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A Look back at 2009

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2009. Wow, what a year.

At the beginning of 09 I found myself battling a bout of depression – something that stemmed from heartbreak; not to mention it was something unlike anything I’d ever dealt with.

After having the realization that I was allowing myself to be miserable I was able to refocus – primarily by setting goals and accepting that things happen for a reason in life.

A few of my initial goals included attempting my New Years Resolution of traveling once a month, run for the Greensboro City Council, see Lance Armstrong in a bike race and see Dave Mathews live in concert.

What did I accomplish? Here’s how the year played out.

  • Started the year on the Big Island of Hawaii (Dec 27, 2008 – Jan 7, 2009).
  • Went to Las Vegas (trip 1 that started in 09) at the end of January – saw Jerry Seinfeld and a Cirque de Soleil show.
  • Made an impromptu trip to Las Angeles (trip 2) to see Lance Armstrong (goal) in the Tour of California. Not only did I see him on the course, I also saw him exiting the team bus and got an autograph. Sweet!
  • Launched the Greensboro Community Watch.
  • Went to Charleston, SC (trip 3).
  • Saw the Dave Matthews Band (goal) live at Jazz Fest in New Orleans (trip 4). Ate fried frog legs and some other fried concoction… but I have no clue what it was.
  • Made a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC (trip 5) with a great group of friends.
  • Launched and ran a competitive City Council campaign (goal). I didn’t win, but I learned a lot and garnered nearly 1,700 votes. All and all it was a fantastic experience.
  • Went to DC (trip 6) and had an amazing time. Seeing the Lincoln Memorial in person was a breathtaking experience.
  • Made an unexpected trip back to Myrtle Beach (trip 7).
  • Changed political parties. If of all the highlights this is what you  hone in on, please, for you and those around you, live a little.
  • Had an amazing time in South beach (trip 8).
  • Went to Boston (trip 9) where I saw a Red Sox game – first Major League game.
  • One of my favorite cities is New York (trip 10), so I went for a short stay in October. While there I saw The Lion King, Wicked and Game 6 of the playoffs with the Yankees.
  • Split my November trip by staying in North Carolina and saw friends in Raleigh and Charlotte (trip 11).
  • Ended the year  and  completed my New Years Resolution (goal) by going to Cancun/Isla Mujeres (trip 12).
  • Changed my eating habits (work in progress) and started a “Get Fit” series that allows me to talk about what I’m doing to get healthy. I saved $210 in my first month of “Get Fit,” read about that here.

And those are just some of the highlights from 2009. There are so many stories (from traveling and my campaign) that I could tell, but that means you’d be reading for a very long time.

Oh, and it’s worth highlighting that I went on every trip alone with exception of Myrtle Beach. The concept freaks some people out, but I found it to be a great experience.

At the end of the day, I’m happy with what I accomplished last year, but I’m even more excited about what is to come in 2010. Regardless of what comes my way, I plan to make the best of each and every situation, and also challenge myself, and others, to push the envelope along the way.

Happy New Year to you.

Text Message Away Messages Would be Helpful

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On Friday, I’ll be completing my New Years Resolution of traveling once a month this year by heading to Mexico. Earlier today I finally got around to figuring out if my cell phone would work in the Cancun/Playa del Carmen area, and if so, how much it was going to cost me.

The good news is that AT&T says my iPhone should work just fine. The bad news is that it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to talk and text.

After learning this bit of info, I quickly put my frugal hat on and thought to myself, “I’ll just use the Web to communicate and bypass talk/text.” Not so fast. There’s a pricey charge for that as well.

Then I thought, I’ll just use my phone to take pictures when I’m out and about and a camera isn’t super convenient. This makes sense because I’ll likely have my phone on me anyway – not having a phone doesn’t sit very well with me.

But here is the problem. As soon as I turn my phone on a flood of text messages could come through costing me around $.50 each! This is where text message away messages would come in handy.

Imagine how great t would be if I could turn on an away message, which would also prompt the system to basically hold my text messages until I turn the away message off.

That would rock!

