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November 15, 2009

My disappointment with continental breakfasts...

 

I just threw out the last of my "hot chocolate" from an overnight break in Fort Lauderdale with my cousin. I woke up this morning to a buffet of English muffins, reheated sausage, overly sweetened juice and assorted cereal boxes. It brought back some painful memories.

I was a tender eight years old and on vacation with my parents and younger brother in the Bahamas. As kids do, the first morning there, we woke up obscenely early to take in our new environment. I had been reading through the literature that hotels give guests and had found the highlight of my vacation. The hotel was offering a "continental breakfast". I was elated. I imagined rows of food, imported from the most exotic corners of the world, a buffet of international flavors and tastes that I had never before experienced. I was going to eat from every continent, Antarctica included. I was ready.  We (well, maybe just me...my brother wasn't, and still isn't much of a foodie) trotted happily down the corridors, passing unopened gift shops and friendly staff as we walked.

What happened next was a defining moment in my life. It was the moment I learned to question words.

I saw muffins. I looked around the room quickly, trying to take in everything that was offered. Blueberry muffins. I walked up to the closest station, and in what was most likely an effort to protect my delicate eight-year- old psyche, began to wonder if my assumption that Frosted Flakes were really American was true. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I didn't understand. I saw a croissant, and assumed the French creation is what allowed the charlatans to pass this offering of cold breads and boxed grains off as "continental". I passed a box of Rice Krispies down to my brother who thankfully wasn't yet tall enough to see the trays of warmed over lies that lay before us. I envied him.

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Filed under  //   bahamas   breakfast   childhood   disappointment   food   travel  

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November 11, 2009

Physics Final

 

I wish I would have thought of this years ago. Would have saved me 500 or so words...

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Filed under  //   physics  

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November 10, 2009

Money and Mood


This article on financial education of individuals raises some interesting points. The logic is a little flawed (it presents the findings as if people who are in financial troubles are less educated financially. I'm guessing the lack of education is what got them where they are in the first place. It's not just correlation, it's causation.) but its suggestions that workers should be taught about financial responsibility are noble at the very least.
 
My only complaint is about the undertone that finances should be made fun. It's exactly that attitude that's gotten so many people in trouble. Money isn't fun or mean or angry or happy, it just is. (Plus, I tried that game. It was a nice effort, but I'm not seeing anybody playing it for more than 15 min.) Financial management is an adult responsibility and it should be treated as such.
 
What happens when the "Family CFO" runs into one of the many money pitfalls that life has to offer and their entire arsenal of financial preparation and understanding is based on entertainment? Maybe I'm just being a grinch, but aside from getting people started in developing positive financial habits, I'm not seeing the real benefit of such games. I much prefer its suggestions of employee sponsored programs that help inform people and bring them back to reality about their finances.
 
One thing I wonder though...The article states that 30% of respondants in a study overestimated the amount of time it would take to double their credit card balance at 20% interest. I'm wondering if the results would be the same if the question was about bank accounts or the stock market (well, pre 2008) instead. Westerners do tend to underestimate cumulative negative results and overestimate positive ones.

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October 28, 2009

Great Site for Mandarin...

So far so good on the whole learning-how-to-read-two-years-after-I-started-speaking deal. I've FINALLY found a resource I'm enjoying for characters, vocab and grammar. The content on the Target Chinese site is similar to most of what you'll find online and in grammar books, but they've done a great job integrating it all. They also have a segment on WGBB out of Long Island (this is the Chinese station I listen to all day at work) that plays every couple of hours and introduces you to a new scenario and some vocab.
 
I can't really comment on the Fundamental lessons since I skipped that part, but I've tried some lessons in the Beginner level and they've really helped me cement the hanzi and grammar. It's a lot of review (never a bad idea), but it's easily accessible and they track your progress so you don't have to remember where you left off. Oh...and it's free! I'm going to continue writing and reading practice separately (Sam Song) and listening with Across the Straits, but I figure I can knock this program out in a month or so with some good results.
 

 

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October 27, 2009

What Makes a Business Useful?

A friend of mine sent me this blog post today on social usefulness of business. Honestly, if this discussion is going to happen, there needs to be discussion of what defines "real value", because that's where the problem is. If managers believe that they've been tasked with (not even going to touch on what they've been incentivized to do) creating value through financial creativity and increased share prices, is social usefulness even really worth considering? Sure, 10 years down the road it could catch up to them, but you could say the same thing about bad customer service. Maybe the question that should be asked is "valuable to whom"? I bet this conversation would look a lot different if the financial tide hadn't recently gone out.

