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The day my orange personality rose to the surface and threw me off balance
Athenian moral philosopher Socrates once said "Man know thyself" and till this day there are very few truer sayings.
Beyond being a lawyer, doctor, auto mechanic or janitor, we all have our true personalities – the real us. Some people have a predominant blue personality or a predominant green personality. In my case, the orange personality was in charge.
As a certified Real ColorsⓇ facilitator, I can say from experience that regardless of how much we try to, it is a futile attempt trying to limit, hide or suppress our true nature. I tried for a few years to suppress mine and it didn't exactly pan out right. In fact, it went exactly as it would for anyone attempting to refute the reality of who they truly are.
Here is my story about the day my orange personality rose to the surface and threw me off balance.
My Story
As earlier stated, I am a certified Real ColorsⓇ facilitator. I have a high orange personality which for many years I'd tried to suppress because I feared I would come off to people as flaky, a goof-off, or not on task. I took jobs that although they let me show a little of my personality, there wasn't enough room for me to thrive in my personality. It just didn't feel like I was in the place where I was meant to be, a place where I found balance.
Soon enough, my orange personality was fed up with being suppressed and decided to take matters into her hands. Truth is, even though I tried to give my best, my brain cells were dying on the job. I wasn't growing and there was little to no room for growth.
When I tried to seek higher attention I was smacked down with the fury of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades on their father Kronos when he tried to escape exile. I was sent back to my cubicle wondering what my next move would be and when.
My true personality (orange) saw this as her way in or out should I say.
Although I had a predominant orange personality, I thought to suppress it as I looked to my blue personality for comfort and consolation. This way I could continue to do the "right thing" and soldier on in what I later realized was a dead-end position. It didn't take long for my orange personality to abandon this sinking ship in a bid to push me towards going in the direction of my heart's desire. She whispered sweet notes of a new job – one that did not leave me so brain dead all the time. Hence I set out to find jobs that would fit what I was passionate about, jobs that worked with the youth.
The Orange Takeover
Somehow I kept seeing the same type of positions for teaching. Yes, I loved teaching and dabbled in teaching while between jobs – this was something I could do. Looking back, I should have been suspicious because my orange personality smiled and pushed harder for these positions.
I interviewed and was offered positions immediately and it felt good to be wanted. In green mode, I had a short term plan and a long term plan and it made sense to me. I was on board 1000% and made the leap!
Mid leap I began to have doubts. I suddenly found myself thinking that perhaps I should have taken a closer look at this, but as you know, it can be a little difficult to make a u-turn mid-air. I landed and took off running to prove that I had done the right thing. The faster I ran, the more I realized that I'd actually made a mistake.
Now I was neck deep in a new job that was less money albeit with the promise of a big payday at the end. But the end that was near was not the end I had envisioned.
Same problem, different job
After three months I was told that I was not meeting expectations and would be put on an improvement plan for 4 weeks. If at the end of that time I was not measuring up, I could be let go. That information mixed with new health issues caused my orange personality to giggle like the mad hatter. After my fifth or seventh or fifteenth sick day, my doctor threatened to put me away and not in a good place. I was literally making myself sick. I was going to be jobless and sick – this was not a good situation.
At this point, my gold and blue personalities came to the forefront, suppressing my orange personality yet again. In characteristic fashion, the gold personality immediately went into panic mode and began calculating finances, expenses, savings, eviction, homelessness, and how I was going to keep the regular Sunday dinners going.
My blue personality, on the other hand, cried and cried and hugged everything, wondering how I would help the kids who so depended on Sunday dinner, laundry services, baby birthday party planning and just having a mom that had answers to all of their questions and problems.
At this point, it seemed as though my green personality was the only one that had it together and thanks to the fact that she stepped up, I went into research mode and found an array of jobs that I could apply for in the field that I truly loved – Higher education!
Conflict of personality interests
Working with college students was hard but so rewarding. Especially when they graduated and sent invites to weddings, baby showers, or requests for references.
I remember rocking in my career in Higher Ed but I had to relocate to be with my husband. I left my career and followed him in hopes that I would find something in the field where we were. A part of me (most likely the orange part of me) is still mad about that move. I digress; now back to the orange take-over. My orange knew that she had to do something so drastic that I would shock myself to the point of making changes that would let the orange out.
If I had to, I would describe my orange personality as a free spirit or a 60's hippie that wanted to touch the universe and was trying to find a way to do it. Being on stage and in front of people was where she thrived. On stage, out front, exploring, learning, and interacting with others.
My predominant personality, being the orange personality simply loved showing her saucy side. Oh, and she was mad. While my orange and I were in a John Woo standoff waiting to see who was going to give in first, my gold personality was adding to the fray – she didn't want to be a renter again and loved our kitchen. On the other hand, my green personality kept suggesting jobs that I needed to apply for ASAP. My blue brought baked goods.
Finding the right path
My orange pointed to my toolkit that was full of resources that I could use to create opportunities that would not only let my orange shine but also took all of my colors with me. I called my mentor and unloaded. He hit me with the Four Agreements and told me to continue. I went through my thought process and what I wanted to do and what I saw in front of me.
He told me to sit quietly and listen. I rolled my eyes because I would have to hide from the grandbabies who think that Nonnie is the best human ever. When they went home I went to my office and sat in total silence for what seemed like six lifetimes but alas it was only 10 minutes. I stopped trying to force it and focused on the life I wanted when someone looked at my headstone and wondered about the dash. When I did that my mind opened. I was receptive to His voice and finally sat down and listened.
4 Lessons I learned that gave my orange balance
What is the one job you would wrestle Jesus for if he tried to give it to someone else?
Think about it this way. If we suddenly had to live in the Giver and had one job for life, what would that one job be? I had to think about what that would be for me. I want to facilitate/train people. The tagline for my life and business is "Activating voices, one life at a time."
What I truly wanted was to help each person find their voice and speak into existence the change they seek. My orange personality loved meeting new people that she calls "friends I haven't met yet."
Get out
No, not the movie – the job!
I left the job sooner rather than later because I was not only hurting myself, I was hurting the people that I was supposed to be "teaching". I needed to be in an environment that allowed me to move and explore.
Start grinding
Eric Thomas says it so eloquently "You believe in sleep more then you believe in grinding!"
I heard this over and over and had to check my grindstone to see if it was working. To me, grinding is the friction between what you want and putting action behind getting what you want.
If you want something but you put no action behind it, you are dreaming while wide awake.
Make the ask
Ask yourself and the world around you about the career you are considering:
- Will I be able to use my greatest talents on a regular basis in this career?
- Will I be able to build strengths in this career?
- Is this career consistent with my deepest values and beliefs?
- Will I have an opportunity to do what I love to do in this career or because of this career?
- Will I have an opportunity to fulfill my sense of destiny and my sense of personal mission because of this career? If I couldn't answer yes to each of these questions I must then ask…
- What business do I have even considering this career?
Never give up, never say die
As long as you have another day above ground you have a chance to try again. Do what you love as a side job until you can make it the job. When you do that you will forget that what you are doing is work because you will love it so much.
We all want something. Your goal is to find that something and make it work for you and make your life amazing!
Oh, and rubbing a naysayer's nose in your success isn't a bad perk.


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Tap Room
Eudora also serves it's own award-winning, house-brewed ales and lagers in our tap room. The tap room is be open to brew-on-premise customers as well as the general public. We offer a variety of flavorful beers as well as a small selection of wine, hard cider and canned soda. You're welcome to bring your own commercially-prepared food, order-in, or purchase food from one of the local food trucks that parks in our lot. To stay up-to-date on our food truck schedule, as well as special events and beer tappings, check out our Facebook page!
Tue-Fri: 4-11pm ■ Saturday: Noon-11pm ■ Sunday: 3-8pm
The tap room can be rented on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Sundays before 3pm for private events (contact us for more info).
Join us for Live Trivia every Wednesday night! Win awesome prizes, drink great beer, sample creations from a local food truck, and who knows, you might learn something while you're at it! The game starts at 7pm but you can join (and still win prizes) at any time.

