Employee

–noun

a person working for another person or a business firm for pay. Wow. Is that austere or what? Here are some other great synonyms for employee: cog -noun a person who plays a minor part in a large organization, activity, etc.: He's just a small cog in the financial department. hire⋅ling a person who works only for pay, esp. in a menial or boring job, with little or no concern for the value of the work. Wow. That'll really motivate you to work. I propose that there needs to be a new word for employee. john.

Prayer

Today, before stepping into work, I decided I'd pray for my day. You know, just the usual, just to ask God for grace to make a difference today.

And it's wild, I came into work with just a really different mindset and a different attitude. Real subtle, but it made a huge difference. Before I even started I stopped by two of our residents' rooms (something I usually don't do) and just chatted with them for a while. I feel like my perspective is better now and I know why I'm doing what I'm doing. It's good.

Luke 11:2-4

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2011:2-4;&version=9;

john.

Time Management

Sweet, I was just thinking about this today. I've wanted to get my time management skills at work down pat a little better.

I especially like #5.

Actually both of these articles hit home. One's about managing stuff off-site and one's about time management. Have a look at check out the 'way of the future'...

Virtual Office

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/lifestyle/article/the-beauty-of-the-virtual-office-jill-fehrenbacher

Time Management

https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/lifestyle/article?postguid=d2b323cc-201b-4aa3-b0ad-0a73d2ed4e41

john.

The Human Element

The other day I talked to a friend of mine who's basically a business/entrepreneur guru. Really, he's more of a friend of a friend, I guess. Anways...

So I'm talking to him about business because we're discussing how to figure out how to grow our business. One of the things we end up discussing as a requirement before learning the future of the business is to discover the personal future of each person involved with the business. As in, our personal stake. So what I thought would be a completely clinical conversation of charts and facts and figures turned into an introspective and very personal inner conversation.

I began to really think of my life and where I want to be in 3, 5, and 10 years. And the truth is, I'd love to still be connected with the business, but I want to be in school, and then performing eventually at some point. A performer needs a side job though, so is it feasible for me to still be involved in the business while performing. Or is it too big of a job? And if so, how much should I be doing for the company now? What about later?

All this to say, I have a number of questions and ideas to bounce off my friend the next time we meet. And it seems to have divulged completely from the original topic. Really, I just need someone to talk to about my plans, my future, and my dreams, and see if all of this will work together with the future of the business. It's funny then, that my business consultant has somehow turned into what I wish would be a counselor of sorts.

You see, I don't think we really ask for people's services just because they do their service efficiently, although that is certainly key to the situation. I think we do things, especially in today's day and age out of relationship. There's a human element that has to be factored into people choosing to work with one service company vs. the next.

That's one reason that I love Abba Care. We recognize this truth and know our clients don't choose us just because we're efficient or even because of our home atmosphere and cooking that we're really proud of. I think they also choose us and stay with us, partially, because we build relationships. When a resident or a client leaves, my heart definitely aches a little bit because we've built relationship with that client.

And that's an interesting thing that no marketing survey can really “tally” for you.

left brain vs. right brain

I've been really intrigued lately by the concept that our brains are divided by hemisphere and that most of us lean towards using one or the other.

I took a test the other day that said i lean about 60/40--right/left.  

I'm not really surprised, but to a certain extent it always makes me wonder why I'm involved in business at all!  

I mean, business seems like something dominated by left brainers.  "Gimme the cold hard facts, bottom lines, profit margins, quotas, etc."

And I just don't really function that way.  I feel like I've been reading a lot lately about right brainers and creative minds being essential to business.  Especially in our economic times.  Steve jobs, for example, apple's ceo, is a strong visual person, right brained I think.

Right brain is what makes me think of weird things like, why not start a blog, or why don't we invest in customer service and employee development?  What if we improve the atmosphere of the home?  Left brainers, who deal with number crunching and facts, don't really roll with that.

On the other hand, I have just enough left brain to keep me in order--unlike a lot of right brainers I know who are weird emotional slinkies who are impossible to understand by the normal individual.  Friends of mine, definitely, but definitely an odd bunch.

