Money Can't Buy Everything

As we're looking into implementing incentives at work for excellent performance objectives I began to wonder if they would actually help me do my job better. I mean, I already have a great job and more money than I need so why should I be paid even more for doing my job extra well? I wondered, would I actually be able to ramp up my performance with the promise of a few extra hundreds on the line? What I learned from this video is that I'm looking at the whole thing wrong; I must measure my motivation by more than dollars and cents. This, I suspected but wasn't able to pinpoint the true three motivators until I saw this brilliant little short film. Hope you enjoy!

First Things First

An updated list of firsts for Meg Schudel:
1) Ate "Pirogi" last night for the first time, it's a Russian potato dumpling--my Argentine/Armenian friend made them for me...it was an ethnic and delicious moment for me (Ha! Thanks Natalia!)

2) My first car wash, no, I'm not kidding. I'd been through a couple before with my grandfather when I was a little girl. Back then, I laughed and clapped my hands like I was on a ride at disneyland. But now that I've grown up, I only laughed and smiled like an idiot when the waves of water, suds, and "rainbow wax" drenched my vehicle. This was during my second visit to the car wash, my first attempt was utterly anticlimactic. I just assumed the machine took plastic, so I sat in a line of five cars for thirty minutes waiting for my turn only to arrive at the inescapable entrance and not have any of the needed currency to obtain a wash! It asked for a code or cash, after frantically checking every nook and cranny of my car for dollar bills, I gave up in futility and (I'm not kidding, I get really anxious in situations where strangers are waiting on me) yelled at the machine , "WHAT IS THIS CODE YOU SPEAK OF AND HOW DO I GET IT?!" Nothing doing, and unable to escape any other way, I simply had to drive right through, in the car wash hut and out the other side, leaving the person behind me to think that I was 10 kinds of crazy...which I suppose I am a little. Once her laughter had subsided, the benevolent Alison Selig gently explained the code thing to me later, I get it now.


3) First horned melon. Yeah, check it out, it's the funnest fruit!! It's slimey, brilliantly colored and WAY too much work to fish the seeds out of the juicy membranes you're supposed to consume. It tastes a little like kiwi, honeydew, and a green grape.

4) Got my first business card ever! Scary. And corporate. But embossed on crosshatched cardstock so I suppose I should be grateful.


5) Tried Pike's Place brew at Starbucks, it's everything. Try it (dedicating this one to Peter).

6) On a sort of sad note, I had to cut two friends out of my life. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I've never done that before. Until recently, I'd always believed that every relationship is salvagable. Then I grew up. I knew these individuals would continue to unapologetically break my heart, and that I had nothing else to offer them either. They already took what I could give them and, let's face it, left me a bit empty handed. In the end, they know I still love and pray for them. To those who've supported me through this, I can't thank you enough.

7) I have my first California library card, I'm feeling more and more like I actually live here! Tip to the poor: rent movies from the library, it's free! I dropped Netflix like a bad habit and hit the library's DVD collection. Libraries tend to have the more obscure books-made-into-movies pieces you can't find other places. No time for movies? Do the books on CD, my mother's discovered them and finds excuses to hang around the house to catch up on her "reading," if you can't get to the library, do librivox for free literature downloads.

8) I left my number for a stranger. I've given it out before, just not in a "call me" scrap of paper way, always verbally. Sarah and I were at a restaurant in Little Italy and the waiter was the sweetest guy, we talked Argentina while other tables seethed at him for his inattentiveness to their appetites (I know b/c the table next to ours teasingly called me out on it when waiter was absent and Sarah had gone to the loo, "thanks for distracting the waiter, we'd like to get our tirimisu sometime today".) Andrew, the waiter, seemed enthusiastic to have someone relate to his Buenos Aires experiences, so I left my number with the tip before I left in case he wished to continue the convo. No, he hasn't called yet, I really don't mind. I was more curious to hear his stories than to date him, promise.
9) Found sand dollars on the beach! I've only ever found seashells! They were sort of dirty looking and cracked around the edges, not like the bleached white ones you see in stores, but I like them anyway.

9) Had to shake sand off of my car mats.

10) Made what I consider to be my first major purchase, a piano. The most I've ever spent on any one thing and I love all 88 out-of-tune keys of it.

