Blogs

There’s a simple truth when it comes to doing good, creative work: You can’t force inspiration. Despite this, there’s a tendency amongst productive people to muscle through problems in an attempt to find a creative solution. They keep their heads down, grind harder, and put in hours. But ultimately, that method doesn’t lead to fresh ideas. It leads to frustration, and it’s a waste of time. Instead, set yourself up to find inspiration in your daily routine. As a product designer and business owner, I’m constantly faced with new problems that demand creative thinking. Early in my career, I found myself hitting my head against the wall, waiting for inspiration ...

Recently, I went to high school Back-to-School night with my first husband, Mike, and we ran into a colleague of his I’d never met before. “This is Christine,” Mike said brightly, and then he hesitated. “My, um, my…ex-wife.” As soon as we walked away, he apologized. “I’m so sorry for introducing you as my ex-wife. It’s such an ugly term. I should have just said you were Molly’s mom, but he doesn’t know Molly, so I wasn’t sure what to say.” We have been divorced for ten years; we’ve both been re-married for five. I harbor no ill feeling about being called Mike’s ex-wife, but I was touched by his sensitivity and kindness. At the end of the evening, he even opened ...

testing this

Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing everyone next week in Dallas and starting 2013 on the right foot, planning and preparing for a great year. With such an amazing group of people, we're sure to conquer whatever comes at us, even ACA / HCR.

Pacific Dental Services brought back the Dental Dash last year and is very excited to sponsor it again this year. I thought I should let everyone who ran in 2011 know that I've been training so you're going to have to step up your game if you were planning on taking the trophy from me.

Don't you wish you had a freeze or time out like we had when we were kids playing games during recess in elementary school? There's a barrage of issues and fires that we deal with on a daily basis that need our attention, but we only have 14 (working) hours in a day and science has proven we can't really multi-task, so a time out or freeze would be extremely helpful. As kids we did it to get away or to take a break. As an adult I'd use it to catch up or allow myself time to get to something that I may be behind with. That's where we’re at now with HB698 / SB655 in North Carolina. We thought it was going to die a slow quiet death last year. No such luck. ...

- First Blog entry attempt - I'm really excited about Converge 2011 in Atlanta, GA. The conference is shaping up nicely. It looks like we'll have great sessions with new and incredible speakers / panelists. This will be my first visit to the state and city. I know it has a rich history, which I hope to experience some of. I'm also hoping to visit with an old friend of mine from when I was in the Navy. The last time I saw Jay Welch was at my wedding. I'm a little concerned about the heat and humidity though. I'm spoiled coming from perfect weather in Southern California. gary