To be fair though, I am definitely 60/40, meaning, I drop a lot of the details and the pieces here and there, and someone definitely has to pick up those pieces for me.

Good thing I have a mom.  

john.

touch screen vs. the mole rat

For those of you who don't know, I'm actually a dance major.  So... business man by day, performer by night.

Well so, last night, I tried out for West Side Story.  I was changing into my dance clothing for the dance audition and I had just stepped out of the restroom and walked around the corner to stretch and warm up when someone started yelling, "Hey you needa get in there right now!  They called all the guys back in!"

Trouble.

Of course, I'm the one who's running late.

So I throw down everything, my bag of clothes, my water bottle, my cell phone, i think, and rush into the room and have a great dance audition.

Where's the conflict?

"I throw down everything... my cell phone."

So the night goes great, I'm pretty happy with my audition and in the chaos of it all, I lose my cell phone.  I'm standing outside the audition room, it's 9:30.  All the other auditionees have gone home.  And here I am.  Sulking and freaking out because my cell phone has gone AWOL.

Mind you, this cell phone has been pestering me for all its lifetime under my possession.

I'm a text fiend.  And touch screen phones make it impossible to text quickly.

Needless to say, my phone and I fought.  A lot.

Anyways, for the next 15 hours or so I'm missing my cell phone and freaking out.  Happy with my audition but too freaked out to really relish the moment because what I feel is my connection to the outside world is gone.  

Thankfully, Cingular has a wonderful system of restoring your number to you, quite easily, too.  I really have to put a plug for them.  Their connection lady was American and very easy to work with and incredibly patient.  

What have I learned through this?  

Man, we really depend on cell phones.  

I mean I'm sure back then a college student could be just fine without one.  Unable to talk to his parents until he got home, or on his phone in the dorm room.  Communicating with old friends meant letters, not facebook, texting, and email.  

Oh but now.  

We lose our phone for a day.  We lose the internet for a day.  We do whatever it takes to get that sucker back in working order.  It's crazy.  

All that to say, I think we should examine our dependance on technology, and try to remember that it serves us.  We are not a slave to it.

On the plus, I lost that janky touch screen and regained my good ol' sturdy black flip phone that's as large as baby mole rat and as resilient as titanium.

john.

Bedtime Blues OR Juvenille John

I am presently at a Starbucks in Rowlett.  I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning, woke up in Tyler and drove 2 hours to get back to Garland.  30 minutes of those 2 hours being lost and going back and forth between 3 sets of streets.  

Now, I am snotty nosed, sitting at Starbucks, running off of 3 hours of sleep drinking my cup of awake tea, which is running out (which means "I" am running out) prepping for the work day.  A blog might as well have been to do today so here we are!  And I thought to myself, how much sleep am I getting?  How much sleep do I REALLY need?  Because if I could, I'd run off less, but I feel that I can't.  Let's find out:

Here's a pretty good link actually.  The first one I found on Google after searching "How Much adults sleep" (Just as a testament to my tiredness, I was about to type the word "searching" phonetically instead of 'correctly'--"surching").

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/c.huIXKjM0IxF/b.2419131/k.6C23/How_Much_Sleep_is_Enough.htm

Looks like I should be getting about 7-9,which on average is what I get.  But sometimes it feels like too much, and other times like too little.  Like, I never want to get up.  I wonder if that just stays with you the rest of your life though.

I thought it was interesting that it suggests sleeping after a regular "relaxing bedtime routine".  Interesting.

It's interesting to me because I felt out of whack the past few weeks because I bought a new video game--World of Warcraft (WoW).  I know, I know.  It's juvenille.  But I'm a boy.  Well.  A man-boy.  And boys will be boys.  Right?  I think all the gentlemen out there (and their ladies as well) can testify that we just like toys.  

Well anyways, this past week or so, my pre-bed routine changed.  I usually read my Bible and sit on my bed and read my "Dance Bible" and just contemplate things before I turn out the lights.  Well, lately, it's been "Video Game Fest 2009" in the living room.  I'll sit in the living room and play WoW until late in the night.  And maybe that's why I feel a little bit funny and just ... unbalanced.  

And I don't like imbalance.  If there's one thing I've learned is a key value of mine, it's balance.  Strange, I know.  

