Where are the celebrities and Spill-Aid concerts?

A friend of mine recently posted a comment on Facebook that really got me thinking. She asked, "Where are all the "Save the Gulf" concerts? Where are all the TV benefits with celebrities and musicians giving heart-felt speeches about those fisherman, wildlife, beaches, etc.?"

Where are they?

I know the media is talking about the oil spill. Watching "Morning Joe" recently, they kept showing a video clip of a bird struggling to breathe and so coated in oil, you couldn't even tell what type of bird it was. I couldn't watch it. It was painful and just sad to see an animal struggle like that.

When I lived in Texas in the mid-1980s, I would travel down to Galveston and spend time on the beach. It was an incredibly peaceful place for me. But, I could see off-shore oil rigs in the distance and there was always a tar ball here and there on the beach. I'm not a big fan of big oil, so I would be disgusted by the tar ball, but thought that an occasional tar ball wasn't a huge environmental risk.

The disaster that looms now in the gulf is overwhelming to comprehend. It's been happening now for 56 days. (The counting of the days is reminding me of the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979/1980) Plumes of oil are being found 150 miles away from the oil leak site. No one can say for sure, how much oil is escaping from BP's containment cap.

It has occurred to me that the reason we're not seeing these celebrity fundraisers is, unlike Katrina and 9/11, this is a disaster was caused by a corporation. While it doesn't lessen the horrible impact on the economy or the economy, the expectation is that BP will be paying and cleaning up. I don't know if that is even realistic.

I've seen the public relations ad campaign that BP has started running and it just serves to anger me more than improve my opinion of BP.

I learned yesterday that BP had over 700 citations for safety, pollution and other violations - in just the last 3 years. Tony Hayward said that it wasn't an excessive number and they have been improving since he took over.The other Big Oil companies (such as Shell & Exxon)? The individual count for their violations weren't even double digit (yes- less than 10!)

How do you know when Tony Hayward is lying? His lips are moving.

A bit distracted

I wish I could say that I've been distracted. I've been busy, but not so much that I couldn't have written something. I can't even say that I couldn't think of something to write about - again, not true.

I'm floored that it has been two weeks since I last posted. Here's a quick catch-up (glorified excuses for being lazy):

On Thursday, May 20th, I joined with a group of Minnesota Bloggers at Nye's Polonaise Room in Minneapolis to talk about blogging and support @MollyInMinn with her campaign to "End Child Hunger." (Molly's blog, The Snyder 5, was part of a campaign through ConAgra to raise awareness of child hunger here in the U.S.)  The event itself was great. There were about 40 or so bloggers in attendance. I love having conversations with other bloggers to learn about how they started blogging and what keeps them going. Additionally, I got a chance to get caught up with my friend Molly from seriously, who had only been blogging for three weeks.

In the spirit of Nye's, Molly Snyder hopped right up on the bar and thanked everyone for coming and thanked the many who had brought food for the local food shelf.

Two days later (May 22), the bloggers came together again to help raise money for "End Child Hunger" through a 20-family rummage sale. The sale was held at the Highland Park Picnic area, and although I may have been quietly skeptical that people would find us, we had a lot of people shopping at our sale. Everything was priced to move - from $0.25 to $2.00 for the high end stuff. It gave me the opportunity to sell some of the stuff that I was getting rid of in my decluttering challenge. (But since I only had done one day of decluttering, I didn't have much) 

The day started out sunny, but a bit chilly, but by 10ish, the dark clouds were rolling in and we had a downpour of rain. The picnic shelter was large, but the roof was in two parts (as you can see above) and there was a small opening between the two sections, so the rain came into the sale area. 

We had a couple of kids who helped see the fun in rain and reminded us that thunderstorms and rain can be awe inspiring, not awe-full.

The rummage sale raised about $900 for the charity and everyone had a great time! 

Last week (May 24-27) was long hours at the office to get as much work done as I could since I would be out of the office all of this week. (More later) I didn't get any of my running done - I was too tired - and my 5K is June 12th! 

Memorial Day was spent in my favorite place - my hometown of Albert Lea and doing something I really enjoy - running the show! Well, sort of... I helped out two friends who have graduating seniors with their open houses. Mary Jo's was on Saturday. Since I had done one for her two years ago, as well as several other parties at their house, I knew what to expect. She had a great group of friends helping out and, although I was officially "in charge," I really didn't have to tell people what to do, they had their assignments and knew what to do. It was a beautiful day outside and everything was easy!

That's Mary (not the host Mary, but another Mary), Darci and I with fresh fruit and chaffing dishes ready to go...

Sunday's open house had a few more challenges. We had a sudden rainstorm hit about 90 minutes prior to the party - and we had already set up the tables and chairs outside. The wind was nasty and at one point, the rain was going sideways. It only lasted for a short time and we were ready to roll again. Jill (the mom/host) is one of the most creative people I know (as are her daughters) and they had the most interesting theme to their party - CANDY! 