subset: commoncrawl


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We are your source for top brands that are a reflection of the Equestrian and Western lifestyle. Shop for unique and distinctive apparel, boots, hats, fashion accessories, home decor, and general merchandise. Our brands include the Scully Leather Company, Rockmount Ranch Wear, Dan Post Boots, Conner and Bullhide Hats, and American Dakota Rugs, just to name a few. All selections are offered online and may ship from our warehouse or drop ship directly to you from the companies we represent.
The designers, artisans, and craftsmen we represent are inspired by their love of the landscape and story of the West. Our live cultural event programs include author appearances and live music performances of the SCVTV Presents The OutWest Concert Series and three online radio programs - "Campfire Cafe" and "Saddle Up America" on Equestrian Legacy Radio and "The Writer's Block Radio Show" on LA Talk Radio
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(Closed) 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist @ Bukit Batok
I am not sure if you still remembers Cross Way Bay Sio Bak that was in Tampines? The boss Martin does one of the best sio bak in town! All of our foodies fell in love with its biscuit-like sio bak skin that we kept going back for more. Unfortunately, Martin only served a short stint in Tampines before moving to Malaysia. The foodies miss the sio bak so much that we managed to "hunt" him down in Johor Bahru and realised he renamed it as Tong Tong Hong Kong Delicacy.
Good news came recently when I heard that he has moved back to Singapore and opened a roast meat stall in Bukit Batok named "88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist"! From the east of Singapore, to Johor Bahru, and now to the west of Singapore, Martin really knows how to travel! Even though his stall has different names every move, I am glad we are still able to track him down and share this good news to all sio bak fans!
This Bukit Batok stall is only opened for 2 months, they took over from the previous roast meat stall. Hence, if you have been staying there for a long time, you would realize that it's a different boss now. I kept saying sio bak sio bak sio bak, just how good are their sio bak? Well, you really want the skin to be crispy. I think Martin has got the right formula. The skin is crispy brittle to the point that it is almost breaking.
You can hear the crackling sound when you bite the skin. It is dry and tastes like biscuit, with the first bite producing a noisy crunch from the skin before it gives way to the juicy layers of well-seasoned tender and moist meat under it. Sorry, I don't think my photos did justice this time. Because we went after lunch on a weekend so all the good parts of the meat are gone. Hence the photos didn't look as appealing as it should. But I think it still tastes great!
The other meats, surprisingly, fare much better as compared to his previous outlets. I still remembered I didn't want a slice of the char siew when we went to meet him in Malaysia. But this time round, the char siew is tender and not too sweet. The roast duck has a crispy skin with tender meat. What impressed me is the roast chicken which is huge and fat, drizzled generously with sesame oil.
Glad that Martin is back in Singapore serving his roasts. He told us that in a few weeks' time, he will be bringing in the charcoal roast to cook his meat so that it will have the smoky flavour. I am looking forward to that! Oh yes, don't say I never remind you, please go there early if you wish to have the best cuts of the roast meat!
88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist
Address: Blk 265 Bukit Batok East Ave 4
Opening hours: 9am to 7pm daily
Let's build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there's any changes or additional info to 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!


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|"Chirag Mehta (JIRA)" <j...@apache.org>
|[jira] [Created] (DERBY-5794) COMPOUND TRIGGER SUPPORT
|Wed, 30 May 2012 20:08:23 GMT
Chirag Mehta created DERBY-5794: ----------------------------------- Summary: COMPOUND TRIGGER SUPPORT Key: DERBY-5794 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-5794 Project: Derby Issue Type: Bug Components: SQL Affects Versions: 10.8.1.2 Reporter: Chirag Mehta Priority: Minor I tried to search the for support of Compound Triggers like Oracle, didn't found any support in Derby 10.8 may be this would be a good functionality we can support. I really like using derby, this is my first project where I start using derby as an interim database for developers. We have oracle in production. So if we have compund trigger support with derby it would be grt. Write now as workaround I am creating 3 triggers (After insert, update and delete) in derby and 1 in oracle. If we have compound trigger it would increase the performance also. Thanks a ton team for your work -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. If you think it was sent incorrectly, please contact your JIRA administrators: https://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/ContactAdministrators!default.jspa For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
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On Air Now
Heart Breakfast with Jamie & Emma 6am - 9am
How's your Tuesday been? On today's show we talked about what you get up to when your other halves away, and you get 'me time'. For JK's it more about what he doesn't do, like any tiding up!
Or, if you're single like me, you get 'me time' ALL the time. Amazing.
Here's some of your examples…
This one from Joanne made us feel sad –
'My hubbie's just deployed to Afghanistan, the first two days I spent cleaning, the house is now in order. Lol.
Ps, I found his stinky socks behind the bathroom door, I hugged them & cried'
Davinia - I love to spend time pampering myself, turning up the tunes on heart & dance & sing away! Lol I love me time but don't get enough of it!! Xxx
Richard - keeping my PJ's on and play my Xbox til 5 minutes before she due home then I do the tidying.
Craig Denslow Getting the lads round, football with plenty of alcoholic beverages!!
Stefan - Slack around give myself to complete relaxation! There is no one around to tell you what to do and what not do!! Yeeeeeeeheeei. I love ME TIME!!
Tomorrow on the show you can win the perfect family getaway with Sky Thursdays. This includes a trip to Wales for the whole family with £500 of spending money included! Brilliant!
See you tomorrow from 4!


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Early gains in well-known (if not blue-chip by market cap) Net names Tuesday inspired a bit of late session buying to snap the sleepy group's three-day losing streak.
The Goldman Sachs Internet Index rose 1.1 percent, after floundering in negative territory for most of the day. The 15-stock index has fallen three consecutive sessions. The Amex Internet Index was up 2.1 percent.
Drawing a bit of cyber enthusiasm were Net companies trying to Webbify the world, such as Exodus exds and Net2Phone ntop
Exodus exds rose 4 1/4, or 5.6 percent, to 80 3/8. The provider of complete Web hosting facilities announced that it's inked a deal to expand its network capacity throughout Japan, Europe and in the U.S. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company partnered with Global Crossing USA Inc., a unit of Global Crossing Limited GBLX, -2.70% for that connectivity.
AT&T on Tuesday said it struck a five-year deal with Net2Phone ntop that will expand the global reach of the Internet phone provider to 17 countries.
The stock ran up 12 3/8, or 17 percent, to 85 for a total of $650 million in fresh stock market value in one day.
But could it be overdone? Over at Hambrecht & Quist, Danny Rimer reiterated his "buy" rating but left his estimates unchanged since the agreement had already been negotiated with IBM IBM, -0.19% prior to IBM's sale of it global network to AT&T T, -0.70% See full story and related story.
Other larger Net names that fall into the category of second-tier, when considered on a market cap basis, shot up as well.Inktomi inkt gained 4 5/8, or 4.3 percent, to 113 3/8. DoubleClick dclk jumped 5 1/8, or 5.4 percent, to 99 7/8. Priceline.com pcln saw its shares tick up 1 9/32, or 2 percent, to 68 1/8. CNet " posted a 7/8, or 2.4 percent rise. CMGI cmgi rose 2 1/8 to 83 15/16.
Shares of Internet Capital Group icge surged another 16 1/8, or 27 percent, to 75 after surging10 percent Tuesday on a bullish Merrill Lynch report setting a $125 two-year price target.
Fat gain
Fatbrain.com fatb rocketed 9 1/16, or 60 percent, to 24 1/16 on very heavy volume. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which derives the bulk of its revenue from the online sale of technology-related books, announced a new initiative designed to allow individuals and publishers to digitally publish documents securely and sell them on the Web.
The new initiative, called EMatter, could very well open the doors to would-be authors with ideas for 10- to 100-page books or those wishing to publish documents, reports or other content through Fatbrain.com. The company said the printed material would be sold at reasonable prices and that Fatbrain.com would eventually earn royalties on every copy sold.
Following the news, Banc of America Securities analyst Tom Courtney has raised his rating on Fatbrain.com to "strong buy" from "buy." At BancBoston Robertson Stephens, Keith Benjamin reiterated his "buy" rating, citing the new service's ability to "grow virally, similar to EBay's model." See related story.
Of note...
Providers of Internet security also saw their shares bid up. ISS Group issx Checkpoint Software CHKP, -0.26% Verisign VRSN, -1.01% and Security Dynamics sdti ended the day with solid gains.
By late day, America Online aol had cut its earlier losses but still closed out the session off 1 7/8 to 91 3/8. AOL formally launched its auction partnership with EBay EBAY, +0.24% EBay added 6 1/8 to 125 9/16.
Rounding out the so-called blue-chip group, Yahoo yhoo rose 3 11/16 to 147 1/2 and Amazon.com AMZN, +0.13% jumped 5 1/8 to 124 3/8.


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More delays (or, how my Mitchel Gold & Bob Williams sofa spent a month in a warehouse)
The lovely and gregarious Sharon of Quince confirmed that my beautiful, new, slipcovered sofa left the upholstery mecca that is the Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams warehouse on September 22nd.
Today, I got a call from the delivery company that they would be in the area next week. They gave me a three hour window for delivery. Unfortunately, there is no way anyone can be here during that window. The next time they'll be in the area again is after the 18th.
For now, I stare longingly at pictures online and wait.
By the way, if you live within a reasonable distance of Delaware, there's an Alexa for sale for $399 on Craigslist up there. It was used in a model home, so it probably hasn't been used much at all. That's an amazing discount...if I lived in northern Virginia, I'd be renting a van this weekend to go get it myself!


