Duh.

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

/ Ally Bean / 10 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month.  Here is my July report minus 1 movie.  Keep in mind that I get fidgety watching movies, so I consider it an accomplishment that I watched one movie during this hot month.  Let’s just say that I owe you 1 movie and leave it at that.    

2 Movies 1 Movie

Emma – Pretty + predictable.  I chose this movie because in college I never read Emma by Jane Austen and because I knew that Clueless was based on it.  Set in rural England in the early 1800s, Emma, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is a single woman who lives with her widowed father.  She believes herself to be a good matchmaker, but in reality she is not.  Confusion ensues.  For a costume drama this movie was well done– not too tedious, not too pompous.  Recommended if you need a Jane Austen fix and there isn’t enough time in your life to read one of her books.

2 Books

The Witch of Little Italy –  Charming + unique.  This novel, written by Suzanne Palmieri, is a perfect summer read.  A college-aged girl, Eleanor, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and decides to go live with her grandmother & great aunts in the family home in the Bronx.  While living there, Eleanor uncovers and solves decades-old family mysteries as well as going through her own personal transformation.  The writing is smooth, the characters are well-rounded and the plot is more-or-less believable.  Recommended if you want a bit of mystery + a tad of magic.

The Book of Tea – In this book, first published in 1906, Kakuzo Okakura explains the history of tea in Japan and the proper way to make it.  He also expounds upon tea as a metaphor for life.  I enjoyed this short book [treatise?] enough to read it twice.  Recommended if you like Asian history, tea and philosophy.  [Free on Kindle]

1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

Am I the last person to understand what is going on with these REFLECTING QUALITY stickers that are on the backside of many 18-wheel trucks?  [Example photo here.]  It came to me as we were driving down the interstate in my small coupe directly behind one of these trucks.

I realized that I could see myself & Zen-Den reflected in the mirror-like finish on the back of the truck.  And it occurred to me that we were the quality that was being reflected.  That the sticker had nothing to do with the items within the truck, instead it was telling me something nice about us.  I find this all very clever now that I understand it.

Of Salesmanship And Sequestration

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

Did you know that at one point in my life I worked as a sales representative for a greeting card company?

That’s right, the woman who would prefer to be at home grooving to her own beat had a job dragging samples and order forms around her three-state territory convincing store owners to buy the products that she represented.

In spite of the job being a lousy fit for my personality and energy level, I was moderately successful at sales.  Early on in my career as a sales rep I figured out a few basic principles that helped me focus on what mattered– that is, getting things done.

Here is what I learned:

  1. Getting buyers to feel comfortable with their decisions requires the insight of a family therapist, the explanatory powers of a college professor & the enthusiasm of a family dog.
  2. No one gets everything that they want.  That is why dealmaking requires negotiation– which requires stepping outside your comfort zone and adapting to each unique situation.
  3. Details make it happen.  Chit-chat and generalities, while pleasant, are pointless when it comes time to sign the contract.
  4. Every person you meet could be your next lead, so be polite and listen actively, at least for a little while, to everyone.
  5. Say “thank you” to the buyer no matter what happens.

###

Why, oh why, am I thinking about this topic today?

Well, it is because as I watch Washington NOT find a way to make reasonable deals about managing national finances, I am taken back to my days when my paycheck was tied to my ability to get things done.  Sell more cards, make more money.

Very simple.

And while I was not always enthusiastic about all the deals that I made when I worked in sales, I did make deals.  Lots of them.  Because I knew that was what was expected of me.  It was part of the job.

Very simple. 

So as a way to help our poor [overpaid] Senators and Representatives learn how to focus on what matters and start making sensible deals that are not tied to unrealistic party lines, I have shared my five principles of salesmanship.

Perhaps if all of these Washington jackweasels would apply my principles to their discussions about the impending sequestration they would be moderately successful at their jobs.  And get some things done that benefit all of us… not just their oversized egos.

Very simple.

Two Nice Guys With The Same Name

/ Ally Bean / 21 Comments

My Zen-Den rented a car.  While either in the rental office or while driving the car, my Zen-Den’s black leather business card organizer wallet fell out of his computer bag.  He did not know that this had happened.