Well.  Time to go back to the usual "pre-bed" routine.  Maybe I'll feel better.  Well, and maybe after I get the remaing 4 hours of sleep I'm missing today.

john.

Satisfaction OR "I Work for my Mom"

I've been working for my Mom for nearly two years now.

Yeesh, two years!  That's a long time.  Rather, it feels like a long time to me.  

In that time, occasionally I ask myself--

"John, seriously, what are you doing here?"

I mean, I love business and I love working for the elderly.  I love figuring out new things for the business to do, and I love event management.  It's just that I know that it's not something I'm gonna do forever.  

It's also a little awkward sometimes when your Mom's also your boss.  I mean, it's like, when does work end?  Especially if you're still living at home like me.  It's like, never getting away from your boss.  Well, except I love my work... and we actually had to set up a rule at home that we aren't allowed to talk business.  

Because we will.

Anyways, all that to say, the other day, I was working on some stuff for my Youth Group and my youth pastors have just been overwhelmed and overloaded with the stuff that's going on in their life.  One of those things is that we have a talent show coming up and they're doing all the event management and they're just swamped.  So I told them in our meeting on Wednesday that if they need anything as far as event coordination and stuff like that, that I can kinda head it up.  I mean, I do it at work all the time. 

Well, that seemed like it was a really big load off their shoulders.  And honestly, I was super excited to do some administrative work.  Figure out the tasks, put people to work, I felt like a glorified slave master.  

Just kidding, truth be told it really was more fulfilling than I figured--to help the my youth pastors and my youth group accomplish something using a skill set I've honed at work.  It's funny because administration and advertising and social networking, it's all so intangible that it's hard sometimes to gauge it or record it as a skill.  But it really is.

And I'm super happy to have it and to be able to use it to help people.  

Suddenly, knowing all that, I know why I'm doing my job again.  And I'm sure in the future, I'll be doing a lot of this stuff...

john.

Thoughts on Networking OR "I'm NOT CHEAP!"

So, today I was working at Starbucks and it suddenly came to me.  

"Is networking the same thing as brown nosing???"

I mean let's look at it.  I feel like, the tactic is, I go up to you, make you feel good, feed you, and then ask you for your business or the business of those you work with.  

Now doesn't that just make you feel like a guilty unethical business person?

Well, I texted a buddy of mine who's a bit more business savvy than I am about the whole thing and we had a chat on the phone about it, that no!  It's absolutely not brown-nosing.  Perspective, it's all about perspective.  

I mean, you can certainly take networking from that standpoint if you like, and I'm sure it'll help you a bit, but people know when you're not genuine and when you're just leeching off of them.  The answer, I believe is this perspective: Networking is not about you.

I mean, that's why it's called NETWORKING.  It's not a one way thing that helps me.  It's supposed to help the other guy, too!  If I network with you, it's because maybe I can help you, and hopefully, you can help me.  This was a really nice conclusion to come to.  I didn't feel guilty making networking plans, I feel like I'm a genuinely nice person who just wants to help someone out.  

And I mean, I can honestly say, I'm just a social guy who loves relationships!  So, if I ask about your life and stuff to "open you up" then it's completely genuine.  I mean, truth be told, I'd rather be out running or cycling with you or gleaning knowledge from you or asking you for life advice than trying to sell you something or exchange business information.  Knowing this and being sure of this makes me feel like I like what I do because what I do is about having lots of friends who do different things, granted, they're older than me.

Too bad doctors generally scare me a little bit.  In the sense that I'm very artsy, emotional and they're usually clinical, factual people.  Hmm, well opposite tracks though, right?

And now for something completely different:

So I feel bad because I always come into Starbucks now asking for a cup of hot water because I just bring in my own tea.  I feel so bad, though!  Like I'm cheap.  So I always feel guilt-tripped into ordering chocolate or biscotti or anything cheap really. 

It's not that I'm cheap... Hardly.  If anything, I'm quite the opposite.  Ask my parents.  I'm high-maintenance.  But I AM in college with a part-time job doing a million things that don't pay--yet.  And I only drink tea.  I don't drink coffee.  So I mean, come one, cut me some slack here.  

