9:30 and counting

There’s a good chance the group won’t make it till 5pm around here. I’m thinking a 4pm start at the local establishment may be in order. The “kids” are already talking about it… and well the VPs orders are to make sure the “kids” are happy and enjoying their new jobs, so what’s one to do? J

 

And yes, I’ve taken to calling the new staff members who replaced the mutineers the “kids” because while they’re pretty well my age, they just seem to be young… maybe it’s the fact they have nothing to do and thus haven’t really shown their business acumen, but regardless, I’ve mentally labeled them the kids. Too bad for them if it sticks…

Working From Home

I generally work very well from home. If there are projects that need to get done, memo’s or policies to write, or just hard core “churning” I can go hard from home. The washroom is closer, the breaks for food shorter, the distractions almost none, it’s productivity nirvana.

 

But when you don’t have that “thing” to get done, my goodness it is hard to focus and keep at it. I’m working through a to do list, and the personal items keep popping up, but the meaningful “provide value to the shareholder” items are just a struggle today… this could be a long day!

 

The adventure continues

Accounting would be so much easier without the “tie” concept… if you could just work up a number and say “ta da” life would be so much easier. Proofing it back to some other number sucks!

 

In other pursuits, I FINALLY blended the perfect margarita using Cat’s smoothie maker/blender. It has been an on going effort for several months, and somehow, it just worked out right last night. Turns out if you ease off on the tequila a bit and go heavy on the ice, it seems to work out… seems counter intuitive, but I swear it worked. She also found a fantastic soup recipe last night, so it was a win-win kind of night.

Chuggin' Along

“I should blog” came to mind this morning. I’m at the office bright and early to track down answers from over seas and um, no one is answering their phones… it doesn’t work if they DON’T ANSWER THEIR PHONES. So here I am, cup of coffee in hand. Good MP3s jamming louder than business hours would permit, and all the big questions are still unanswered.

 

The life front is good, Cat felt the baby kick on Sunday, and she’s oh so close to showing a big belly, if you look closely you’d agree to the fact that “She IS showing” but it’s not prominent.

This AIESEC Mutany was foretold

Yesterday I was advised that Aiesec US Inc was facing a leadership crisis, which seemed rather old hat. These "mutanies" have occurred every few years. The organization seems be stuck on a pendulm which swings (unnecessarily) between the competing forces of membership focus and corporate/financial/sales focus.

I became aware of this because I was called by a friend and asked some dang tricky questions on the legal structure of the organizaiton corporately. Regardless of how out of date my knowledge is, it was 'neat' to 'play' Aiesec again. Cat and I have wasted several hours this evening going through the documents in the google group to see what is going on.

The short of it for those that won't take the time to read the group but read this blog:
1. The MCP resigned citing a lack of control and interference created by the executive director
2. 23 of 30 LCPs signed a letter posted internationally, dissenting the current structure of the MC and listing 4 very specific charges
3. It's blown up really good and now involves Aiesec International's Ethics Committee

While reading and researching I looked back to my own documents as the MC-VPF in 2000-2001. While I can't disclose hardly any of the internal discussion of the time or the Rae Group's own operational anaysis on why AIESEC was soon to fail (I have signed the NDA that keeps all this silent from the world), I find it sad that it has come to be.

There are some statements that I will share as they are my own thoughts from the past:

Statement 1:
"Aiesec was defined once as "an irrational organization based upon the exuberance of youth united in the goal of changing the world." In observing and having information passed on from Colleagues around the world, this definition is still very applicable to the people and the performance of the organization."
After this statement I went on to say that an excess of corporate structure would cause the membership to fight against it because exuberance of youth and the corporate order do not work together.

Statement 2:
"The MC tried to use the members as work horses to raise and service a large number of Trainees. Unfortunately if you talk to the “lifers” and ask them what their most memorable experience is they will almost always revert to “the story.” The story is where they worked to raise a traineeship, got all the legwork done and then were able to watch that faceless person walk off the plane and know they had changed a life forever. It is a personal relationship."
'Nuff said there. The old school people can think back to MCP elections - if that story wasn't part of the speech, then that person wasn't gonna get the nod.


Best of luck to all, especially Diana who is not the enemy. In looking back, it's funny, because while she has always been disdained by those at a distance, within the national group she has always been respected for her competence and skill. She has always acted with such ethical high standards and with such integrity... Had she broke the consulting relationship and simply dictated changes it might be an entirely different and better Aiesec, but she merely facilitates. The MC and the LCs will need to weather this together.

None of this is really new, and I wish all the current participants the best of luck.

Surprised that "we" have baby names picked out?

Please...

We did this for the most part even before we were married. We're planners after all.

Granted we've moved around the country from place to place and job to job in a very nomadic way, but somethings are very estabished.

Evilyn Mary, Evi for short, gentile but deep, intense in the simplisty of the name.
John Truman. The Truman part is new but it fits what how we would raise a child- bold, and true, a person that will stand in the storm and rebuke it.

Ridiculous

I mean seriously?

The names listed at the bottom of this article just boggle my mind.

Cat and I took some effort to determine an appropriate name for our upcoming child, and yet we have people in the world calling their children “Talula Does The Hula”????