Productivity Tip – Doing Your Monthly Planning

Schedule some time this week to do your May monthly planning. Here are some of the things you should be looking at to block off time on your calendar:

Personal

• Upcoming birthdays and anniversary for upcoming month and the month after that
• Events you need to attend or trips to take
• Friends & family members you want to see or talk with in May
• Personal goals
• School homework and projects
• Home projects and maintenance
• Shopping
• Fun stuff you need to include for this month

Work

• Organization’s mission statement & execution priorities for the year
• Your departmental goals for this year
• Project deadlines & meetings
• Performance Objectives
• Developmental Goals
• Events you need to attend or trips to take
• Presentations or engagements you need to prepare for
• Recognition and rewards for team

Since this is really what I do for a living, it’s important that I actually share some of these tips with you. Next week, we’ll tackle strategies for weekly planning. Questions, comments or concerns – let me know.

Get Ready for the Weekend Wednesday - 042209

Every week, I will post suggestions to get you out of the house and exploring the SoCal area. If you have suggestions for a particular week, let me know and I will include it.

Events

2009 Newport Beach Film Festival
Thursday, April 23 through April 30, 2009

“Set in beautiful Newport Beach, a few blocks away from spectacular coastline and less than an hour from Hollywood, the Festival will host several premieres, galas and yacht parties for a singular festival experience. Films will be shown throughout the city that boasts one of the largest movie consumer groups in the world, a rich filmmaking history as well as fine dining, shopping, and exceptional recreational activities.”

Here’s a link to their Spotlight Films, which will give you an idea of what to expect. I’m personally thinking of going to the Closing Night Film and Party on 4/30. They’re showing 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.


The First Solo Show from Chaka
Opening Night on 4/25 7-9pm
Exhibit open from April 25 through June 1
Mid-City Arts on West Pico, L.A.

Recommended New Movies

The Soloist
Il Divo

Let me know if you're thinking of doing any of these this weekend. Maybe I'll join you.

I've Officially Moved Here

So I'm officially using this as my new blog site. The old site is still up and will still probably post there once in a while, but I will be posting all my mindless blah's here on a more regular basis. Hope you follow along and participate in any discussions by posting your comments. Ask questions, request for topics or just laugh along.

If You're on the Interwebs, Then You Better Know This

I don't think you should be allowed to use the internet if you don't have at least an elementary idea of how it was developed. Lucky for those who lack the curiousity, an animated film has been created just for your information. Please watch this short but very informative clip from picol.

Been Neglecting My Musical Interests

I haven't been listening to good music for a while (long story and very boring). My kids have been exposing me to really interesting things in the last couple of years and, yeah, they're good - some are even great (particularly Rilo Kiley and Whispertown 2000). But, as we all know, music gets embedded in your soul only if you discover it on your own.

I'm still very grateful that I have people that constantly put me in touch with all the great things out there. It makes getting the exploration started a lot easier. Now that I've reawakened my interest in music, I'm totally amazed at the sounds I'm hearing.

Here are three old albums I've recently resurrected out of my collection. Man, oh man - why did I stop listening to these in the first place:

Black Celebration - Depeche Mode
Two Ring Circus - Erasure
The Whole Story - Kate Bush

And, here are the bands I'm discovering right now. I know some of them might be old news to others but they're new to me and so worth it:

Phoenix (I love, I love, I love this one)
Glas Vegas
The Sounds
Rock Kills Kid

Any music you want to recommend, let me know. I'm totally open to suggestions right now.

Dancing Honey Bees

I promised Sara this would be my first post in my new blog. That was almost 6 months ago so this is a bit outdated. In any case, I still love it because it has to do with things I like - dancing, ice cream, science and, of course, crumping boys in honey bee costumes. Who can resist that? Enjoy.