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October 23, 2009

Thoughts on Networking

This topic's been bumped around for years, but it's worth revisiting from time to time.
 
I hate the word "networking"...I really do. It brings up memories of what amounts to professional speed dating...bouncing from person to person, running down a 15 second dilution of your resume, exchanging contact information and then moving on. I finished undergrad, not so bright eyed or bushy tailed, and immediately began taking the advice of every magazine, business publication, website and available...I started networking. I went to meetings and mixers, joined organizations and researched my industry. Maybe it will pay off somewhere down the line, but besides lessons learned, I have to say it was an exercise in futility. I did emerge, however, with a better understanding of how to create bonds and connections (I distinguish them as different creatures) in ways that fit my personality and relationship style. 
 
1) Know yourself: I'm an introvert. I'm not shy. I work very well with individuals but I'm drained in groups. No amount of coaching or practicing will change the fact that I find prolonged interractions with people to be tiring. This means I've had to accept that those generic, massive networking conferences don't work well for me (I question whether they work well for anybody). I know my limitations and call it quits (even if only in my head) after three or four people. I really prefer the Chinese concept of guanxi. Relationships are built over years of exchange and interraction. While some of the aspects of guanxi might resemble the American definition of bribery, I have a deep appreciation for the concept establishing of deeper relationships before favors are performed or recommendations made. To be honest, I've had more success networking with Chinese than Americans.
 
2) Know the Event: Be it a party, golf course, breakfast or luau, why are the people there? Are they open to meeting new people? Are they ready to talk shop at all? If they're not, are they ready to meet new people? What will you be expected to do or participate in? Basically, will you be comfortable enough to be yourself?
 
3) Know the Contact: This one is especially important for women and minorities. Women in business are keenly aware that weeks of trying to build a contact with a male client can be undone by one trip to a strip club by a male colleague. It is what it is. When I was considering teaching abroad, the president of the company, also a Black woman, told me point blank she wouldn't send me to Korea, even if I wanted to go. The students simply wouldn't believe that they could learn English from a Black American...or an American born Korean for that matter. No, it's not fair, but neither is you wasting your time when it could be better spent on a contact that will be receptive to you as a whole person. If you want to raise awareness and tolerance, it's probably best done through a community or political organization than right at the moment you're trying to further your career.
 
4) Know Yourself Again: I don't subscribe so much to the idea of selling yourself as I do to creating relationships. I believe bonds should be natural and genuine, but also believe that connections work well if they are formed solely for the purpose of mutual professional benefit...emphasis on mutual. Know what you can offer before you start leaving impressions.
 
 
I'll admit, networking is still a weak point for me, but by focusing on events that are geared toward my specific interests and pursuits I've been able to build relationships that have opened some interesting doors. I am willing to take myself into situations that aren't ideal, but not so much that I'm placing myself in environments in which my core personality becomes a liability.

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October 17, 2009

ER Wait Times the New Black?

Apparently this is a trend and I'm not the only one that's noticed how eerily similar they are to amusement park rides. Maybe it's just Disney rubbing off on the rest of Florida like it always does...

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October 17, 2009

How long do you expect to sit in the ER?

I've been curious about this health care marketing ever since a friend of mine started in the marketing department at the Mayo Clinic. It's a far cry from my world of claims, contracts and net patient revenue. Before that, I never really considered that healthcare needed to be marketed...it was like salt. You either get Morton like your mother did or you get the cheapest brand you can find.
I was just on my way home from picking up some groceries and I saw a billboard for St. Mary's Medical Center featuring the face of beautiful little girl. It was an ad for their children's hospital. Not even half a mile away, I saw another board for Columbia Hospital that posted the current wait time at their ER. Not average, current..kinda like they post the ride wait times at Disney...just not as fun. My first thought was...who is this intended to attract or inform? Is there a segment of society that keeps track of which ERs have the shortest waits just in case they have to use one? Will people even remember in a time of panic?

The answer is yes. I'd actually taken my father to their ER after a pretty nasty burn. I chose that one over a larger, more advanced facility down the road, specifically because of advice a friend had given me. She cares for her mother (a cancer patient and stroke victim) and had learned a thing or twelve about navigating the healthcare system. Just a few weeks prior, she'd advised me that you never go to an ER that services areas with high levels of violent crime...chances are what's happened to you isn't as bad as a gunshot/stabbing victim, so you're going to wait. We went to Columbia and there was no one there...nobody. My father was treated immediately.

