My next job
We have always read books to our kids at bedtime, but they are finally old enough to appreciate (and be quiet enough!) for the public library. We are so lucky to have a wonderful town library walking distance from our house. The whole second floor is a children’s section, and the boys seem to enjoy it. They love getting to pick books out themselves, and we all appreciate the variety of reading material. As a result of our library adventures, we have read some fun new books in the past few weeks, including one called Oh, Ducky!: A Chocolate Calamity by David Slomin. It is cute, and...
Read MorePicked
I can’t believe it’s been almost six months since I started my job at ZS Associates outside of Chicago. Where has the time gone?! At least a half a dozen times I have started a post about what work is like and how different it is than what I was doing before. But in reality, our move from the Philadelphia area to Chicagoland has had such a huge impact on our lives that it’s been hard to step back and reflect. With the exception of Christmas, today is only my second vacation day since I started at ZS. I spent yesterday at Legoland with my oldest, and today...
Read MoreIntroducing Froggy!
In the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that my website and blog were woefully outdated, and that it was time for a refresh. I have been reticent to post until the site was up and fully navigable, but I think it’s close enough now that I can get back to producing content. So, welcome to my new integrated website and blog! I’ve permanently pulled down my old website, and all the traffic from my former blog on WordPress is being redirected here. I started a mommy blog in 2006, but once I had kids, it became difficult to blend my tweets and posts about poopy...
Read MoreFriday yumminess
This week I had a chance to dig into my RSS reader this week for the first time in months, and I found a few things I thought I would pass along for fun. And in honor of this post I’m introducing a new tag – yummy. For those of you that know me in real life, you know that I use this word all the time. Let’s see if I can bring it to the blog with any consistency. :) The first site is a great sampling of well-done Customer Experience maps. What an great format for visualizing workflow, experience, and opportunities for future work! I may have to...
Read MoreMazes & labyrinths
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I read A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink in 2010, and shortly thereafter I had a chance to hear him speak in a webinar on his new book Drive. Both works continue to inform my thinking. During the holidays, I was talking with my sister and my father about the book Who Moved My Cheese? and I was expressing my frustration with the book and the metaphor. Our family discussion reminded me of a passage from Pink’s first book, A Whole New Mind: I don’t disagree with the message of Who Moved My Cheese? but I do take issue with the metaphor. In...
Read MoreMy journey & yours
I started my PhD envisioning that I would teach at the college level, but in the intervening years I came to really enjoy my work in the software industry, as well as the quality of life that work afforded. I was also comfortably settled in Philadelphia, and unwilling to move for my job at that point. So when I finished my PhD in 2004 I was a little lost about what I wanted, what my priorities were, and what I should do next. Late in the year I was at a low point in my career. I had a crummy performance review in which I was basically told that my management saw lots of potential but I...
Read MoreYour time is coming!
This morning when I woke up, I checked my Blackberry (as I often do) before beginning to pack my son’s lunch. Imagine the excitement when I came across this in my inbox! ______________________________________________ From: John B Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 5:45 PM To: Natalie H Subject: Fw: Support for the COO programs and Projects Your time is coming! ————————– Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld ______________________________________________ From: Erwin G To: John B Sent: Wed Jan 21 16:53:35...
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