Keeping Creative and Organized

I am definitely two things: creative and organized. The internet makes it so easy to both explore and express my creativity.  One of my favourite hobbies is checking out professional blogs, DIY blogs, food blogs or researching ideas for up coming events and parties. My bookmarks list has become so long it is no longer effective.

A real corkboard

Pinterest has allowed me to keep brain less cluttered. Basically, it is an online "board" where you post photos. Remember those corkboards we all have in our homes or office? Yup, just like those ones. I am a highly visual person; if it's important, I need to see it. Pinterest allows you to add as many boards as you like for different categories. My two fullest boards are my food and DIY boards. These boards have become a home for my projects waiting to happen. By "pinning" a photo, you are virtually adding it your board,
along with the link to the website where it came. You can refer to it anytime, instead of trying to clog your real corkboards or your brain with all your ideas.  You can "follow" other people's boards and you can share yours with friends. You can also just browse through the latest and most popular pins on the home landing page. It's a great way to save the important stuff you want to refer to later on. It's great inspiration!

Your own personal virtual boards!

The other tool I recently discovered and have been using non-stop is Bloglovin. Do you ever have trouble keeping up with all your favourite blogs? Do you ever wish you knew the instant a new post went up on your favourite blog? Bloglovin does both for you! You add the blogs you like and seperate them into categories (mine for example are: food, fashion, health, DIY). When you login, all the newest posts from all the blogs you follow show up from newest to old. ALL in ONE place! You can even mark them as "read" to help you keep track.Both Pinterest and Bloglovin work marvelously together for me. Most of my "pins" come from blogs, so essentially these tools help save me time. I say essentially, because I have now created another problem for myself: I spend too much time distracted on both! Fortunately, all the free time I used to spend on facebook is now directed towards these more efficient and useful organizational tools for my life.

A pat on the back goes a long way

Everybody likes a compliment. I especially love a work-related compliment. I like to know that I'm on track, doing a good job, or simply appreciated.

In my last post I mentioned I'd gotten a new job. I didn't hate my old job, in fact I quite enjoyed it but it was leading me in a direction away from my personal career goals. So I made a change and it was the best decision I ever made. I had felt stuck in a rut for months and felt ignored and overlooked. That all changed when I announced I would be leaving. I was then told how much I was appreciated, and complimented for jobs well done. That got me thinking about whether or not I would've left had I gotten that all along. 

I had yearly performance reviews which were great, but they only provided feedback to me once a year. When in doubt, I always asked questions but it would have made a difference to receive a few moral boosters. I used to have a coworker who was the opposite. She got her head patted a lot, but that was because she reported on every project and task numerous times a day. She received the compliments she wanted and the confidence she needed. I sat there quietly doing my work and was complimented on my way out. Nothing wrong with either scenario, except I left. She is still there.

My point is, entry to mid-level employees require feedback. Both good and bad. In my new position, I have been nothing but enthusiastic. I love every responsibility I have, and in the two months I have been there, I have learned so much from the feedback that I have received. It makes me happy to be able to take credit for my work and to continue to work hard accomplish what I need to. 

A happy employee is a loyal employee. 

Mean Girls and Bitter Women

We've all seen the Lindsay Lohan film Mean Girls, which takes place in a high school setting, but most females know that means girls don't go away after high school. We continue to encounter them all throughout our lives. You may even be that mean girl without even knowing it.

I've been fortunate enough that "mean girls" in the workplace has never been too much of a problem with me. However, after a certain age, I prefer to use the term "bitter women" instead. There are two women I know that are perfect examples of "bitter women". One is full blown bitter, and the other is bitter-in-training.

The older women, is someone I deal with with, but not (thankfully) work directly with. After two years and ten months, she still doesn't remember my name or what my job is. Or so she claims, probably only to be condescending. I know for a fact she knows both, because I have met with her one-on-one plenty of times,  and I am one in a staff of five people. From what I can tell she is over worked at a job she does not love, but has been stuck at for years. She complains about her job, the people she works with and the company she works for. That is why she seems so bitter to me. Of course, I could be entirely wrong and she may love her job. But if so, it would show in her attitude and she'd be a positive person to be around. Unfortunately that is not the case.

The bitter woman "in-training" is somone who is much younger but reminds me a lot of my first example. Fortunately there is hope for her; since she is younger, she can flip her attitude around. I see promises of that sometimes. However, if she gets stuck in the industry (by choice) and continues to shove and put others down in order to outshine them, she will end up in the exact same spot as my first example 10 years from now. There is nothing wrong with trying to work your way to the top. There are just two ways to do it: taking the high road and moving up with class, or by ditching moral and ethics in order to have your ego stroked.

