Tuesday July 22, 2008 Living Room Sonneck Square 10:00pm

Todd, the kids, their friends Nicholas and Shannon, and I, just returned from a one week vacation in Samana, Dominican Republic.

It was a last minute decision to go -  off we went in the early morning hours of July 13th.

Other than swimming and sunning and reading we did nothing…but one really big excursion.

On Saturday, we planned a trip to see the waterfall, El Limon. This trip (I thought) was just some horse back riding, with a guide, then a swim in the falls. Simple stuff. I fretted all week about how I was going to get on and off of a horse. I really don’t like horses, I slid of one’s neck when I was a kid, and they have scared me ever since.

So, I made Todd promise, promise, promise that he would help me on and off of the horse. If I knew then what I know now, that was certainly the least of my worries.

We arrived at the venue after a very long and very bumpy ride (only one child lost their breakfast). I decided to be bold and get on the first horse…there was a step! Easy peasy! No probs! All my fretting for nothing. My guide assured me that the horse was ‘tranquil’ so I was good to go.

Good to go..the trail was full of rocks, full of mud. The trail was narrow. The trail was bordered with barbed wire, and or, trees, and or, nothing – but stunning drops to flora and fauna.

The trail was not flat. It was steep going up, and/or steep going down. When I say steep – it was steep, steep like you could reach out and touch it in front of you.  Steep like, if you bent too far forward, you would tumble down.  The horse negotiated around all the obstacles (clearly had done this a million times), slipped occasionally but felt comfortable enough to drop a load on the way. The guide stayed with me and kept reassuring me – lady look bananas,lady look lemons, lady look mangos!!!

Look, its a terrifed Canadian woman that clearly had no idea what she had gotten into.

The trail seemed endless, found out later that it was about 3 k. 40 minutes of clutching and rocking and trying to get into a stride – but really only wanting it to be over, and already dreading the return trip.

We arrive at the falls! Hooray – another step to get off of the horse – its my lucky mounting and dismounting day! Let’s go see the falls…actually let’s go down to see the falls, no really let’s all scale down the side of this hill (ha ha) carved (hmmmm) out of rock and roots. Steps, each and every one unique – not two the same! How authentic. The rustic bamboo railing held together with rope and wire was clever too – obviousely no building codes and/or inspectors in this country. The ’steps’ were like  potter’s clay when it gets wet…nice and slippery. Exceptional conditions when one is wearing flip flops. On the way down (I cannot state enough how down it was), people were coming up. Young people, fit people, skinny people…and they were panting, red faced, sweating and shaking their heads. I was terrified.

I was freaking. Todd kept checking on me (poor guy he was in crocks, and had the back pack). I think he was a little surprised too – but his hockey career was clearly paying off!!!

My guide gave me his hand and took me down.  I have never held on to something so tightly in my life. It seemed like forever going down. I could not believe I was doing this. The kids, or course, scampered down.

We made it – and the falls were truly beautiful. We all went in for a swim (after my legs stopped shaking) and it was cool and fresh and actually remarkable.

But we had to go back up. I was beyond terrified at this point. I could not imagine how I was going to do it. I get winded running up the stairs!

So off go the kids, then my new best guide friend and I, then Todd. It was so slippery! I looked up and the guide gave me his hand – he literally pulled me up. I counted 25 ’steps’ at a time, and stopped, caught my breath and started again. At one point, my guide, plucked a big leaf off of the ground and fanned me until I was able to gain some composure. Todd was so encouraging, but I am sure was freaking out just as much as I was. I am not the most coordinated person…and had visions of slipping backwards, back down the ’steps’.

We made it to the top – much faster than I had imagined. It seemed shorter somehow – who cares – I had made it.

We got back on our ponies for the ride back. It seemed shorter too, but no less taxing that the first leg.

I was never so happy to see anyone in my life when I saw Marcos, our cab driver, waiting for us at the top of the trail! I had asked him earlier if he was going to join us, he just smiled at me and said ‘once is enough’. Ha. Understatement.

So, I am no longer afraid of horses! If I had known what this excursion was all about I would not have ever ever ever ever gone on it – not ever ever. I was SO OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE that it made me crazy. The kids were great.

Todd was wonderful.

My guide – he changed my life – well actually probably saved it.

I would be interested in learning more about how the Baptist Church (Ontario/Quebec) works – and who has the authority  to ask someone to step down from a volunteer post within the church. How are these decisions made? How are they communicated? Does each church have terms of reference etc?