Ugh, I guess that's the downside to being social.  You care a lot about what people think.  Including the barista at starbucks who you think thinks you're cheap.

john.

Open House OR Interior Disaster

Just a quick little thank you to all those of you who attended Open House.  I'm so glad all of you could make it.  I was telling my Mom today it was nice to reconnect with all of you, our clients.

It's kinda bittersweet.  Part of me loves running big events where I feel busy all day (or all week for that matter), but it's also VERY nice for business to be just, "the usual business" again.  Now it's back to marketing and improving our services--all that jazz.  I appreciate the slow pace for sure.

We're keeping a lot of the decor up though, presently.  It really livens up the halls a lot.  We're trying to invest a little more in decoration now.  It just adds so much life to the surroundings.  

Speaking of decoration--so, my Dad and I "share" this office.  That is, I use the office that's unofficially mine, and officially his, even though, he has yet to really "use" it.  Presently, it's also functioning as a holding place for our old big screen television (maybe I should hook it up and use it to have video games during the day--JUST KIDDING).  Anyways, so I'm looking around my rather drab office and I looked up just now to see my Dad's painting of a truck and tractor in front of a barn that says "Fresh Eggs".  

Now, don't get me wrong.  I've got nothing against tractors, trucks, and certainly nothing against fresh eggs.  But in my office??  That he's not using??!!  

...

Needless to say, I'm taking artistic donations and decorations for my office now, thanks.

john.

Flowers

So I don't think I've ever had a thing for flowers.  I remember when I was a kid, my vice principal at my elementary was casually making conversation with me (I was like, in 3rd grade) and she asked, "What's you favorite season?" 

"Fall," I said, thinking to myself, because the weather's somewhere in the middle. 

"You must like it because of all of its pretty colors."

Not really, I like it because it's not hot and not cold, and that never happens in Texas.

Somehow, though, from that point on, I learned to love Fall for its pretty colors.

Strange.

Anyways, she says, "Mine is spring.  Because it has so many beautiful flowers in bloom."

I'm sure I plaster on a smile (because I don't know how to fake it), thinking to myself, "Spring?  I hate spring.  When I think of spring I think of tornadoes."  Ofcourse, being raised in an Asian home, I politely supress my calloused opinion and keep it to myself.  And smile.

Somehow though, just as of this spring, I can't get enough of flowers.  They're like a drug, they're like God's artwork to me.

I went to "The Flower Shoppe" (rowlett rd and 66.  great place, great workers) just to see if maybe they could do flower arrangements for our open house event on the 26th.  At first, I'm a little skeptical, thinking, "C'mon John.  We can just use the budget money to go buy flowers at Sam's and just set 'em up real nice."  After a couple of looks at certain flowers and ideas, and seeing that it fit quite well into the budget, I'm sold, and in love with the store, Wendy the store owner, the smell of flowers, the look of flowers, flowers at large.

I love flowers.

Especially when arranged.

It's like taking artwork.  I was thinking today I wanted to buy some for my office (that is, my desk in a utility storage room with a lamp of monkeys choreographed to "speak no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil").  And I was like, "Why would I want to do that?"  And I realize, it's like artwork.  You look at this beautiful piece, essentially, that you've commissioned and it just inspires you.  The best part is that it's touchable, smellable, tasteable.. well.  Yeah.   

Too bad flowers die.

After that, I looked up some flower symbolism to put on the new Towncrier, and that added a whole new level to things.

Did you know Zinnias mean "longing for absent friends"?  That's kind of how I feel today.  And so now I'm thinking, I could "commission" (go talk to Wendy) "art" (the flower arrangements) that has zinnias and colors I'm feeling (expression).  And here I have this little 12 dollar piece of art sitting on my desk that I can look at and be refreshed by the austerity of office work.  

...

Well, that's a wrap on that one.  Needless to say, come to Open House -- The Advent of Spring: Flower Festival.  It should be a blast.

john.

"The Saying Goes..."

February 27, 2009

"The Saying Goes..."

Well, they're not actually old sayings, but today, I was looking for quotes to put in this month's towncrier and here's some of the quotes I stumbled upon.  Some made me laugh, some made me smile, and others, just left me puzzled:

"Do not resent growing old.  Many are denied the privilege."