Kelly Cutrone

Both of these women are what I fear I will become. So, I am being proactive. I have been reading books and articles on how to get ahead in life and in your career without resorting to being a bitch to others. One of my favorite women in PR is Kelly Cutrone, who is known for her cut throat personality ( I am currently reading her book "If you have to go cry, go outside"). I admire her but I know very well I just do not have the personality to be like her. That works for her, but I argue that who I am works for me.

 I guess I am on the right track because I recently got a new job! I am very excited about it, and I didn't have to be mean to anyone to get there. One of the mean girls congratulated me, and quickly followed up with two negative comments about how she "did not envy me". A backhanded compliment - classic mean girl jab. I smiled and laughed it off; I am moving on to where I want to be. Guess who is not?

My Encounter With an American Ex-President

Yes, the ex-president I am refrring to is Bill Clinton, but no, the title doesn't refer to what you think.

It has been an exciting few weeks for me, hence the lack of posts. Ironically, I have been on the computer and engaging in social media a whole lot and that is whee my post begins today.

At the end of May, I had the pleasure of attending the Canada Western Region IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Dare to Lead conference in Vancouver. I recently joined the board of IABC Manitoba chapter (more about that later) as Director of Professional Development, so this conference is held annually for IABC leaders in BC, AB, SK and MB. 

On my first day there, I decided to take a walk down Robson to do a little shopping. As I approached the Roots Clothing store I saw a crowd gathered outside, most of them with their phones up in the air. I got excited and immediately whipped out my phone too and held it up. without even knwogin who it was. I thought, this ia Vancouver, I'm sure it someone famous. Steve Nash maybe I thought. Or Bif Naked or Nelly Furtado who call BC home. I couldn't see anything so made my way to the very front of the crowd and walked right into -Bill Clinton! His body guards surrounded him, but he was stoipping to take pics and shake hands. I snapped a quick shot of his profile and walked away, not beliveing my luck. In fact, after I snapped my pic, he tunred around and I was so emabrassed I'd held my camera right in his face I just rturned away even though he greeted everyone right where I had stood. I went into my destination, La Vie En Rose, and came back out. He'd moved around the corner of the street, still followed by the crowd so I took a few more pics ad some video.

Then I walked away and tweeted my pic on twitter. Withing an hour CTV BC tweeted me asking if they could use my photo on their newscast that night. I said yes and emiaeld them more pics and the video. After an afternoon of shopping I went back to the hotel and told me friend and fellow board member what had happened. I turned the tv to CTV while we changed and sure enoguh - they broadcast my photo and video!

It was thr highlight of my weekend and hot topic at the conference, espeically in the session we had on social media.

Within an hour of taking the pic, I'd sent it to my sister, my boss, and posted it on facebook. Had I not posted it on twitter, CTV BC would never had caught wind of it and showed it on tv. I wouldn't had my 15 minutes of fame and my story would not have been as exciting.

Communication lessons learned from the world of fitness

When I am not communicating by day, I am communicating with lots of people another way in the evenings. Two out of five work days a week I am a Zumba fitness instructor and I love it.

One of the things I love about teaching Zumba classes the most is the influence the class can have on people. It can as simple as broadening their knowledge of international rhythms, or making an even bigger difference in their lives -which any Zumba instructor can tell you happens often. People are always willing to share the positive effects this workout has made in their life, physically, mentally and emotionally.

One of the things I love is having a person who has never tried Zumba, come to a class. Sometimes they're nervous, shy, excited, or all three. Sometimes they feel obligated to tell me they're uncoordinated. None of that matters - what I love is testing myself with these participants. I do not have a fitness background, therefore the "instructing" part scared me when I first started. I have learned so much since then. One of the most fascinating things to me is the rhetoric of visualization in fitness instruction.Providing participants with visual cues is crucial to the Zumba fitness program; and doing it well takes a lot of learning, practice, and even more practice. 

The way I test myself, is by watching how the participants move and how precise they are in mimicking my moves and transitions. When I sneak in a nose scratch, or throw in an accidental extra arm manoeuvre, and they do the same - I know they are watching me well. I know they're relying on my visual cues and I feed off of that;  in return I get even more energized and the adrenaline really gets flowing, which is then passed on the the class.

