"But these are our seats"

This can sum up me at the end of 2006. At the Denver Cup (DU hockey tourn) on Saturday night, John and Jane Comelatelyinthesecondperiod edged into their seats next to us with their $7 beers and $8 hotdogs, coats, oversized/overpriced purse and no regard for hockey manners. They then tried to get us to move over a seat because they were "squished" in their seats. Squished? You're at a hockey game. Live. In person. Not on your couch. Yes, you will be squished in. That's the way things work at these public places. My response? "But these are our seats." Followed by me pulling my (season) ticket out of my pocket to check, that yes, we are indeed, sitting in our assigned seats. Are you proud of me? I am. At one time I would have moved over to an empty seat just to be nice. No more Ms. Nice Guy. This is my seat. I'm not movin'.



Yes, it is true. The Weather Channel wasn't lying. A total of 38" in snow + constant shoveling + icy roads + hubby off work all week = cabin fever. Some may even say, verge of insanity. Slipping. Can't hold on.

Moving along. Other exciting events of late: Christmas eve spent in "ohh, it's sooo beautiful" Winter Park, watching fireworks, freezing our asses off and enjoying a verrrry yummy dinner with Snowbird & Co; work, work, working on my new big project for the chamber; getting irked by lack of progress with the board I sit on; writing a marketing plan and creating a marketing budget for Creative HQ; enjoying some beagle goodtimes; and oh yes, eating way too much sugary goodness.



Let me elaborate on the board thing. I was elected to a board of directors for a women's organization earlier this year. This was huge deal to me at the time. Since then I've discovered that it wasn't that hard to be elected. Run. You're elected. Yeee. Like all orgs, there are the behind the scenes and the behind-behind the scenes. I've only made it past one level of the hierarchy. There's the board, then there's the "executive committee," which really makes all the decisions. One of the committees I co-chair deals with membership support/recruitment/retention. Whilst serving on this committee, I've discovered that the org as a whole has no strategic plan or direction of who we want to be when we grow up. This makes the committee run around in circles instead of working toward a clear outcome. It is rather frustrating. But the hardest part is that when a few of us pointed this out the exec committee said, 'no, we don't want to do any strategic planning.' Basically, we want to keep running around in circles wondering why other women's groups do better than us and we keep losing 25% of our members every year. So now I'm weighing my time availability vs. desire to create change in the face of stagnant thinking. You all heard the one about the definition of insanity, right?

And finally, I've figured out that I want to go to grad school. Actually, this is nothing new. I've always wanted to go to grad school, but I've never had a clue as to what I wanted to get my masters in. There are so many great subjects to study: Basketweaving, Sociology, Microbiology. You name it, I want to study it. Now I know. Ta-da! If all goes well, I'll be working toward a MS in marketing by this time next year. The upside is that it's at DU, in the Daniels' College of Business, one of the best b-schools in the state, my favorite alma mater, and with easy access by light rail. The downside is that it's at DU, where tuition compares to a H2 Hummer. (Yes friends, me, at b-school.) Another boo-hiss: the GMAT. Grrr. Standardized tests and I do not play well together. I must score a 600 to qualify for merit-based scholarships so I can pay for my H2 diploma. I can do it!

Oh, as I mentioned before, here's my list of accomplishments and disappointments for 2006:
Accomplishments: made a profit at Creative HQ, competed in the tri (and didn't die), helped my BFF through her divorce, bid/received a contract for the chamber, charmed the Apple Geniusi into free tech-support, learned to let go of some commitments that are dragging my spirits down.

Disappointments: lost a "friend" who was just playing me to get something for nothing, missed our budget projections, lost all my passwords/files/life to a new hard drive (for the love of Pete! I can't remember by Flickr password!), spent a week in Washington state failing to communicate with others that I was sent to help, said 'yes' too many times when I should have said 'no'.

What I've learned from it: be proactive, be consistent, be daring, be bold, be confident, laugh more, and most importantly, saying 'no' won't kill you or them.

Bring it on, '07.