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Have you taken your medicine?

I published my first blog post on December 31, 2010 and set a goal of publishing a post a day. I have stuck to that goal – despite crazybusy days, illness and plain old exhaustion. Until yesterday. I’d made plans to hang out with friends yesterday evening and had expected to be home before midnight. I’ve been meaning to get into the habit of pre-writing some posts that I can have on hand “in case of emergency,” but that just hasn’t happened yet. Yesterday, I figured I’d have enough time to write a post when I got home. Not so. And I’m okay Read More

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The guy with two first names

Tonight, as I watched the local Fox station, there was a big segment highlighting an American Idol contestant from the Chicago area. It caught me off guard because they spoke as if he was the only contestant from the area. I know that’s not true, though, because I happen to know one of the other contestants personally: Peter Frank, the guy with two first names and a Chicagoan. Join me in supporting the “local guy.” Click this link to check out his video.

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My time machine

I have a time machine. It allows me to travel back to various moments in my life and relive the good and the bad. The only problem with my time machine is that I don’t have control over when it works or where/when it takes me. The time machine is a bit complicated in how it operates, too. It can be triggered by a variety of things. Are you tired of my vague wordiness, yet? (I am!) The time machine I’m talking about is made up of my five senses. For those of you who need a refresher (I just Read More

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You’re never too young

At the end of January, I put together a short PowerPoint presentation to celebrate the life/contribution of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and acknowledge the beginning of Black History Month. The presentation was to a group of people who work with college students. My original idea for this post was to upload the presentation. That was much easier said than done, so I’m just going to sum it up for you. My charge was for us as a group to remember to encourage our students to believe that they can change the world. To reinforce this notion, I highlighted the efforts Read More

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Pondering on purpose

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts (and my bio), I am passionate about helping people discover and pursue their purpose. If you’ve found yourself pondering your purpose, I have one question for you: If all of your expenses were taken care of, how would you spend your 40 hr. work week? Your response to this question is a good clue in the quest to discover your purpose. In the spirit of fairness, I’ll share my response: If all of my expenses were taken care of, I would spend my 40 hr. work using the Arts to help young people around Read More

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Feel free to chime in!

I was trying to think of a topic for today’s post when I realized there was no point in writing about anything but the Super Bowl. Except I’m not much of a football fan. So I decided to do what most of you may have done, focus on the commercials. I tried flipping back and forth for the commercials, until I decided to just catch them online after the game. So, for those of you who just want to catch up on the commercials, here’s a link. What other sites do you know of? What were your favorites? Least favorites? Read More

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In order to go forward, you must look back

When I first started my current job, I spent most of my first year learning the lay of the land. That included finding out how things were done in the past, what things worked well, what things should be changed, etc. I couldn’t move forward without knowing where we’d been as a department. This concept also applies to life. There are symbols and events in our nation’s collective history that should never be forgotten. People often have varying opinions about how much we should focus on history vs. moving forward. However, I believe that if you don’t know what has Read More

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You reap what you sow

Most of my experience as an employee and a volunteer has been in some form of customer service. I have been cussed out by a customer in a crowded restaurant, talked down to by parents who were trying to get over on me and just plain disregarded by people in a range of positions. Perhaps it is my experience of being mistreated and unappreciated that motivates me to give a smile and heartfelt thank you to people whose job it is to serve me. I have heard others say, “That’s their job, they’re supposed to do it.” I just don’t Read More

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“My Favorite Poet”

In early elementary school, somewhere between 3rd-5th grade, I wrote a report on Langston Hughes. I even drew a portrait of him for the title page. Looking back, I have no idea what it was about Hughes that wooed me as a child. Heck, I can’t quite put into words why I’m drawn to his work, now! I’m usually hesitant to start listing my “favorite” of anything; but if I had a favorite poet, Langston Hughes would be it. Perhaps one thing I admire about him is his courage to explore other areas of literature. But more than anything, I Read More

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Do you follow through?

I had about 4 hours of sleep last night and have spent the last 24+ hours putting out fires (figurative, not literal) related to the big blizzard. I have been fantasizing about the moment my head would hit the pillow tonight. Fast forward to 9:55 p.m. (CST). I’d started playing my soft worship music on the mp3 player next to the bed, gotten myself positioned just right up under the covers with my body pillow properly supporting my knees…and I exhaled, letting my head sink into my pillow. Oh, sweet sleep was soon to come. Then I remembered that I Read More