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All of our cars have card machines in them so if you would like to pay by card that's not a problem.
we are also dog freindly so take your pets with you
We cover Dyce Airport (Aberdeen) to Inverness Airport and everything in between, including airport runs to Edinburgh and Glasgow. We also cover all railway and bus stations in Moray or beyond.
24/7 service
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What our customers are saying
What our customers are saying
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I have used this taxi several times and have found them to be reliable and friendly the driver is smartly dressed and the cab is spotless would recommend them.


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30732672018-08-28T07:48:51.882-05:00Alison's JournalNews, thoughts, and random ramblingsAlisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-52323600545491536972014-05-29T11:57:00.001-05:002014-05-29T11:59:44.583-05:00A new article!After nearly a 4-year blog hiatus... popping in to say I have a new article online today! See "When Your Calling Feels too Small" on Christianity Today's Gifted for Leadership blog.Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-52912106585531123932010-07-02T20:09:00.001-05:002010-07-02T20:10:42.566-05:00Five fantastic things on FridayI'm alive! Yeah...it's been months since I posted. Just felt moved to break out the old blog again because there were so many things I was happy about today and I remembered the Friday Five meme! Though it's more like a Thankful Thursday one day late!

Five Fantastic things this Friday:

1. Cozy beds on rainy days
2. Good music
3. Good books
4. Candy
5. Encouraging friends

There are more, so many more...like finally potty-trained 3-year-olds who say cute, loving things, & comfy, lived-in jeans, & thoughtful people, & cooking competition shows on TV, & inexpensive treats that make kids smile, & the right words at the right time...but I'll stop there for today! Thanks for being there, those who are still there ;-) , and may you find more than 5 fantastic things in your life today, too!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-52149318758343187892010-03-03T17:27:00.003-06:002010-03-03T17:29:01.818-06:00If all goes well......the house I'm selling will close tomorrow, 9 long months after we moved here. Time to "March 4th" into the next phase of our lives! :-)Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-45870572017507883012010-01-03T19:38:00.005-06:002010-01-03T21:13:06.543-06:00Happy Haiku YearHappy 2010! I haven't quite settled on my "theme" for the new year, but it's something along the lines of calmness, peace, rest, & tranquility. Not that I don't want to accomplish anything--far from it--but I want to approach things with a calm, steady attitude instead of getting frazzled or frustrated.

In keeping with that attitude, I've decided, on a lark, to try to write haiku every day of the year. Not "real" haiku with a nature theme and possibly variable lengths, nor anything I'm spending more than a couple of minutes on, but just snippets of words in a 5/7/5 syllable format, to sum up something about the day.

I don't plan to share them all online--some may be too personal, boring, or forced--but I thought I'd share my first two, and maybe some others occasionally through the year, to keep me doing it. These are also subject to revision...I just rewrote the first one from scratch before posting this!

01/01/2010:

Family gathers
to share black-eyed peas and greet
the year we've just met
On 01/02/2010 (note how the date is the same forward and backward), I bought new journals, went over last year's journal to review the year, and watched the 10th Doctor regenerate on Doctor Who:

A palindrome day
is a good day to look back
and to look forward

Farewell, Tenth Doctor
Hello, new journals and year
Let's regenerate
Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-70226451462052424572009-12-11T12:03:00.004-06:002009-12-11T12:22:48.139-06:00Agent Appreciation DayKody Keplinger, author of the forthcoming novel The Duff, came up with the idea of Agent Appreciation Day, which is today! Many writers are blogging about their agents today (see a partial list here).

I wouldn't want my own fabulous agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, to feel unappreciated, so I had to come out of blog hiatus to join the celebration!

A few of the many reasons I appreciate my agent:

1) She loves my work! This is obviously huge. She continues to believe in it, and me, and has complimented my writing in ways that have probably made me blush. She told me that even her daughter loved my manuscripts, so it must be a whole family with good taste! ;-) She has even seen potential in manuscripts I'd already given up on.

2) She stays in touch. I've never had to wait a long time for her to get back to me on anything. Sometimes it's a day or two--sometimes it's only 5 minutes! She has called me and e-mailed me just to check in, and she always keeps me informed about the submission process. Even if I don't hear from her for a few weeks, I have complete confidence that she's on top of things, and will let me know if anything comes up.

3) She's enthusiastic and persistent. I hear about agents who give up after one round of submissions, or who send out manuscripts and let editors sit on them for six months or more without ever following up. Not so with Joan. She continues to seem determined to find just the right home for my manuscripts, and to make sure they don't just languish forever. Sometimes she'll ask me to rework something, but so far her enthusiasm hasn't waned.

4) She's patient. Not only has she not given up on my manuscripts, she hasn't given up on me even when I've been slow with things like revisions, or taken some breaks entirely because of other situations in my life. I assume she's patient with editors, too, though again, not to the point of never following up.

5) I trust her agency and her ability. While I haven't met Joan yet in person, she works for the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and I've heard Erin speak at a conference. Erin's talk convinced me the agency would be a good fit for my writing. They represent picture books as well as novels--and I write both, they're approachable and pleasant, they know the industry well, and they have a great track record of sales. While my books haven't sold yet, Joan has made some great sales since becoming an agent this year. I wondered at first whether to take a chance on a new agent, but I knew she was involved in the writing community and that Erin believed in her, so I happily signed on, and I don't think I could have made a better decision!

6) The agency she works for is a fun, supportive one to be part of, with its own listserv and retreats, and other great writers to rub shoulders with. All the writers I know who are with the same agency are wonderful.

7) She's calm and confident. Every time I talk to her, she's a calming presence as I ramble nervously, and makes me feel like I can do it after all. I assume she projects the same confident, can-do attitude to publishers. While always seeming friendly and laid-back, she also seems like one of those people who can take on 20 projects, get them all done impeccably, and then ask "what next?", which is exactly the type person you'd want as an agent!

8) Joan is a writer herself, and I love writers! Her picture book, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, was named by the Association of Booksellers for Children as one of their Best Books of 2009. I think this also helps her understand the writer's end of the agent-writer relationship.

So, Joan, thanks so much for taking me on as a client, and please know you're very much appreciated! I only hope I can keep up my end of the deal and help you generate some sales! :-)Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-74687490631297835162009-10-27T21:46:00.006-05:002009-12-10T00:37:25.829-06:00Why not live in the Austin area? ;-)I'm updating this post in December to say we've now lowered our home price by more than $18,000 from our starting price! Please tell anyone you know who lives in the Austin area (or wants to!) and needs a house! It's crazy cheap for 4 bedrooms and a big backyard! Great neighborhood with lots of parks and great schools. And there are big government tax credits in effect for both first-time homebuyers and previous homeowners! ==See the house at realtor.com!==Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-71056947930784081542009-10-01T11:53:00.004-05:002009-10-22T10:53:51.946-05:00Thankful ThursdayI aim to be thankful every day, in every circumstance, even when it looks like things are falling down around me. Today started out pretty cloudy, but silver linings started appearing soon. A few writing-related things I'm thankful for today:

1) I'm close to finishing a revision on a picture book that's been a long time coming. I have a little more to do, but...I'm closing in. And I like what I've written.

2) I've heard positive feedback about another manuscript. Still waiting to see if it more will happen with that, but regardless, I'm pumped that real live editors at honest-to-goodness publishing houses have had good things to say about my writing.

3) VCFA in the Lone Star State this weekend!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-77991140446180635252009-09-01T17:20:00.005-05:002009-10-01T22:43:22.528-05:00Have I got a deal for you!~~~UPDATED 10/1/09: It's been reduced by $9,000, so it's a major bargain. (We're highly motivated since we've already moved and have another house payment.)~~~

Our house near Austin FINALLY went on the market today! Please buy it or tell anyone who might be interested! Nice neighborhood, great schools, big yard, lots of storage space, 5 parks & a public pool in easy walking distance, plenty of shopping and restaurants in the area, 3 miles from the mall, only a few miles north of the Austin city limit...and oh yeah, access to the wonderful Austin chapter of SCBWI! ;-) Cedar Park made Family Circle's list of 10 Best Towns for Families in the US last year.

See the Realtor.com or Zillow listings for the house.

(Now come on, if you already live somewhere else, wouldn't you like a second home near Austin? ;-) We never would have left if my husband's job hadn't kind of dropped in our laps from elsewhere!)Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-82546849493658643002009-08-20T12:20:00.001-05:002009-08-20T12:21:57.802-05:00What's love got to do with it?Some weeks back, my friend Rosemary Clement-Moore won the 2009 RITA award for best young adult romance novel for her book Highway to Hell. (Congrats again, Rosemary!) This expanded my definition of "romance novel," because the romance in that book takes a back seat to the paranormal mystery and adventure.