And if that won’t work, AT&T should allow the messages to be downloaded to my phone, but only charge if I choose to open a message. It just doesn’t seem right to be charged for a flood of the messages that you really can’t control.

So how about it? Can I get a “woot woot” for text message away messages?

Update: I wasn’t quite satisfied with my earlier AT&T call so I opted to call back. The first person told me something that wasn’t exactly correct, at least that’s what I was just told. Apparently you are only charged for sending text messages while out of the country. Incoming text messages are treated as normal messages. While this is good news, the away message would still be valid as it would let folks know why they aren’t receiving a response.

The Craving, the Slump & the Struggle. Part of my Get Fit Series.

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This post is part of my ongoing “Get Fit” series, an effort to lose a little weight/tone up, and save money by reducing the number of meals I eat out.

The Craving

I’m not sure what happened, but around last Wednesday my cravings went into absolute overdrive. And honestly, I’m having a hard time fighting them off.

Maybe the sweet craving was set off when I went to get my hair cut last Friday. Upon ariving to the salon (No, I don’t go to the barber) this lovely box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts was practically calling my name.

I can’t begin to tell you how good they smelled, but if you’re wondering, I didn’t have one.

After getting my hair cut I made my way to the grocery store and ended up buying that lovely bag of Cheetos you see to the right.

Why did I buy them? Why else… they looked really freaking good at the time. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good they’d taste.

You might not be able to tell, but the bag hasn’t been opened at this point –  I’ve thought about tearing it open on multiple occasions, but something has allowed me to resist.

All and all I’ve been doing pretty well with sticking to a healthier diet, but did slip and have fries a couple (one time with a burger, the other with a chicken sandwich) times last week. I guess it’s safe to say I’m struggling with the cravings at the moment.

Workout Slump

My workout routine has been going great, but I did hit a slump last week after picking up inline speed skating again.

Speed skating is something I did a lot in my younger days, but have always valued its strenuous workout and the element of competition. I even committed by buying some new skates (seen to the left).

Think of new skates as a new pair of boots – they have to be broken in. Only, breaking in skates is a bit more painful. Let’s just say I’m letting something heal on my left foot that is preventing me from skating and doing cycle classes at the moment. Speaking of cycle classes, I’ve cut back to three a week (from six) since I’ve picked up the speed skating practices.

Oh, and if you are making a ugly face and thinking, “Really, speed skating?” let me give you some insight. The team I skate with has bred a phenomenal group of athletes, some of which have gone on to become world class athletes.

For example, you may of heard of Joey Cheek (seen to the right), a guy I used to skate with when I was younger. He picked up a couple metals (one gold) in the last winter Olympics for long track speed skating. He and his brother Michael (Who I still skate with today – mostly watching him go very fast) are immensely talented.

Ok, back to the slump.

I’ve been doing some weight training, but I feel like the lack of cardio over the past week or so has hit me mentally. Not to mention, I know it’s what I need to burn some unwanted jiggle (fat just sounds nasty… but I can’t say that jiggle sounds much better). Again, not that there’s a lot of it, but there’s definitely something to work on.

Size Doesn’t Determine the Struggle

At first thought, you might assume that an overweight person struggles with food more than someone that might be considered “thin.”

I think most people would probably put me in the “thin” or “semi-fit” category, but I’m hear to tell you I struggle with food… a lot. As I type this I’m still thinking about that dreaded bag of Cheetos.

What scares me a bit is that the last time I hit a wall like this I was able to quickly process the negative aspect of what I was about to eat and trashed it. The Cheetos aren’t in the trash… but they should be.

Maybe the difference when it comes to those that struggle with cravings is the willpower to resist, or to simply eat something healthier. And if you’re one of those folks that naturally eats healthy… I’m not sure you can understand how hard it is, at times,  to resist the craving.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to keeping you up-to-date with my efforts. At the very least, I hope this series can be, in some way, motivating.

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark”

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One of the folks I follow on Twitter is @Jenny2229. She’s a fellow marketer that tends to tweet about topics related to the field.