The creator of Zumba, Beto Perez, didn't speak a lot of English when he invented Zumba and first starting teaching it in Miami back the late 90's. Therefore, he relied heavily on visual cueing, and that become a part of the Zumba brand it is today.

If you don't know what Zumba is, or want to see an example of an instructor relying only on visual cueing, click here. It is an older video from 2006, and the people at the back were likely trying Zumba for the first time. The instructor is Tanya Beardsley, a Zumba Education Specialist who has become one of the faces of Zumba, and she is great to watch, I have learned so much from watching her on DVD's.

Worst week to not have cable...or not?

The week of Monday April 25 to Monday May 2nd, I was without cable at home. It was without a doubt, what I remember as being the worst week not to have cable.

I was fine without it for a few days, I got an extra run in that week, I went to a book sale and picked up all my summer reading. Then Thursday came. Game 7 of the NHL playoffs of the Habs and Bruins series was apparently crucial to watch, since Montreal is my boyfriend's favorite team and we ended up at the bar across the street to watch it.

Then, on Friday morning, I missed the Royal Wedding. Shucks. I did not plan on getting up any earlier than usual, but I did want to catch some of the highlights on the morning shows afterwards. I missed it all. I missed the wedding of the century.

Then came Sunday night, May 1. A night significant to Americans and many others around the world. It will be like 9/11 - you will always remember what you are doing the moment you first heard the news. I was watching a movie - the Kings' Speech ironically enough, when I checked twitter and saw Obama was going to make an announcement later that evening. rare, for a Sunday night I thought. I moved on to watch Old School, and then checked twitter on my iphone again. Twitter was abuzz with the news that Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed, Obama was to make a speech about it within an hour. I left my boyfriend with Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson and headed to the computer. "Worst week not to have cable!" I tweeted. Within 5 minutes someone had tweeted me back telling me the White House website would be streaming his speech live.

Turns out, I certainly did not need cable to keep up with all these events. the NHL game could have been streamed, I saw pictures of the Royal Wedding online, and most importantly I was able to still watch Obama's speech live. Plus, being the speech lover that I am, I even downloaded a full transcript of it online from the White House website the next morning. Thank you WH.


What really excites me, is how the news of Bin Laden's death broke on twitter.

1) One of the earliest sources, Keith Urbahn chief of staff for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted nearly an hour prior to Obama’s confirmation “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”

2) by Monday morning, twitter was full of updates linking to articles and blogs that told the story of
Pakistani IT consultant, Sohaib Athar. He was tweeting about the event as it was happening, and he didn't know it.  His first tweet mentioned that a helicopter was hovering above.  Shortly after he said  “a huge window shaking, bang here in Abbottabad…I hope its not the start of something nasty”.

These two tweets caused a worldwide reaction within minutes. I could barely keep up with the twitter updates before the Obama speech, let alone afterwards.

In Canada, the next morning (May 2) was Election Day. We were electing a new Prime Minister. The government realized that social media could create problems once the results starting coming in. Elections Canada announced a media blackout period concerning reporting on the election until the polls had closed at every polling station. Social media activity was a no-no, but people couldn't be stopped, especially once Elections Canada confirmed they would not be monitoring social media sites.

I got my cable back, the night of the election. I followed the live news coverage and twitter simultaneously. It was more entertaining to interact and engage with others online, than it was to follow on tv.

So, was it the worst week not to have cable? Absolutely not. I didn't miss a thign and by making a presence on twitter, I felt even more informed than others. My sister texted me Sunday night about the announcement. They with their satellite didn't know what was going on, and I was filling them in on what I was seeing on twitter.

It was an eventful week on earth, and an even more so in the virtual world.

May 5 UPDATE:  For a more in depth analysis and metrics on this see this article.

Is liking what you do the same as not hating it?

Do you love your job? Do you enjoy the industry you are in, even if you do not love your job? Are you good at doing what you do? If the answer to all of these is NO, I have to ask –what are you doing?

During your young professional years, no matter what position or industry you are in, should be a time of continuous learning and taking advantage of professional development opportunities. Whether you’re a baker, a truck driver, an accountant, a nurse, a lawyer – I have never known anyone being terminated for “knowing too much”. (Not to be confused with being a know-it-all, that is a different story altogether).