This wallet holds about 40 plastic cards that my Zen-Den uses at hotels & airlines & car rental kiosks when he travels for work.  Also, once upon a time my Zen-Den stuck a receipt for a car service visit in the back of this wallet.

[It would be at this point in the story that I could go off on a snarky tangent about paying attention to what’s going on around you… don’t adopt an absent-minded professor persona… zip the sides of you computer bag.  But I won’t.]

• • • 

Last Tuesday morning we received at the house an overnight package.  On it was the oddest address label.  The label said that Zen-Den in MI had sent Zen-Den in OH this package.  I figured that it was work related, so I didn’t open it.

[I could have opened the package immediately but:

  1. It wasn’t addressed to me, which technically means that I shouldn’t open it– like that’s ever stopped me before;  &
  2. I live in fear of anthrax dust because I’ve watched a gazillion times that NCIS episode where Tony gets the bubonic plague.  Hey, don’t judge.  It could happen.]

• • • 

When my Zen-Den came home from work I handed him the package.  He had no idea what was in it, so we both watched as he opened it.  And there was his black leather business card organizer wallet.

There wasn’t a note in the package with the wallet, so we had no idea how the other Zen-Den came to have my Zen-Den’s black leather business card organizer wallet.  There was only the address label with the other Zen-Den’s business address/phone number on it.

[Again, I could make a big issue of the fact that a stranger had information about my Z-D’s vehicle and license plate number and credit card, but that would make me sound churlish, so I won’t mention it here.]

• • • 

So the next day my Zen-Den phoned the other Zen-Den and they talked.  Come to find out someone at the car rental company had found the wallet.  When the car rental company went through their records, they found the other Zen-Den’s name/address & sent him my Zen-Den’s black leather business card organizer wallet.

The other Zen-Den knew that it wasn’t his, but he took the time to look through it where he discovered the car service receipt with our home address on it.  Then, because he was a nice older gentleman, he just mailed it to my Zen-Den.  No big deal.  Just did something nice.

My Zen-Den offered to reimburse the other Zen-Den for the cost of mailing, but the other Zen-Den said not to worry about it.  He had it covered.

And that, gentle readers, is how it came to be that my Zen-Den got his black leather business card organizer wallet back.  Amazing, huh?  Who’d have thought that there’d be two nice guys with the same name?  Just glad that there are.

The Tale Of The Lonely Beet

/ Ally Bean / 22 Comments

DSCN3608Once upon a time the Lady of the House went to the grocery where she purchased some beets.  She was going to roast them and serve them as a side dish with some ham for dinner.

:: The Lady of the House had good intentions.

However, when the Lady of the House came home from the grocery, she put the beets in a stainless steel bowl which she put in the frig.  Then, she forgot about their existence.

Because the beets were well-mannered, they did not call attention to themselves in the frig.  No, they just sat in the bowl and slowly allowed mold to cover them.  Perhaps they were cold and considered the mold to be like a sweater.  Perhaps they were content and enjoyed connecting with the mold.

:: We will never know for sure.

All we know is that the next time the Lady of the House looked at the beets she saw six moldy, dried out vegetables that were way past their prime.  Upon seeing what had happened, the Lady of the House said a few words that will not be repeated on these pages.

But the Lady of the House had another idea for the beets.  You see, the Lady of the House’s mother had a saying which she said to the Lady of the House when the Lady of the House was a girl.

:: And this saying was: waste not, want not.

Remembering what her mother had told her to do, the Lady of the House decided to toss the beets into the wooded ravine behind her house.  The Lady of the House thought that some of the deer or raccoons that live back there might like to feast on said beets.

:: However, she was wrong about this assumption.

A few days later when the Lady of the House chanced to look outside upon her backyard realm, she noticed that all the beets were still there.  And that one beet in particular, that had the misfortune of landing on top of a concrete wall instead of on the ground, was positioned in such a way as to create a perfect photo-op.

So, the Lady of the House, who also happened to be a blogger extraordinaire, grabbed her camera.  Then she went outside and took one of the best artsy-farsty photos she has ever taken.  Not wanting to let this photo go to waste, the Lady of the House figured she could put this photo on her blog, tell her readers how this beet came to be so alone, and call it a blog post.

:: And that is exactly what she did.  The end.