Friday, June 12, 2009

Post-It Note Revelation...


I figured out that if I put all my "to do's" on post-its, when I get behind, I can just peel and stick them on a later date!  Pretty cool, eh? (yeah, I'm easily impressed).

Several people in Hong Kong are still trying to give me money for free, too!  What a lucky girl I am...

I am Mr. Patrick K. W. Chan Executive Director & Chief financial Officer of Hang Seng Bank Ltd, Hong Kong.
I have a lucrative business proposal of mutual interest to share with you; it involves the transfer of a large
sum of money from my bank here in Hong Kong. I got your reference in my search for someone who suits my
proposed business relationship. If you are interested in working with me contact me through my private email
mrpatrick_chan202@yahoo.com.hk for further details.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Patrick Chan 

Back to work now, work, work, work...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Emails, Scams, Books, Lack of time, and other bits of randomness...

WARNING- the song playing over there on the right is not g-rated!  If you are easily offended or children can hear, please mute.

Emails will be the death of me!  I just realized last night that I've lost several hundred emails over the last few weeks- the perils of having 4 emails and trying to juggle forwarding them when life interrupts business, and someone has to be out of the office.  GRRR.  I'm stuck emailing everyone with an order today, in the hopes that if they've emailed us, they don't think they are being ignored.  Great way to have to waste the day, when I have so much to do in the studio and am *this* close to being all caught up.  Ick.

Actual emails, those get lost in cyberspace, but what makes it through?  Stuff like this:

Good Day I am MR.SONG LILE, I work with the Hang Seng Bank,I need your assistance in effecting a transaction worth $30.5m I intend to give 30% of the total funds as compensation for your assistance.respond to my private email: songli20@yahoo.com.hk 1. Full names 2. Private phone number 3. Current residential address Kind Regards, Mr Song Lile Email: songli20@yahoo.com.hk

Really?  People still fall for this scam?  Its annoying that certain members of the human race can be so devoid of ...what?  A conscience?  A soul?  Makes me sick.

In other, unrelated news, I got a brief moment (during the girls gymnastics class) to start a new book.

I'd seen it mentioned somewhere on a milblog, then the ladies at Army WIfe Talk Radio had the author on their show, and I have to confess, the cover looked cool, so I decided to try and find time to read it.  So far (and admittedly, I've only made it to page 60 so far) I'm very glad that I did.

On page 15 you find out that the author used to work at the Life Cafe (hence the song playing, lol!)- she's an Army Officer's wife at West Point and she used to work in the Life Cafe- I mean, come on, you have to just know there's a great story there. 

So far, its a fabulous read, and the author is incredibly funny, witty, succinct and dead on- her description of the catty way in which Army Wives can sometimes (too often, really) treat each other:

"It's the classic judgment-go-round concealed in camouflage and wrapped in the flag."

I'll have to try and post a review of the entire book when I finish it (someday!).  Oh well, back to the emails for me....

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Visiting Normandy...

Since today is the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, I thought I'd write a post about visiting there.  Especially if you are (or one day find yourself) stationed in Germany, it is a must see.  It's just over 300 miles from Paris, so a pretty easy drive, and of coarse, very beautiful.

We took a day trip there from Paris- and just to let you know, the pictures below are not mine, we took video of our trip, which I love, but I doubt you'd want to watch a few hours of it- other people's pics are much better suited for a blog post! 

Caution- the drive from Germany, via Paris, has LOTS of tolls.


We visited on December 26th, so it was cold, rainy and very overcast.  It seemed strange to be at the beach in the dead of Winter.  Even though so much time has passed, its amazing to see how much has not changed. 

This is Pointe du Hoc, the craters in the ground were caused by the more than ten kilotons of high explosives that landed here (that's about the same explosive power as the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima).  


At the end of the war, many of the German Atlantic Wall defenses were dismantled, but some remain, like the bunker above and the battery at Longues-sur-Mer. 



In 2004, the French commissioned this sculpture, entitled "The Brave" by French sculptress Anilore Banon.  It is a tribute to the Americans who landed on Omaha Beach, and the sculpture rises from the waves at St. Laurent-sur-Mer.  


 Standing atop Arromanches, you can still see the remnants of "Mulberry B", one of two artificial harbors created for the invasion.  It took 20,000 workers almost a year to build using over two million tons of steel and concrete.  More than 500,000 tons of equipment were unloaded using the artificial harbor here during the summer of 1944. 


The  American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer:    


At the center of the cemetery is a bronze statue, "The Spirit of American Youth Rising From The Waves", and on either side are two enormous maps of the European Theatre of Operations.   


 

The cemetery itself is 172 acres, French soil which has been granted in perpetuity to the United States.  9,386 brave American souls are at rest here.  The grass is brilliantly green, the silence deafening, the rows upon rows of perfectly aligned white crosses, which, even if you have seen it before in pictures, will absolutely take your breath away and bring tears to your eyes when you see it in person.  

Monday, June 1, 2009

What happened to being nice?

First, let me say this has NOTHING to do with business, it's just a comment in general.  

Okay, so, really, what happened to just being nice?  Ya know, pay it forward, do unto others, etc. 

How is that hard?  Why does everything have to be mean spirited, catty, snarky, condescending, I can't wait to blog about how pathetic you are and for all of my followers to chime in unanimously with how much they agree with me and how my view of things is right and you are wrong, and ha ha ha aren't we all just SO funny in the way that we mercilessly comment on the pathetic lives of others while we continually blog about how perfect we are in comparison to you and take judgmental to an entirely new level???

Empathy- does no one have that anymore?  

If you haven't walked in someone else's shoes, how dare you judge them.

Be nice, please.  That is all I have to say.  For the love of everything that is beautiful and good, would it just kill you to be nice???

Seriously, try it.  Niceness. "nice, really nice, you know, on the scale of...niceness".  It rocks.

Oh, and OPSEC, OPSEC is good too!

Seriously, June already?


Why am I always trying to get caught up???
I think I will clear my entire calendar for this month and just use it to catch up on everything.  I'd post my to do list, but then I'd just be horribly embarrassed with how much I'm not getting done.  Suggestions?