My background is in Communications. One of the things I love about the job, is how interdisciplinary it can be. Because most Communication positions are based on writing and public relations, it is a job that requires the ability to research and understand the background of your industry and employer in order to succeed. I landed my current position in an industry I knew nothing about –because I had the communication skills they required, and the rest was up to me to develop in.  A writing test on a subject I had absolutely no knowledge of was a part of my hiring process. That was almost three years ago and I’ve learned a lot about the industry I work in to say the least. Is it one I ever thought I’d find myself in? No. Do I love what I do? No. Do I hate it? No. But have I learned enough to stay and advance within the industry if I choose to? Yes.

I see a lot of people come through my office door looking to get into the transportation industry.  Young, old, retired, fresh out of high school, experienced, inexperienced, hard working and lazy. I can immediately tell who is going to be successful in the program they are applying into. Various factors indicate success, the most common ones being speaking and listening skills. This is mainly in part because in my brief interactions with them, these are the two that leave a lasting impression.  I receive numerous inquiries everyday, and it amazes me how ignorant, rude and unprofessional people are when inquiring about a program that combines tuition funding, training and a job. Here are a few tips I’ve comprised from my experience:

1)   Don’t let mommy do the talking for you.  If you are interested in something and looking for information, YOU make the call. I get countless calls from mothers (or girlfriends or wives) who claim their sons/boyfriends/husbands to apply for the program. If that were true, the sons/boyfriends/husbands would be the ones calling. She can’t do your job for you and she can’t apply for you so you might as well try out that independence.

2)   Provide your phone number. Do not put down your mom’s work number, or your girlfriend’s cell on your applications unless someone it is necessary. I once called an applicant to congratulate him on being accepted into the program, only to be greeted with a “who the #&%@ is this?” from his girlfriend. Big mistake.

3)   Use an appropriate email address. If gangsta69@hotmail.com is the email on your application, chances are you are not getting a call in for an interview. Email accounts are free - please get a new one for job applications if your existing one lacks in professionalism.

4)   Is this really what you want to do? Sometimes that pushy female in your life (see tip #1) wants you to do something your heart isn’t 100% in. This is a recipe for failure. Sooner or later it will catch up to you, so assess your repercussions first, and make sure you are applying for that job or program because you want to. These mistakes can cost more than your relationship with that person (for example, the program I accept application for will cost you over $8000 if you do not complete the program requirements.)

5)   Keep your records clean. Things happen, everyone make mistakes. But some of those can haunt you the rest of your lives.  Finding a job in a position of trust may be challenging for someone who robbed a bank 10 years ago. They didn’t think they’d get caught and have that record stand between themselves and that supervisor position at the grocery store one day down the road.

Once something appears on a criminal record or driving record, it is there to stay.  For example: how can someone who can’t afford a regular class 5 licence because their fees are too high (due to countless at-fault accidents and speeding tickets) possibly be serious about wanting be become a professional long-haul truck driver?

Asses your career and job options and opportunities well. In this day and age, we are the only ones who can stop ourselves from doing anything.

Open Mouth. Insert Foot.

My mother always told me that if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. She was that kind of person, I have so much respect for her for for being that way. I obviously got the ill-tempered trait from my father's side. I've put my foot in my mouth plenty of times; in fact one of my new year's resolutions was to be more mindful of my words and actions, which would allow me to think before I speak (or email, or blog or text etc). So far, so good and I am happy to announce the culprit of this post is not me.

As a part of day job I attend career and job fairs to promote the industry. We have a lot of very useful information that we collect from a very credible source -a human resources council specific to our industry. Their sole purpose is to recruit, train and retrain those in our industry. They don't pull statistics out of hat; they do extensive research and provides tools and training to industry associations and firms -such as the one I work for- to deal with issues in our industry's human resources.

Yesterday I attended an event in which my workplace is a sponsor. As a sponsor, we got to set up a booth for students looking for career information. One of the mentors of these students had a problem with one of the statistics (a industry salary average) we had on a banner. So, she decided to yell at me, making a scene in front of everyone present. She thought I was just a face behind a table, little did she know how long I've been doing my job for and what I know, or even what organization I was there representing.  Like a lady, (unlike her) I waited until she was finished her rant, smiled and simply handed her an information sheet with the stamp of the human resources council specific to our industry that provided us with the offending statistic. She threw it at me, told me she'd know because she worked in the industry and stormed off.

As I see it, here is where she went wrong:

- as a "mentor" for these group of students, she was not setting a good example of professionalism
- she basically admitted she makes less than the average person in her position which means she is not good at what she does or has yet to develop. (In which case, she never will with this attitude)
- as someone who had been invited to the event (she was either a teacher or volunteer) she made a big mistake by yelling at one of the event's sponsors (the company I work for)
- she admitted she was from the industry so there is also a high possibility she is also from a member company of my workplace

Her boss could be on the board of directors for where I work. Or, the event could lose our sponsorship over this. That will not be the case, but it could happen.  Either way,  she's bruised a relationship between my workplace and the event. If only we had all made a resolution to think before speaking.

