7 Quick Takes Friday #61

See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

I have not posted for quite some time to the 7 Quick Takes Friday -- for a month, give or take a week or so, it would seem. So, this week I figured I would pull out the most salient of the experiences of the past weeks.

1. Burying Biseh. The little cat who purred like a trible (for those familiar with Star Trek, the original series) and whom we brought back from Jordan five years ago for our grandson Nathaniel was hit by a car recently. Biseh, which means "cat" in Arabic, had wandered around our campus in Amman as a feral cat for some time when I found students kicking her, so Donnie and I adopted her. Bringing her back was quite easy. Surprisingly, for a feral cat, she slept peacefully all the way home under my plane seat. Nathaniel quickly bonded with her and loved the way that she became overexcited when she was petted and began to make high-pitched rumbling sounds (just like the tribles on the Star Trek episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles"), so he was quite distraught, so our son Shane let Nathaniel decide what we should do with Biseh's body. Since Shane and family live in a rented house, Nathaniel decided he would like to bury her under our tree and come visit her often. So, that is what we did, and that is what he does.

2. Meeting little tigers at a birthday party. Noelle and her roommate (who moved in after Ray died) recently adopted two tiger-striped kittens (orange tabbies, one each). One is named Angel, and I forget the name of the other one. (No, it is not Devil!) Not long after Ray, Noelle's husband of ten years, died, her cat, Prince Shadow, died. It was definitely not a good year for her last year. So, it is good to see that she has found a diversion and a way to love again, even if it is one of the smaller of God's creatures.

3. Old Mission stuff. Once a year Old Mission has a fiesta to raise money for various projects and needs. The Mahlou family is always one of the cleaning crews. We were the first crew this year because I had quite a surprise for that day. A few days earlier I got a call from a mutual friend who told me that the woman, Lida, with whom I had often stayed when I was doing consults in Uzbekistan in the 1990s, was in town, her first visit ever to the USA. She and her granddaughter and local relatives came to the fiesta, so for once I only worked for one shift and then enjoyed a very special day with a very special friend. (For more details, see my earlier blog about this: Our Amazing Modern World.) The following Sunday (last Sunday) was confirmation for the 16 kids who were in my catechism class last year. As is traditional, the bishop came for the confirmation, and the kids in my current class, hosted the cake and strawberries that were served in the mission gardens after Mass.

4. A threatening visit. Our office had quite a threatening visit from headquarters last week. An inspection team came for the purpose of deciding which of our branches/programs would be closed because of lack of money. (Yes, the economy is hurting us, too.) We all prepared assiduously, rehearsed our presentations multiple times with the CEO coming around and murder-boarding all of us senior leaders. We showcased our products and our people and opened the door to all our activities. Following our wonderful CEO's non-defensive attitude, we welcomed the team hospitably, and even held a very nice formal reception upon their arrival at the CEO's home. Well, by the end of the week, they said our programs were all super and they would look elsewhere for budget cutting. Yes!

5. Picnic with an enemy. I invited one of the people in our Washington office to a BBQ at our new home while he was visiting here with his family. We have had to coordinate closely over the past 18 months. Prior to that, he had worked here locally (about three years ago), and he and I were not on good terms. Actually, I was on okay terms. However, he and his supervisor did not like me much because I always "seemed to get [my] own way" when we disagreed on how things should be done. Essentially, I was simply concerned that my trainees got the best possible training, and I did know more about that particular kind of training than the two of them did -- but they were unwilling to admit that, did not have particularly good ideas for the training, but felt the need to "win" at all costs. In leaving the BBQ, my colleague noted, emotionally, how wonderful it had been to work together the past 18 months! I love it when enemies become friends -- and breaking bread together never hurts!

