FLEXIBILITY AND A NEW EXPERIENCE SETS THE STAGE FOR A GREAT DAY OFF


While we get hundreds of unsolicited emails that we delete immediately, one caught my eye. http://groupon.com/ Upon opening I learned that Portland, Oregon, immediately across the Columbia River of my hometown Vancouver, Washington was the selected cities that this website focuses.

Each day a special coupon arrives in my email. This particular day the coupon was a two- for-one ticket to seats at the annual Portland Rose Parade. Since these are daily special, I grabbed two of them feeling confident that I could find someone to go on this adventure with me.

Sure enough, my friend, Molly, said “Sure, I’d like to go.” Though she did groan a bit when I told her we had to meet in Vancouver at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to connect in time with the mass transit if we wanted to see the crowning of the Rose Queen. Never had seen the crowning before, even though through the years I have had the opportunity to meet the princesses at my Rotary Club.

Saturday morning, our day went perfectly. Soon we found ourselves seated in nice seats in the Coliseum. With fresh coffee and coco in our hands we settled in and let everything unfold right before us.

The pageantry of the Queen Crowning was special. I noted that Victoria that had spent the last three months being introduced last because of her name, now became first. Kinda special when you think about.

With announcers inside the Coliseum, we had no problem seeing/hearing what was happening. Before we knew it the parade entered from the right. If there was some kind of special performance or song that was going to be performed before the grandstand outside, it was also performed directly in front of us. Then the entries exited through the left.

Interesting to learn, we were advised there would be occasionally a stoppage of parade. That was done in order for the television stations to go to commercial breaks. By doing that, it was assured all entries in the parade made it to television broadcast.

We knew we were going to go downtown Portland after the parade, yet were not sure what we would do. At one point, Molly leans over and said “Kath, let’s go to Portland Saturday Market”. Brilliant idea.

Near the end of the parade we decided to start our journey downtown again on mass transit. We got off and walked about four blocks and found ourselves at Waterfront park and the new location of the market. It was amazing to see the cleanliness and organization of the booths. Since artists and their work happens to be a very special part of my life, I was thrilled to see what was being created by them.

Lunch consisted of a meal of authentic Himalayan cuisine. Hmmm….glad I tried it and now I can say I have and let me leave it at that. Down the walkway we found amazing cupcakes…red velvet and coconut.

After exploring, the market and the temperature finally starting to rise, we headed to downtown and did some shopping and ended up at Departures http:// www.departureportland.com a restaurant with bar with an outstanding view of the City.

Refreshed we headed home. We stopped in Vancouver to meet a couple of friends. As Molly as I said “Good night to each other, we realized we had been together for 12 straight hours” and what a fun 12 hours it was for both

IMPORTANCE OF A DAY OFF

After spending three weeks in Europe over the holidays, I came home and started pouring it on for my career. Since I enjoy it so much, I worked every day of the week, including Saturday and Sunday. My mind was clear and there seems to be so many ideas that needed to be implemented now.

The ideas flowed faster than I could put them into place. My bulletin board started to become covered with sticky notes with ideas. While out and about, my little notebook was the recipient of still more ideas.

Since Twitter was now part of my regular routine, that needed attention. Oh yes, then there was Facebook and LinkedIn. It is amazing what you learn when you click on the links people are providing, particularly on Twitter. With LinkedIn I keep up with my professional colleagues with whom I have something in common and Facebook, while much more casual, one still learns a great deal what is happening in our world.

By the end of the day, I had little energy and I was exercising. Clearly I was burning myself out and it was time for a break. Time to take day off without phones and emails.

Yesterday, I lounged in bed until I was ready to get up. Looked out and it was very foggy. Longing to see sun, I trusted that the weatherman was right and it would burn off. Picked up the house, got myself dressed in slacks and sweater I enjoyed and went out to the car. There was no plan.

While crossing the Columbia River the fog grew thicker. Finally decided to turn west and took “the road less traveled”. As the elevation increased, the fog lessened and there was sun. I drove around stopping and sometimes window-shopping wherever I wanted. There were no real great new discoveries during the course of the day. Roamed through a Powell’s Bookstore that I had not seen in Beaverton area.

Drove back into Vancouver, Washington and the fog was still thick – apparently, the sun never surfaced during the day. Came home and put in a pizza in the oven, sat back and watched a good movie. Went to bed early.

This morning the world looks so much brighter (even though we still have fog). Ideas are flowing again – yet, this time I have more energy to implement them.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION TIP:

Do you have white boards that are stained in your office?

Turns out plain old rubbing alcohol will clean them up quickly.

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