Monday Morning Mistake

There's Uncle Joe, he's a movin' kind of slow at the Junction. Petticoat Junction (for you youngsters, that's a 60s-era TV theme song)

That was my theme song this morning as I stumbled into our office break room and fumbled for a cup of coffee. This was a 'cuppa joe' morning . . . don't care what it tastes like, just pour over my head.

But one should never sacrifice sharpness for the desperation of a caffeine boost, and this morning I did.

My friend and co-worker Clay, the near-professional triathlete and a REALLY nice guy, asked me, 'how's it going?' and I muttered (in a friendly sort of way) something like, 'same ol' same ol'.'

Never say 'same ol' same ol' to a triathlete . . . people who are focused enough and disciplined enough and have enough energy and enthusiasm and attitude and strength and the wherewithall to be a triathlete NEVER have a 'same ol' same ol' kind of day. In the running vernacular, every day should be a shot at a new PR (personal record).

I usually consider myself kind of Pollyanna-ish, but Clay is Pollyanna on . . . well, whatever combination of herbs and proper diet that makes people mega-Pollyannas (he's definitely not a steroids kind of guy). By the time I'm able to pour the coffee over my head, he's bounced out of the room, HUGE smile on his face and has moved on to whatever young, overachieving engineers do on Monday mornings.

And I'd like to say that Clay's energy and enthusiasm for life was infectious . . . but sometimes, when Uncle Joe's a movin' kind of slow, it's best to save that shot at a PR for another day.

By the way, here's Clay finishing his most recent triathlon in Florida. That nine hours on the clock is how long he's been swimming, bicycling and running.

Mondays: All You Need is Love

Everybody knows Monday.

I crawled behind my keyboard about 6:45 a.m. I'm way behind on one job (because of last week's surprise), and I'm responsible for our Marketing Excellence Team (METs) meeting at lunch (and my preparation is far from excellent). I'm beat: I worked 23 hours just on Thursday and Friday of last week on the afore-mentioned 'surprise' project, then daughter #2 was sick most of the weekend, and, of course, the Cowboys lost (they didn't lose it; they gave it away).

I open my e-mail, and there's a note from the technical leader on last week's surprise project (two days to turn around what normally takes two weeks): 'thanks for your hard work.' Yeah, yeah, whatever.

Around mid-morning, I'm copied on an e-mail from a firm principal to the firm president: 'Major kudos to George Bowden, a miracle man, on the quick turnaround . . .'

At the end of my noon meeting, one of our conference call participants, before hanging up, takes the time to say 'Thanks! Good meeting.'

About 2 p.m., a technical lead's Reply to my draft of a proposal team org chart arrives: 'I think this is really great! You’ve captured just what I was trying to articulate.'

I'm headed out the door about 4:30 p.m. (I did come in early, okay?), and one of our marketing group members stops me at the door: 'I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the work you've put into the METs program. It's really good.'

I have to figure out a way to get to the office tomorrow morning; I flew home! What an amazing day . . . and it's Monday!

Make somebody's Tuesday. Or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or their weekend. Sprinkle some of that magic 'thank you' dust, and watch 'em fly away (there's a little Peter Pan in all of us).

And thank you, Beatles:

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

And to James Brown:

Wo! I feel good, I knew that I wouldn't of
I feel good, I knew that I wouldn't of
So good, so good, I got you

Wo! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, I got you