Friday Feelz

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Goofy
This week at work has definitely been a goofy one. As I was telling someone, we are getting way too familiar with each other as more and more stories are shared. One guy, I learned, was a teenage rebel – getting suspended repeatedly for fighting, smoking, etc. This guy who presents as this bald, easy going Dad now makes me think he was a long-haired, leather wearing bad-ass. Another guy told us about how they thought he had a burst appendix only to find out, after a nurse introduced him to an enema, that he was actually just constipated. Things we talk about at work – as IT people. Yesterday, I must have felt the need to fill in for my absent cohort because during the conversation about a particular wireless camera system for home, my boss commented he has one in every room in the house, except the bedroom. I quickly followed that, "where he has 5 cameras!" He didn’t register what I had said until one of the network guys said that he hoped that he take wifi security seriously else he may be a popular guy in his neighborhood. My boss’s response reminded me of my softball coach in college after I suggested our tagline should be "our balls are bigger than theirs" – it was a combo of amusement and surprised at my poor influence as a team leader…..but mostly amusement. Yes, this is my job.

Annoyance
Lying seems to be a trend with one of our teenage kids especially this week. We discovered he has been lying about assignments. He has been lying about a number of things actually besides just homework. G and I quickly triangulated the stories he was giving and a quick note to a teacher revealed our suspicions were correct. Yesterday, he slipped up with me too. One of our other kids has taken to starting to shout "LIAR" when she knows he is lying because of what he admitted to her. (Before anyone thinks that is mean – she warned him that this would start if he lied in front of us.) Needless to say, this will be a sucky weekend for him. Bwahaha! But seriously, he is so close to not graduating, that it is taking both parents corralling him because he doesn’t seem to get that if he doesn’t get it together for the next 6 days that he is screwed. If the circumstances were different, I’d like things happen as he is setting them up to happen – but that’s a different blog post.

Fascinated
Last year, I took a year long leadership class requiring me to read 28 books and spend a total of 16 days in class during a 9 month time period. My cohort is taking the class right now, so is doing all of the reading and exercises. One of the books includes a test called Strength Finders 2.0 where it gives you your 5 strengths and how those fit into 4 areas: relationships, thinking, executing, and influencing. Four of mine were executing with one being a relationship strength. Cohort? All five were in thinking. Boss? Two were in relationships, two in thinking, and one in influencing. Even though my boss and my cohort have overlapping strengths, they are framed in the text explanation very differently. And both explanations fit the person perfectly. What’s funnier? The trait that drives me nutty about them both? The thinking (or overthinking) of things. The fact I’m an executing person – this isn’t a surprise but highlights why it drives me crazy. It has been quite fascinating looking at that – then looking at situations through that lens. For example, in a meeting the other day when my cohort was trying to "win" the discussion, he immediately flipped to overly technical language. One of his areas says that in moments where he feels he is right that he will shift to language people likely doesn’t understand as a way to prove that he knows more making his opinion more important. Like I said, it’s a fascinating study in human behavior, sociology, and psychology.

Music I’m Enjoying
Anyone who knows me knows my music library runs the gambit – from "Oh yeah, I listen to that!" to "Yeah, let’s not talk about the fact I do listen to that". It can be an interesting mix, but that’s because I’ll take any music suggestion – because it’s possible that it may fit into a particular sound track of my day or for a mood. I was pointed to a person – Kali Uchis and her album Isolation. It has been a nice background soundtrack during times I’m doing a lot of writing and all at work. Her style is a mix of soul, R&B, indie pop, neo-soul, electronic, and pop. Reading that list honestly nails it. It has a very easy, smooth sound that I like.

Podcast I’m Digging
I admit it – I’m a follower of Dax Shepard and Kristin Bell on social media. So when they started talking about his new podcast a few months ago, I was interested but unsure. When you follow a celebrity on social media, you have a certain view of them – and I did not want it ruined as can happen when you get more insight to their thinking. Finally I took the plunge especially because he has had some great guests. I have not been disappointed! Armchair Expert is extremely smart and isn’t just the former Punk’d star cracking jokes the whole time. Dax puts himself out there – and really gets his guests to do the same. They are all open, honest, vulnerable, and insightful. The format of the podcast is simple – a two hour conversation (without editing, I think) between Dax and his guest. Guests include Kristin Bell, Zach Braff, Katie Couric, Chris Hardiwck, Anna Faris, Ellen DeGeneres, Joel McHale, Seth Green, and Jimmy Kimmel to name a few. I have left almost every podcast wishing they could and would keep going. After the interview / discussion, his producer and friend Monica fact checks everything which is pretty amusing sometimes. Worth adding to your podcast rotation!

Happy Friday!

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