Earlier today she sent a tweet about advertising  that I thought was not only funny, but also a good explanation of why advertising is important.

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”

What a great line!

What is Your Change Style?

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How do you handle change? That’s a question that was recently addressed in a class I’m taking called Impact Greensboro.

Participants were recently asked to take an online assessment called the Change Style Indicator (Discovery Learning), and I wanted to share some of what I learned with you. After all, knowing how you function, and the personality traits of others could go a long way.

Here’s some information about the assessment from DiscoveryLearning.com,

“The Change Style Indicator is a change management assessment designed to measure preferred styles in approaching and dealing with change. The Change Style Indicator identifies strengths and pitfalls of change style characteristics. Knowing one’s change style preferences can allow individuals to work together as a team, revising work processes and delivering more satisfactory results. It looks at factors that can impact an organization’s readiness to deal with and sustain change in challenging times.

Your score on this change management assessment tool will place you on the change style continuum ranging from a Conserver style to an Originator style. A third style, the Pragmatist, occupies the middle range of the continuum.”

According to the information on the Web site, most individuals are “a blend of Conserver-Pragmatist or Pragmatist-Originator; however, the degrees of blending are identifiable.”

Prior to the facilitator passing out the results of the assessment, she talked about change and the fact that it’s very hard for people to fundamentally change.

I didn’t necessarily agree (purpose of the class is to provoke thought and discussion) so I raised my hand and asked,

“Isn’t it possible for people to change by taking in information and being exposed to new scenarios throughout life?”

She then said,

“It is possible, but typically very hard for most people. But I’m very interested to see what category you are in.”

At that point I became curious as to what “category” the assessment placed me in, but before the results were handed out she took some time to outline the characteristics of each group. For brevities sake I’ve pulled some highlights from the assessments online brochure,

Conservers

  • Accept structure Prefer retaining existing systems and paradigms
  • Prefer gradual change
  • May appear cautious and inflexible but do ask the hard, detailed questions

Pragmatists

  • Explore structure
  • Operate as mediators and catalysts
  • Prefer change that best serves the function
  • May appear reasonable, practical and flexible but also noncommittal

Originators

  • Challenge the structure
  • Enjoy risk and uncertainty
  • Prefer quicker, more expansive and radical change
  • May appear disorganized and undisciplined but are original thinkers

The Scale

Now, picture a line scale. Conservers are to the left, Pragmatists are in the center and Originators are to the right. Your score determined where you fell on the line and what category you were placed in. For example, you could be a Pragmatist but fall on the Conserver side of the scale.

Now that I’ve done a less than stellar job of painting that picture, click the image to the left to see the actual scale, and my results.

Did you notice where I fell on the scale? Smack dab in the center. That makes perfect sense to me, and it did to the facilitator as well.

Some additional info from my results are below (can also be seen by clicking the image above).

“As a true pragmatist, you prefer change that addresses specific, real problems and prefer to avoid change that seems to be only for “the sake of change.” You are practical, reasonable and flexible in you approach to change. You are open to new ways of doing things but not too quick to commit. You may serve as a mediator and prefer a “middle-of-the=road” approach.

Your strengths: You like to have goals and objectives to guide you. You foster teamwork and are willing to share leadership and power with others. You usually are able to see both sides of an issue and may serve as a mediator, valuing resolution more than your own position. You study and learn from your mistakes and tend not to make the same mistake twice.

Your potential challenges: You may value agreement and harmony over outcomes. You may find it hard to make quick decisions and you may be seen as ‘flip-flopping” on issues. It may prove challenging for you to formulate long-term strategies.”

Let me addresss the sentence in my summary that said, “may prove challenging for you to formulate long-term strategies.”

I don’t necessarily see this as a problem for myself because I don’t typically have a hard time forming my own opinion or making a decision. If for some reason I did find myself “stuck,” I would look for data (Or looking at rationale from Conservers) to help me lean one way or the other.  

I can’t help but think it is important for groups that work closely together to have an understanding of who is a Conserver, Pragmatist or Originator. This knowledge could create a better working environment and provide a small amount of insight into how others process change.