The Great Write-Off of 2009 – Dan versus Emma

June 8th, 2009 • Comments Miscellany

My friend Emma, whose blog lives online at www.emmabrooks.ca, is having trouble keeping up with her blog regularly. Rather than figure out ways she could do that on her own, she goaded me into accepting a challenge with her for the next month. The rules for the challenge are below, but let me just tell you that Emma has got her work cut out for her – although I’ve been blogging somewhat sporadically as of late, I spent a long time back in my younger days blogging every day. This should be a good habit for me to get into as well.

THE RULES:

1. We will post every other day, alternating days between each of us.
2. We MUST post on our day – nothing past midnight EST or it counts as being late.
3. Posts can be about anything or anything. A funny story, an observation, personal information, etc. However, there must be SOME content to it. Can’t just put up a picture of something and call it a day. (Unless…)
4. Unless… you made the picture. Video, audio, visual, text – any and all is an accepted format.
5. Days missed or late posts will result in punishments (see more below)
6. On our “off” days, we will link to the our competitor’s post (if it’s up within a reasonable amount of time)
7. Spamming friends, twitter accounts, Facebook with links to the posts is more than encouraged

PUNISHMENT

1. It is up to the punishee to pick their final punishment.
2. Punishment options can be picked from either the punisher’s suggestions, or if any commenters have suggestions.
3. Must be blog-related (i.e. will be in post form, though can be any of the aforementioned acceptable formats) and please, nothing too illegal, TMI or dirty. We are “professionals” here, after all.
4. Punishment must be done within 48 hours of missing a deadline.

STARTING
Tomorrow – Wednesday, June 9, 2009 with Emma

ENDING
Thursday, July 9, 2009

‘Crowdsourcing’ Themed Dress Days…

May 28th, 2009 • Comments Miscellany

The running joke in the office today is that it’s Tie Thursdays – a little bit of an inside joke between one of my partners and I, as I had to wear a tie for another event today and he didn’t want to feel left out. Thus, we’re both sporting ties. We’ve also joked about having Fedora Fridays, although we’ve not quite pulled that one off yet. With two alliterative themed dress days, I figured that wasn’t quite enough, and jokingly opened up suggestions via Facebook and Twitter as to ideas for the other days of the week.

The rather extensive list below is what I received from my network. Note: none of these are my idea. If you do plan on adopting any of these, let me know – I’d love to see pictures from a few of the suggestions!

Monday:
Monocle Mondays (love it!)
Mumu Mondays (suggested twice)
Macho Mondays
Margarita Mondays (”when you come in still smelling like booze from the weekend”)
Moccasin Mondays

Tuesday:
Tie Tuesdays (suggested twice)
Tunic Tuesdays (I may just adopt this one…)
Tank-top Tuesdays
Twenties Tuesdays (”where everyone dresses like they’re from the 1920s)
Temporary Tattoo Tuesdays
Bikini Tuesdays (doesn’t follow the theme, but would scar my officemates! I like it.)
Trance Tuesdays

Wednesday:
Wellington Wednesdays
Wanghanger Wednesdays (uh… don’t ask.)
Commando Wednesdays (I think my partner Verne already follows this… just sayin’)
Wacky Wednesdays
Wife-beater Wednesdays (the clothing item, natch)

Thursday:
Thong Thursdays (suggested four times. Seriously.)
Tie Thursdays

Friday:
Fedora Fridays
Fondle-the-New-Girl Fridays (again, don’t ask. Thanks, Ben!)
Formal Fridays (suiting up is a bare minimum)

Saturday/Sunday:
Sweater-vest Saturdays (this would be good if Andrew Louis worked out of here; he and I would have it covered)
Snuggie Sundays

Good times. Any other suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

The Importance of Hobbies in Preserving Mental Sanity

May 3rd, 2009 • Comments Miscellany

Thanks to the passing of a major delivery deadline, as well as a night spent in due to an early wake-up, I found myself with some time to devote to reading the other night. I LOVE to read – my parents had me started reading before my 3rd birthday, and I’ve devoured more books than I can count during my lifetime. It’s not all challenging stuff, but I try to maintain a good balance between fiction and non; educational and entertaining. It was after I got through the entirety of Seth Godin’s Tribes (overrated and disorganized) and a few chapters of Neil Strauss’ Emergency (both entertaining and educational, so far) that I realized how refreshed I felt.

Of course, that got me thinking. Between some time to read, the revival of this blog, and the culmunation of the golf season, I’ve been devoting more time to my hobbies than I was before. Consequently, I’m coming out of a weekend feeling more relaxed than I have been in a long time.

I’d been spending most of my time recently either working or going to social events, but it seemed that ended up draining a lot of my energy. Don’t get me wrong, I love what it is that I do, and going out with my friends and fellow community members is a blast, but sometimes you need to take time for yourself. Hobbies let you learn, provide enjoyment, and engage your mind in different ways than work or social interaction can. They also help you take your mind off of whatever issues it may be dwelling on for a while, and this time can result in new revelations as to how to resolve these issues.

So, for everyone feeling stressed or drained, I suggest finding time to re-engage in an old hobby you’re neglecting, or find something new. Learn an instrument, pick up a new language, go play a sport; you’ll find that taking the time away from what it is you’ve been doing will result in you feeling reenergized and motivated; making you more productive overall.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few more chapters of Emergency to read.