Last week I began to wonder aloud if any of my own writing might qualify as romance...whereupon my husband pointed out I'm more of an anti-romance writer! And, as my husband, he wasn't sure how to feel about having such an anti-romantic wife. At first I thought he was wrong, because most of my YA stories do have romantic subplots, but as I thought through them, I quickly realized he was right. The evidence:

YA novel 1: At first I didn't think the protagonist would have a love interest, but somehow she ended up with 3. Guy #1 blows her off and then makes fun of her to their other friends. Guy #2 flirts a bit but sees her as just a friend, and then moves away. At the end of the book, guy #3 is her best bet, but she's never really liked him that much. (They don't get together in the end, but there's a sense she could end up seeing him in a different light.)

YA novel 2: The protagonist kisses his female friend, but they decide it's a mistake. She ends up with their other friend, which makes the protagonist feel like the odd man out. This book isn't finished and there may be a hint of romance for him with someone else by the time I'm done, but so far there's not.

YA novel 3: A guy asks the protagonist to be his girlfriend. After she says no, he kills himself. (! It's not necessarily cause and effect, but that's what happens.) She later falls hard for another guy, and it seems to be mutual...until he takes off and she never hears from him again. Ever. (You think this would have teen girls throwing rocks at my door if it ever gets published?)

YA short story: A girl has a big crush on a guy, but finds out he's a jerk and realizes she's better off without him.

Published short story with teen narrator: The narrator's mom travels a long way to look for love, only to decide she doesn't need to be that desperate.

Am I warped or what? To be fair, I do have an abandoned YA I started for NaNoWriMo a few years ago, in which a girl has to choose between going to get the slushie she's craving and a spontaneous trip to the beach with the guy she's had a crush on for years (when his little brother invites her). She tries to pursue both, and crazy hijinks ensue that almost keep her from all of it, but she'd ultimately have a happy ending.

I seem able to write completely fluffy, and often absurd, light romances with happy endings. (Maybe they feel less threatening in some subconscious way.) A few years back, an anthology published a story I wrote about a young man and woman--not teens, but it's very light for adults--who fall for each other after she comes to complain about his loudly quacking duck. It's silly, but I still love it and it has a happy romantic ending. I also once wrote a sappy, likely unpublishable story about a couple who get engaged at a flea market and have a wacky wedding where everything goes wrong but it doesn't matter.

When a story came to me out of nowhere last week, the one I recited to myself while driving and then typed up later, it was a light romance, probably a first-romance story about young teens. Reading back over what I had typed, I realized it was sooo fluffy, there was almost no conflict! The only conflict was that the girl is initially too scared to call the guy, and then it turns out she's lost his number, but then she finds it. Then everything works out great for them. If I do more with it, I'll probably have to add some zany conflict. But I liked the idea of a story where the people just really like each other and almost everything goes right. The story was mainly a "how we met" story, which I admit to being a sap for (the Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers both have Sunday columns about how engaged or married couples met, and I love those). So there may be hope for me yet in the romance department!Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-25186739530198511282009-08-11T18:37:00.002-05:002009-08-12T00:55:56.637-05:00The write kind of weekendI've been so overwhelmed by our move and the ongoing stress of trying to get our Austin-area house ready to sell that I haven't been blogging or writing much, though I have been reading blogs and writing boards, etc.

This weekend, though, I got refreshed by going to an Awesome Austin Writers' Workshop--my first time back to Austin since moving in June. While I did cry more than once about not living there anymore...the event itself was a treat! 19 of us met at the lovely home of Meredith Davis, founder of the Austin SCBWI chapter, and broke into small groups for intensive critiques throughout the day. My group, The Ramonas, included Chris Barton, Greg Leitich Smith, Lyn Seippel, and Helen Hemphill, and between us we critiqued picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. We also had time to talk and hang out with the larger group, and we had fun listening to anonymous first pages by nearly everyone attending. We had dinner afterwards at a casual place on the lake, Ski Shores, where a few more folks were able to join us.

In this lunchtime photo taken by Donna Bowman Bratton, I'm in the front left, and going around clockwise from me are: Lyn Seippel, Don Tate, Debbie Gonzales, Andy Sherrod, Brian Yansky, and Carmen Oliver.

These events are always inspiring! I was also glad to get good feedback on the manuscripts I shared...one of which has been on and off my back burner for 9 years (!), and one of which is almost ready to send back to my agent (I hope!).

It's lucky I got there safely, considering I had to get up at 4:30 am and drive 3 hours to Austin to get to the workshop--and couldn't sleep at all the night before! Not only were my nerves and my toddler keeping me awake, along with my usual night owl nature, but somehow a story started brewing in my head while I lay in bed. I ended up narrating most of it in my mind, in hopes I'd remember it in the morning. Sure enough, I remembered it well enough to recite the general storyline to myself out loud as I drove. I found myself wishing for a tape recorder, but didn't have one handy! But I added more as I went, and saying it aloud helped me remember it, even after hearing everyone else's stories that day. That night, relaxing with my laptop as I spent the night in Austin, I typed up the story from memory, and now I have 2462 words of something--I'm not sure what! It's a light romantic story, somewhat goofy as per usual with me, but I'm not sure if it's the basis of a short story, part of a novel, or just an exercise to get my writing brain jump-started again! Either way, it was kind of fun to have my muse on overdrive like that.Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-16974548268657766382009-06-28T19:57:00.004-05:002009-06-28T20:04:51.341-05:00Moved!Wow, it's been over a month since I updated my blog, which is odd for me. I have a good excuse, I think--we just moved, and are still in the process of moving to some degree. Besides the Internet connectivity problems I've had, I've hardly had 5 minutes to think, much less blog! Anyway, there's much I could blog about but nothing that clearly begs for me to blog about it, so this is mainly to say I'm still around.

Even though I knew we were moving for 4 months before I did, and even though I've been preparing for it all that time, and even though I'm actually living in another city & house now (in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where I grew up), it still hasn't completely sunk in that this is where I live now and that we're done living in Austin (still trying to fix up and sell our old house, but mostly done). I'm trying not to think about it much, because for all the positives of living here, I very much love and miss Austin and our lives there. I'd probably be adjusting better if we had some routines and/or it wasn't over 100 degrees every day since I've moved so we could go do more fun stuff, but I'm sure it'll feel more like home every day.

Not much news on the writing front, since I've been so busy and the kids are around all the time. But I do have a couple of picture book manuscripts I need to get back to revising, and have been brainstorming some about my YA projects. Sometimes I fear my stuff is too quirky to find a home with traditional publishers, but a couple of months after signing with a great agent and agency is probably not the time to let myself be overwhelmed with doubt! My resolution for the year is to focus on the positive, after all....

I'm trying to focus on the positive things about change, even though right now change is seeming like way too much trouble. But on the subject of real change being good, in the midst of our move we gathered up all the spare change we'd been collecting for several years and cashed it in at a couple of CoinStar machines, and we turned out to have over $167 worth of change!! I traded it all in for Amazon gift codes (to save the 8.9% fee I'd have to pay if I wanted it in cash), and will probably use it for a new digital camera, or else for some DVD box sets. So, change is good!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-83339755363068879072009-05-19T16:30:00.002-05:002009-05-19T16:30:54.192-05:00If you're in the mood for a movie...A couple of years ago, my brother Gavin acted in a movie called A Plumm Summer, which won several awards, including Best Family Film at the Austin Film Festival. It's finally out on DVD, and it's also showing on Time Warner's On Demand cable right now.

The Time Warner site currently has the movie trailer online here (you can see the back of my brother's head in the cash register scene, & later he's getting out of a car with the FBI agents...).

Here's the imdb.com listing for it and the  Amazon page for the DVD.

My brother plays Wally, described in Variety's positive review of the movie as "a bumbling general store clerk." He doesn't show up for a while, but shows up several times throughout, including at the climax. It really is a good, family-oriented movie if anyone wants to watch.Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-17938397333477954592009-04-30T11:02:00.001-05:002009-04-30T11:02:46.819-05:00Thankful Thursday1) Everyone in my family is healthy.

2) I got an agent this month!

3) She started sending my book out yesterday.

4) Isn't that enough? :)Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-17073087601592465242009-04-25T17:03:00.000-05:002009-04-25T17:04:28.832-05:00A few steps forwardI know it's been 23 days since I posted...things have just been hectic since my husband left town for his new job. He's been in the job for five weeks (and loves it, yay!), and it's six more weeks until the kids get out of school. But I can't imagine we'll be ready to move at that point! Not only are we nowhere close to getting out of here, but we don't have anywhere to move yet. Still, we're working on sorting through the garage today, and my husband has driven around some neighborhoods in our new town and visited a couple of schools. (And he's home with us right now, which is great!)