6. On Monday, I went up against our CEO's new staff action coordinator. I need to replace my assistant who is leaving on Tuesday, and the new SAC was unwilling to replace him. I would need to jump over him and go to the CEO if he did not budge, but first I had to deal with him. He spent an hour demeaning me, arrogantly making comments about what I do or do not need (he has not been introduced to any of my programs; he cannot possibly know what I need and do not need), pointing out that I was a poor leader because I had not replaced my assistant (but he is the one standing in the way of my replacing him; I pointed out that he was being disingenous, calling me out for not replacing him when he would not let me replace him; he stopped the berating for a minute at that, mainly, I think, because he did not know the meaning of disingenous), and otherwise trying to demonstrate that he was the #1 person for making decisions about what goes on in our organization (i.e. trying to wear his boss's position -- not the first time I was to encounter that this week). I really wanted to deck him, but fortunately there was a table between us! The bottom line is that I won, and the paperwork for my assistant has been submitted to headquarters -- but I am still trying to determine at what cost. At a formal ceremony yesterday, the SAC deliberately snubbed me. Not that I care, but it will be a long two years (the length of his appointment here) if we cannot work this out. While I would like to take aim at him, I guess I am going to have to do what I tell my junior managers to do: learn to love him since he, too, is God's child. Yeah, really, somewhere inside is that God-seed. I wonder how long it will be before I can remember this without deliberately reminding myself. I guess this requires more loving impossible people!

7. Insubordinate subordinates. Usually, I have no problem with subordinates, but this week something went really, truly awry, and I spent most of the past two days trying to bring peace back to my small part of the world. First, my budget manager submitted the budget changes for the remainder of the year without consulting with me; in doing so, he made some major decisions about expenditures and priorities that differ from what my philosophy is and decisions would have been. I had to pull the budget back, which, of course, embarrassed him. I also had to counsel him about not putting himself into my position, i.e. not wearing my hat. He argued for the decisions he had made, but I ultimately had to tell him that my opinion is the one that had final sway. He pouted but made the changes. Later, he wrote me a note of apology and promised to "stay in [his] lane" in the future. I hope this is a watershed experience because he has, at times, intimidated some of my senior managers by implying that he is speaking for me when he is not. Second, likewise, one of the center directors who works for one of the senior managers who works for me often intimidates his employees by referring to a personal friendship between him and me, implying that if they are not happy with his leadership, that is just too bad because no matter what I will be supporting him because of our personal friendship. I have counseled him on this before, noting that one must earn respect on one's own authority and that his orientation is very different from the servant leadership approach that I advocate. (Managers who are not familiar with servant leadership concepts might like to read some of the literature on the topic. This link contains a list of a number of helpful books: servant leadership books on Amazon.) The most blatant recent (yesterday) thing he did was to move, without asking, into the office beside me even before my deputy had finished packing out. He talked my deputy into letting him move in because his office was being remodeled. However, there is an office in another part of the building where his employees are located, but he prefers to rub elbows with the senior managers, which he is not, and that creates more problems between him and his employees. I had to tell him to move out, to move into the office with his employees, and, on Tuesday, the person will be serving temporarily as my deputy will move into that office. Meanwhile, yesterday his employees posted a sign on their office door that said, "la bastille." Obviously, he has created a hostile working environment, so now next week I am going to have to gather them all together along with the center director's supervisor (who works directly for me) and see if I can restore a reasonable working atmosphere. Sheesh!

And to make matters worst, at the end of a week that started not all that well (with my accidentally bringing a small, fliptop can of cat food [instead of tuna] for lunch and ended not all that well (with employees fleeing "la bastille" by none of those in that center showing up for work today), I picked up some fruit at our local grocery store this evening, and the bill came to $6.66. Not that I am superstitious!

Wishing you all a great weekend, including the upcoming Fourth of July holiday for those living in the USA.

7 Quick Takes Friday #60

See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

I am certainly glad that this week is over! Unfortunately, I am likely to feel that way every week until the end of June! Well, read on. The explanation follows.

1. This morning we senior managers learned that we have a major inspection from our headquarters for which we have to prepare and which may (probably will) result in programs being cut. Please pray that all will go well with this inspection the third week of June. Until then, we are preparing all our presentations with many, many rehearsals and several murder boards (aggressively negative questioning by listeners who will be helping us to prepare perfect presentations). Every other day until D-Day we have something due or a rehearsal. Hm...a month of no-sleep days? Is it possible to exist in that manner that long?

2. Yesterday we took our triennial organizational picture. We all gathered in the park and smiled for the photographer. Unfortunately, I forgot that we were taking the picture, and I decided that since I could not do casual Friday this week because of some serious Friday meetings, I would do casual Thursday since I had no meetings on my calendar. I wore a Bahraini dress -- comfortable -- and a Syrian shawl -- warm. Not business attire, however. Now, my ethnic attire will be memorialized on our headquarters wall for three years! Oops!