So it makes sense. What I didn't immediately understand, is why the digital display and not say, (assuming it's not horrible) just getting the average wait time out there? I realized though, that if it hadn't been digital, I probably wouldn't have looked. Americans like and are falling more deeply in love with up to the picosecond information. It also made me feel like the hospital might be paying more attention to its patients...I mean...the billboard implies that it's timing how long people are sitting in its waiting room. That billboard manages to convey not only hard information (a 7 minute wait time) but also mold the viewer's perception of a facility, just by choosing to spend some extra cash on a digital display. Good call Columbia.

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October 15, 2009

A Step into My Discomfort Zone

I've done things that have taken me out of my comfort zone before. Nervous first trips to the other side of the planet...leaving the church I was raised in only to show up alone at another...taking up Salsa with absolutely no dance experience. I was extremely uncomfortable each time.

 

Five days after my 30th birthday, I took a step out of my comfort zone, beyond whatever comes next, and into what I've come to realize is my discomfort zone. A place where you experience not only the shock of the loss of peace and familiarity, but where you also reopen old wounds, revisit old pain. For me, that discomfort comes in the form of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).

 

Why the discomfort? Well, because my whole life I've been a thinker. All my hobbies, all my life, have revolved around developing my mental abilities. Funny considering that in addition to the literature enthusiasts, I come from a family of basketball players and am myself 6' tall and of large frame. I was built to be an athlete of some sort and have no doubt I could have done well at a sport if I'd been introduced to them with more of a focus on personal improvement as opposed to the typical focus on domination of an opponent. I am after all, an INTJ, and we like developing ourselves more than we do defeating others.

 

Even as I sit here, a solid 24 hrs before my next class, I'm experiencing flashes of anxiety at having to run laps and do drills. I hated running even in middle school and have never had to handle the weight of an adult male as strength training. Doing these things now is simultaneously and frighteningly foreign and familiar. I worry that someone will notice how tired I am after finishing and think that I'm weak and have poor endurance, which I do. I wonder if some of the men resent my coming there since I'm the only woman in that class. Thankfully though, nervousness isn't alone. I'm looking down a road I've always wanted to walk but never fully understood. I've always wanted to learn a martial art and I'm glad to have brought my trusty drive to learn along with me on this path.

 

I'm hoping still, that drive begins to drown out fear...thank goodness the trainers at American Top Team are so professional and open. If they weren't, I don't know if I'd have just gone and bought more sports bras. I genuinely have been taken aback by how calm and encouraging they are. The students too...all have been amazingly accepting and patient. Coming from three years of dance classes (where even heterosexual males were comfortable moving their hips and dancing with the same sex), I expected that men who spend their time beating other men (or getting better at it) would be incredibly harsh. My mistake. Their even temperedness and patience with those (like me) who, short of a miracle, will never become professional fighters (that's what the club is best known for producing) has me deeply curious about what drives them.

 

I've been hit with a few other surprises after just two classes. I'm not half as sore as I expected to be. I was honestly expecting to have to take a half day off work to recuperate. I also don't find the positions to be all that awkward (there is NO personal space), even though many women wince at the idea of being that closely entangled with a man whose first name they don't even know. The class is also doing some odd things with my perception of my femininity. I'm suddenly more interested in keeping my toes painted and I’ve noticed I’m paying more attention to my makeup (not while sparring). After a solid hour of sweating, grunting and moving my body weight in ways I never thought I'd permit myself to even attempt, I feel softer. I'm not sure if that's a result of exposing some very ancient weaknesses, a need to compensate or a freedom of femininity I feel safer to enjoy because of the promise of exploration of physical aggression.

 

Another funny thing I've noticed. I'd set goals for myself to accomplish by 30...a mix of targets in formal education, finance, personal education and spirituality. I'm quite satisfied in all those areas. I know now that very young, I'd painted a picture of the grownup I wanted to be and put a great deal of effort into becoming that person. What makes taking on BJJ so surprising, is that it's the first step I've taken in life that augments my target self...not in the art itself...as I said before, I've always wanted to study martial arts. I just never considered the level of physical fitness it would require of me and that, is where I'm finding refreshment.   

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October 14, 2009

MBA Oath?

There's been a lot of buzz about this lately and a friend of mine in Canada just brought up some issues they're having in his program regarding starting a Canadian version. While I don't believe it's a recipe for instant success in reforming some of our...rogue colleagues, I do think it's an opportunity to change attitudes, perceptions and expectations of the degree and those in turn can change behavior.
 
What I really wonder though, is why individual countries might see value in creating country specific version of the Oath. Isn't that antithetical to the new world of globally minded business? In a world where the impact of business entities overflows country borders almost instantaneously, is there even a point in having our own individual oaths...especially if they don't reflect differences in cultural values?

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