Meanwhile, remember how I said I wanted this to be a positive, purple year? Well, this is going to be cryptic for the time being, but it looks like things are moving in that direction!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-64554322708202458242009-04-02T10:01:00.007-05:002009-04-02T10:24:01.682-05:00What a week!I'm so exhausted, I don't have the energy to post much. But at least I did survive my first week handling the kids and everything else alone with my husband gone (to his new job in another city, until the rest of us can join him), and I'm more than halfway through the second.

He did get to come back on the weekend, so I got to go to Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls book signing at BookPeople! A group of us from the Austin SCBWI had a reception with Laurie before her signing, and she volunteered to do a Q&A session for us at the reception. It was a wonderful, inspiring event, and Laurie is very personable, with plenty of hard-earned wisdom she was glad to share. Wintergirls looks like an amazing book, too. I've put off reading it just because I don't have the time right now to plow straight through it, but I can tell from the excerpts I've read, once I get started I probably won't be able to put it down.

Donna Bratton put some photos of Laurie and the reception group on her blog. You can click on either one to see it bigger. (In the group photo, Laurie Halse Anderson is third from the left on the second row, and I am third from the right.) Cynthia Leitich Smith also put a couple of photos from it near the end of Tuesday's Cynsations post.

Before and after that, I was trying to figure out how to write, write, write, while also managing my very high-maintenance kids--especially the wildly active and strong-minded 2-year-old! I recently increased his preschool days to 4 mornings a week, just for the short term, to help me get stuff done while my husband is gone. And that, plus a night-time offer of babysitting by a friend the other night while I wrote in her spare room, is the only way I made it through the week! I wrote and wrote and wrote, trying to get something out by an approximate deadline of yesterday, and got it done! Whew. Turned out my recent freelance writing gigs really taught me how to get in gear and meet a deadline, whether I felt "inspired" or not. I didn't get nearly enough sleep this week, and when I finally had 8 hours in bed last night...thunderstorms kept me up for most of the last 2 hours. Oh well!

Soon I have to go the "picnic" at my older kids' school (I hope it's indoors, given the muddy ground outside and the high wind advisory!). So, I still don't know when I'll get a moment to clean up the mess my house has become as I've ignored it--let alone start getting ready for our move!Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-53127335247202202532009-03-20T17:48:00.003-05:002009-03-20T17:53:49.277-05:00Very hungry heads upHave you seen today's Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed Google logo for the first day of spring? So cute!

(You can see all their 2009 holiday logos here, including one for Dr. Seuss's birthday earlier this month.)Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-66640488256290049972009-03-14T20:24:00.003-05:002009-03-16T19:48:21.907-05:00Books, cake, & piLast month I was fortunate enough to win a copy of Judy Blundell's National Book Award-winning YA novel, What I Saw and How I Lied, from the Young Adult (& Kids) Books Central Blog. I received it this week and started reading it yesterday...and ended up staying up until 4 am today to finish it! Once I got about halfway through, I never found a place I could put it down. :) The author has a knack for building suspense, and the postwar setting was vivid. It was a very interesting read, though the protagonist deals with so much in this book, I think she must age about 20 years, emotionally, instead of just "coming of age" a little!

I did manage to pull myself out of bed a few hours later to go to the monthly Austin SCBWI meeting and hear Lila Guzman talk about increasing the marketability of your books. She had lots of interesting ideas for tying your books into school curriculum or finding relevant groups to market them to. (And made me realize I need to see if the gum recipes I allude to in one of my manuscripts are actually possible! I do have a make-your-own-bubblegum kit, but haven't tried it out yet.)

After that, it was off to a loud, crazy playplace to take my older two kids to a birthday party (at least I had my comptuer and WiFi there until my battery ran down...), where I had a bit of green-frosted chocolate cake, and soon we'll be having chocolate cream pie (storebought--I've been too busy to cook one!) in a Pi dish in honor of Pi Day!Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-39656125092232761582009-03-13T21:56:00.005-05:002009-03-14T16:21:01.665-05:00Writing on the brainOne of the worst things about moving is that my life has to revolve around our move (and daily survival with 3 kids) for the next 12 weeks. And life after that will probably revolve around the other side of the move--unpacking, settling into a new place, developing new routines, etc.--for another few weeks. Which means, unfortunately, writing time falls by the wayside.

But I 've found there's still some time to think about writing. I often find myself stuck in a (stopped) car for a while, or riding in a car I'm not driving, with time to read a little or make notes, and I also find myself stuck under a toddler a lot, which is where most of my computing time comes from (and most of it one-handed, too, with my laptop on the little table next to my couch, which makes it hard to type but too easy to play a lot of online games!).

Anyway, I recently thought of a new book idea...or, more accurately, an idea for a theme I'd like to explore in a book. It didn't really come with a plot or characters attached. Meanwhile, I have some characters and starting points of books in search of a plot, so I thought this idea could work with one of those back burner projects. It kind of fits with two of them. Then I started thinking about ALL the book ideas I have on the back burner and how long it would take me to get them done...and it's really daunting! I started thinking, I need to draft a book a month for a year to get most of my ideas out! I actually find that an intriguing idea, and might even consider it if I had the time, because I tend to write fast when I'm in heavy writing mode, but now is not the time.

I've also been thinking I don't know the main character of my latest YA project well enough. I spent some time brainstorming about her the other day, and when I was in the car yesterday, I browsed a magazine trying to find a photo I thought might look like her. I didn't find one, but did find one that looked a lot like her best friend, and also decided my main character probably has green eyes, which surprised me. So, those are the kinds of things I'm pondering in the minutes between things, so I won't fall out of writing!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-25400458650470576882009-03-07T16:32:00.004-06:002009-03-07T17:05:12.016-06:00Manuscripts and me on the moveI've haven't been quiet because it's been slow here, but because it's been very, very busy! As much as we adore Austin and had no intentions of ever moving away again...we couldn't turn down the excellent job opportunity that came up for my husband. Soon, he'll become the head of reference and adult services for the Arlington Public Library--a place he's worked before and loved--so we're moving to my hometown of Arlington, TX, after being away for 16 years. At least it's only a three-hour drive away, so I plan to be back to Austin often!

With a major move impending that we're not even slightly ready for, it's easy for writing to fall by the wayside. And indeed, I haven't written anything in quite a while. But I did manage to get it together enough to send an applicaton for the SCBWI Work-In-Progress grant today, and also to send an entry to the Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest a few days ago. I sent the same basic synopsis and excerpt of my middle grade novel to both. The requirements for both were similar, though the grant application requires more background information than the contest form, and the manuscript contest has a $50 fee. I decided that, other than a little money and time, I had nothing to lose by entering. Now, if I could only finish my taxes, I could turn all my attention to our move!

In older news, in the past week or two I finally read Joni Sensel's middle grade book Reality Leak, which has been one of my son's favorites for a couple of years but which he had misplaced until recently...and also read Ruth McNally Barshaw's latest book, Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School, which is especially relevant to my kids right now when we're moving soon. Both books were lots of fun, and highly recommended for middle grade readers! I also went to the Coraline movie in 3D, which I liked pretty well. I was neither as creeped out as I feared nor as blown away by the 3D as I hoped. (Not that the 3D wasn't great, but I've just become jaded because 4 of the last 5 movies I've seen in the theater were in 3D! The others were Meet the Robinsons, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Bolt.)

And I can't believe I never mentioned our great Austin SCBWI meeting last month, with author/illustrator Mark G. Mitchell speaking about school vists. Donna Bratton posted a nice recap of the event, and even a photo of some of us at lunch afterwards. (I'm on the left between Brian Yansky and Greg Leitich Smith. Hidden behind Greg is Debbie Gonzales, then Frances Hill and Shana Burg are at the end of the table, with Brian Anderson between Shana and Cynthia Leitich Smith, who is hidden behind Jennifer Ziegler. At the near end are author Julie Lake's husband, and the back of Carmen Oliver. Unfortunately, Donna herself was behind the lens, so she's not in the pic!) Cynthia Leitich Smith also posted about this event in her Feb. 27 Cynsations post.Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-88273998936692724102009-02-14T00:10:00.001-06:002009-02-14T00:12:03.733-06:00Valentine's wishes

Happy Valentine's Day from my little Cupid & me!Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-76498743607439520802009-02-01T10:28:00.001-06:002009-02-01T10:28:39.078-06:00Apostrophe catastropheIt's a catastrophe for the apostrophe in Britain. (Okay, the actual headline removed the apostrophe from "Its" in that sentence to make the point, but I couldn't do it myself!)

The website for the Apostrophe Protection Society is no longer functional, so apostrophes everywhere may soon suffer similar fates. Let's just hope all the apostrophes removed in Britian won't make their way elsewhere, to show up even more often in all the wrong places. (Or should that be "place's"?)

