SWITCH Restaurant & Wine Bar

In search of somewhere new, somewhere I had never been before, I decided to pull into SWITCH in downtown Phoenix. Located just south of the Phoenix landmark Durant’s, SWITCH has an outside patio (too hot today) and a very comfortable inside seating arrangement. While the loungers looked inviting, I set up my “mobile office” on the front corner sofa by the window where I could enjoy the bright blue skies and periodic passing light rail.

Since great minds think alike, coincidentally I bumped into a group of friends from All Saints’ Episcopal Church who were also seeking Sunday afternoon yummies. Well, this was the place! Everything we ordered was savory and delightful:

Switching Back to Bars

Last week I heard Scott Graf’s story “Lather Up: More Men Switching To Shower Gels” on National Public Radio (NPR). I found it an interesting statistic that more bottled body wash gel was sold last year than traditional bar soap. I have been using organic liquid soap body wash for quite some time. For economy of scale, I would buy a larger size bottle and then refill the smaller squeeze bottle that I keep in the shower to cut down on how many plastic bottles would have to go into recycling.

According to the NPR story, not all consumers will be conscious enough to put those body wash bottles into recycling instead of the trash:

“It does have an environmental impact,” says John Kalkowski, the editorial director of the trade publication Packaging Digest. “People who are considering making that change from bar soap to body washes may want to consider what that impact is.”

Why You Buy

This afternoon I had an opportunity to listen to myself responding to genuinely interested inquiries from a person I had never met before… and it sharpened my awareness of what I believe in and why I buy.  I consider myself to be a socially conscious consumer, especially as I heard myself saying,

“My laundry detergent is produced locally by NaturOli and is a concentrate made out of natural soap nuts with no chemicals…”

(… and olive leaf extract AND only requires 1/2 teaspoon of detergent per load for a completely effective, hypoallergenic, biodegradable organic clean)

“I’ve made a shift in how and where I shop to support local Arizona businesses so that more of my dollar stays here in-state, including moving my banking to Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, and I am willing to pay more if it’s local and/or organic…”

World Youth Visit Exchange

Crash Course in American Culture for China Youth

Phoenix, AZ (June 11, 2010) – A month-long journey into American culture brings 50 teenagers from China to the Valley of the Sun for a week in July. Following a tour of the East Coast, the youth, ages 13-17, will arrive in Phoenix for some sightseeing, a bit of exchanging, and a lot of studying as they participate in the 2010 USA Culture and Homestay Summer Program sponsored by the World Youth Visit Exchange Association of Arizona.

Interested host families may email susanchinatour@gmail.com for additional information and to request the application form or call Susan McCall (602-618-4939) with any questions.

Laid Off? Don’t Stress

Universe often sends me people who have been laid off and are seeking the next turn on their career paths.  It is a natural talent of mine to be able to guide them through the evaluation of their gifts, true desires and dreams as they redefine what the future might look like.  Another way that I assist is by offering key introductions to hiring managers or company contacts in their target industries.

I recently caught up with author Kitty Wiemelt, with whom I published my story in the book Laid Off?  Don’t Stress back in 2006.  Our conversation prompted me to dust off my own copy off the bookshelf and re-visit what I believed and said then… and confirmed that every lesson I shared still strongly applies to what I teach today.

Office Space

Process engineering for a home office is a completely different animal from the corporate work environment. When I work with a client to custom design an optimal program structure for home office organization, the key to success may sometimes have little to do with the arrangement of the physical space. It mostly shows up as an exercise of emotional purging.

Truly the easy part is plotting the room and the logic of where to place the furniture for feng shui and process flow. The most difficult part can be sorting through boxes or piles of paperwork and being willing to let go when reluctant to give them up to the shredder. There may be hours lost reading through old documents and wanting to keep them. How do you find a spiritual place of unattachment?

Insatiable

When you call my voicemail, I make a request at the end of the outbound message for you to tell me what you love about your life.  This conversation has been a personal favorite of mine since the Landmark Education’s Wisdom Course… some people play the game, some don’t.  This morning my first voicemail of the day was from a client, who said,

“What I love about life is an insatiable desire to grow… and I look forward to our conversation…”

What a fantastic greeting to start off the day!  When was the last time you declared out loud to the world your insatiable, incapable of being satisfied, desire to grow?!

Current

I received a message today from a client that I haven’t seen in a while… he said,

“Things seem to move very fast for you.”

To which I replied,

“Consider that the speed at which things move isn’t faster in my world… I just pick up additional velocity by flowing with the current and not putting up resistance to slow me down.”

Are you getting in your own way by creating barriers that keep you from following the natural path of the current?  If it is indeed the way, then it will come easily and without struggle.  If you find life cumbersome and you are constantly struggling, then perhaps it is time to surrender to a different way.  Namaste 

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Zen Web

I’ve been working on copy for a new corporate website. It started out with a lot of complexity, my detail-overloaded engineering side excitedly creating lots of lines of black text at full-bore.

Slowly with each read through I chiseled away at the massive exterior. How many eyeballs would actually read all of this and stay engaged? By the time I was satisfied with a final draft to share for review feedback, the original site had gone on a serious diet and shed about 80% if its weight.

Strengths and Specialties

I had a new client ask me,

“So what do you consider to be your greatest strengths?”

I returned the standard interview-type response which included my background in engineering, experience with process optimization and operations, project management, blah blah, analysis and consulting.  When I hung up the phone, a nagging tug told me that the stock resume answer was missing something important…  so I added a line on my LinkedIn profile under Specialties to read:

“100% satisfaction rating in Platinum program for giving premium quality hugs”

Yuppers, because that’s what I really do best 

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites