Welcome to the Family!

Check out the welcome party for Disney's newest princess, Princess Tiana!

http://www.youtube.com/user/disneyparks?blend=3&ob=4#p/u

The most beautiful proposal ever...

http://www.bakerella.com/wedding-cake-pops/

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

http://operationbeautiful.com/

"Many hands make light work."

What is your role within a team? A group? A committee?

How do you operate? What are your natural tendency?

According to Belbin, there are three orientations in each group and within those orientations there are three clusters of behaviour.

First there are Action Oriented Roles

1. The Shaper: This person is challenging, dynamic and thrives on pressure however they also sometimes steamroll others ideas.
2. The Implementer: This person is disciplined, reliable and efficient however they can also be conservative and inflexible.
3. The Complete Finisher: This person is always on time and searches out errors however they can also be anxious, critical and they will not delegate tasks.

Then there are People-Oriented Roles

1. The Coordinator: This person is mature, confident and keeps order however they can seem manipulative.
2. The Teamworker: This person is mild, diplomatic and a good listener however they can also be indecisive and they avoid confrontation.
3. The Resource Investigator: This person is extroverted, enthusiastic however they can be bored easily.

And finally, the Cerebral Roles

1. The Plant: This person is creative, unorthadox and solves problems however they also tend to ignore reality.
2. The Monitor Evaluator: This person is sobering and strategic however they also lack drive and do not motivate well.
3. The Specialist: This person is single-minded, dedicated and have vital knowledge and skills however they can also have a very narrow focus and offer limited contributions.

In different situations you will play different roles depending on the strenghts and weaknesses of the other members of your group.

Look at all of these roles? Where do you see yourself? Where have you been in the past? Where would you LIKE to be?

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies."

http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf

I am *so* getting a pug when I grow up!

"Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said."

"How did you say something...that wasn't?"

The other night I went to see "The Invention of Lying". I knew absolutley nothing about the premise of the film, just that it featured Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner. From the little I had heard I thought that it would be more artistic and theoretical, sort of snap shots of peoples lives that had been changed by lying. Instead I saw an extremely moving (and at some times, depressing) love story about two people who were trying to overcome their respective preconcieved notions about dating. Should you be with someone who is your genetic, intellectual and professional match? Someone that you can make intellengent and attractive children with? Or should you be with someone that makes you happy, regardless of all that other stuff?

However, the most interesting part of the movie is the setting...living in a world where lying just...isn't. It's not an option, it's not on the menu, it's not on the radar....it just isn't. The first scene completely blows your mind and it takes a while to get used to. It is a painful reminder of how many little lies we tell every day. It makes you realize that little white lies have become the lubricant of our society.

How would you make it through your day if you had to answer the question "how are you?" honestly...EVERY TIME SOMEONE ASKED? If you had to answer every single question honestly how would you date? Or conduct a job interview? Or talk with your family?

Think about it!

"You're best friend Barry has a brother Larry...in five days from now he's gonna marry!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3lt9zfBxbg

"Well done is better than well said." Benjamin Franklin

Here's a scenario: You are at the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon and having trouble with your debit card. You have a cart full of groceries and no cash. What do you do? You look over at the next line and you see your regular BMO teller paying for his or her groceries. You say, "Hey Bob. I'm havin' some issues with my bank card over here". Bob comes over to the till, tries to fix the problem but can't...Bob then and offers you $60 from his own pocket?!?! "Oh Bob, that's not necessary" and yet he insists. The result: you can now purchase your groceries (while only being minimally embarrassed) and you feel great about banking with BMO.

According to BMO policy, employees of the bank are encouraged to reach into their wallets and offer money to customers who are encountering problems. The bank employees are then reimbursed and the money is withdrawn from the customers account.

Genius or insanity?

Are they asking to much from of their employees?

Thoughts?

Happy Birthday to my favorite Place on Earth!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2009/10/a-model-day-at-the-park/

"God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason...listen twice as much as you speak."

A few thoughts on communication and listening...

• Normally when men listen to women they don't want to listen, they just want to solve. They are not particularly interested in listening to your problem and offering support, they want to cut you off mid sentence and offer solutions to your problems. In my family, it is the opposite, my Mother always wants to solve my problems before I've finished explaining them and my Dad listens to me and sympathizes offering a "sometimes, life just sucks" every now and then. Sometimes you just need to allow a conversation to run its course before you interject.

“To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.”

• One of the reasons that we are not great listeners in this day and age is because we have become accustomed to communicating over the Internet and we now feel that we need to respond to everything with words. One of my biggest pet pevees when talking to someone over MSN or FB chat is when they get offended if you don't respond to every message they send...even if the message doesn't include a question or a statement that requires a response. OR if they respond with LOL....LOL is NOT a response! The art of conversation is slowly dying and people are just retreating to their huts to live without human interaction. I'm not saying that I am better than anyone else, I hate talking on the phone and going out for coffee because I hate awkward silences. I would much rather get to know someone via e-mail because you can be a little more careful and guarded about what you reveal. However, I am not a fan of internet lingo and I do prefer that you speak in complete sentences with proper grammar (another thing that internet dating has taught me).
  

"The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate."

• But I digress...another really interesting concept is non-verbal communications. It was the first way that people learned how to communicate at the beginning of time and it was also the first type of communication we learn as children. However, in school we are only taught how to interpret written or verbal communication and less than 1% of college graduates have been able to take a course that focuses on non-verbal communication...perhaps that is why we have to deal with so many misunderstandings every day. You also have to consider the fact that non-verbal communication is much more powerful than communication because it is harder to censor. We are always emoting non-verbally, in every situation!

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

My first NSFW post!

Yes, that is Prince Eric from the Little Mermaid.

Check out the rest at http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/39849010.html

....a love letter to no one...

http://www.aloveletterforyou.com/?page_id=198