Writers and editors should appreciate Debbie Ridpath Ohi's comic on this topic.Alisonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-32373876284175040912009-01-23T10:29:00.009-06:002009-01-23T11:12:08.589-06:00Books in danger!I was already horrified that the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that goes into effect February 10 is threatening the ability of people to buy or sell children's products through consignment stores, charity stores, small businesses, and even eBay or garage sales. I read that whole chains of children's consignment stores might have to close their doors, and that charities like Goodwill could have to throw away every children's item they have in their stores, just because the cost of testing them for lead (which most clothing items, etc., are very unlikely to have) would be too high! This is especially problematic at a time when many people really need the cost savings of shopping for used products (or the income from selling their old products), and when it would be environmentally crazy to fill our landfills with perfectly good, usable toys and clothing.

Now I have found out that children's books may be affected, too--even books already in libraries and schools! This link is from the ALA so it doesn't mention textbooks, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were affected as well. I suspect it could also affect literacy charities that give gently used books to needy children.

Please read the following link...let's try to change this now!

ALA Action Alert - Save our children's libraries and books!

Here is a Publisher's Weekly article about it, also, and a Forbes article about the whole ridiculous regulation and how it will end up hurting the little companies and individuals. (Some are even calling February 10 National Bankruptcy Day.)

This is just crazy. Yes, a few toys, mostly imported from China, were recalled recently because of lead levels, but has there really a problem with children getting lead poisoning from books?! I have never heard of such, while the lack of access to books would be a real, definite, and major problem that would not be theoretical at all! (Besides, it's not like people are going to get rid of all the old toys, children's clothes, and books in their homes--especially now that there would be nowhere to donate them that they wouldn't have to be thrown out--so the kids won't really be "safer" if libraries stop having books for them!)Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-43257695955377771902009-01-16T19:53:00.008-06:002009-01-16T22:20:59.835-06:00First Friday Five of 20091) Last Saturday, I went to the Austin SCBWI meeting at BookPeople to hear the lovely and talented Jennifer Ziegler talk about writing mass market books. Over 90 people attended the meeting (standing room only!), and Jennifer's presentation was great!

2) Wednesday, my middle son turned 8! (Coincidentally, the aforementioned Jennifer Ziegler's daughter has the same birthday as my son, which probably means she's pretty cool, as Jenny's blog entry about her proves. Actually, I already knew she was pretty cool, because she liked my manuscript! :-) ) We celebrated my son's birthday with Denny's (his choice!), cake, and of course presents, and will host some of his friends at an indoor playscape this weekend.

3) Take a Chance on Art: purchase one or more $5 raffle tickets to enter to win illustrator Don Tate's painting "Duke Ellington," and support the Texas Library Association Disaster Relief Fund. It's especially important this year in light of devastation caused by Hurricane Ike. To learn more, read Cynthia Leitich Smith's interviews with TLA librarian Jeanette Larson and illustrator Don Tate.

4) I revise my blog entries (and comments, and message board posts....) compulsively, so #4 is different now than if you read this when I first posted it. ;-)

5) Some of the things I've considered blogging about lately include the craziness of toddlers (impossible to overstate), living without a full night's sleep for 2+ years (see previous item re: toddlers), the world-colliding weirdness that is Facebook (I truly spend hours pondering this), my new addiction to Sudoku (via the BrainAge video game I got for Christmas, as well as online places to play), and cartoons as they relate to writing for children in general. And maybe sometime, I really will write about some of those things!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-41054126210772449772008-12-31T21:21:00.002-06:002008-12-31T21:25:27.162-06:00Positive & purple
Happy, Happy New Year to all!!

It's resolution time again! I accomplished my primary resolution for 2008--to finish a stranded writing project--when I dusted off my middle grade novel manuscript and completed it. I didn't do as well in organizing my house, but did get more active for at least a while, participating in a race.

I'm sure I'll set various short-term goals in 2009, but instead of having a lot of individual goals to track from New Year's on, I'm setting only one main, overarching New Year's resolution, which is: Focus on the positive.

I don't just mean looking for the silver lining in bad situations. I'm pretty good at that already. I mean that, in nearly every situation, I hope to remind myself, "How can I respond to this in a positive, productive manner?" or "How can I approach this in a positive way?" So, when the kids whine "Mo-om!" for the tenth time in a row and I'd normally snap "What?!" in an exasperated way, I want to remind myself that won't make the situation better. Likewise, when I walk in the door after being out, I want to greet my family instead of immediately complaining about the mess. I want to notice the good things and say "thank you," instead of taking them for granted.

I also mean that I want to focus on the possibilities and things that could go right, instead of letting fear hold me back as I contemplate what could go wrong. When I face a challenge, whether it's revising a novel or organizing my kitchen, I want to replace "I can't do this," "This is too hard," "It'll never work," or "I'm going to fail," with "I can do this," or at least, "I can do some of this, and see what happens from there" "I'll give it a go," and "It might just work."

I hope to focus on the things that will lift me up, and that will lift up others around me. When I'm overwhelmed by the negatives, as I know I will be at times, I don't want to be overly daunted by them, but rather to dwell on the positive steps I can take to make things better and move things in the right direction.

I also expect this to be a purple year! The manuscript I finished in 2008, Purple Panic, is with an agent right now. Whether or not this agent offers to represent me, I plan to market that novel in the new year, so I've been getting into a purple mood. I'm wearing a purple shirt right now, to usher in the new year (I'll add a purple paper tiara or New Year's hat near midnight). I also bought a purple dress and a purple tote bag and even some purple high heels! So, here's to purple, and here's to a positive 2009!Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3073267.post-25479521206237551772008-12-31T01:11:00.012-06:002009-01-14T23:36:35.815-06:002008 in review
I'll model this after my 2007 in review post, but with a few tweaks.

The year in summary: 2008 was a year of waiting for me and my family, with few real changes in our lives. It was a hard year. It had some bright spots, of course, but I'll be glad to see it go!

Most outstanding experience: The Awesome Austin Writers' Workshop I attended in June

Some other great experiences: Connecting with old & new friends online; a trip to Galveston in April; several Austin writing events including an SCBWI conference in April and an Editor Day in December; my kids throwing a carnival for me on Mother's Day; going to my former roommate's wedding; seeing my toddler jump for joy most times that he sees me walk into the room

Favorite new people met: A bunch of writers from the Austin children's writing community (see above!)

Scariest experiences: Heavy-duty economic uncertainty; seeing my toddler (a.k.a. the fearless stuntbaby) perform wild physical feats and risk damage to himself and everything in and around our home (daily)

Saddest experiences: My great-uncle passing away; my husband not getting a job we thought was perfect

Most unexpected experiences: Getting a cat; running on purpose; my toddler jumping right into an indoor swimming pool (which also turned out to be unheated, though it was November); becoming a fan of Doctor Who; finding out my husband hadn't seen the 80s teen movie Better Off Dead, when it's one of my favorites and I thought we'd shared that point of reference for the past 17+ years (I did make him watch it after that!)

Favorite movies seen: Once; Juno; Bolt (it was a good year for one-word titles!)

Favorite TV shows: Survivor; Top Chef; Flight of the Conchords; Doctor Who

Favorite things I read: Several books by writers I met this year (& a few by writers I haven't met); excerpts of unpublished books by writer friends that I can't wait to see in print; several little books & stories my 7-year-old wrote; some great poems my 10-year-old wrote, including a group of haikus for school and a book of "A-Z Christmas Guess-it Poems" he wrote and illustrated for me for Christmas; a request for my manuscript from an agent I queried

Biggest blessings: My family; great classes & teachers for my kids; the generosity of others; the Austin children's writing community

Most impressive accomplishments: Finishing a middle grade novel manuscript; writing a short story that then got published; winning a bunch of games of Word Twist, Scramble, & PathWords (not as many as some of my other writer friends, though!); getting good feedback on my writing; completing a 5-mile race (though I alternated walking & running)

Things I missed most: Like the previous year--sleep; free time; silence; money

Out with the old: After Hurricane Ike hit, we sadly had to bid farewell to many places in and around Galveston, some of which we'd just visited in April

In with the new: A Taco Bueno opened within 30 minutes of our house, when we'd previously had to drive 90 miles to get to one (this also qualifies for the "great experiences" and "most unexpected experiences" categories!); our niece had a baby girl in March; one of our nephews got married; our toddler started Mother's Day Out in the fall (preschool-type thing 2 mornings a week); our cat Pepper was born in April (probably) and came to live with us in June

Song(s) that will remind me of 2008: Anything from the Once soundtrack

Song lyric that sums up the year for me: "Looks like we made it."
Alisonhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


