http://www.careerjournal.com/article/SB122455219391652725.html

This article was written back in Oct 2008.  It talks about the millennial generation's sense of entitlement when it comes to the work place.  For the most part, I'd say the article is absolutely right.  I like this quote "The millennials were raised with so much affirmation and positive reinforcement that they come into the workplace needy for more".  I think early on, I would say I fell into this a lot.  I probably still suffer from this but hopefully to a lesser degree :)

I've realized the value of "constructive" feedback.  A quote from Randy Pausch's last lecture - "When you are doing something badly and no one’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care."  He also said something along the lines of when people stop giving you feedback, often times it means they've given up on you.  I've started to take this to heart and realized that the people I respect the most are those who give me feedback, and who are straight up and honest.

I think if theres anything good about the recession, is that its starting to break my generation of our sense of entitlement.  All of a sudden... our jobs don't seem so bad after all.... our cars are good enough... we don't need to eat out nearly as much or to the nice resturaunts...

First off - this is the post in which I will initiate syncing between facebook and xanga.  Xanga meet Facebook, Facebook meet Xanga :)

It's been 6 weeks since my detox and re-entry back into life.  The last two weeks of my detox had the theme of "reflecting on redemption".  Where had God taken me in the past year, how are many of my counted blessings only made possible through times of brokenness.  Everything of significance to me now has a direct or derived experience of brokenness that happened within the past 8 years.  It is only now that I can see that trials and brokenness are truly necessary to pave the way for bigger blessings.  I've always tried to find the easier way out, and ways to settle.  Its these experiences that shape and give my life context and the experiences of amazing grace beyond expectation that defines my identity.

Not going to mention any specifics or names - but I feel like the past 6 weeks I started to notice an increase in brokenness in lives around me.  I know nobody is perfect and we all go through tough times every-so-often.  But this feels different.  I am hopeful for the work God is starting in those around me who might be hurting.  I thought of this photography/spirituality analogy - A picture of redemption requires the right amount of light exposure.  Overexposure leaves us blinded and underexposure is dull and dark.

I am pretty much at the end of my month long break.  I think the most important thing I've taken away from this break is the need for a break.  For 3 years straight I've been powering through with little to no breaks.   After college I had a 5 week break before work, but since then I've just been plugging away.  I just didn't take time off... Last year I actually cashed a ton of my PTO out just because I didn't need it.  I've put a ton of energy and effort into a project at work.  It was literally "my baby" for a while.  I came up with the proof of concepts, pushed pushed and pushed.  3 years ago, I thought it'd only take a few quarters to complete.  Well it's been a long run, but a good run.  3 years later, the push might be coming to an end.  We got through the toughest parts of the project, started delivering quality, and getting the attention of even the highest levels of the company.  Going into my break, I went in knowing that there's a strong possibility that I might be moving onto another project when I return.

My first two weeks of break was about removing work from my head.  I did things like go snowboarding 3 times in a week, visiting santa cruz for breakfast, etc.  But at the sametime, I had a really really hard time letting go of productivity.  I mixed in things like coordinating my new carpet installation, refinancing my mortgage, financial planning for 2009, etc.  I realized that I actually had no idea how to rest.  After so much pushing, I truly didn't have any clue what to do with myself.  I actually had to commit to myself to do nothing a few days.

I struggled with wanting to "accomplish" things for break.  I struggled with this notion of performance.  I wanted to be able to tell people I got this that and the other done after break.  I managed to worry about failing at taking a break....  Hindsight... how do you fail at taking a break?  So I purposefully and carefully planned the rest of my break.

Yep... I actually planned productivity out of my life for a couple weeks.  It's been fantastic...  There was one day I did 10 loads of laundry, watched movies, and played a ton of video games, oh and woke up at 11:30am.  My goal was to actually lose track of what day it was last week.  There was something freeing about getting EVERYTHING out of my head.  Having the hardest decision of that day be what should I watch on tv.  I even beat the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on hard difficulty.

I'm considering doing this every year... that is taking a break.

The last couple of days I watched and started to read "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.  I'm quite impressed and love it.  I might actually finish reading this book! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

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Random...


Yes that's a wall mounted Guinness bottle opener... right next to the garage door opener... why?  WHY NOT!  It complements the manfridge very nicely.