The Edinator

Alright children, it's time for some quick and dirty tips for using more correct grammar, usage, and spelling. Pick up even one of these good habits, and what you write/say will become more polished!

Rule #1: "punctuation," in other words, punctuation ALWAYS belongs inside the quotation marks with the exception of the use of parentheses (case in point).

Rule #2: the word "OK" is only acceptable in three forms, including "OK," "O.K.," and "okay".

Rule #3: don't capitalize the first letter after a colon, this is an archaic and incorrect habit.

Rule #4: watch out for tricky words.
I work in the capitol building, and the money I make can be called capital.
The principle actor in the play was the principal of the school.
I have a compliment for you, your shoes complement your dress.
The nauseous sight of blood made me feel nauseated.
I have to drive farther to work, but I feel it will further my career.
*physical versus metaphorical
A lot of people think "a lot" is one word a lot of the time.

Rule #5: it's = a conjunction for "it is"
its = indicates possession
Its problem is that it's wrong.

Rule #6: "anyways" is NOT a word! ALWAYS use "anyway."

Rule #7: ever have trouble remembering whether the superlative of a word is simply adding an "-er" or an "-est?" Or if you should use "more" or "most?" General rule, if the word only has one syllable, you can usually simply add "-er" or "-est" as a suffix (note: there are a lot of exceptions to this but overall, this has served me well).


Please always feel free to correct any editing mistakes I might make.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share my personal quick and dirty tips, but if you want to hear some from a true grammar queen, visit http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx.

Sweet Anonymity

I am in the seventh largest city in the U.S. where 1.3 million San Diegans crowd 6-lane freeway lanes, dine in posh restaurants along the boardwalk and flood the beach when the surf is high. Only about 13 of them know I'm even here, probably fewer than that remember my name; my supervisors, my landlady, my great-aunt who is probably landscaping her backyard with a swimming pool in her new hilltop abode overlooking the city as we speak, and a handful of coworkers who barely caught my name today between sips of corporate coffee and retrieving faxes.
I make a point of smiling at cashiers, produce vendors, and fellow residents in my apartment area and try hard not to convey the sentiment, "will you be my friend?" behind the grin that comes easily and, so far, is somewhat effective. I chat pleasantly with the check-out guy at Trader Joes, ask the farmer selling produce on the corner, "¿como se puede saber si un mango es maduro o no?" (how can you tell if a mango is ripe or not?) and he responds warmly in Spanish and smiles back. I met a woman in the apartment a few away from mine who works in the cancer clinic on the UCSD campus. She was dressed in a pretty sundress but looked a bit tired and told me her name was Katie. I hope I'm spelling it right and that her day wasn't too hard.
Coming home to an empty apartment isn't all bad. I no sooner do I latch and chain the door behind me, and I wriggle out of my stuffy work clothes and leave them in a heap in front of the door. I proceed to the kitchen, wearing what's left and assemble a salad made with the produce pictured here, some baby mixed greens and thai peanut dressing I concocted last night.
I know I will go to bed without having anyone to whom I may say 'goodnight' to and wake up with no one to whom I may greet with 'good morning'. That is the strangest part.
But I have no one telling me when to do something or how best I might proceed, no one to interrupt my thoughts in the coffee shop as I write letters or read (presently, am enthralled by Jane Eyre) except to ask me, "are you going to use this chair?". "No, please feel free", I reply, mentally adding, "who would I know that could occupy it?".
Perhaps some sadness will creep in later, but for the moment, all this I take in with a sort of wide-eyed consideration and am fascinated to learn what it is to be on one's own. I feel very calm and content. I feel that if that peace were disturbed, I can drive all of six minutes to the beach and watch the ocean's undulating waves licking the sand, inhale the sea scent that no man will ever succeed in bottling: the sweetness of the flowers that bloom here even in mid January, a hint of salty fishiness, of wet sand (it sort of smells like dirt but different), and that unnamable agent that distinguishes it from all other perfumes.
I miss you all, dear loved ones. Your phone calls, emails, messages, posts, and letters mean more than I can say. I don't have to be there to be "here for you", and thank you for returning the sentiment.