Are there bylaws? Who is the overriding governing body? Do they have to follow any federal or provincial laws? What is the recourse and/or appeal?

Tuesday July 8 2008 9:10pm Sun Den 10 Sonneck Square

Hi

It is so great to sit here and try to do homework during a fabulous rain and thunderstorm. I have lit a candle and am enjoying the sounds (except for something beeping in the house that I can’t find).

Work on my goals have been slow. I finally got to Curves today…but have been walking the dog and not allowing one chip to pass my lips. I ate some lame ff’s last night off of the kids plates. Not sure why.

The dog is on my lap – so I am juggling the LP on his back. Too funny. He is a bit afraid of thunder.

Work is OK. Cleaning up my email is pretty much a full time job. Just noticed today that I was getting less and less stuff. Vish showed my how to set up email rules in Lotus – so I am able to manage a few things that way. For example, when anything comes in from my MBA class, in goes right into a file that I can check from time to time. This way I am not distracted (well any more than usual:) Tomorrow is a crazy day, so hopefully T and F I can get to my ‘clean sweep’.

I have been trying to read more – but to be honest with you reading the newspaper is a bit of a pain. If I was queen for a day, I would put all the stories together so you don’t have to search for the last half of something you have read in the front of the paper. 

I am reading the book “Ten Faces of Innovation” and “A New Kid by Friday” right now (and started “the Audition” by Barbara Walters a bit ago) I digress.

Great excitment here early Friday morning. Long story short, someone broke into our neighbour’s house, Todd saw him, called 911, then I saw him and he was arrested (after doing some serious invasion of privacy on Sonneck Square) Hopefully he will be locked up for a long time (had priors) and our streets are safer.

Better get back to Module 1…until next time.

PK

Hello

Today was a good day…I started unsuscribing to my various email sites (did not realize how many I had – was every posses me to subsribe to Canadian Tire and Tarot Card readings????) I also did ALOT of deleting. I was keeping way to much stuff – do I really need to know what time my lunch date was with Kathleen in 2003, and who should drive? I did my short ‘to do’ list before I left.

I am off the take the dog for a walk once I post this, I parked near James’ spot and I only ate three STALE chips before I remembered my promise to myself – so I passed on the Miss Vicki’s (who else cannot resist these chips???)

Submitted my PNP @ 140pm….and started the Strategic Management module tonight. Yikes.

Until tomorrow…

PK

 Hello

Well here it goes – my first set of goals.

They are pretty straightforward, I didn’t want to get to complicated my first time out!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Professional Goals

1)     Email

          Email has taken over my life. I spend more time checking and deleting and responding and checking and deleting and responding…it has to stop! So

here are the steps I will be taking in the month of July.

          Terminate all email coming from non-business related sites (ie Weather network, horoscopes, stock updates)

          Make files for all email and file daily

          Only email during business hours.

          Use email to be positive and supportive, never negative.

          Reply to email within 12  business hours

          Always be gramatically correct, perfect spelling, no slang etc.

          Determine a schedule in which to check email (ie 9, noon and 3)

          More face to face time – walk and talk to people nearby!

2)       Get Organized

          My office is not professional. There I said it. As much as I joke about it, I know that the state of my office impedes me from being as effective as I can be. It is a reflection of me – and if I want to be taken seriousely and professionally, I need to get out from the paper and files and crap. My office can be fun and funky and welcoming, and professional too.  So how am I going to do it?

          Go through each and every paper on my desk, sort it, file it or destroy it.

          Put all my contact information on my computer and in my Blackberry.

          Start utilizing the baskets etc. to organize my work

          At the end of the day, to a to do list, and reminder of what the next day’s commitments are and leave it on my desk.

          Clean out my little filing cabinet under my desk (dump the entire thing and start from scratch)

          Stop letting my office be the dumping grounds/storage room for other people’s stuff (just say no).

          Get a blue box for under my desk.

         Go through all my pens, pencils and markers (I know, crazy, but I spend alot of time looking for my favourite ones, or one’s that work).

          Clean out my overhead cabinets – again take everything out and start from scratch.

          Clean out the red Association history files.

Personal Goals

1)         Get Moving

            I am as fit as a slug. I need to move more and eat less.  How am I going to do it?

            Go to Curves at least twice a week  (I joined  last October, and don’t even want to think about how much each visit has cost me So before my   

             contract expires I have to get back into it. Four weeks in July, eight visits.