To phone or email? That is the question.

Email. Whether it's for personal use or business, it's an everyday part of our lives for most people. This week I had a few mishaps and it got me wondering, is it me, or is it other people that need a lesson on email etiquette? Turns out it's both.

As a Communicator, I stay on top of my emails. That is why it surprises me to find out that other people do not. I sometimes forget I spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer, allowing me to read an email as it arrives in my inbox. And if I'm away from my desk (like on the weekends), I check it from my iPhone every few hours anyways.

This week I was  called out by a business expert and professional. I emailed him some important information two weeks ago and failed to follow up with a phone call to confirm he'd received it. Turns out he hadn't read it,  and I only found out the day before an event he was due to speak at, when he phoned. A little more personal contact would've have been appreciated, he told me. And I agree, even though I have a list of reasons why it managed to slip my mind to phone him, it doesn't matter. I should have phoned him to follow up with in this case, and I accept I made a mistake. Lesson learned. (However, as a Communications expert, should he not have read my email sometime in the past two weeks?)

Another incident I had this week was personal. I was hosting a get together with some of my friends. I emailed them all with all the info and heard back from only one of them confirming attendance. The rest, didn't let me know they weren't coming because they were sick until the day of. It's too bad they were sick, but when you don' reply until the day of, to say they're sick then, really irritated me. I completely understand they were sick and I wasn't mad, but what if they hadn't gotten sick? Would they have gotten back to me at all? Since they're all so busy I made sure to email and text them all, since I know they all check their emails and they all own smart phones. Yes, once again, I should've called. However, since one of them is "soooooooooooooo busyyyyyyyyy" I never get through to her, so in a week I left her two emails, a text, a voicemail, all unanswered. She is always very busy, (oh and always sick too) this I know. But at this point, she is now just being plain rude. Especially because I'm a friend. If she had time to update her status on facebook, she saw/read all my messages too. She's not the president of the United States, a heart surgeon, or an astronaut on Mars, so really, how busy can you be in a 40 hour work week? Therefore, there comes a point when unanswered emails are just plain rude, depending on the person and time. In this case the person was a friend, and the time she received four messages from me via email, text and voicemail was five days.

I thought I was familiar with email etiquette and it was common sense for all. I've come to learn it is not, adjusting your communication mediums according to person you're communicating with is the best way to make everyone happy. But then again, it is 2011, and if you have a smart phone, then you should be capable of using it. But that brings us to a whole new form of etiquette I will touch on another day. Happy emailing!

*UPDATE: The day before I posted this, the New York Times did a very interesting piece on the death of the phoen call. I only saw it the next day, but I decided to post it since it is relevant. It makes me feel a lot better about my mishaps this week!

The power of social media, the power of Winnipeg supporters

Winnipeg has been the centre of attention on twitter and youtube this week. And it's all because of this video. 10-year Maria Aragon from Winnipeg has had the most incredible week. The impact this little girl has had on millions worldwide has left everyone in complete awe.

Just TWO days ago, the video of Maria's rendition of Lady Gaga's "Born this way" was posted on youtube. It was seen by celebrity gossip insider Perez Hilton, who passed it on to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga tweeted "Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future".  It immediately became a trending topic on twitter, with the majority of Winnipeg tweeters jumping on board, and as a result a #GetMariaOnEllen campaign began. 

Yesterday, a local radio station had her as a guest, she was on all the local news, national news and entertainment shows. Today, she was flown to Toronto, where she was a guest on another radio station where Lady Gaga herself, phoned the 10 year old. To top it off, Lady Gaga invited Maria to an on-stage performance with at a future concert. 

The amount of time this happened in is absolutely astounding. Ellen has now seen the video and tweeted about it, as well as many other celebrities. Furthermore, as of tonight, the video has reached well over 2 million views and over 14,000 comments! All this in just TWO DAYS! This article that appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press this morning, had to be updated numerous times today in order to keep up with the story. 

This isn't the first time something, like this has happened. This is exactly how Bieber fever came to be. It all started with a youtube video and was supplemented by twitter. The simple fact that it has stirred so much attention worldwide, is so little time is exhilirating! As a Winnpegger, I am proud that the city did it's part in making the video go viral. It was all I read on twitter, heard on the radio and saw on the news yesterday. 