And the candy was color coordinated to the party colors, as were the dresses worn by Jill and her two daughters (Sam, the graduate, and Ashley, next year's graduate); they were pink (Jill), yellow (Sam) and green (Ashley). I like a person who doesn't miss any details! 

There were M&Ms, jelly beans, pixie sticks, suckers, chocolates and PEEPS! (I love Peeps!) The guests were instructed to make up goodie bags for themselves to take with them. They weren't just sugar loaded, Jill set up walking tacos (chips, meat, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa) to feed her guests. And continuing the color theme, most of the serving containers for the walking tacos were pink, yellow & green. 

The rain held off during the time of the open house, but within minutes after it was over, the rain started again.  But it left us with a gift - the most amazing rainbow that arched completely across the sky. Then it morphed into a double rainbow. Very cool!

During my free time this past weekend, I broke through a huge barrier - I ran OUTSIDE! Albert Lea has amazing running paths that hug the lake and I was determined to get out there and use them. So Saturday and Sunday morning, I got up and ran. They weren't impressive runs, but the point was to learn that I could run outside. Now, I just have to learn to pace myself...

It was a great couple of weeks and right now, I'm in beautiful Seattle for a conference. And my hope is to get some posts written while I'm here! That's if I don't get distracted...

Yes, Virginia, There Are Positives to Having ADD

Everyone is always willing to give you a list of the problems that occur in one's life when you have ADD or ADHD. Forgetting things, losing things, losing concentration during a conversation, clutter, blurting things out, messy, negative self-talk and the list goes go on. They can rattle off the bad things and all the negatives, but you rarely hear about the positives of having ADD. 

Seriously, there are positives to this disorder. 

Lately, I've been writing about my personal campaign to bring more order in my life. I've been looking for ADD coaches and how they might help me. I found a great website called "Adult ADD Strengths" by Pete Quily (he's an ADD coach in Canada). His blog has a page that is a list of the 151 Positive Characteristics of People Who Have ADD. (It's not really 151 because several are the same thing, just phrased differently, but still a great list)

It was just what I needed to read - to remind myself that ADD isn't the worst thing to happen to me, that perhaps it's been a blessing because of the skills it has forced me to learn. I printed out the list and have posted it on my refrigerator to be a daily affirmation system. 

I'll write about many of them over time, but starting at the top of the list:

The Ability to Find An Alternative Path - growing up with untreated ADD, I created coping mechanisms for things most people don't give a second thought. I had to find a way around barriers because I didn't want to be left behind. ADD'ers think outside of the box largely because that's where we've spent the majority of our lives - outside of the box looking in. 

Adaptive - This a great positive to ADD. I have never had any problems adapting to anything new because new things engage me (and ADD'ers like to be engaged). I'm always curious and willing to try new things. Change rarely upsets me. I've found myself to be socially adaptive, too. I can be put into most any situation without feeling trapped. (Except on airplanes, sitting next to people who think I want to know all about their life. I don't. I usually want to sleep.)

Artistic/Creative - Those aforementioned coping mechanisms? I think I'm creative because I've had to be. And that creativity helping me cope, spills over in to my personality and keeps my creative spirit alive.(Occasionally a little too creative with multiple projects going at once.)

Adventurous - Here's that negative "impulse control" is turned around. I'm always willing to take a risk. When I started doing social media at work, I did it without long discussions with leadership (Who would have required a large amount of education) and I did it on my own because committees don't get anything done. Oh, sure, that pesky impulse control issue can be a problem, but if life isn't an adventure, why bother?

Honestly, in the last couple of weeks, I've had one thought cross my mind many, many times: I rarely regret saying "yes," but usually regret saying "no."

I hate saying no. 

Declutter de life, declutter de house

One of the worst parts of ADD is my complete lack of organizational skills when it come to my house, my desk and my car. When I've admitted to this problem, I often surprised friends as they've seen me organize huge events and such. I can't explain why I can do one and not the other.

At a time when I'm been struggling to manage the chaos over flowing from my job, I know that coming home to a place that is equally chaotic is not helpful. I've been reading a blog by Molly Snyder that talks about her 500 lb declutter challenge. While it seems to be an overwhelming feat, she's doing it one drawer, one shelf, one closet at a time. She's getting rid of at least 500 pounds of things that are cluttering up her life. Donate, recycle, put away or throw away.

And tonight I started. I started with the front hall closet. Decluttering is a great form of therapy as it forces you to look at all your material things and determine if you could really live without it.

In just one night, I've already figured out:

1. Out of sight means out of mind (and out of my memory)

Recently my niece asked if she could have my old set of dishes; "Sure, not a problem - they're in the front hall closet." As I dug through the tub, I have not one, not two, not three, but four sets of old dishes. As with most sets of dishes, they're incomplete. The largest set was the one my mom gave me when she moved into a senior living apartment. It is a set of 16 place settings. I live in a 950 square foot condo - When would I ever need 16 place settings?

2. My front hall closet was my toxic waste dump with four cans of paint

3. I'm not good about recycling phone books - I found four phone books in there.

4. I am a magazine junkie and throwing magazines into the recycling bin is painful (cuz what if there is something I need in there...)