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I'm in shock.
There had been whispers for months, but no-one believed it would happen. Yesterday it did. The PM handed out our Contracts of Employment. I stared at my skinny envelope in surprise.
There was no mention of the legal assistant/paralegal work I was doing. The Contract confirmed I was a legal secretary. It was also thousands lower than they'd told me. I calculated the per annum figure from my wage slip. I was earning a higher figure than on the Contract, but was still much less than agreed.
I went cold.
I felt sick to the pit of my stomach.
I figured there had to be some mistake.
I didn't have time to ask because we were called into a department meeting. I tried to concentrate on what PHILIP was saying about aggressive marketing. When he spoke of an advert in The Law Gazette I assumed this was another aspect of raising our profile. However, when he unfolded the proposed advert and slid it towards HOWARD I realised I was wrong.
It was an advert for my job.
I stared at HOWARD. He read the advert and smiled at PHILIP.
No one had told me. I couldn't believe nobody look ashamed. I felt invisible.
Once the meeting was over I asked to speak to HOWARD about the advert. Amused, he told me he had no idea I wanted to progress, but that I was getting above myself if I thought I'd ever make a fee earner.
I can't tell you how bad I felt. The penny dropped. It felt like one big set up. HOWARD hates me. He'll stop at nothing. I'd believed him about the paralegal job. I'd believed him because I'd wanted to.
It was nothing but another joke.
Last night I wrote out my resignation. I outlined the horrible things HOWARD had done to me and how these things should never happen to a secretary. I said I couldn't take anymore.
I can't tell you how sick and scared I was giving my letter to the Senior Solicitor this morning. I left the office crying for the last time. I walked aimlessly - ending up at a local river. I froze after sitting on a bench too long as my mobile phone filled up with voicemail messages from the PM and HOWARD. They sounded worried I would kill myself or something.
A couple of hours later I still didn't know what to do with myself. I headed for a temp agency, telling them I needed work. I'll leave you imagine the state I was in. The manager asked me what happened, but I couldn't speak so I handed her a copy of my resignation letter. She took it from me but halfway through said, "I can't read anymore." She picked up the phone and spoke to a top firm of solicitors.
"I'm sending her over to you now," she said. "This is the worst case of bullying and harassment I've ever seen."
I was told to go straight to the solicitors and then come back. She promised she'd find me another job.
The solicitors' office was very different from the one I worked in. It's a coincidence, but a friend on twitter recently told me the first half hour is often free. They're right. The Employment Solicitor showed me into a meeting room and ordered tea and biscuits as he read my resignation letter.
"I've been an Employment Solicitor for a long time" he said. "But this is the worst case of bulling and harassment I've seen in my life. It's incredible that it's happening in a solicitors' firm. The crucial thing is, of course, can you prove it?"
"Every word," I said. "I can prove every word."
When I returned this afternoon with my folders of evidence, his jaw hit the floor.
I would have made a great paralegal...If I'd had the chance.
Eva x
About Me
- Bullied By The Boss
- Welcome to my blog. My pen name is Eva James. I'm an aspiring writer paying the bills working as a legal secretary. Relentlessly bullied by my former boss, I looked for another job but the recession hit. Feeling trapped, I recorded everything in this blog, which serves as a revealing insight into workplace bullying. WEEK 1 starts the story and, as the weeks progress, you'll note what starts as banter soon spirals out of control. Sadly, it's all true. Whilst along the way I've found alternative employment, my passion for blogging about workplace bullying remains. Trevor Griffiths, legendary theatre, TV and film writer said at the outset, "I like the writing a lot: smart, cool, placed. If you were prepared/able to take your prick of a boss on, you'd marmelise him."
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
WEEK 54 The End
Posted by Bullied By The Boss at 16:24
1 comment:
- Fiona WordsBird said...
At last. Eva, I'm sending the biggest, longest, most heartfelt hug you've ever had. Well done!
- 22 April 2010 at 09:58
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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When I woke up yesterday and looked in the fridge, I felt as if my husband had cheated on me. Mango? Dannon yogurt? Store bought bread? What had gone wrong? The answer to the grocery shopping phenomenon was simple: "I was hungry," John explained. His hunger apparently could not wait for Sunday's DuPont Circle market. I'd better make sure I plan ahead a little more from now on.
With this in mind, I dashed off to the market with two good friends first thing this morning. As luck would have it, the weather was rainy and dreary again. So much for glorious sunshine. Asparagus, fresh flowers, and salad greens would have to be the light of my morning.
Most everything you could want at the Fresh Farms Market
Wild Ramps (relative of the leek). . . these were foraged in the woods of West Virginia. This is a great example of something you will never find at the supermarket. They have tried to cultivate these conventionally, but never with any success. You can't tame a wild thang.
Asparagus-- my favorite. It will be in season from now until early June. A recipe for this treat is coming soon .
Fresh carrots. Oh! The thought of honey roasted carrots is making me hungry!
Beef. . . it's what's for dinner, tonight that is.
Before determining our evening's dinner, I had an interesting encounter with the farmer who actually did know how to prepare cardoons (See "Second Di(sh)patch. . ." from April 22nd) . She gave me some great advice on preparing them, but I think I will wait until fall to battle the cardoons again.
Hoping to appease my hungry husband, my plan for dinner tonight fell together quite simply: the all-American meal. The idea was that my husband (a definite carnivore and a skilled meat preparer) would broil delicious Delmonico steaks for us, while I would make a simple garden salad (with market finds, of course) and my favorite potatoes.
All American Dinner: Steak, potatoes, and salad
John's Saloon Steak (the saloon is also known as our garden apartment):
Total Cook Time: 8-10 minutes
- 1/2 Pound Delmonico steaks
- Worcestershire sauce
- steak seasoning
- garlic salt
At least one hour prior to cooking, marinate the steaks in a combination of Worcestershire sauce, steak seasoning, and garlic salt.
After marinating, broil steaks for 3-4 minutes on each side. Cooks note: Grilling is preferred. . . the garden apartment allows for limited grilling, especially on rainy days!
Total Time:
Hands-on-- 5 minutes
Cook Time-- 45 minutes
- 4-5 new red skin potatoes
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1 TBS herbs de Provence (you can substitute Italian herbs)
- 1 TBS garlic powder
- 1 TBS Kosher salt
- 1/2 small onion, diced
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Dice all of the potatoes into 1 inch cubes. In a medium sized bowl, toss the potatoes with olive oil, herbs de Provence, garlic powder, and Kosher salt. Spread the potatoes onto the cookie sheet and place in the oven.
Turn potatoes every 10-15 minutes. During last ten minutes, add the diced onion. Cook until potatoes are nicely browned.
Garden Salad:
Spring is the perfect time for salad greens. I used a combination of gourmet (pansy flowers included) mesculun mix and spinach.
The farmer's market is also a great place to find artisan cheeses. Today I bought a fantastic blue cheese called "Blue Suede Moo."
Add carrots, onion, tomato, and dried tomatoes and. . . you guessed it: delicious.
The complete All-American Meal:


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interviews NHK about their new 8K cameras:
Japanese NHK public broadcast R&D group shows their 120Hz 8K display and camera (at 144Gbit/s through optical) by Hitachi (red/blue/green prism sensors) and Astro (single image sensor) that I filmed here: http://armdevices.net/2013/10/03/worl… Japan wants to just leapfrog 4K and go directly to 8K testing 8K broadcasts starting in 2016, with full massive deployments targetted for 2020 where everyone in Japan will maybe be able to receive 8K TV.
What is interesting to see is their single sensor 8K camera is smaller than a 4K or 1080p camera. But the 144 Gbps data rate is killing!


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Coffee'S – Finding A Great Coffee Mill And Brewer Mix
There is nothing quite like a good cup of coffee when you are feeling sluggish and depressed. Just the smell of coffee can perk you up. By learning more about coffee, you can really enjoy your next cup. This article will share a few interesting pieces of information about this drink.
To make a good coffee, always start with fresh beans. They should look kind of oily, and they should be potent. Try to avoid very dry beans, any grocery store beans, and any beans that have been exposed to air for a long time. Your best bet is to either roast beans yourself or buy them from a local roaster.
If you are looking for a great way to turn basic, boring drip coffee into a special treat look no further than your own fridge and pantry. Hot chocolate mix or a scoop of vanilla ice cream can be great ways to sweeten up a cup of coffee and make it something special.
You should make sure to clean your coffee pot every time you use it so that any residual flavors do not tarnish the taste of it. There are oils that will stick to the coffee pot over time. Many people do not notice the difference, but true coffee lovers will be able to tell right away.
Do not throw away your old coffee grounds. If you have a garden, you can use your coffee grounds as fertilizer for your plants and flowers while keeping the pest away. You can also use old coffee grounds to scrub dirty dishes or clean your kitchen counter instead of using chemicals.
Coffee has been enjoyed by people all around the world for thousands of years, so your interest in it is nothing new. The more you learn about coffee, the more pleasure you will get from drinking it. Armed with the tips in this article, you can make your next cup of coffee one to remember.


