The best link on the whole wide web!

It's new. It's improved. It's easier to navigate. It has fun and relevant information. It's re-creation consumed 42.7 million hours of my summer. If you love me, you will follow this link and tell me how much you love it. If you really love me, you'll make it your new home page.

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How My Day is Like One of Jack Bauer's Days:

1. In the first five minutes of my day, everything appeared normal. (True.)
2. Upon arriving at YDAU (Youth Dynamics Administrative Unit) I received disturbing news while in the situation room. (Modified version of the truth: since I was in my office when I learned of the situation, I could call my office the "Situation Room." and we don't really call it YDAU...but if we could make it catch on...we certainly could.)
3. Made a phone call--asked the call recipient of he/she was "on a secure line." (True.)
4. Met with the President to discuss how to best communicate sensitive information. (Definitely true.)
5. Received urgent phone call that someone needed access to the restricted program on the server. (True.) I don't have level three clearance. (Metaphor.) Tell person to contact our resident "Chloe," who could grant me provisional access to the restricted program. (Definitely true.)
6. Receive phone call from "Chloe," who guides me through the login remotely. (True.)
7. Diffuse a can of nerve gas. (Metaphor: I actually opened a can of Diet Coke to ease my nerves.)

Although all of the above information is true, phrasing this as such is evidently what happens as a direct result of watching all of Season Five of 24 in a 5-day period of time.

Clay's out of town for two weeks. I'm apparently filling his absence with televised drama. Next on the agenda: Firefly.

Why is there not a better title for this entry than There and Back Again?

I've just returned from a formative trip--one that makes me feel like at the end of the trip, I've arrived back at the same place to find that everything is different.

My 9-day trip across the Southwest started last Sunday. It was preceded by a day of visiting with Hannah and Jon, who flew out to Washington on their spring break. We celebrated their visit by eating lots of good food, watching Arrested Development, and going to bed early.

Early Sunday morning I was off to Palm Springs, California, which is the brainchild of some creative capitalist who decided the best place for a bunch of green golf courses is the middle of the desert. Palm Springs is a nice town, though. On the way there, we enjoyed a breezy 2-hour drive from Ontario, in which we could intake all the beautiful graffiti that lines I-10 through San Bernadino.

My five days in Palm Springs were to attend the Christian Management Association (CMA) Conference. It was fantastic! I listened to great talks from Dr. Henry Cloud, Gordon MacDonald, Patrick Lencioni, and Priscilla Evans Shirer. I attended workshops about Financial Development and Marketing. And I enjoyed a lot of QT with the other YD leaders. In fact, beyond the info I was gathering, that was the best part of the whole week--the informal time with my coworkers, talking about the future of YD and the excitement and tension about change. I definitely got to know everyone a lot better, and a lot of trust was built. (As I like to say--relational equity.)

After five days of filling my brain with work-related brainstorms, I said goodbye to California and headed east to Arizona.

Clay met me at the rental car drop-off at Sky Harbor, and we went to visit Drew, Lisa and Justin, Taylor friends who live in Phoenix. We enjoyed a fantastic rooftop dinner at sunset in downtown Scottsdale...and if we would have desired to purchase a buffalo head for the living room wall, our dreams could have certainly come true. We enjoyed great food, fondue, and fun conversation. And I ate a lot of queso...which was so good to eat and so sad to say goodbye to after I'd eaten it all.

During our fantastic 24 hours in Phoenix with the aformentioned Drew, Lisa, and Justin, we also had coffee with my friend Laura from TU Admissions, and enjoyed a raucous afternoon with the amazingly talented Karaoke Trio of Tim, Jennifer, and Frenchy. (Apart from our visit highlight, which included Jennifer spilling gallons of Horchata smoothie all over the Gas Station Slushie aisle, we were introduced to SingShot, an online community for karaoke lovers.)

Then, Clay and I headed to Tucson so I could meet his life. During the three days in Tucson, I met lots of fun peeps from Clay's church, saw the sunrise over Tucson from a viewpoint on Mt. Lemmon, had my first Eegee, explored 4th Avenue and dined at Caruso's, drove past the US Air Force Airplane Graveyard, and saw a lot of the sun and cacti.

The weekend in Tucson was fabulous...I got a lot of confirmation about Clay and I's relationship just as a result of meeting other people who are friends with Clay...in fact, it was all so fabulous, that when I got off the plane in dreary Seattle yesterday, I began crying about stupid things. (Things like missing the airport shuttle the first time it came and forgetting to take the West Seattle exit.) I think this is a testament to missing the sun, having the letdown of coming home after a fabulous trip, being alone on the car ride home, and being really sad that after 5 days with Clay, I had once again said goodbye.

So I arrive home after nine days with a lot of confidence...I'm confident in my personal relationship with the Lord...I'm confident that I enjoy my job immensely...I'm confident that Clay and I belong together...and I'm confident that what this world needs is more online karaoke and Horchata smoothie.

Life is very, very good.

Californiaaaa and Arizonaaaaa

So I'm off traveling again starting this weekend. First to Palm Springs, California for the Christian Management Association's Spring Conference. At the conference, I will go to exciting seminars on Marketing, Fundraising, and Strategic Planning. (Do not read any sarcasm into this sentence. I am actually stoked about it!)

And then I will drive to Puh-ho-nix, Arizona to see Drew and Lisa, Tim and Jennifer, Laura, and boyfriend Clay.