-anonymous

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

"At twenty we worry about what others think of us; at forty we don't care about what others think of us; at sixty we discover they haven't been thinking about us at all."

-anonymous

"Age to me means nothing.  I can't get old; I'm working.  I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work.  As long as you're working, you stay young.  When I'm in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age."

-George Burns

Good stuff to chew on!

john.

Gone Fishing

"Gone Fishing"

Today, I was on my way down one of the halls of the building to look over an extra room (potentially, my new office? It looks more like a janitor's closet, but I'll take what I can get!) when I got stopped by one of our newer residents. He approached me and began to tell me a story about how he was helping the caregiver next to him catch some fish by the river. He inclined his head towards a direction, as if the river was down that way. I hadn't formally met him yet, so I was a little shocked because I hadn't encountered a resident who had quite the level of dementia he had in a while. It's pretty amazing though what you can find out about people with dementia though.

First of all, I'm no scientist, but I've observed that most dementia-cases seem to keep bringing up the same story. In this man's case, it was a fishing story. One would think, you could tell a story about fishing and move on, but for whatever reason, with any dementia resident we have, it's always pretty similar. There's a story, like they're waiting to get picked up, or they're trying to get home, that they just repeat over and over again. In this man's case, it's the fishing story. You'll notice though when you talk to this resident though, his voice is calm and almost soothing. Really rich and mellow, like you could fall asleep listening to him. (In a good way, not like, you're bored!) And the story he repeats seems really lively in a calm sort of way. Not full of angst or lacking resolution like other stories I've heard.

When I work with residents who are at this point in the game of life, where they don't seem "all there", it's always interesting to note what they're dwelling on. Are they talking about the love they shared between people, or is there some mysterious cliff-hanger left in their life? Do they dwell on positive thoughts of the life they've had, or are they brooding over troubling past events? Really makes you think long term and figure out how you want to live your life.

john.

Three Minutes

February 3rd, 2009

"Three Minutes"

Yesterday I was talking to one of our residents.  The conversation lasted... maybe three minutes?  At most?  She wasn't feeling well yesterday, and she looked terribly upset, so 

I offered to pray for her.  We prayed, and she looks much better today!  Lots of insight came in those three minutes though.

1_"Make your move."  She didn't say she really "needed" anything.  But the look on her face, just said she needed someone to care about her.  Not being a caregiver who could give her more meds, or a nurse who could 'officially' tell her something good about her health, we waited in silence for about 15 seconds, I, all the while, puzzled as to what I could to help her.  I was a bit nervous about it, but I went ahead and just asked her if I could pray for her.  She looked up at me, real hopeful, took my hand and said, "Yes."  It was all a little funny too because the way it played out, you would've thought she was waiting for that.  The point is, make your move.  Do something.  People need us to act and respond to their needs, and sometimes we hesitate and dawdle in fear or pretense.  And that doesn't solve anything.

2_"Hope makes the heart healthy."  I found out during the conversation and a little later, that some changes were being made to the resident's health plan, which really shouldn't be affecting her too much as far as health.  If anything, she would be feeling better... right?  I think this resident in particular though, was deeply affected by the passing of another resident fairly recently.  She would never let onto it.  She might not even realize it, but I think it really wounded her hope.  And I think wounded hope is sometimes the bigger problem with the condition of our bodies.  I think we should all some time, take time to really consider the health of our hearts.  Sometimes, we just don't realize it but bitterness, fear, and sadness have attached to us and we don't realize that our hearts are disguising those feelings.  We don't want to feel it, but then it just kind of comes out someday and then we're really shocked.  It probably wouldn't hit us quite so hard if we just checked on our heart occasionally, see how it's doing.  What that looks like practically?  Beats me.  I'm just blogging the thoughts.  I guess it could mean contemplative prayer.  Or meditating in silence (not that new-agey, stuff.  Just good solitude and thinking).  It might mean going for a detoxing run.  Just some thoughts.

Sometimes it rags down a 21-year old to work for the elderly.  Other times though, I learn so much from them, and I'm not sure I would have it any other way.

john.