3. Wednesday afternoon I crashed a party -- in spite of a busy week of somber meetings, I have ended up at a number of parties and lunches. Thank God! That maintained my sanity in an otherwise stressful environment. I was able to attend noon Mass on Wednesday at a local chapel. After Mass, two friends from the secular Franciscan order to which I belong scooped me up and pulled me into the room where they have morning Bible studies. It was the birthday for one of them, and they wanted to share "lunch" (the party leftovers) with me. Fun!

4. I definitely gained weight on Wednesday. (The scale confirmed a two-pound addition, but I lost it in the next two stressful days, which the scale also confirmed. Is that what is known as a yo-yo diet, or is that yo-yo string too short?) After the Wednesday afternoon birthday party, I came home to a cookout at my house for our final Bible Studies class. Too much good eating. Just right amount of good conversation and good friends.

5. Earlier this week I found myself between the proverbial rock and a hard place. My colleague had presented a project that he especially likes to his boss. The project is very problematic. I know that because I know more about the topic than he does, but he did not ask for my input. The CEO turned to me, knowing that this was an area of expertise for me, and asked my opinion. Ouch! Should I support my colleague and lose the respect of the CEO or present my understanding of the truth and risk the resentment and anger of my colleague. I finally decided on the latter; the truth is always the best policy, right? Well, the next morning I get a note from our finance office, telling me that the CEO will not accept the project for funding unless I approve it. I cannot because I think that there are some serious problems with it that can actually harm our organization. Once again, I stated my opinion honestly, this time in writing. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

6. In spite of this morning's moribund meeting about the coming axe to fall, the rest of today was great. After the meeting, I met some friends for lunch. Willie was my teacher years ago, and has been retired for more than 20 years. He is married to our personnel director, and once a year he and I go to lunch. We joke that I have to ask her to make our date! This year she joined us, and it was such a nice relaxing moment after the dire conversation of the morning.

7. Today day ended on a bittersweet note. My very able, even beloved, assistant of three years, Sean, is retiring, and his wife had arranged a retirement party. My boss's boss said some very nice words, and I presented my assistant with a plaque. The program had the quote from the Bible that says, "Here I am, Lord, send me." I guess that must be his favorite verse. I had asked God to lead me to the right parting words, and that prayer was answered. When I saw that verse, I knew how to end my speech, which had remained unfinished until that point. In ending, I read the verse from the program and added, "God must love me because he sent Sean to me." Sean told me he was very touched by my words, and so did many others. They were not my words, though. They were the words God gave me to say.

And now I am going to look forward to a 3-day weekend! I hope you have a peaceful three days, as well.

7 Quick Takes Friday #59

See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

This has been a week that I choose not to repeat. Golly, the stress level rose to the top of the barometer and broke through. Colleagues, too, had the opportunity to share the stress, but whatever rises, ultimately drops, so things, in most cases, did get better.

1. Money had its moments this week. Down and up. First, I got the bill for the few minutes that I used the cell phone to call from Qatar and, mostly, to respond to some urgent emails: a $900 bill for less than a week in the desert outside Doha. Then, I found that my merit pay this year was only $400 for the entire year. Accepting that as being a matter of my organization not having much money to spend and hoping that my employees were given more since they need it more, I was astonished the following day to find out that this was just a salary increase and that I will soon receive a cash bonus of $3600, just about the amount that we desperately need to fix our deck and paint the house trim, which has dried out and is starting to deteriorate. Yippee!

2. Two days ago I was casually reading some posts on Facebook and found a comment from my nephew's wife that her divorce would be final on June 2. Say what?! I sent her a note and asked her if I had read correctly, and she said yes. Apparently, my nephew has hopped into bed with another (married) woman and is about to have a second son, with this woman and not with his wife. His wife filed for divorce. I have, indeed, been traveling too much. All of this has been going on for some time. (Of course, she is not in the habit of consulting me on her love life, as is the case with my own children, i.e. all those children I raised for all or part of their lives.) I am proud of her and my nephew that they have resolved everything amicably and with respect in order to give their six-year-old son a sense of security and love for both parents.