I have no doubt this little girl will go far. And by the looks of it, she will continue to receive overwhelming support on her way to stardom. How does a little girl from Winnipeg catch a number one recording artist's eye? To be able to make Lady Gaga herself go gaga over something? Now that, is an accomplishment never to be forgotten by Maria I'm sure. 

**UPDATE (March 18)** - I was away fro a few weeks, and during that time Maria was a guest on Ellen. Her appearance at Lady Gaga's concert occured March 3rd. it has been a whirl wind of events for her this past month. There is no doubt she is very talented and we will hear from her in the future. But for now, the extensive tv coverage declined after the concert.

I Had 12 Babies This Year

I am at "that age" when all my friends are going through major life accomplishments: getting married, buying houses and having kids. The latter really hit me last year, and made me realize just how at "that age" I am.

Although there wasn't one born every month, there were 12 new babies brought into the world by my friends and acquaintances last year alone!

Not all of them are extremely close to me and in my life, but they have all touched my life somehow. They range in closeness from one of my best friend's beautiful baby boy (the first in our tight-knit circle of friends), to more casual friends, to my boyfriend's step sister, my old high school best friends, and not one or even two, but THREE coworkers!

This makes for a lot of time spent commenting and liking their photos on their facebook profiles when they post videos and pictures of the little ones. Which brings me to my point. Each set of parents have very different styles of parenting, and although they're barely one year old yet, you can already tell what kind of people they are destined to be. I'm not suggesting anyone's parenting style is better or worse. I have a friend who does not post pictures of her baby on facebook, and prefers to email her close family and friends the photos instead (which is much appreciated), and I have another who posts every moment of her baby's life, including photos taken during the birth.

But whatever their choices are, one thing I've learned is that being a mother is very hard work and requires a lot of planning and sacrifices. I have a friend who rarely goes out, although she could, but prefers to put her baby to bed every night, even on weekends, and I have an acquaintance who is out at the clubs drinking almost every weekend. She's obviously not putting her child to bed on the weekends; this takes me back to my days of Psychology 101 and the great debate of nature verses nurture. I've seen the stacks of books and heard the old wives' tales about doing things a certain way. But I've come to the conclusion you never really know what kind of pregnancy you're going to go through or baby what kind of baby you'll have until it's all said and done.
These 12 very different babies have made me realize I should not be in a rush to start a family just for the sake of "being at that age" (not that I'm feeling any pressure). Too often we see people use babies as a way to "fix" their relationships and this only creates more problems in the end. A baby should be brought into the world with love, and lots of planning. And from what I've seen, I know I will need to be good and ready. In the meantime, I have 12 that I can get my baby fix from, whom I can gladly hand back to mom when I don't know know what to do. The first my 12 babies just just turned one, and the last one won't turn one for another 10 months. That gives me lots of time to decide which ones I will offer to babysit for when they start turning 2.

What I learned from my January blah's

January is officially over! Seemed to be going by like a blur up until mid-month then suddenly it slowed down. Or maybe that was only for Winnipeggers? We always justify our winter blahs by blaming it on the weather.

I have always thought January wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't spend it in -40 conditions. I still believe that, because this January, I paid close attention to the things that gave me the winter blah's, and yes indeed, it can be blamed on weather. Hence the "winter" in winter blah's.

However, I tried to stay positive and came up with little ways to brighten up my January, since I did not have a vacation beach getaway to look forward to.

Traffic

Winter driving conditions are brutal. Winter driving conditions in Winnipeg are horrific. The main route from the south end of the city to downtown from my neighborhood is closed down to one lane in each direction. Take a moment to imagine what six lanes of traffic (three in each direction) crammed into two (one in each direction) looks like. Multiply that by 100 and add 20 cm of snow. Don't forget to factor in the fact that leaving for work in the dark and driving home from work in the dark makes for some unhappy and not-so-courteous drivers.

My solution for this: take a new route whenever possible. That may be easier said than done here, but even just turning down a different street to avoid stopping at the exact same set of lights at least once in your commute, will not only give you new scenery to look at it, but it will also make you a more alert driver. I've made a game of this. I can choose street a or b that run parallel, to drive down for the second half of my commute. Every morning, I chose a new street that runs from a to get to b.

