Category Archives: Good People

Free Job Advice for Youngsters

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Here's a blog post from Jessica Gottlieb with some great job advice for Millenials, including:

  • Your first job will probably be a crappy job. Don’t wait until you’re 20-something to have that first job. Working is good for you, even when it’s not fun. 
  • No one owes you a job, you’re replaceable so it’s up to you to be better than everyone else (this advice holds true until you’re 75 or so)
  • If you work in a service industry tips should feel like silver and gold raindrops. No one is obligated to give them to you. Customers can sniff out entitlement.

To this I'll add:

  • Be on time.
  • Watch your language. Not just cursing, but grammar. You don't necessarily need to know when to use "who" or "whom", but at least know that you shouldn't say "I'm doing good" when you're asked how you're doing.
  • Dress appropriately and accept that it is perfectly reasonable for your boss to define what is appropriate.
  • Use a firm handshake when you greet people, but don't try to break their knuckles. Also, unless someone's your friend don't give them a hug/bro-hug.
  • This is for guys: shave every day even if you don't think you need it. Believe me, you do. If you have a beard, keep it trimmed and shave where appropriate every day.
  • Flirt at your own risk. It can backfire on you in a big way.

There's plenty more where that came from; things I was once taught and that have never really changed.

Side note: you millenials are exactly where we Generation X/Y, Baby Boomers were at your age. The generations that preceded us thought we were slackers/losers/lost causes too.

In Retrospect

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Over at Letters of Note is a great letter written in 1974 by an WWII veteran and pilot on his deathbed to his grandson:

But, in spite of what I've said, there is much, in life to enjoy – to relish. There is also much that can be done to make life worth while and living worth the "candle." There is a rich heritage of literature and music that awaits your investigation – it's there for the taking – in the libraries of the country and in the archives of the museums. There is poetry and prose – enough to fill all the hours you can spare to listen to them and more knowledge, on every conceivable subject, than you can assimilate in a lifetime. It's all there just waiting for you to ask for it or to seek it out. Don't overlook it or pass it up for less important or less meaningful pastimes.

Most important of all is ability to savor life, to taste of it in as many variances as you can – while you can. Life never looks so short as when you look back on it. Unfortunately you cannot do this until it has passed you by. So, as you go through life, don't overlook the "Lily in the Field," the newborn puppy, the fledgling bird – for they are as much (or more) of life as the tall buildings, the shiny automobiles and the possessions we tend to place so much importance upon. If you can do just this much – life will be more meaningful for you…

And my favorite paragraph, one that I would echo for my own children:

If I could package (with ribbon) those gifts that I would most like to give you, I would. But how do you package integrity, how do you wrap honesty, what kind of paper for a sense of humor, what ribbon for inquisitiveness?

The Agony of Dafeet

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As I've written about in years past the organization I work for, Piedmont Triad Apartment Association, does an annual food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC.  One of the cool developments over the last couple of years is the development of other fundraisers tied to ours and a perfect example is Matt's Run to Fight Hunger.

One of our board members, Matt Ketterman, has a running streak of running at least one mile every day for over 22 years. That's 8,030 straight days for those of you who are counting.  A couple of years ago to celebrate his streak hitting 20 years Matt started his run to fight hunger with the help of Off 'n Running in Greensboro, NC. The concept was simple: bring a food or cash donation as your entry "fee" to the the run and then run a 5 or 10k with a bunch of like-minded runners.  The run was a big success so Matt did it again last year and this year he really ramped it up and decided to set a goal of raising one dollar for every mile of his streak, or $8,030. 

This year's run happened on the morning of July 6 and Matt had over 200 runners show up and he raised more than his $8,030 goal. Below is the Fox8 story about the run (you can see yours truly really suffering through the last part of the 10k at about the 1:55 point of the story) and although they say the run raised $7,000 that was just the morning of the race: donations continue to come in even as I type this.

FYI, PTAA will be sponsoring the annual Fill the Stands With Cans effort for Second Harvest this Friday (July 19) at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game and next Friday (July 26) at the Winston-Salem Dash game. If you bring a food or cash donation to the game you'll automatically be entered for a prize drawing. Hope to see you there!

Laugh to Triumph Over Fear

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From a brilliant 2006 column by Gene Weingarten titled The Peekaboo Paradox:

At its heart, laughter is a tool to triumph over fear. As we grow older, our senses of humor become more demanding and refined, but that basic, hard-wired reflex remains. We need it, because life is scary. Nature is heartless, people can be cruel, and death and suffering are inevitable and arbitrary. We learn to tame our terror by laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Speaking of laughter, you simply must visit Laughing at My Nightmare. Shane Burcaw is the nephew/cousin of some good friends and his approach to life is simply amazing.

The Power of Words

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If you've ever doubted the power of words you should read this letter, written to the family of Frank Ciulla, a victim of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing,  by the Connells, the family who discovered his body on their land. It was written after the Ciullas had visited the Connells several years after the bombing. Here's a small excerpt:

It was just wonderful to meet you face-to-face. We needed to talk to you all too. As you said, we will get to know Frank through you. He was never just "another victim" to us. For months we called him "Our Boy." Then we found out his name. He was "Our Frank." Please believe me we were deeply affected by his coming to us. We will never forget our feelings seeing him there, a whole-bodied handsome man, the life gone out of him in a twinkling. We were just past trying to grasp the whole thing. 

Then to have to leave him there, but he was visited throughout the night by police and a doctor and we went back again in the morning. He was a fellow man and he had come to us in the saddest way. So now through him we have you in our hearts, and please, we want you all to know that you are welcome here whenever you come. 

The Connell Family

 

LiFless

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After an extended period of periodic posting Esbee is pulling the plug on Life in Forsyth. (That's an intentionally terrible sentence written specifically in honor of Esbee's impatience with sub-par writing).  I for one am grateful for the free entertainment and information she provided through the years and I'm also thankful she let us go gently over the last year or two.

She's moving on to far more important things and she's going to be fabulous at them all.