3. Today was the most miserable of the days. I learned that one of the senior leaders (above me) got into trouble for not doing his portion of a project that we have been working on together. So, he told the CEO that I was the one who had fallen through on the project. I was shocked, but there is not much I can do because of the relative statuses of all involved. I just have to relax and assume that the CEO will eventually find out the truth on his own. Life is like that: truth does have a way of ultimately coming out.

4. To add insult to injury, the CEO referred to a major reorganization at our big pow-wow this morning and looked directly at me. I know he has significant respect for me (after all, I just got that very nice bonus), but I certainly wish that he would consult with me about any reorganization that will affect my division and my employees. As it is, I will have to wait until the pieces start falling into place. I brainstormed this afternoon with my most trusted subordinate. We are planning for several possibilities so that we can have the best possible outcome for our employees. I will land on my feet. I am a permanent employee, and unless I really mess up my work (hopefully, unlikely), I don't have to worry about moving into a similar or better position than where I am. However, the employees who work for me are used to being empowered, and none of the other divisions empower people. Sometimes, I feel quite isolated in a sea of peers and bosses. Well, God put me in this job, so I assume God will control where I end up. (Note: Pow-wow print for sale from Lydia Dillon-Sutton.)

5. All these stressful machinations were accompanied by meeting after meeting. At least, two long meetings every day occupied my working hours all week. Since I find it difficult to sit still, I truly overloaded on meetings this week. When I have a lot of meetings, I end up having to do my paperwork in the evening. This happened every day this week. Boring! Tiring! I fell asleep on the couch every day, checking my personal email.

6. There was one bright spot at work: lunch. Thursday's lunch was much more successful than my last business lunch when I met with a colleague at a local fish restaurant -- except he went to the one on the north side of town and I went to the one on the south side (20 minutes apart). This time, a Greek colleague I have not seen in four years returned from Greece, called me, and we met at the local Greek restaurant. The only thing better than eating Greek is eating Greek with a Greek!

7. Cats are great companions. I think Murjan, who is a very sensitive cat, must have felt some of my stress. All week he stayed at my side every minute I was home, meeting at the door, wanting to be petted or have his belly rubbled, snuggling against me, curling up on my lap, licking my face. He created an easy de-stress environment for me. I rescued him in Jordan a few years ago, and he rescued me from my stress a few days this week. Life is balanced!

Wishing for you a balanced weekend!

The Plant

Another goodie from the Internet sent to me by my brother. I have no idea where he finds these!As for this and other stories like it, I find that I can always use them at work for leadership training. Certainly, anyone who has been in a leadership position has had parallel kinds of things happen as happened with the retiring CEO and the young managers. As a leader, I always look for the Jims -- I don't find them as often as I would like.

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you." The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed.He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"


* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment.

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.


So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

7 Quick Takes Friday #48

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

Sitting here in Linthicum, Maryland, looking back on the past week, I have two adjectives to use: busy (as usual), peaceful (although I traveled, not without incident). A (somewhat) typical week for those times that I spend outside my California office.

1. Friday was such a great day. I took annual leave. After all, it was the day after Thanksgiving, and few people were planning to be at work, anyway. I have recently been in contact with Fr. Terry, who had, until he was reassigned to another city in February, been my de facto spiritual advisor and certainly a good friend and mentor. I missed him and never did find a "replacement." I don't believe that we can ever "replace" people. They are what they are and they are who they are to us. Finally, after the passage of many months, I decided to press some electrons to paper, print out the resultant letter, and mail it. After a couple of backs-and-forths, Fr. Terry offered to come to San Ignatio for lunch. Friday was the day. He celebrated Mass in his new community, and I attended Mass in San Ignatio. After the Masses, we met at my favorite restaurant, Jardines, and had a long and leisurely lunch, for the most part playing catch-up. Fr. Terry has a way of making one feel special, and certainly his willingness to drive two hours (one each way) just for lunch made me feel very special on Friday. Of course, he is very special to me. (I bet he knows that.)

2. The weekend was quiet. I attended Mass on Saturday with Doah and did some chores. That left Sunday to prepare for an upcoming conference, pay bills, and, yes!, stay inside on an unusually cold day. (We don't know what to do in and with cold weather in California). The smallest pleasures in life are sometimes the greatest. For me, it is getting all the little things done: bill paying, phone calls, mail, laundry -- the things that I seem never to have time for until they reach critical mass. That is just what I did on Sunday.

