning sending me in all my bleary eyed bedtime splendor out to the hotel’s parking lot. As I darted back inside, after given the all clear, I realized I had a story. You gotta laugh sometimes otherwise you might cry.

This is not the piece I planned to publish today, but just because an opportunity is unexpected it doesn’t mean I won’t seize it. I had scheduled a short piece announcing that I had finished re-writing my second novel from end to end and that it just needed a bit more polishing. It was a piece about celebrating small victories. And I am celebrating that milestone. Or at least I will be. Later. Much, much later. Right now, I will settle for just celebrating another cup of coffee.

Isn’t travel grand? At least I get to keep my miles.

Luxury travel
Not even close to my typical business travel experience (image from flickr)

Happiness and Self Fulfilling Prophecy

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

I remember my very first performance review. I had sat nervously at my desk waiting to be called into my manager’s office, feeling very much like a student asked to meet with the principal. I watched as a colleague exited signaling that it was my turn. My boss slid a piece a paper toward me detailing his observations on my performance over the last few months. I ignored the positive comments and chose to focus instead on the weaknesses. Seeing them listed out in black and white (and there were more than a few) I suddenly wondered if I would still have a job after this meeting was over.

I am not a naturally quiet individual, but in this instance I held my tongue as I waited for my boss to get to the punch line. I could almost hear the dreaded words, ‘I’m sorry, but…” I tried to tell myself that it would be okay, at least I could say I now had experience, which was a quality lacking previously on my resume. Perhaps this time it wouldn’t take me quite so long to get a return phone call for an interview.

After several seconds of awkward silence, my boss asked me if something was the matter. My worries refused to remain silent a minute longer. I asked him if I was being let go. My boss sat back and laughed. “Of course not.” He then went over his positive comments again with me making sure I knew this time I actually read them, and that I understood that while I had room to grow, he definitely wanted that growth to be with the company. I have been lucky. He was a good boss.

I grew more confident and comfortable with my job and my performance reviews over the years. During one of these later one on ones, my boss asked me where I saw myself in five years. I believe I laughed and said something along the lines of “in your job.” I was only partially kidding.

Nearly five years to the day, I found myself seated on the other side of that desk with my own staff. I learned then that anyone can be an oracle, but before any prophecy can be fulfilled, it must first be either spoken (loudly) or shared (often) for the world to see.

I had unwittingly made a promise to myself that day. I said what I wanted and I did what I said I would. I declared I would be successful, and by most indicators I have been. I have experienced an upward career trajectory. I have a house on the edge of suburbia and cars in the garage. I even have the white picket fence.

But two years ago I realized that I had neglected one other truth. Success by other people’s standards does not necessarily equal happiness. I realized then that in order to achieve sustainable happiness, I had to treat it in the same fashion as one of my career goals. I had to issue a new prophecy. I had to declare I would be happy, and then say it over and over again. I had to make changes to my lifestyle and attitude in support of my goal. I had to pursue happiness just as hard or in some cases harder than I had ever pursued a promotion until my goal was transformed from raw belief to real possibility.

I may never become a household name, but I might. I may never become the CEO of a fortune 500 company, but I could. Those are prophecies for another day. Today, I am pursuing my dreams and not someone else’s. I still have work ahead, there are still things that send me into a rage or sorrow, but I am at peace with the choices I have made, and in this moment, I am content.

 

 

Or at least I am on my way.

I AM
Image courtesy of Florian Klauer and Unsplash

Law and Order: Snowman Victims Unit

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

Snow day in Canada

As mentioned previously, US Southerners do not handle snow well. The mere threat can send entire cities into chaos. In my hometown we usually see one or two winter storms per year consisting of the occasional flurry, but freezing rain is more the norm. This year we saw several storms back to back. The snow from one storm would melt only for the weather to double down on its next hand. Schools were closed (again). Garbage service was cancelled. Those restricted to a milk and bread diet were in danger of starving.

You might say it has been a trying month.

After being housebound off and on for several days, my family decided we had to escape. Bundled within an inch of our lives, we faced the cold and valiantly made our way down the front steps. The most recent storm had resulted in a sticky snow, perfect for making snowmen. We did just that. Soon our snowman was close to my height, which is an impressive snowman height for our part of the country (though not so impressive for a human), and was positioned proudly in the front of the yard for all the neighbors to see.

The next day, temperatures (finally) began creeping back up and the snow began to disappear from the rooftops, but most snowpeople were still standing. Most, but not our giant. Its three sections lay in pieces like large white bolders on the lawn. My sons were disappointed, but they understood that all snowmen eventually melt (Valar Meltghulis). I told them he was too big to last. Then 6 pointed out that there were words written in the snow at the base of our yard; “R.I.P Snowman.”

snowman crime scene
Image by Robert Donovan via Flickr

I suddenly realized that our snowman may not have met his end through natural causes. He might have been murdered. Cue the Law and Order gavel sound.

But why? What possibly could have been the motivation behind such a crime? Did my snowman make eyes at some other snowman’s snowoman? Did the local architectural review board deem our giant an eyesore? (They don’t take kindly to additions in the front yard without proper permits.) Did the roving pack of wild dogs deem our snowman a threat that had to be taken down? None of those theories explained the presence of the note.

Ultimately, I was forced to conclude that the culprit was likely some kid trying to impress his or her friends. He or she probably thought they were hilarious as they scratched their message into the snow. I’ll never understand why some people go out of their way to destroy something that they didn’t create, or otherwise spoil another’s experience as a mere whim.

There is nothing quite like muttering under your breath about those darn kids to make you feel old.

I have chosen to interpret this experience as a compliment. Out of all the snowmen on the street, they choose ours to destroy. Therefore it had to be special in some way. It caught an eye. It stood apart and was therefore worthy of notice if only for an afternoon.

As Dr. Seuss put it, “don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

The neighborhood kids might have taken our snowman out (and gotten away with it), but they won’t take us down. We did something right once. We can do so again. We will rebuild, we will make the next one bigger, stronger, or at least mightier than before, but…hopefully not until next year – I am so over this winter.

 

How not to advertise

by Allie P., posted in Design Tips, General Tips and Tricks, Life as I know it, Writing and Publishing Tips

On my way to work the other morning, I was stuck at a traffic light when I noticed a hand-made sign on the other side of the street. There are tons of these signs. Usually they advertise things like “Mattress Set – New! $550!” or “We buy ugly houses!” But the sign that morning was different.

Low cost dental

I would have taken a picture of it if I had been more awake that morning, but the light changed before I could fully process what it was I was seeing.

It was brightly colored paper with mismatched stick on letters and a hand written phone number advertising low-cost dental services.

To be fair, I don’t know anything at all about this company. The practice could have the best dentist in all of the US. He or she might be able to create filings that are the equivalent of the Mona Lisa in the world of dental arts. They may have intentionally decided to not to create a shinier ad as way of keeping their overhead costs low in order to offer patients the greatest possible savings.

Unfortunately for their practice, I, as well as several others who pass by that stop, likely will not be making an appointment any time soon. Why? Because a sign like that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. I’d rather save money by skipping a dental appointment altogether than have my teeth treated by anyone other than a professional.

As I’ve written before, the independent bookstore which has agreed to stock my book has a strict policy against carrying books produced by an Amazon company (i.e. CreateSpace). When I decided to change publishing companies I had to take their policy into consideration. I decided to try out Lulu which is a local, and highly rated, company for my on demand printing. For the most part their service is fairly straight forward. All you have to do is upload your manuscript and cover image, specify a few keywords and your price and Presto! You too can be a published author for the price of a proof copy and shipping.

