Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Thoughts for Today

Baxter's Buzz

Life is full of all sorts of surprises. It's exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. Back in the day people stayed at jobs for 30-40 years until they retired. That's becoming less and less the case. It makes it tough to have that comfort level....especially in the world of sales. What can you do? Work hard and keep an update resume is a good start.
  

Work drama will never end. I don't care where you work. I was exchanging stories with a friend of mine today, and there are wacky things going on from mom and pop shops, to fortune 100 companies. Wacky people in leadership roles and wacky people reporting to their wacky managers.

And then you have to deal with different personality types. I believe, many times, that the manager you report to along with the actual work you do (and pay of course) determine how successful you'll be at a job. Some personalities just mesh well with all types of folks and then some others just have bad attitudes and a negative outlook. Those negative folks will always find it difficult to achieve happiness (life is tough enough when you're optimistic). These negative Nancy types are truly fighting an uphill battle.

These sour faced-characters are walking around bringing the morale down in the office, one frown at a time. They don't understand how meaningful a simple smile could be to someone having a tough day. A simple hello or compliment can go a long way.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Advantages of Having a Baby

16 weeks ago my wife and I had a baby girl. This is the most awesome feeling IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Soon I'll blog about that whole experience, but for now I'm sharing a list of advantages of having a baby.

1.  Taking weird family photos - I took the most awkward picture since I was in elementary school (I used to take every picture with my mouth open forever. Wish one of the photographers would have given me a heads up) with my wife and my newborn baby, posted it on Facebook and I only heard one comment about how bad the picture was (you know who you are).

2.  Bad grammar - I'm not sure why "baby talk" was invented, but I'm pretty sure it's one of the worst inventions this side of the shake weight. "Wook at da wittle baby." Seriously? Who talks like that?? And then they wonder why their baby talks like Elmer Fud. Talk to them like regular people.....because they are regular people. They're just little.

3.  Passive aggressiveness - Have you ever talked to your significant other through your baby? It's one of the quickest way to start an argument...Trust me. "So daddy was just gonna leave you poopy until I came back, huh?" What did you and mommy do all day? The house looks the same as when I left for work today." Even though you can do it, I'd advise against it.

4.  Blame farts on the baby - Infants have some of the loudest farts around. Conceivably (pardon the pun), you could pass gas as loud as you possibly could and blame it on the baby. And depending on how gullible they are, your spouse could actually go for it. I wish you the best of luck with that one.

5.  Leave engagements early (or get out of plans altogether) - Children are unpredictable. They get fussy, sick, and your plans can unravel quickly. Anyone who has kids are typically more understanding if you change plans suddenly or need to cancel. And if the people you are cancelling with DON'T have kids, you can believe that somebody with children will attempt to explain (and justify) your sudden change of plans. And if you are already at an event, you are one baby meltdown from excusing yourself and skating home early. Nobody wants a crying baby ruining the mood of a good party or gathering. They'll be glad to see you walk out of that door.

Shout out to K-Dubb for helping me with this list.