3. Monday flashed by. At work, it was like Sunday had been at home -- catching up the little stuff. That felt good. I was leaving the next day, and I was excited to be able to finish the day with a clean desk. (It is indeed the smallest pleasures in life that are sometimes the greatest.) After work, I drove to the home of the wife of our Bible Studies director who died a couple of weeks ago. She had expressed an interest in coming to our Monday night prayer group, and I did not want to leave her sitting alone if there was something comforting she could do. It took some time and a few wrong turns, even with a GPS, to find her house, but eventually I arrived -- only to find out that her grandson was supposed to have brought her a dinner and had not done so yet. She was hungry and wanted to wait for him. A wasted trip? Perhaps. Nonetheless, I would rather be the one making the useless trip than the one in need of assistance.

4. Tuesday was a half-&-half day. In the morning, I attended no less than three meetings, fortunately, all by being tied in telephonically to my conference room. What a marvel to live in a technological age. I packed and printed out my ticket while I talked. Then, Donnie drove me to San Francisco where I caught a non-stop flight to the Baltimore-Washington airport. Piece of cake, or so it seemed. I had already printed my ticket, checked my baggage curbside, and made it quickly through the 1K United line inside. The flight was easy; I sat beside a chatty computer scientist about Shane's age and interested in the same things as Shane. Piece of cake, or so it seemed. The plane arrived early, and I called my employee who was meeting me to tell him that I would just grab my suitcase and we could speed off to the hotel. Still a piece of cake, or so I thought. Everything was too smooth, though, so there had to be a glitch. There was. No suitcase. Having been through this scenario before, I made my claim and went to the hotel to await the delivery of my suitcase. No suitcase. My suitcase made its own trip; it went to Chicago. You can read its story here: the errant suitcase. My sister asked if, since my suitcase takes trips all by itself (this is not the first time), might United give it frequent flyer miles. Dunno. Good question to ask.

5. Wednesday was a nondescript day. It was cold outside, but I had a warm coat. I worked all day at various tasks together with the local office director. My suitcase arrived, and I had a very leisurely (unplanned so) lunch with the office director -- for hours. Literally. I learned a good lesson over lunch: if the restaurant is totally empty at noon, there is probably a reason for it. Moe's Seafood sounded like a good place to eat. The tables looked nice. The menu looked even better. The waitress was sweet. So, we thought we would grab something quick and be back for a 1:00 meeting. The waitress took our order and returned 30 minutes later with some bread. Another 30 minutes passed, and then our meal arrived. By the time we finished, we were not late for the 1:00 meeting; we completely missed it.

6. Wednesday evening was much better. I had dinner with my administrative assistant from the time days when I worked in Jordan. She was visiting relatives in the USA as she does every December, and we had our annual dinner together. Since I attend a December conference every year in the Linthicum, Maryland area, our dinner has turned into a tradition. We went to a safe bet: Ruby Tuesday. We talked about family and acquaintances, Jordan and Bahrain (where she now lives and where I also used to work), and a dozen more things. Much happens in a year -- except that we do not change (or, at least, we think we do not. Even better, when I returned to the hotel after dinner, there was my suitcase. We had a joyful reunion. Just think! Two reunions in one day.

7. Thursday I was "on" to review our local programs. I have never seen our office director (who is new to this particular position but whom I have known in other positions for a long time) so nervous. Everything was perfect, starting with the bagels and juice that had been set up for everyone. The review went smoothly: the director and assistant director were well prepared, and the work is clearly being done well. I was pleased. They were pleased. The day ended, and I headed to dinner with another Jordanian, this one a friend and member of the Board of Directors for the conference that would take place the next day. After dinner, I stopped by the airport to pick up a friend who would be participating on my panel at the conference on Saturday -- yet another Jordan. The week for Jordan!

And now it is nearly bedtime, and I have to get my beauty rest so that I can moderate the panel well tomorrow morning at the conference, before heading home. Oh, yeah, gotta pack, too! I hope you all have a great weekend -- relaxing, good weather, and whatever else you might want.

