What's New With You?

I love this question! I love talking about myself and try to make my "news" compelling and of interest. Its especially great when I actually have a bit to share - even if its just short retelling of fun/funny story or something that happened that day.

My mom asks me this question just about every time I talk to her - which is almost every day (sometimes multiple times if she/we have forgotten to mention something or my Dad decides to chime in). Sometimes I do have something "new" but mostly I just counter with "nothing's new"...for which I get a "So nothing's new, huh?" Uh, no, I would have said when you asked the first time. I don't know what she thinks I'm going to report...something juicy and gossipy, maybe, considering I'm in touch with hundreds of what I think are other interesting people.

Yesterday at lunch a friend I hadn't seen in a while asked "So what's new with you, missy?" Uh, I had no response. I was literally at a loss for words. Sorry, Miss Dee!

You'd think with all the networking I do, people I know, events I attend, coffee/lunch meetings I have and odd freelance work I'd have more to report, but I don't.

So my question: Does "new" equal "interesting"? Does "nothing's new" equal "boring"?

Are You TwEating?

I've been freelancing lately and just launched a new Tweet - a friend of mine challenged me to see if I could Tweet (that's 140 characters) my simple, fun, fresh recipes...turns out I can, and most of you know, that's about as complex as my cooking gets. Its Dave's Deli meets Sandra Lee. Now I can officially claim that I've joined my family (and family history books) in the food business.

Follow @ www.twitter.com/FreshTwEats

If you can't figure out a recipe, then really you're worse off in the kitchen than I am. (Just kidding - email me at FreshTwEats@hotmail.com).

Play with your food before you eat it!
Enjoy! Melissa

Why Have I No Date?

In less than 24 hours last week, I had brushes with three good-looking, potentially date-worthy random guys. Here's their story...

Thursday, 2p: Was surprised when I arrived for a job interview that it was a panel AND a group interview. In our group of four was a charismatic, head-shaven guy in a great looking suit. We exchanged professional pleasantries and at one point, he leaned toward me, winked and clicked "great answer", probably sizing up the competition (but the wink?). Turns out, we were parked next to each other and on the hottest day of the year joked "gotta shed the jacket" as we got into our cars and drove off. I cyber-stalked and think I found him on LinkedIn...hehe...we may cross paths again.

Friday, 10a: Chatted up a guy on his laptop while waiting for Mom to see the doc. He had his Blackberry, etc spread out on the couch and joked that he forgets he's not at home and made room for me to sit. Turns out, he's a Spanish interpreter at three local hospitals and does 8-12 appts per day + on-call ER...his clients never showed which is how we got to talking (in English) for so long. What a cutie!

Friday, Noon: Grabbed lunch with Mom after her appt at a new burger joint and as we approached the end of the line, I very distinctly noticed an adorable, white-jeans, Tommy Bahama, sunglasses wearing guy with short spikey hair eyeing me over. He smiled, nodded, and then brushed up against me in the register line next to us (no, he didn't pick-pocket me).

Of course, I know none of these guys' personal stories but still makes me wonder, with this kind of attention, why do I never have a decent (read non-blind) date? How do these types of encounters never evolve into meeting later for coffee? Frustrating!

P.S. Honorable mention to the guy the previous Saturday helping his elder mom (maybe grandma) shop at Trader Joe's. Kept bumping into them in every aisle and even used the "oh, I buy the same kind of cheese you buy" tactic. At one point, I turned to my mom and asked if she needed extra help (she didn't). :( Short of tripping and dropping a bottle of wine on his foot, I never did catch his eye.

Turns Out, We’re All ithe Produce Business!

I had no idea I was in the produce business until last week (my brother's a produce guy, for real, not me).

I got a bit distracted, but started writing this post last Wednesday after I went to a government-sponsored job search group and learned "How to be the Best Asparagus." I thought it was a comical way of describing how to present yourself so you stand out from the crowd - but it made sense given most of the attendees were not marketing professionals. In fact, many of them had never been unemployed before and have no clue how to search for a job in today's social media-centric marketplace.

Then last Friday, I went to a more professional job networking group where there were crisper, cleaner, greener asparaguses that I truly connected with. As the group went around the table, job searching loosely became "Its an Employer's Market - Make it so They Pick the Best Apple"...I sensed a theme!

Bottom line, its about branding yourself and standing apart from the crowd, a concept I've lived by and been successful at since I left my job last August.

Reap your crop with these garden tools: A streamlined personal presentation. A honed e-speech. Simple, readable, organized business cards, resumes, and related paper. A voice. And powerful PAR statements. This will make you Grade-A produce. And that's pretty sweet.

Help With the Insanity

25 Daily To-Do’s for the “Partially Working” & “Mostly Unemployed”

1. Get out of bed, savor a warm shower and cup of coffee
2. Leave your house at some point – do anything, go anywhere, just get out
3. Make and stick to a detailed task list just like at the office
4. Phone a friend (or two along with your recruiters and headhunters)
5. Consider taking most, if not all, temp, contract, part-time, or freelance work
6. Update your online social networks
7. Eat
8. Review your calendar, make appointments, go to networking groups
9. Play
10. Take a [free or online] class/seminar or go to a lecture @ the library (see Tip #2, above)
11. Make yourself business cards, they’re handy
12. Vacuum, it will make your house feel tidy and put-together even if you’re not, but don’t wash dishes just like at the office
13. Create funny passwords on the zillion or so job sites out there (and check for jobs and create email update alerts while you’re logged in)
14. Volunteer
15. Read local newspapers for random job ideas – something may hit you
16. Refer to Tip #9, above
17. Take one step closer to fulfilling a dream or cross an item off your task list
18. Exercise
19. Water your plants
20. Talk to yourself in the mirror…er, I mean master your interview skills
21. Expand your action verb dictionary, you’ll need these like water
22. Apply for some real jobs, more power to you if you find some worth applying for
23. Brag about your daily progress
24. Organize your home office
25. Breathe deeply
26. Bonus Tip for Good Luck: Be thankful for what you have & for those around you

Driving With The Window Down, Part II

Success! Here's a PIX of the plastic surgery Dad and I performed...not bad seeing as how it was dark and freezing outside! And, it did perform rather well last night on the freeway and kept the snow out.

