Perception is 9/10ths of the Law

I've been thinking a lot about perception lately. My perceptions, other's perceptions, the perceptions of the group, the perceptions of the individual...I'm in PR, it's what I do.

Yesterday was a 4 mile training run day. That's not the long run anymore. That's just a short daily run. I have to do it at least twice this week. I remember when four miles sounded like a ridiculously long distance. Now that I have to run 6 miles for a long run, four miles seems like a nice break.

Perception is everything.

When I got to Green Lake to meet Goonder to run, the clouds were rolling in, the rain was starting and my motivation (which had been so strong before I spent 35 minutes commuting in rush hour) was waning at best. Beer and a dark pub where I could sulk about my lack of work/life balance sounded like a much better idea. Goonder said NO and four miles later, I had actually enjoyed 45 minutes alone with my music, my thoughts, and my feet hitting the pavement. The sun had come out (literally!) and I'd even managed to solve some of the things that had been plaguing my mind all day. My body was post-run happy high and the funky cobwebs had been replaced by a pleasant sense of self-satisfaction.

Perception is everything.

Finally, it's been crazy busy at work lately (hence my lack of posts). CRAZY. I find myself constantly stressed about the work I'm doing, the work I'm leading my team to deliver, the impact I have on the people who work for me, the impact I have on the people I report to...and the crazier it gets the more I perceive myself as not delivering in the way I know I can. I dream about it at night. Who cares about all the things we accomplished today when there is still tomorrow's problem to solve?

And then I get a note today from one of my team members telling me she thinks the team is absolutely rocking it out this week and she's feeling amped about the whole thing and our great results.

Perception isn't everything.

What I Learned this Weekend

• Heels are the preferred and correct shoe strategy for concerts at the Showbox. I can see from pretty much anywhere I stand
• I am kinda tall in my heels...I'm also kinda loud when you are ridiculously tall and try to stand in front of me.
• Alice Smith is gonna be really famous someday...and should be more famous right now.
• Easter really is better with candy and 5 year olds are the bestest...although I suspect some of those jellybeans may or may not have been made with crack the way I was eating them. So good.
• Gray, overcast and kinda cool is not only excellent yard work weather, it's great for running
• I can run 4 miles without stopping! (Maybe the jellybeans helped?)
• The Diller Room isn't that cool, kinda hard to find, and not worth the parking hassle...but it makes an awesome martini.
• I know a GREAT secret squirrel parking spot in downtown. No, I'm not sharing.
• Clams + Chorizo + Broth + Bread = Happy
• I've been overfeeding the H dog for the last year. Sorry fat girl, we'll get it right from now on!

Is it five o'clock yet?

Today is a funk filled day.

One of those days where you wake up and you're just generally disappointed in the state of your world. Can't pinpoint any single cause or reason - nothing set it off - but something is just not right and it feels not right in every aspect of everything.

Sigh. That ever happen to you?

Being an optimist most of the time, days like today really throw me. The "oh poor me" moment is not one I am generally familiar with and when it full on assaults me like this, I tend to have one of two reactions:

1. Hole up in my house in yoga pants and not come out until the sun shines again.
2. Go out and drown my sorrows with a good friend.

Today, I am choosing option #2.

Funk, I will conquer you. I shall drown you in good cheer and a decidedly pointed decision to shake you off and turn the frown upside down. It's all about attitude right?

If I repeat it enough, I'll believe it...and if that don't work, well martinis help.

The weekend cometh. Good friends await!

We’re never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for

Oh John.

John. John. John.

FINALLY saw John Mayer in concert last night at Key Arena. I say FINALLY, because of all the music I have seen in the last few years - in London and in the USA - John was always the concert that I could never catch. From his first album to his last celebutante girlfriend, I wanted to see if the live performance was a good as the live albums lead me to believe they would be.

(Yes, I own his live albums. Me. Investing in a live album! For the record - I generally find compilations and live albums to be a waste of time. I already bought that song, why would I REBUY it, just to have it grouped with a bunch of other songs I already own? And live? Please. Unless you are Tom Petty, you probably sound better in the studio, so let's just keep you there ok buddy?)

But I digress.

Turns out, he is awesome in concert! That white boy can play a mean guitar and he surrounds himself with amazing musicians. Didn't phone it in. Not one single second. Great seats were had, great songs were listened to. He even mixed in a little MJ and Fleetwood Mac much to our surprise and delight. I turn a blind eye to his personal life, but the words. The words!

The words get me everytime.

Oh, and dudes with arm sleeve tattoos = HOT.

Thanks for a great night John. Let's do it again sometime.