7 Quick Takes Friday #47

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

It must have been a really full week, and yet it did not seem so. However, as I sit here, trying to remember what I did, I cannot remember a thing except eating turkey yesterday at Old Mission and cleaning BIG pots and pans afterward. Oh, well, I will start with that and perhaps the rest of the week will pop back into my memory. Senior moments already? Or, just an overfilled memory?? (Ooh, I hope the latter...)

1. So, okay, yesterday. Old Mission Church puts on a feast for the entire town with donated goods. It looks like we fed about 400 yesterday, which, counting kids, would be 25% of the town. It is a good place and time for everyone to get together. The mission is the center of the town's life, and Fr. E is pretty much considered the town's father. (I think he looks at it that way, too.) Doah and Noelle came; Shane and his family had their own event in a nearby town with Lemony's family. I was able to snatch a couple of pictures. On the left is Donnie, Noelle, and Doah with a family friend, Bennie, who was working the serving line. On the right is Sr. Delores, who lives at the local convent for Sisters of the Atonement (Franciscan order) along with Sr. Maria, whom I have mentioned before. Sr. Maria was not in town; she went to the central valley to be with her biological sisters. It was, however, nice to have Sr. Delores, Sr. Catherine, and Sr. Mary Catherine with us at the feast. I believe some of the friars came down from the monastery at the retreat center since they usually do, but I missed the first wave this year -- had to pick up Noelle and Doah -- and so may have missed them. Saw some folks from there at Mass earlier in the morning, though.

2. Ah, now I remember Wednesday. It was a day of rubbing elbows with all the folks who work with me, which is really great. Too often I am at meetings at headquarters or at meetings in other cities. Being in Seaside the entire day of Wednesday and in and out of my office gave a different color to the day. All morning, the junior managers presented their programs to all the senior managers and some visitors, telling us of their accomplishments during the last quarter and their concerns for the next. That was a good discussion. The day ended with an all-staff meeting to welcome new faces and say goodbye to old friends moving on to other jobs through promotion or new positions.

3. It's working! Now I remember Tuesday! Tuesday was hell day. I had no less than THREE meetings scheduled at the same time for every hour of the day. None of them were my meetings, i.e. none that I had scheduled for my staff and could therefore postpone or cancel. Some were at headquarters (a 20-minute drive) and some in my building. Some were mandatory financial and personnel meetings; others were entertaining high-level visitors. I passed to my deputy all the visitors. That took me down to two meetings simultaneously, and I found other senior managers to take over those. Whew! Talk about exhaustion! (My sister says that she really likes the idea of triple-scheduled meetings because it gets them out of the way faster!)

4. Monday was a meeting day, as well, but also one of crisis resolution. My boss was grumpy, which did not help because he was trying to solve problems in ways that I knew were not supported by regulation. So, I had to maneuver around that approach. Also, one of my best and most essential senior managers had his pay level (which is about 50% of what he could make elsewhere) attacked by the head of the personnel office who is trying to remove the retention bonus I gave him when he was offered a job elsewhere at double his currently embarrassingly low salary. It seems to be a personal vendetta, and I am still working on trying to fend that off. I was really happy when time came for our prayer group.

5. Our prayer group is as much a faith formation as a time for prayer. We include both, as well as singing. We have just finished reading and discussing Richard Rohr's Things Hidden, from the point of spiritual direction (the co-leader of the group is a trained spiritual director which is likely why we have moved in this direction). We liked doing that so much that we decided to try out another book for the next few months, Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life. Has anyone read this book? It turned out that everyone in the group had the book at home, but no one had read it yet. Good candidate for our meetings! On Monday, we had a new member show up who was really hurting because of very recent trauma in the family. We spent most of the time, then, in prayer with and for her. It was appropriate timing and probably not a coincidence.

6. Sunday -- yes, I am remembering now -- we had a meeting of the Secular Franciscan Order at the St. Francis Retreat Center nearby (well, nearby for me -- I could almost walk the distance, but most members come from much farther away). I brought some sugar-free baklava (yes, there is such a thing -- order it from shilla.com), which everyone liked, especially the thought that it was not causing bad things for diabetic systems. Sr. Delores (yes, the same person pictured with Doah above) is our relatively new spiritual advisor, and she led a beautiful prayer service at the beginning of our meeting before we got into the experience sharing, Franciscan rule discussion, and baklava eating.

7. And then there is Saturday, and I am still pulling a blank. It would have been great had I stayed home and vegged out, but that is not me. Staying home is a vacation; the only time I get to do it is when I take a stay-cation. There is no better place in the world to be than in San Ignatio Since where I really was remains a mystery, at least for now, I am giving you a couple of pictures of San Ignatio to enjoy.

Wishing you a pleasant week -- and one that you will remember!

7 Quick Takes Friday #45

See more 7 Quick Takes contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

1. Earlier this week I described the "first" day of this week: Saturday. On Saturday I went to the ball conducted each year at our organization. (You can read about my attire dilemma here: Going to the Ball. The attire decision was not the only dilemma the ball presented. Upon arrival, I learned that I had been seated at one of the VIP tables beside the assistant in the CEO's office with whom I have been warring for the last three weeks: he has retroactively changed per diem on some of my employees after they have returned from expensive travel locations in order to save costs. It is completely illegal, and I have sent them to the legal office, in addition to carrying on some rather vociferous conversations with the assistant by email. Oh, joy! I was going to get to sit beside him for the entire meal. Surprisingly, it worked out okay. I made an effort to put aside differences for the evening -- and so did he. While at the ball, I got an urgent message from our folks in Afghanistan; documents I had sent earlier had not made it through and were needed immediately. So, like Cinderella, I left the ball early, but, at least, I managed to hold onto both shoes until I reached home. En route, I stopped at my office and re-sent the documents. Right before I left, the dancing started. I spent a few minutes dancing with the head of one of our employee committees, another case of putting aside difficulties since this person I had removed from my directorate last spring. (Another, less-demanding, directorate picked up the employee, fortunately.) It was more than just setting aside hostilities; the employee has come to grips with the understanding that the skill set needed for the complex job in my directorate had not yet been acquired and so, finally, had accepted the transfer as a positive, not a negative, action.

2. My experiences at Mass on Sunday were interesting and a little out of the norm. I already blogged about the man in need of a hymnal/missal: It Was a Small Thing, Really. Fr. Ed always asks if we have any visitors, and because our mission is one of those places that tourists love to visit, we almost always do, and they often come from distant states and, quite often, from foreign countries. Sunday was no different. Fr. Ed queried each person who raised his/her hand as to origin, but he missed the man in the pew in front of me. (I usually sit very near the rear of the church, and it was a bit far for Fr. Ed to see.) So, being an inveterate introvert, I hailed the man after Mass and learned that he was from Kalispell, Montana and, of course, knew where Hamilton, Lizzie's birthplace, is located. It was an interesting conversation and became even more interesting when I learned that he might move here. One never knows what is going on in the heads of the people sitting one pew ahead of you!

3. Sunday evening I took off on a crazy flight from West Coast (California) to east Coast (Arlington, Virginia.) A two-hour flight followed by a two-hour layover (Phoenix) followed by a four-hour flight followed by a two-hour layover (Philadelphia) followed by a one-hour flight. Finally, I landed. I suppose it is a sign of the times that in Reagan National Airport (ironically so named, considering that Reagan did not want National Airport enlarged and modernized) outside Washington, D.C. there were no working faucets or air dryers in the women's room that turned out to be my unlucky choice the morning of my arrival.

4. On Tuesday, I joined three colleagues in briefing a large group of generals and admirals at the Pentagon. The briefing garnered kudos, perhaps because we had rehearsed the briefing -- twice. The most difficult part of that long morning, for me, was not the briefing itself but rather the constant need to check my urge to cough. I am still trying to get rid of the mold of whatever it was that crawled out of the air conditioning, sneaking past the one or two wispy cilia I still have in my bronchial tubes and taking up residence in my lungs, a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting Padre Julio in San Diego. The room at the Pentagon was small; there were many people; all were silent and listening, except for some occasional tough questioning. Any rustle of paper brought all eyes to the person doing the shuffling, so you can imagine the effect of a cough ricocheting off the front wall and ping-ponging to the back of the room. I devoured three full rolls of Hall's cough drops in an effort to tame my excited cough mechanism.

5. Ah, Wednesday! A great day! First, I could sleep in. I had no appointments or meetings in the morning! Yippee! I did have to check out of the hotel at noon, but I could do that in a leisurely manner. Prior to my 1:00 meeting, I was able to accomplish quite a bit of email catch-up and calls that had been put off for days. It seemed like order was returning to my life. And then my life was rolled back 27 years. In 1983, when I first moved to Washington to work at the US Department of State (where I stayed until 1989, when I moved to California), I left the kids with Donnie while I looked for good schools and proper housing, not an easy task in a city about which I knew little. Not wanting to stay alone in an apartment (proving that I am an inveterate introvert), I moved into a large house with four college students, two of whose parents owned the house but were assigned by State Department to South Africa at the time. That made five of us: two guys and three gals. We have remained in touch all these years, but the only I have seen since in person has been K. Lizzie lived with K and her family during her senior year, earning her board and room by babysitting K's kids. (We had moved farther south by then, and Lizzie wanted to graduate from Washington & Lee High School where she had been since freshman year; K lived in the W&L district.) Right after Donnie and kids arrived from Pittsburgh where they had been living (and I with them before my transplantation to DC) D and M married each other, a surprise to the rest of us. Donnie took their wedding pictures, and we reminisced about that. C and S have remained in touch, and S lives in San Diego, so we are state-mates. It was a fun evening, less boisterous than in our early days because we all had to work the next morning and, well, because frankly we are all a bit older. The evening began with Indian food for dinner, blossomed into a round-robin telephone call with S in San Diego, and ended with my spending the night with K before she took me to the airport Thursday morning. (In photo, from left: C, me, M, D, K.)

6. Thursday morning put an adrenaline-and-tears end to the pleasantries of the night before. Shock, really, was the state I began the morning in, and I am still in shock. A good friend and the leader of our Bible Studies program, I learned through an email, had simply not awakened in the morning. His wife has been quite ill, and he has been her caretaker. No one, including the doctors, ever thought that he was ill. Now he is dead, and no one knows why. The funeral will be on Monday. It was a sad, numb day -- all the way home through all my return flights and drives. I still do not know what to make of it. I have now received calls from several people, all of whom are in the same state as I am. Sr. Maria was the one who learned what happened, but even she does not know why, just what. Of course, too, we are all concerned about the sick wife, who is also a friend of ours. Her daughter will be taking care of her; that much is clear since the daughter lives at home with her. One thing gives me consolation. Last year, when he and she celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and, being on a very limited income, had no plans for a party or eating out, let alone traveling anywhere, I learned that their anniversary was on the evening of our Bible Studies class, which my friend was prepared to lead that day. So, without telling him, I ordered Middle Eastern food from the city near where I work (his favorite food and not obtainable in the town where we live) and brought it back, along with a cake, to celebrate the anniversary there. As luck (and mybe more than just luck) would have it, Fr. Ed worked late that day, so he joined us in the celebration. I know that my friends enjoyed the surprise very much. Little did I know that they would not make their 51st! How happy I am that I could make their 50th memorable! I am also more committed than ever to being thankful for every day I have, knowing that none of us know which of our days will be our last, and to making the most of each day for the glory of God because each day that passes is a day we don't get back while the days before us are numbered. That is how my friend lived. He was an example for all who knew him.

7. If Thursday was not enough of a shock, I got a further electrifying input at work today. A number of employees and I are on salary supplements because our pay scale is not in keeping with the average for our field while our jobs are more demanding than most in our field. I learned today that effective immediately all salary supplements would be cut by 2/3. I have a salary that is among the highest in our organization so I cannot complain because I will be in better shape than most, but it will take so belt-tightening to manage expenses -- and the timing is not good since I am still helping Shane and Lemony in the wake of his taking a lower-paying job after being fired because of Nikolina's medical bills: Clan under Siege). I spent part of today giving the bad news to people and the rest of the day getting the paperwork in so that at least they can get the 33% pittance. Well, at least, we all have jobs. Not everyone can say that. While my employees were shocked, they were nonetheless grateful that they are employed. One must look at the bigger picture and, as Pollyanna would say, find something to be glad about. I am not only glad that I have a job but also that I have such terrific employees who also look for the "glad" in their lives.

Hoping that you have a pleasant weekend -- quiet, calm, and no shocks! Be glad!