Short Takes

I think twitter and text messaging are training me to think and communicate in short bursts of thought.

I recently heard a DC journalist say that if you couldn’t capture the audience with your story or message in 25 words they would just tune out. I’m not sure what that says about our nation’s ability to maintain a meaningful dialog on complex topics.

I’m looking forward to Clay Lowe’s book – A thousand bullets gone astray when I can get it in the USA.

I’m wondering when we begin to associate connotations with the images with see. My life was fairly uncensored as a child. And while I now view many images or situations as having a moral (good/bad) connotation, I know that early on that all images were neutral in my brain. Sunny day = Pithed Frog = Crucified Man = Sleeping Puppies. I don’t know whether this is because I saw A Clockwork Orange when I was six or whether I was just a late bloomer in terms of developing empathy.

I was supposed to attend the annual GCEC (global consortium of entrepreneurship centers) meeting at Rice. The meeting program looked amazing. I had everything lined up. I’d even pre-printed my boarding pass for my flight. And then I drove myself to the Emergency Room at 2:30AM when I got slammed by the flu. Since I had an annual flu shot, it was perhaps H1N1. My local ER was no longer testing as the test results had no bearing on treatment – (just not cost effective). I’m not sure how this impacts the H1N1 maps you can find online. In my case 4 days of fever, mostly GI symptoms, 2 bags of IV saline and various medications. During the worst of it, I think I slept 36 hours during a 48 hour period. Not fun.

Today is the one year anniversary of the judge signing my divorce decree. It is also the one year anniversary of getting my tubes tied. Two major life changes in one day. No regrets.

Next week, I’m having Lasik  done. My heart is racing just thinking about it. It took me years to even work up the courage to switch from glasses to contact lenses. I did my evaluation visit yesterday (at Spivack) to see if I was a good candidate. Aside from dry eyes (it is Colorado), everything looks good. They have patient “counselors” who help with scheduling, financing and also hand-holding as I heard the doctor tell my counselor in a hushed voice “she is very frightened” as in “hold her hand but close the deal.” There are two doctors at this office who do the Lasik surgeries. One is substantially cheaper. I understand wanting generic or discount on prescription drugs or routine doctor visits but on EYE SURGERY?! Give me the rockstar please.

I went to Get Motivated! again this year as I did in 2006. Unlike 2006, I did not attend the entire event. My assistant and I heard Robert Schuller, Laura Bush, Colin Powell (why I bought tickets), Phil Town (I love Rule #1), and Tamara Lowe (one of the founders of Get Motivated). While I remembered that the 2006 event had a “God Bless America” theme and “seemed to use some cult-like techniques to capture the audience” I did not remember all of the “take Jesus as your savior” rhetoric that occurred this year and caused me to leave.

Tamara Lowe has now written a book, Get Motivated!: Overcome Any Obstacle, Achieve Any Goal, and Accelerate Your Success with Motivational DNA, the focus of which she presented. It seemed like a useful tool for determining how to best motivate yourself and others. However, her presentation then veered into the surreal starting with a religious rap. To best share the experience, I will quote a review from Amazon.com ” I was then teletransported to another dimension and I’m suddenly at a Christian Convention. A big old Jesus-fest. To the point that she asks us (if we want to to be anything in this world and not go to hell thereafter) to each silently affirm that we each need Jesus in our hearts and need to reconnect with our love for Him. Huh? I check my ticket and it is still proclaiming to be a business seminar. I look at my employee, who is Jewish, and she is staring painstakingly at the floor. I mouth, “I’m SO Sorry” and she gives me an uncomfortable nod. It made me pretty angry that at a business seminar with nationally acclaimed speakers, she would be so presumptive as to assume that the 10,000 people in the room not only agree with her beliefs, but cares what she thinks on the topic. It was a total insult to the professionals who follow other faiths or belief systems and mind their own business about it. No wonder half the world thinks we’re arrogant and disrespectful of their religious beliefs.”

Yeah. What S/he said.

In spite of this, Laura Bush was charming, someone with whom you’d want to have tea or a glass of wine; Colin Powell was as inspiring as I’d remembered; and, I will most likely buy Phil Town’s new book which is coming out in March 2010: Payback Time: Eight Steps to Outsmarting the System That Failed You and Getting Your Investments Back on Track.

I’m finally planning my first trip to Hawaii. Smiling just thinking about it.