Here are my anticipated highlights for next week:

1. Having my brain overloaded by exciting career information.
2. Enjoying time with my coworkers and continuing to build relationships with the YD Leadership.
3. Getting a tan.
4. Wearing my new "business casual" wear from Gap Outlet.
5. Spending four hours driving across the California/Arizona desert with my iPod blaring.
6. Seeing six good Taylor friends I haven't seen in awhile.
7. Drinking 14 gallons of water per day.
8. Applying lotion 6-10 times per day.
9. Applying aloe vera 2-3 times per day.
10. Visiting boyfriend's place of residence, church of employment, circle of friends, etc.

And my yet-to-be highlights from tonight:

1. Leaving work at a decent hour.
2. Buying new sunglasses and body wash from B&BW.
3. Preparing the homestead for a visit from Jon and Hannah tomorrow. (Hannah being my bestest friend from my time in Kenya during fall of 2001. She and husband Jon are visiting from Indiana before I leave on Sunday morning!)
4. Getting a smoothie on the way home.

It's the small things in life, you know. I will hope to post more of exciting California/Arizona revelations. Maybe even a torrid tale of running in the desert just before heat stroke. And a blog entry on meeting the significant other's significant others will surely transpire at some point. Please wait on the edge of your seats in eager anticipation.

My Onion Horoscope for This Week...

It wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't so true:

Aquarius January 20 - February 18

Your perfectionist streak will consume you this week when you attempt to posit the world's single most precise chaos theory.

I've been staring at the easel in my room, drawing diagrams loosely themed, "What is my job?" Trying to develop quantitative definitions for an abstract job description feels very much like trying to target chaos theory. I'm being melodramatic, I know...but it's all in good fun.

I've been reading books on leadership and fundraising and hashing out brainstorms on big diagrams...I really love my job this week.

Communications Insight.

A Public Service Announcement from your favorite Communications Director: face-to-face contact always yields better results impersonal mass communication...

...your response to this should be "duh." Yet--in an e-world, especially when my staff are scattered in ten offices in three states, email often is the primary mode of contact...and it's frustrating how ineffective email communication usually is.

For months, I've been struggling to build enough repoire with the YD Directors to step fully into the role of Communications Director for all the offices. "The Directors," as they are so sublimely titled, are ten 30-to-50-something men, nine of whom are married, and most of whom have been doing full-time ministry forever. Since we're all far away, most of that repoire-building comes via phone and email, which are not the best avenues to assert and establish yourself. And it's an uphill battle for me, because these men all got to know me first in my role as 23-year-old entry-level Area Staff, not as 26-year-old Administrative Communications guru.

But today--I feel like the heavens have opened up and God has spoken to me from atop Mt. Sinai and said, "Heather, I will teach you how to properly communicate with your Directors, and it will be good."

This month is "Corporate Newsletter" month, in which I work on piecing together and editing our 16-page, tri-annual Reflections newsletter. I've been dragging my feet on setting the deadlines for submissions, because I hate getting flack back about the deadlines... Yesterday, I lucked out and had chance face-to-face encounters with four of the ten directors... and it was fun to brainstorm article ideas with all of them, and when I told them the deadlines, they all said, "no problem." Then, for the six directors I didn't talk to in person, I picked up the phone and called them. I left messages for three, asking them to call me back. And then today--I sent ten personalized emails about logistics and deadlines. All of this communication took the place of a normal solitary mass email.

In total, it took me about two hours over two days to manage all of the personal communication, as opposed to the 20-30 minutes that it would have taken to write one email. A little more time, but a lot more personal contact. (Ohh...how Jerry Maguire of me...)

And already, this feels so much more effective: 1.) because I had ten separate personal conversations with the Directors in which I was operating in my role, which certainly helps establish my repoire with them better than an email; 2.) because all ten directors have a clear idea of what I'm looking for, which helps their writing process; 3.) because I've already pre-approved their topic, which saves me time during edits; 4.) because the personal messages and personal emails I left yesterday were all returned today, which means they connected with the way in which I communicated. (n.b. in my tenure, my phone messages have never resulted in such prompt responses.)

Suddenly, after ten months of fumbling through this job and trying to gain any clout or understanding of what I'm supposed to be doing, it feels like I'm finally stepping up and doing it. And--I'm getting the results I want...mostly because I'm figuring out how to communicate with "The Directors" in the way that works best for them.

That was a long hike up to Sinai...and I'm glowing in the face of a mini-revelation. Will someone please give me a pat on the back?

Saturdays are Fun Work Days!

I don't exactly understand this...but my most productive times for getting work done are Friday Nights and Saturday afternoons. I am incapable of accomplishing anything on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, but on Fridays and Saturdays, I'm totally motivated.

So this afternoon I've cleaned out my office, and I'm taking care of details for YS in Anaheim.

I wanted to redo the display board before I leave, so I'm working on Graphics. But--I was pulling my hair out because I have no idea what the dimensions of the board are, and it's already in Anaheim.

The Accounting Director just stopped in to say g'bye, and I explained the scenario to her:

Me: "I cannot for the life of me figure out how big the display board is. It's driving me crazy."
Her: "Don't you have the other half of the display board here?"
Me: "Sweet Jesus! You are a GENIUS! I LOVE YOU!"

Thirty seconds later, I've pulled out the matching half of the display board that didn't go to the conventions and discovered there are five folding panels 23" x 46".

Suddenly, my Saturday work productivity has just increased ten-fold.

And having an outside voice of reason was ridiculously helpful. Seriously, I would have sat here for an hour trying to figure out how big that stupid board was, and she solved my dilemma in thirty seconds.

I think this is why the Lord said, "It is not good for man to be alone."