            Stop eating chips  and french fries for the entire month.

            Take Pele for a walk once a day.

            Park near James in the far parking lot.

2)        Read

           One of my areas of weakness is that my retention of what I read is not sticking, so I need to read more and think about what I have read, and talk to others about it.  So read on for how I am going to do it.

          Give up my PSP session everynight before bed.

           Read one newspaper a day.

          Read my textbook for Strategic Management and make notes.

          Read.

          Schedule time at work to read work related things.

          Go through all my books at home and set up a library in the basement. Books that I have read give to others to read. Ask others for recommendations.

          Read a manual on something I have no interest in (ie how to fix a computer) and try to understand it. Get an expert to quizz me on what I have   learned.

July 1, 2008 12:44pm Sun Den on Sonneck Square Toronto Ontario Canada

This is the first post, of many many posts, that I will be doing as part of my learning to earn my Masters in Business Administration from the University of Wales.  The entire program is on-line, so I have to be super focussed and consistently dedicated to this.

The blog, on a monthly basis, will show four goals (two professional, two personal).

I will ask myself these questions on a regular basis:

What went well?

What has been completed from my Monthly Development Plan?

What additional learning activities have I started?

What has not been achieved?

What did not go as planned and why?

What will be done differently in future weeks?  

What needs to be re-scheduled?

At the end of each month, I will evaluate my progression and determine my next goals.

This journalling will be done throughout the MBA program, and will be a part of my dissertation at the very end before I graduate!

So…if you are reading this you either know me and I asked you to read it, or stumbled across it because we have a mutual interest. Regardless, PLEASE I need your comments and support and kick in the butt and references to learning and anything that you think will be helpful in my journey.

This is how it works…I have up to four years to complete the program, I would like to do it in three – best part is I get to go to Wales to graduate…so that is my goal. There are 8 modules – right now I am doing the Personal Skills Development and Strategic Planning.

Thanks, in advance, and have a happy day.

Sunday June 30th 3:17 pm Sonneck Square Sun Den

Yesterday Todd cleaned out the sun den at the back of our house and made me a study room. It is just the ticket. I am working in here now, the sun is shining and there is a really nice breeze. I am on line and the dog is sleeping on my legs.

I can hear the girls talking and laughing in the TV room, Todd is talking to someone on the phone, Jordan is at Spencer’s.

I am almost finished my personal development plan. It seems somewhat disjointed. Trying to figure out the critical path – waiting to hear what month grad is in Cardiff, and how far out do you need to apply to graduate.

While at LuLu Lemon last week getting my daughter’s overpriced pants hemmed for free, I had a moment to ponder. The store is full of motivating quotes and words and images that are supposed to inspire one to live life to its fullest, be all that you can be, put your leg behind your head and…do one thing a day that scares you.

So today I ate some fish. Salmon.

I am not scared of it anymore, but I think I would rather try to put my leg behind my head instead. Now that is scary.

Monday June 23 Barrie Ontario 2:45pm

I have decided to use this format in which to manage my Personal Development Plan for MBA, University of Wales.

This module requires one to determine personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, and align appropriated learning with each skill to be improved and/or developed.

I have up to four years to finish this program, and am aiming to complete it in three. Putting it in writing here for all to see will be one way to keep me focused (I hope:)

Using this platfrom for this assignment will give me  flexability and access, and will be an excellent way to track on-line learning sites etc.

Some of my posts will be unpublished, but the majority will published so others (mentors, colleagues, family, other bloggers) can give me feedback, and perhaps I will be able to assist someone else.

So here goes….

Isn’t it incredible how, when, you have something important to do, that you really don’t want to, you find the most unusual things to do?

Take today, I had homework to do…but it was of utmost importance to me to find begonias. Not white begonias, but other colours.  Gurr’s was my first choice…but they close @ 6:00 (did they not know I needed begonias?) So off to Dominion ( I had already been to ValuMart and Loblaws) in my search..lucky for me I found six plants (not white).  Lucky, too, for me, the Wave petunias were on sale. 

I have been stressing lateley that my perennial garden didn’t have enough colour, so I picked up six new petunias.

I came straight home to do my homework, but it was almost 700 pm, and Cornation Street was soon to start, so I planted my begonias. I also pulled weedes, dead headed my geraniums, watered the plants, and still have not planted the petunias.

That is for tomorrow, when it is time for me to do my homework.