The One-Minute Writer: Add a TOMW button to your blog!

The One-Minute Writer: Add a TOMW button to your blog!

Sadness

So sad... one of my best friends just called me and she was crying. One of her closest friends died this morning and it reminded me of how we take for granted so often the happy times in our life, but it is impossible to not feel the devastation of losing someone close to you. Because she is my friend I feel her sorrow but it is always so hard to know how to comfort someone and how to try to take away the pain. You can talk to them and listen, share and love them but it is so difficult to ever figure out how to really help someone with their grief. I know time will help but it also seems unfair in life that we then have to wish away time... for it really seems so precious to ever wish this away. So I'm going to send love out to my friend that she will hopefully find peace and will cherish her memories and friendship of her dear friend that she has lost.

Twittering is Cool

Okay , I will admit that at first I was hesitant about enjoying twittering. But now that I'm more involved I'm actually enjoying it. For instance, I actually get to view live updates from Lance Armstrong as he trains to prepare for another ride in the Tour de France... thats pretty cool. As well, I enjoy having such live updates as staying on top of the unfolding story in Mumbai or of the updates re:earthquakes in Indonesia not long ago. As well, people on line have linked me to great Christmas shopping sites which makes Christmas shopping a whole lot easier!

Winter Warning

Okay... gearing up for the first winter storm of the season just feels like the beginning of work... getting up earlier to shovel snow so you can make the drive to school. The drive usually takes an hour so now I'm wondering how long it will take... and how slippery the roads will be... and how the drive home will be. Then there's just the fact that it will be colder and darker for longer... okay I could go on. I look at my kids and I'm excited to see they still have that sparkle in their eyes with the prospect of the first snowfall of the year arriving and it makes me stop and re-evaluate my own thinking. Really, there is nothing more beautiful then a neighbourhood blanketed in snow when it hangs gracefully from branches and the world appears to be extremely quiet from the sound barrier it provides. Before the snow gets trampled and slushy it appears like the perfect painting... more beautiful then can be captured on canvas and so peaceful and comforting as you curl up infront of a warm fireplace. Maybe I will start to look more forward to that first snowfall now and will try to recapture that special warm feeling that only a beautiful snowfall can bring...

Labradors

See these three beautiful labs on my page. They are very sweet looking but looks can be deceiving... that cute yellow lab has now officially chewed 5 home phones and approximately 6 cell phones. She loves to have everyone's attention. The black one looks innocent enough but when he was young he once ate boxes of lightbulbs leaving not a trace and frequently stripped wall paper off the walls. The chocolate lab... well he's a softie... his only offensive habit is to jump up and kiss people when they arrive at the door. Living with three of these creatures is always interesting and entertaining. They truly can be the best companions!

Economy

It's actually getting kind of scary thinking about all the lay offs that are happening. It seems like everyday I have the radio on there are more people being affected. Today GM announced plans to halt production at five of its plants for a two week period in December due to a decrease in sales and overproduction. This is on top of announcing last weekend layoffs of 900-1000 workers at the Oshawa plnt starting in January.
Yesterday Forbes magazine announced a company "restructuring" with layoffs to make it through these rough economic times. These are just a couple examples and it just makes you wonder what future news items will hear about in this regard.

PR Agency Trip

What impressed me the most about the PR agency I visited was perhaps the creative talent of the PR personnel. The examples shared with our class provided insight into the diversity of the work the firm does and also provided insight into just how creative some of their event planning is.

I was equally impressed by examples of the client base, as the agency appears to address the needs of often large and varied corporations. It was evident that an agency environment can allow for great diversity in the workplace. The atmosphere of the agency appears to be very dynamic and the energy of the team of presenters was very upbeat.

The breadth of work covered surprised me the most as the needs of the client base must differ greatly when targeting such a wide range of the industry sector. It is interesting how they are able to rely in-house on finding solutions for their clients by having such diversity at the agency itself. This must require a great system of internal communications, as well as personnel who pride themselves on working well in a group setting.

It would be interesting to have an overview of what a ‘day in agency life’ would look like. This was addressed to a small extent the other day but it would be fascinating to actually see a breakdown describing the time and task involved in completing the daily workload at an agency like this. As well, from a broader perspective, it would be informative to see what a ‘year in agency life’ would look like in terms of the work that would be covered.

Inspiration

Dreams sometimes seem to be just that... something we imagine could happen but we never really believe it will be achieved because it seems to live in that outer spectrum, just beyond our reach. To witness the momentum behind Obama that propelled him forward, that propelled him through to that realm of achieving one of his greatest visions, is truly inspiring. People recognize how few will ever achieve such greatness and the tears shed last night seemed to demonstrate an acknowledgement of this amazing accomplishment he has attained. The tears of joy and the tears of struggles seem to be understood at once in that crowning moment. As I watched the newscasts last night and I couldn't help but feel like I was witnessing many faces in which the saying 'a picture can say a thousand words' seemed to resonate loudly.

Paintballing

So today was the first time I got dragged to paintballing and experienced what it feels like to be a target. It was quite the adrenaline rush, especially when trapped on the upper level of a building with three out of seven people out of ammunition. It makes one stop and think about (not that it can even be imagined) how frightening it must be for women and men who are in real combat situations. It's hard to imagine just how courageous one would have to be to sign up for the armed forces. I wonder what it would feel like to be surrounded by the enemy and by real bullets as opposed to the harmless paint filled ones that were splattering all around me. I came out of the games relatively unscathed but I looked around me at the paint stains on peoples clothing and realized how lucky we are to merely have fun playing a game. My thoughts go out to soldiers everywhere who risk their lives.

Lance in France

I'm wondering how I can return to France once again next summer to see Lance race in the Tour de France again. I saw him during his seventh win at the tour and getting his autograph, talking to Lance and watching him cross the finish line on several stages (including Paris) has to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.
There will always be uncertainty as to whether or not Lance is a clean athlete but, that aside, I admire his courage for living his life pursuing dreams that he is passionate about. For this, he scores big points in my book. He has given back so much of his time and energy to raising funds to help fight cancer... in my opinion... this is admirable. His fight and determination on a bike is exhilarating to watch. It is a good reminder in my life that I should strive to be passionate about things as well.

Searching For a Job

Wondering what it is going to be like to search for a Public Relations job when we all graduate from our program next spring. If I had known the economy would be going downhill so quickly I might have opted to search for a full-time teaching job in lieu of going back to school at this time. A friend of mine was saying that perhaps we need to start living more like Europeans where we don't have large, oversized houses and lots of big toys and luxury items. Perhaps he is right. It's hard to know what life is going to be like for our children in the future.

Eat, Love, Pray

Finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book and was pleasantly surprized. I'd love to have the time and means to travel randomly once again... exploring both external surroundings and internal journeys. I loved how she 'ate ' her way through Italy (probably the best place to do so) and then went on to the Ashram in India. India is one country I've never visited and would love to do so. I guess the interesting thing is to hold on to everything learned through the silent meditation while returning back to a busy life. When life gets hectic it's challenging to hold on to ideas about things that are really important!