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China's Cheap Sleeps
Bathhouses Offer Lodging That Is Spartan, but Clean; Massages and Shoeshines
SHANGHAI -- Xu Ning's budget for business travel didn't stretch to decent hotel accommodations. So she took a bath.
At Shanghai's Little Southern Country Spa, $10 bought her a hot shower and an overnight stay with a roomful of strangers snoozing on big recliners, looking like first-class passengers on an airplane. Breakfast was included in the cost, and a shoeshine, too.


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- Research Article
- Open Access
Impact of Channel Estimation Errors on Multiuser Detection via the Replica Method
- Husheng Li1Email author and
- H Vincent Poor1
© Li and Poor 2005
- Received: 26 January 2005
- Published: 28 April 2005
For practical wireless DS-CDMA systems, channel estimation is imperfect due to noise and interference. In this paper, the impact of channel estimation errors on multiuser detection (MUD) is analyzed under the framework of the replica method. System performance is obtained in the large system limit for optimal MUD, linear MUD, and turbo MUD, and is validated by numerical results for finite systems.
- multiuser detection
- replica method
- channel estimation
Authors' Affiliations
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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Our experts test hundreds of products in our labs every year, but we have yet to fully review this product. However, we have reviewed many of its competitors. Please check out our The Best Right Now section to see the best computer monitors we've tested.
See Full Specifications
|Screen Size
|25 in.
|25.20 in.
|Height (with stand)
|16.34 in.
|Depth (with stand)
|4.69 in.
|Weight (with stand)
|7.72 lbs.


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Linton school children get a taste of some Mad Science
Published: 11:00, 29 June 2015
Science need not be dull and dry, and that's just what pupils at a Linton school discovered when a series of fun and exciting experiments were carried out by a visiting science enrichment provider.
Mad Science, which delivers hands-on experiments to children to show how the subject can be fun, visited Linton Heights Junior to excite its pupils about science.
Cosmic Karen, one of Mad Science's instructors, showed pupils the magic behind during workshops and an assembly.
This included dry ice, showers, flying toilet paper (called Terrence!), flash paper, which disappeared when lit accompanied by a big flash, and much more.


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Town Of Guilford
Town Hall South, Guilford, CT 06437. Septic Care & Maintenance . for the Homeowner. Your Septic Systems with drainfields uphill from the tank paint, paint thinner, pesticides, antifreeze, pool water, water–softener . discharges, prescription medicines, and excess household cleaners … Read Content
Can The water softener Discharge Damage My Septic system?
Can the water softener discharge damage my septic system? The answer is….Maybe! As water flows through layers of rock underground, it picks up loose particles and … Read Content
ClorTec Onsite Hypochlorite Generation Systems
Typical Water Softener Configurations CT 450 and larger systems use either an eductor or brine pump to deliver the brine. 66 Split Flow design provides higher efficiency & reduced chlorate production. 67 Clear cell casing provides indication of cell … Retrieve Here
7000 Metered Flow Greensand Filter System
Clean Water Systems & Stores Inc 7000 Meter Greensand Filter Programming Guide 2010 Fleck 7000 Metered Flow Greensand Filter System … Read Content
7000 Meter Filter Programming
Clean Water Systems & Stores Inc 7000 Meter Filter Programming Guide 2010 Fleck (Display Code CT): Set to Fd. This is the Meter Delayed option. and is designed for water softener which remove calcium hardness in grains per gallons. However, … Return Doc
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Comparison Of Radon-In-Water Mitigation Systems
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NEWS: Admission to the Milwaukee Art Museum is free for veterans and members of the military on Veterans Day
Aug 5–Nov 27, 2016
European Art Galleries: Level 2, Gallery S202
During the nineteenth century, French artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875), Jean-François Millet (1814–1875), and Charles-François Daubigny (1817–1878) captured the spirit of the French countryside in their graphic work. Many experimented with the new technique of cliché-verre (glass negative) to do so, thus combining elements of printmaking and photography. In 1921, the Parisian art dealer and publisher Maurice Le Garrec put together in a publication forty-one of these innovative prints by leading practitioners. This exhibition displays the complete set of these lush, expressive images of nineteenth-century France.
Image credit: Charles-François Daubigny (French, 1817–1878) Maurice le Garrec (active 1921) From the collection of Eugène Cuvelier (1837–1900) The Large Sheep Pasture (Le grand parc à moutons), plate 25 of 40 from the portfolio Forty Clichés Verre (Quarante Clichés-Glace), 1862, published 1921Cliché-verreGertrude Nunnemacher Schuchardt Collection, presented by William H. SchuchardtM1924.36 Photographer credit: John R. Glembin


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I am going to Lassi and staying in the Villa Angelos this August and if anyone could send me some information on Lassi in general especially the Villa Angelos I would really appreciate it!
My email is email@example.com
We stayed in the Villa Angelos in August 2003 and it was very clean, linen changed every other day, bins emptied every day etc. The location is very good although up quite a steep hill, so I wouldn't recommend this place for people who struggle with walking. A beautiful beach is just down the hill, but I would advise you get there early otherwise there won't be any room for you. I would strongly recommend getting a car for a day or two to see some of the beautiful island.


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Welcome to the world of internationally acclaimed author Muriel Lennox ..magnificent horses, brilliant storytelling, awesome books.
My costar in the Majesty and History of the Horse is Brave Knox a great great grandson of Northern Dancer. And he was indeed very brave when faced with cameras and lights and frequent re-takes. And more re-takes. This video was inspired by Dennis Mills founder of racingfuture.com and was created by the outstanding film-maker, Mike Boland.


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Hey everybody,
I just want to give a "heads up" to anyone who may be interested in a 1957 Ariel Square Four. The gentleman who restored & owns this bike is a very good friend of mine. The bike is absolutely stunning. I can vouch for his character & the bike without hesitation. I have never known anyone who is more detail driven than Andy. You can't go wrong with this bike in any way. It is Ebay # 220961031784
Bob Dorsey AMCA member 3756


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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Why "Homeschooling My Miracles"
I thought long and hard about what the title of this new blog should be. My children are truly miracles, as all children are! However, our children came to us in 3 different and quite miraculous ways. Thus the title of my blog "homeschooling my miracles". So, in the next couple of days I will share a little about each of my miracles! But, for now, let me share a little about why we homeschool! When our oldest was school age it was the natural thing to do to put him in school. I loved being home with him, but we thought he needed more. So, we sent him to a 2-day/week preschool. the following year we put him in a 3-day/week preschool for 3 yr olds. I hated him being gone 3 days per week. But, by then we had our second son, and he had a few medical issues as an infant so I spent a good bit of time at doctor's appointments and the hospital with him. He was very bright, and loved to learn. When it came time for the next school year (4 yr kindergarten) we signed him up for the 5 half days that our church offers at their Christian school. The thought of homeschooling never crossed our minds. He was supposed to go to school now. Afterall, most of our friends ha their kids in an all-day program--we were strange enough to pick him up at noon! We loved his teacher and Paul excelled in school--as we knew he would. At the end of that year we were planning our 3rd child and financially things were tough. So, we thought we could save a little cash and homeschool. Our plan was to do it for kindergarten and maybe 1st grade. Our parents thought we had lost our minds. They were indoctrinated (as we were) that school is where a child should spend their days. After about 6 months of schooling him at home there was no way we would consider sending him back to school for a really long time. God showed us, through a little financial difficulty, that at home is where our children should be. Why would we send them off for someone else to raise! Why would we let someone else be in control of what and how our children learn. Looking back, it makes no sense at all to me that we even considered sending him to regular school!! So, it is quite a simple story. But, somehow, still miraculous that God showed us what is best for our family, without us even realizing that we weren't already doing what was best. Now, we have three children--ages 8, 4, and "almost 3" and I wouldn't have it any other way then to have them home with me learning about the world around them.
Posted by Michelle at 2:06 PM
Labels: Homeschool
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These Are Our Favorite Political Songs
And why music in politics matter, according to the Political Gabfest.
For Friday's edition of the Political Gabfest Slate Plus bonus segment, hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss music in politics and why political songs matter.
A Slate Plus Special Feature:
The Slate Podcast Endorsement-O-Matic
(Almost) every product recommended on every Slate podcast since the dawn of creation.
Which song educated rural women about access to oral contraception and changed attitudes in the 1970s about controlling women's reproduction? How did artists like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and Woody Guthrie help to shape politics, and even change them?
Tune in to hear the hosts discuss—and play—some of their all-time favorite songs.
You can subscribe to this and other Slate Plus podcasts on our podcast subscription page.


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