Month: September 2013

Can you keep a secret?

I love to talk. If you’ve ever met me, you know that I love love love to talk. It’s a family trait. We learn to speak early; we master complete sentences fast; we incorporate sarcasm seamlessly (at four years old, I think). We love to talk. And we’re very loud when we do it. A family conversation can dominate an entire restaurant, whether we meant to do that or not. (We are that annoying family.)

And, yes, that means I love to gossip. I love to dish and tell and hear the inside scoop (was that mixing metaphors?). I love to know what’s going on. I love to find out the back story, the parts that don’t make it to the public. I enjoying being on the inside, knowing what fueled this or that event. I enjoy knowing that I know things others don’t.

Is it any surprise I work in public relations?

But I can keep a secret. I rarely choose to keep them, especially for myself, but I can. In spite of all the words that come tumbling out of me, some that make sense and some that don’t, written and verbal… I don’t tell everyone everything.

Keeping secrets, holding onto knowledge (especially “hot stuff”) is harder than you think. Keeping confidential information confidential is an essential part of what I do, but I watch others fail at it frequently. I’ve seen people literally blurt out something they were asked to keep to themselves. It’s almost as if the mere act of asking them to hold onto that piece of information makes it too heavy, or too important, to keep. It’s sometimes amusing to watch some people as they try not to stumble into the topic they were asked to avoid.

Can you keep a secret?

***** Written on my ipad. I promise to proof and edit it later (maybe). ******

I am the stop sign

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Hi, new girl, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m the official hall monitor for this establishment. It’s my job to stop you whenever you try to start a new project, make an innovation or have any fun.

And I am required to do it in a way that ensures that you stop trying to make changes. I will crush all creativity out of you. I will suck all the joy out of your job. And I will give you so many rules you’ll look up one day and find yourself paralyzed in fear because you don’t know what to do next.

But don’t worry, I’m just doing it for your own good.

Don’t you feel better now?

Photo courtesy of Frédéric BISSON via http://www.flickr.com/photos/38712296@N07/6823991500/.

Um… who are you?

facebookOh, look, Juan Gonzalez (fake name) sent me some information about a community fundraiser to help this nice old lady keep her home. That’s not right, we shouldn’t be evicting little old ladies from their homes. I should think about giving her some money.

Wait, who is Juan Gonzalez? Are we friends?

I’ve checked Facebook and it looks like we’re friends there, but I don’t remember his name at all. I will look at his “about” section to see where we might have come into contact.

Oh, the only info there is his name, that he’s from Houston… and that’s it. It lists his schools, none of which I’ve attended. Even his email address is the generic Facebook email address.

How exactly are we friends?

Ok, looks like we have 200 friends in common. I click through to that list and realize I remember most of them, it’s just him that’s a blank.

The message he sent me, with a link to a donation site, tells me he’d appreciate my help in this and in getting the word out. I click through to the donation page and all it says is “thanks for your help, these are the suggested donation amounts.” Where does it tell me why I should donate money to a stranger? He didn’t tell me. I don’t know the name of the person it’s supposed to benefit. I apparently don’t know him.

Oh, yikes! On second thought, I don’t think I’ll be giving money to this complete stranger upon the request of another complete stranger. And maybe it’s time to clean out my Facebook friends list.

Photo courtesy of English106 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/47381479@N04/4357227835/.

Even though my gym clothes don’t reek

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I started taking walks through the neighborhood. I’m not calling it exercise yet, the walks aren’t rigorous enough or often enough to qualify. However, I come back from these walks a little fragrant. And in the spirit of exercise and dirty gym clothes, I’m sharing this article from Jezebel: “What To Do When Your Gym Clothes REEK.” Apparently, the trick is to use white vinegar as part of the pre-soak and/or in the rinse cycle.

I use white vinegar for all sorts of things, cleaning and cooking. This is just one more thing to add to the list of uses for this household product. Do you have others?

And, there is a part of me that’s more than a little amazed that I even know how to use white vinegar as a cleaner. Or, even more than knowing about it, is that I actually use it as such. Who would have thunk it?

Photo courtesy of David Mayerhofer via http://www.flickr.com/photos/45025094@N00/4281119296/.