Another tip: turn off your radio and play your favorite cd or playlist. Especially in the morning. On those mornings when you're grumpy, all morning radio personalities will piss you off, and all the news will make you want to scream. That is the perfect moment to play something you like and have control over, your spirits will be instantly lifted, and your coworkers will appreciate it.

Boredom

This is one department we should not, especially people in Winnipeg, have a problem with. There are so many winter activities and sports the city and province is set up for, that you could try something new every weekend. It is not only cool to skate on the river trail at The Forks, but just about every park or community centre has a skating rink. Take a drive to Assessippi for a day on the Manitoba slopes, snowshoe in Bird's Hill Park, or check out your local recreation activities and fitness classes going on in your community. Still hate the snow and cold? Try a hot yoga class  (it is suitable for everyone and nothing feels better on the -40 days), visit a museum,  or  stay home and curl up with a good book, magazine, newspaper, or even celebrity gossip magazine if that will make you happy.

Get physical

This one ties in nicely with the issue of boredom. Most activities mention above are going to get you moving and active, which will result in a much happier you. No matter what type of work you do, it is also important to take a moment each day to stretch. Whether you are doing physical labour, or spend your day sitting at a desk, take 5-10 minutes a day to stretch your body. Set an alarm for a random time in the afternoon everyday, and get up, move away from my desk to stretch. You will come back to your desk and the task you were working on, refreshed.

Something to look forward to

Setting your sight on something in the near future ahead will help keep you motivated on those dark, cold days. Maybe the reason you couldn't go on that beach vacation this month is because you have an exciting trip planned for the summer. Or, if not, at least you have warmer weather to look forward to. Start planning ahead for something that excites you and leave yourself reminders of it. Make the photo of your cabin your desktop, clip a picture of last year's road trip on your fridge, or start planning your garden and start your seeds because soon enough, spring will be here.

Breathe deeply

In moments of frustration, just remember to breathe deeply. Of course, this will be better done when you are not sick. January seems to be a time of cold and flu's. Taking vitamin c will help boost your immune system fight off infections. Oil of Oregano is also  an excellent early defense mechanism. When you feel a cold coming on,  take 3 drops of Oregano Oil once per day (also available in pill form) and you should notice results within a few hours.

So if you aren't already feeling the blah's, and you can make it through February, you are almost home free! After living in Winnipeg for 23 years, I am still not used to it. Did I mention I am warm blooded and was born 20 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean in Central America?

Is bad grammar in style?

Your/you're   it's/its  they're/their     These are three sets of words commonly misused. To any communicator, these mistakes stick out like sore thumbs, and make us twinge. Yes, mistakes happen, everyone does it, but do you correct someone if you spot these mistakes?

Personally, I do. I have been known to comment on grammatical errors on friend's statuses' on facebook; I do it because I love them and do not want them embarrassing themselves by making the same mistake again.

But then I ran across this article, in which the company mentioned takes spelling errors to a new level. It actually glorifies one of the mistakes mentioned above: you're and your. The clothing company has printed a shirt using your, when it should have been you're. On purpose! Sure their target market is teenagers, who are probably the ones committing this grammatical error the most often, but isn't that why we should be correcting them instead of glorifying illiteracy? I think this is a horrible idea that is an insult to the written word.

ANOTHER THING I HATE IS WHEN PEOPLE CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING! It is a trend I see occurring a lot on twitter, facebook and on forums I frequent. The point of capitalizing is to emphasize something. This has the opposite effect when you capitalize the whole sentence, or worse, the whole paragraph. I also find it to be rude. Capitalizing everything is the equivalent of yelling. A particular person on a particular forum I visit does it often. She tries to pass her wisdom to others on the forum and has to compete with hundreds of other posts so she does this to grab attention. It works in the reverse for me, I am not interested in what she has to say because I find it to be rude, it hurts the eyes, and the point she is trying to emphasize only blends in with her long capitalized post, making her posts hard to read.

I remember a case last year in Australia when a employee was fired for capitalizing everything on an email to a client. She wasn't trying to be rude but, it came across as rude to the client, and in the end, this mistake cost her her job.

So let's just all follow the rules and get along.

Are we too busy to say "bye"?

In my day job, I spend a lot of time on the phone. Most are inquiries from people who call me for information that could potentially lead them to getting a substantial amount of funding for training, and potentially a job.

Most people who call looking for this information from me are unemployed. Therefore, have lots of time on their hands. So why do so many people phone, and at the end of conversation end it with the click of the phone instead of saying "bye"? Is it really asking for too much to close your conversation, whether in phone or in person with a simple 3 letter word? Would uttering a signal syllable take that much time out of your busy day? I guess common courtesy is not that common.

Another setting I've seen this happen is when guys talk to their buddies. They are quick and brief in their conversation, and usually end it with a "K" and hangup. No bye, no talk to you later. Just "K, click". Guys of course, usually never get offended by this as much as women usually do.

Call me crazy but I think it's just plain rude to hang up without closure in the conversation. Are we really that busy?

This reminds me of this Sex and the City episode, where Carrie is in a very bad mood one morning after having been broken up through a post-it note that morning. Someone shoulder checks her on the busy streets of New York City, with no apology. Her reaction? She turns around and yells at them: YOU'RE SOOOO BUSY! Exactly my thoughts.

Does social media cause big egos?

The popularity and growth of social media in the past few years has been immense. Businesses from the local independently owned clothing shop to the big corporations have found taking part in two way communication with consumers, when done correctly, can have its benefits. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, being among the most popular. But what does it does for the regular human being that has nothing but themselves as a person, to promote?

For example, if you aren't trying to promote a business or product, what do you tweet about? You can tweet about what you're doing, where you're eating, and what kind of mood you're in. But how much personal info about a person can we take before they get boring, annoying, or both? One way to keep it interesting is to keep letting people know (your facebook friends or twitter followers) just how how fascinating you are. I'm guilty of falling into this trap. I follow a person because I like to know what he's doing. He knows what's up and coming and he always tries to be the first at the scene of a popular event, the first to try the latest gadget, or the first to comment on what the media finds newsworthy. No matter, what it is, he always has to put in his two cents. Overall, fascinating guy to follow.

The problem is he's quite cocky. If there's a hockey game on tv, he will remind us he watched that team take the gold medal home live last year. If he fell on the dance floor on his birthday cuz he had a few too many, he will take a pic of the dance floor and tweet about it. And people love it. I find him to be egotistical. Always trying to be the first one on the latest trend, and making sure to let everyone else know, that "you heard it here first". In marketing, we call these kinds of people early adopters. He would probably call himself, the pre-early adopter, just as he's referred to himself as an "internet evangelist" before. And why? Because people eat up what he's dishing out. 

I recently found a very young local kid who tweeted he could "single handidly make things trendy in Winnipeg". Right. Maybe in his circle of bbm friends, sure. Kids are always looking for someone to imitate. I've also seen both these individuals go out to clubs on the weekend and tweet about their every move: "on the dance floor", "at the bar", "doing a shot", fell and and I can't get up because I had to tweet first. (Okay the last one I made up, but it could just as well be true.) Never mind the fact burying your nose in a smartphone of the day is rude and disrespectful to the friends you're out with, but do they really need to justify how "cool" they are by letting everyone else know their every move. Sometimes you need to live your life, instead of tweeting every moment of it. #JustSaying

But what did these two individuals do before they could spread their self-proclaimed depths of knowledge to the rest of us? Does being able to hide behind your blackberry or  mac give you the confidence to refer to yourself in such omnipotent terms?

In a related note, the LinkedIn blog released the 10 most overused buzzwords on LinkedIn profiles in December of 2010. "Evangelist" didn't make the cut,  but entrepreneurial and dynamic were on the list. I immediately printed the list out and will refrain from using any of those words. This transfers to twitter and facebook, where I see countless individuals describe themselves as "mavens" or "guru's" every single day. I want to be unique, not join the trend of self-proclaiming your own almighty-ness. I'm going to let my work speak for itself. 

New year...not so new beginnings?

The new year usually brings with it all sorts of resolutions for people. Lose weight, stop smoking, and so on. But how many of us keep these resolutions?

Last year, I didn't have make a new year's resolution for 2010. I just wanted to move forward and make some positive changes that would mean getting rid of certain people who were bringing negative energy into my life. Well, the complete opposite happened. The person who was making me so happy at the time resulted in bringing me the most grief. And the person I originally wanted to cut out? In a whirlwind of events, he not only ended up making his way back into my life full time, he's also one of the many sources of happiness in my life right now.

For 2011, I have made a few resolutions. A lot, actually. But most of them are regular everyday things that should be easy to achieve as long as I keep a positive attitude and remember to live in the moment. Because really, life is gonna to throw at us what it wants - the difference we can make is in how we handle these situations.

After surviving the first week of 2011, I'm doing well in the exercise and eating healthy department of my resolutions. The resolution I'm having the most difficulty with: not to swear a single time during my morning drive to work.