Only it isn’t quite that simple. Some sort of black magic goes on behind the scenes as their servers manipulate your Word file into a file their printers can use (CreateSpace has a similar process. Smashword’s ‘Meatgrinder’ provides even more joy). You watch the status bar patiently… then not so patiently… Your family shouts from the other room, “are you coming to dinner?” You shout back, “Just a minute.” Ten more pass. You give up because your stomach is now growling and return later only to discover that your right page footer has been indented while your left page footer has not. You curse, make corrections, and hit the submit button again. The print ready interior that eventually spits out on the screen at you now has a random blank page between chapter 6 and 7.

Fifteen tries later, your interior is almost to your satisfaction, except there is an extra period on page 50 and, oh for the love of Pete, is that typo on page 217? Your children have celebrated another round of birthdays while you’ve been at your computer. You start telling yourself, it’s good enough. Your cover at least was done by a professional. No one is going to notice anything wrong with the interior.

Except that they do. The little things matter, especially when you are trying to grow a business.

My older sister visited not too long ago, and I showed her a rejected proof copy. I had rejected the copy because the cover wasn’t trimmed correctly, but that wasn’t what she noticed. Instead the first words out of her mouth were, “what’s up with the font?” I love that my family doesn’t hold back the truth when it matters.

I don’t want potential customers eyeballing my book on shelf to think of me (and my work) as anything less than professional. She forced me to return to my manuscript and start another round of submission roulette. Yay! I can only hope the hard work is just as eye-catching as its opposite.

Winter bites

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

When I began this blog, I decided early on that I wanted my site to be a positive one. I would feature stories on life lessons, motivation, and positive thinking in addition to the occasional piece on leadership or writing. Some weeks are easier than others.

Photo taken in walking distance from my day job in 2014 (only slightly doctored)
Photo taken a short distance from my day job in 2014 (only slightly doctored)

After a relatively mild winter, the recent wave of storms brought a layer of snow and ice to my hometown. Around here, we take the threat of winter weather extremely seriously. Almost everyone here has stories to tell about where they were stuck for six hours the time that winter precipitation fell faster than the value of a new car after it has driven off the lot.

My son was overjoyed when school was released early one day and cancelled altogether the next. “A snow day,” he shouted, punctuating his excitement by throwing every single toy he could touch on the floor as he ran about the house. His younger brother joined in with eager abandon. Soon the bridges and overpasses weren’t the only dangerous crossings I had to worry about.

I have a hard time stringing together a thought under these conditions, let alone put words to print.

The hubby turned on the news. We were both curious as to how long we might expect the snow (and this housebound ‘fun’) to last. The governor had declared a state of emergency. Record lows were forecast. Power lines were at risk of falling under the weight of the ice. This storm could be a killer. Other news stories around the world were featured; these stories featured mostly violence and hate.

The word “Warning” flashed red and yellow across the screen in big bright font. You couldn’t miss it if you tried. The text was replaced on the screen by a man in front of a fireplace surrounded by pristine white cots. He was a representative of one of our local shelters. It was a commercial, but not one selling product or asking for money. Instead the group was using the ad space to inform the public about the number of beds they had available, urging the community to send those without shelter his way.

I received an alert on my phone. It was a message from my neighborhood’s social media site. In it, a nearby resident was offering the use of his Land Rover (and its four-wheeled drive) to any in need of emergency transportation, all they had to do was call. A few people must have taken him up on his offer because the next several messages in the chain were of thanks.

There is a lot of terrible news out there. There are events outside of our control. There are stories that make you question your faith in the rest of humanity. There are hundreds of reasons to burrow deep into homes and into ourselves, but there is good worth sharing too. I would even argue these stories are even more worthy of sharing.

I am not blind, nor do I live in some happy world of denial. There is white stuff littering the ground outside (and did I mention it is cold), but I’ve chosen to keep my site a positive one. This means I bundle up and do my best to keep the fire burning. I refuse to succumb to the bite of winter no matter how very tempting it might be.

Stay warm.

If you have any similar stories you think are worth sharing, please feel free to comment below. Feel free to add a link to your own.