I can’t do caffiene anymore

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

I’m in Georgia. Home of syrupy sweet tea. I swear it’s one of the reasons I moved here.

But I’ve noticed that I become markedly irritable after drinking sweet tea, especially at night.

Between the sugar and the caffeine I’m setting myself up for a problem.

It’s so dang good though. I can’t seem to place my cup under the Diet Coke fountain - and that has caffiene too. The lemonade option at most soda fountains kills me. It says “0% fruit juice”. So why call it lemonade?

I’m trying hard just to drink water. Which is downright boring.

But in order to not be an irritable Father and Husband, I need to drink water.

Am I just getting old? Or just more self-aware? Both?

Is this a good thing?

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It’s hard work being unhappy

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

I have a co-worker that has chosen to ignore me like I’m not there. It’s pretty hard work to do that.

I don’t have the makeup to ignore or not be nice to people. I can step up being mean I’ll tell you but it’s a drag to work around this fellow.

I’ve noticed that some individuals need to have someone to focus negative energy on.

In this fellow’s case, he used to focus negative energy on another competing staff member. Now it seems that I’m his chosen foil.

This type of behavior doesn’t contribute to the team’s happiness, in fact it’s a drag.

I have to go out of my way not to say anything when we cross paths. I normally smile and make eye contact. With this guy though, I’m going out of my way just to not bother.

Ever say “Hi” to someone and have them just stare at you and not acknowledge you in any way?

I’m not going to spend time trying to fix him. I’m going to try and spend time telling myself it’s ok to not supply my hi wattage smile to those who don’t want to be uplifted with a simple human interaction. It’s a shame but I must figure this out to make my own self feel less conflicted over someone else’s problem.

Have you ever had this problem? How did you solve it?

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Monday Morning

Monday, July 21st, 2008

It’s 6:06a.m. and I’ve been up for almost an hour.

I’ve been pre-thinking my work day today.

On Friday, I had to release a multi-year member of my staff. So today, I’m thinking about how I’m going to get this person’s work done with my remaining staff.

I’ve already had some good ideas. Like some of what they were doing I won’t be doing everyday. It may be more efficient to batch some of the work.

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. So today, I need to get more work done with one less employee.

So, it’s a mixed bag of emotions.

I’m in part wondering if I made the right decision to release this person, but I made it and what’s done is done.

I’m obviously more confident that the new employee (undetermined as of yet) will do all and hopefully more than the previous one. Frankly, the mediocre effort I was getting shouldn’t be hard to exceed.

I am happy that God gave me another day to play the game of life.

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Americans are easily entertained

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

This weekend we went to DeSoto Caverns in Alpine, Alabama which is a natural cave attraction near our campsite just outside of Talladega.

They’ve built  a mini amusement park outside the caverns and turned it into a micro version of a major theme park.

They have some paddle boats, a horizontal rock wall, a squirt gun maze and you can pan for gems in thier sluice among other amusements.

My question is as this relates to happiness overall, is all we need to generate more happiness in our life a few more visits to a minature golf place?

If happiness is the objective, what does shooting bows and arrows at targets or throwing water balloons at your brother actually do inside your brain to make one feel better?

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My (newest) Son just stood up

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

My 8 month old son just stood up by pulling himself up holding onto a jumper thing he has.

His face was full of confidence although his legs were wobbly.

I called my wife over to see. We all shared that moment. Great way to start the day.

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What’s the goal?

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

In acheiving an increased level of happiness, what exactly is the objective?

If I am happy after eating one [fill in your favorite brand of cookie here] cookie, how ‘come if I were to eat 20 of them I’d feel major league sick?

Is a happiness goal the same?

Do I want to be happy all the time?

Or is happiness best in contrast with unhappiness, boredom or a general work distraction?

What’s your happiness goal?

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Camping this weekend in Alabama

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

I just watched my two boys for several hours in the campground swimming pool. They make friends easily and have been actively involved in the pool’s pick-up volleyball game with boys and girls, kids and parents of all ages, colors, sizes and physical capabilities.

I watched my kids absorb the arrival of some big-mouthed kids (and Dad) who announced that they were in town for a little league tournament and that proud father announcing without being asked “These boys right here just won today. We’re from Mississippi and we beat Louisiana.” The Dad acted like Howard Cosell on Mountain Dew Code Red and the kids were even louder and more aggressive.

I watched my kids cope with this family inject mean-spiritedness into a friendly game. I watched that it didn’t get out of hand but I was more fascinated how they worked around the problem. The problem folks left, never knowing they were the spectacle of stupidity. The rest of the kids and everyone else in the pool immediately went back to their friendly game.

The fact that the Dad and kids that left had a good time too may be the subject of a different post. Something about how one man’s happiness is another man’s problem.

I caught myself smiling that my kids were able to keep their cool, keep perspective that it was a mere pickup game of volleyball and not get wrapped up in the escalation brought in by the other team. Not to say that my boys didn’t put a few hammered shots into the big-mouth boys and dad’s face.

I also pointed out to my middle son that the people here were from all different States across the country, for different reasons, from different economic backgrounds and cultures… but to take notice that everyone loves a swimming pool. The smiles were everywhere. I pointed out that some things in our society cross all barriers and a swimming pool is one of them I guess.

I watched my wife swim with our 8 month old in a little floating thing for babies. The little guy splashed and squealed and got splashed on and loved observing the volleyball action in the pool.

I watched my 12 y/o boy tell his favorite jokes and perform his favorite slight-of-hand tricks on the new audience.

So at the end of this evening, all three of my boys are tired. And I’m happy having provided an environment that they could enjoy.

Tags: happiness
Posted in Catching myself happy | No Comments »