I've been working on getting better on this one, but there are two magazines that cause super glue to appear on my fingers - quilting magazines and Cooking Light.

I have little post-it-note flags throughout the Cooking Light magazine - marking all the recipes I just have to try. One small thing - I Don't Cook! At least not with the regularity that I would ever actually try all the recipes I have marked up.

The quilting magazines contain patterns of quilts that I really like and would like to try some day. For instance, there's this great pattern for a "Storms At Sea" quilt from a 1993 issue. 17 years! I guess I'm just pacing myself with that plan.

One thing that didn't get tossed are my family home movies - dating back to Christmas 1960 -that I will one day get transferred to a DVD before the Super 8 film completely deteriorates.

I still have to weigh the trash to find how much I'm tossing...

Oh, just discovered that my most recent issue of Real Simple just arrived - cover story on "Organize Your Life."  Wonder how long it will take before I toss that magazine into the recycling.

Waiting for someone else is like waiting for Godot

Each day, as part of my job, I schedule tweets for the work account. The tweets are part of our website's "Thought For The Day" pages, which are incredibly popular. Usually one or two each day seem to apply to my life, but none so much as one from today. 

Karen Casey's wonderfully written daily meditation book, "Each Day A New Beginning," features a quote from Kathleen Tierney Crilly in today's message: 

To wait for someone else, or to expect someone else to make my life richer, or fuller, or more satisfying, puts me in a constant state of suspension; and I miss all those moments that pass. They never come back to be experienced again.

Those are words seem to describe the first forty years of my life.  I was always waiting for that person, that someone to come along and make my life complete. I couldn't fathom a life where I was enough; where I could be comfortable with myself, just myself. 

And I know that I have missed much in my life because I had those expectations. 

I saw the play "Waiting for Godot" as a college production. The play itself (not my favorite) is painful to attend, let alone a college production of it. I just remember really, really wanting to get out of the theatre before I shouted out "Godot isn't coming! Get on with your lives." 

Maybe the reason I was waiting was due to the messages I received growing up. I really didn't have any role models in my life that were single women. Everywhere I looked, people were coupled up and then had families.  Growing up in a small town, I never had friends with divorced parents until I was out of college. 


I know I missed so much in that state of suspension. I don't remember any conscious choice to walk away from an opportunity because I was waiting, but it is possible that I didn't take risks that I might have.

Today, while watching President Obama announce his nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagen, I realized that she was single (as was his first nominee, Sonia Sotomayor). Two highly successful career women moving into the ultimate job for their vocation.  Did they have single women role models? Or maybe they just figured it out long before I did. 

From everything I see today, the current generation of young women have role models at all levels of success. While I wouldn't see myself as a role model, I could offer myself as a cautionary tale- "Don't wait for someone else to make yourself whole - You already are." 


Image: "Waiting in Cuba" by wahoorob 80

Juggling fire and burning my bum

I know that the first step is admitting that we are powerless over (blank) and that our lives have been unmanageable. 

So here it is: I am powerless over the chaos and my life has become unmanageable. Chaos has invaded every part of my life - work, home, relationships, and daily life. I was ready to break yesterday; and considering the rant that my boss had to endure, it's possible that I actually did break. (Sorry, Matt) But in fairness to the rest of my life, I gotta believe it is the craziness of work that has seemed to create the overflowing river of chaos that I'm swimming in. (visual image of a salmon trying to swim upstream while trying to avoid the bears looking for dinner)

Like a lot of organizations, we had staff cut backs when the economy went sour in 2008.  These were pretty deep cuts and the remaining staff was asked to pick up the slack, which we gladly did, thankful that we still had a job. A recent reorganization in our department switched around duties and new responsibilities. For me, it has felt like a pressure cooker as my ADD symptoms have increased with so much to do and trying to absorb a lot of new information.

Short term memory? (what was I going to say about short term memory???) Oh yes, my short term memory has gotten even shorter. I'll take notes in meetings to remember what I need to do when I'm done with the meeting, but I forget the action step in the middle of writing it down! 

I'm juggling flaming items and dropping enough that I have singe marks on my back side.

Today was my regular appointment with my favorite psychiatrist, Dr. Heather. It was only for my regular med check, but I went into the appointment with a list of my recent crazies. On the positive side, I'm not suffering from depression (a very common ADD symptom) and my mood is generally good, but my patience is nil. (Sorry, work cohorts.)

So today, we decided to up my ADD medication and see if it helps. A good idea except for the timing. Right now, I'm about 20,000 feet above the U.S. (Love, love, love Delta Wifi) on a five-day trip to California. I'm hoping that the transition is smooth.

The trip is part work and part vacation and I've informed my boss and cohorts that at 5 p.m. Wednesday, when I'm done with my meetings in California, I am disconnecting from work - no guilt, no worries, no checking emails or voice mails.  I didn't even bring my work laptop with me.

Step two? Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  Technically, this could be Big Pharm, but I think I have another option. 

 

Photo of Girl: Jeroen van Daelen

Photo of Fire: ebby