Anywho, I got my appointment moved up and am getting it fixed for real tomorrow. Just in time to welcome the rain.

Driving With The Window Down

My Grandma Shirley used to have a habit that I just adored. She drove everywhere with her car window down - even [and especially] in the rain.

Grandma was a smoker so I think that's how it all started, she wanted some air in the car. But even when she wasn't lit up, I remember driving around in her maroon Buick, propped on my green corduroy pillow with my window down chatting and laughing and sometimes soaking wet from rain. We had a good ole time - innocent and priceless fun.

She used to pick me up every day from daycare and on some days took me to the deli downtown for the day to work, so driving the Sunset was a blast of air.

I often still drive around with my window down. Its refreshing. Reminds me of Grandma. Keeps me feeling light.

In fact, I had my window down a bit today. It was sunny, I was feeling good! But, yup, you guessed it, a belt in the cog broke and now the window refuses to go back up. Its only partway down, but my neighbor probably thinks I'm an idiot for leaving it down (doh) and I can't possibly now park safely anywhere out of sight.

I'm already scheduled for this surgery in a few weeks - the chunks and clunks when I hit the button trying to get the window to work on its track were my red flag. But now the car dealer can't get me in any sooner to have this fixed (parts, scheduling, etc).

Perfect time to call Dad and make him think I still need him - will let you know how this goes in a future post.

So while I usually enjoy driving with my window down, not so much when its forced on me - funny how things aren't as pleasant when they're not YOUR choice.

In the meantime, if you see a curly-haired girl driving around PDX with her driver-side window plastic and duct taped - you'll know its me. Be kind, wave!

Sharing

I love to share. And I love when others share with me. It gives me sense of connection along with a high like a daily dose of caffeine and rare Portland winter sunshine. Sharing is almost always free, helpful and it seems I've been doing a lot of it lately.

I truly believe I have valuable knowledge, stories, time, love, skills and other various things to share with many wonderful, colorful people. The act of sharing always somehow pushes you further in life.

But last week my sharing came into question. A friend asked me something and then added, "or are you not sharing?". Was that a pointed question or did I just take it too literally? I don't know what said-friend implied, if anything. Given that I'm even reasoning this, maybe I really am keeping the answer to myself. The add-on bothered me. I had no issue sharing the information of the original question, but why hadn't I done so before? I have no idea. It didn't occur to me to share that piece of information, I guess.

Maybe I've set the bar too high and others expect me to share all. Maybe there's some things I don't want to share and for whatever reason, I choose not to - subconsciously, or otherwise. Does this make me a sneaky or secretive person? No. Self-Guarded? Maybe, a bit. Lackadaisical? Maybe a bit of that, too. A bad person? Absolutely not!

Please advise. Should I open my figurative book up a bit more? Post your opinion, or are you not sharing?

Finally, I'm Live! Please Join My Adventure...

Welcome to my blog!

I've been wanting to create this for some months (ask my friends how annoying I've been) as a way to tell my fun, odd, random daily stories that seem to occur only to ME (I like to use CAPS sometimes, don't be offended). Laughable stuff you simply can't make up. Even in my somewhat mundane, though highly caffeinated, life.

However, my "creative genius" was blocked (read: procrastination) as I was trying to come up with an intelligent name for my blog that would represent the essence of my posts. Something that would imply my passion for making others see the highlight of every day, even in cloudy PDX.

Today is a turning point - and here's my first story, I hope you'll LOL with me (my friends did when I first relayed it).

Back in September I started on a temp contract job for a big company in a "man's" world in the Sherwood Forest as a Project Coordinator. In my second week I needed a large box to ship some VERY expensive euipment in to Canada but couldn't find one around the office.

So...I had Office Wonderwoman take me out to the maintenance garage to search and we ran into Mr. Maintenance who was giving a tour to CSR (Cute Sales Rep, everything's an acronym but that's another nutty story). I had just met a bunch of new people and was focused on finding my box between trucks and other hazardous equipment when CSR said "Melissa!"...

Uh oh, someone remembered me that I was SURE I had met on my first-day intro tour but hadn't yet mastered names.

Thankfully, my little pea-brain kicked in and realized that CSR was my CSR at my previous job that he thought I was still working at and simply out here on a project (we hadn't touched base in a few months and he didn't realize I had left). Haha!

Seriously, how RANDOM that he was there, in the Forest, located on the side of a rock quarry, in a freakin' maintenance garage that in my entire 13 weeks on my contract I only went out to that ONE TIME for TWO MINUTES to look for a large box (in my high heels, no less)...

All equipment has since safely been returned from Canada, including the box. However, some acronyms, including my CSR have gone AWOL. Maybe I should give him a jingle and find out where I can run into him next. But then again, where would my story go from there?

See, I can't make this stuff up. I had to share this one from the fall, its my fave and I swear I'll burst if I never have the chance to tell it.

Hope I made you laugh, or at least look at things from another vantage point!