Any project manager at home or at work knows that money is easy to spend and hard to manage. It is never fun asking for more from the client or your boss so you need to save wisely. This holiday season, it seems appropriate to talk about decision making for...

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Musicians typically start with a piece of already transcribed music. The notes on the page show how they fit together, and the symbols tell you how to play them. But you have the artistic freedom to interpret them, add soul, and turn it into something beautiful that is your own....

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Love hearing about our daring adventures? This year we did a VRBO to Puerto Vallarta back in September and things did not all go as planned. Sure it wasn't a hurricane (that came in October), but we did have cancelled excursions, broken cars, and money challenges. In a foreign country it...

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I thought it might be useful for some to hear my story about studying for the PMP or the CAPM exam. I did not do the classroom route or the bootcamp expense. I studied alone but I didn't go it alone as I had a support network of mentors. I...

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Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown I loved this book which doesn't surprise me as I loved hearing Brené speak three years ago at a Denver Conference held by the Leadership Investment. Brené is a strong writer that draws...

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It's No Shave November! Okay, I'm a lady so unless we're talking about my armpits (and ew) it doesn't apply. But there are many things that we would rather not do on a regular basis that this month is dedicated to "allow" us to pass on for a while. Well,...

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How can you not be inspired by the fall season? This year, I'm working with a client in the mid west and oh my goodness do the colors put Colorado's aspens to shame! Beautiful. I do have a lot of trees at my own house and that means lots of...

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Okay, so you're not a manager of any kind. There are some employees that stand out. You notice them. You know who they are and for a good reason. I think there are three types of employees that take the word "worker" to a different level. The Cheater Knowing how...

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One of the age old difficulties of working with other teams outside your own is that they have no prior context of your abilities. There is no trust built and even though you are working together, you aren't on the same team yet. How can you bridge that gap and...

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A couple weeks ago, I posted about three key tools that every project manager needs. Being a people managers is tough as a lot of your needed skills are soft skills and are hard to learn, buy, or teach. I do think however that there are a few that every...

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There are a lot of star quarterbacks hurt this football season already: Luck, Roethlisberger, Romo. Here's to hoping that they get well soon! What I think is special about football teams is that these injured players are always on the sideline. They don't miss a game, stay at home, or...

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Here is my version of the good, the bad, and the ugly. A good project manager (PM) has good organization skills and good listening skills, sure, but here are a few things that I think can make or break a PM. The clincher? You can BUY all of these things...

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We've all dealt with a micromanager in our lives so I know I don't need to preach to the choir on that one! But what I learned the past week is that the opposite of a bad micromanager as a boss is a good micromanager as a new hire. I...

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The past few years I've tackled many home improvement projects such as a new furniture, painting, building a deck, installing crown molding, and right now it's building a garden bed. Many of these projects are definitely easier if you have the right tools. (I made a lot of trips to...

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I saw a great article today (admittedly on Facebook) on the fact that yes, you do use the Algebra every single day. And that dogs do complex calculus. I love this! Sure, there are actual equations we sometimes make like calculating tip on a restaurant bill, counting billable hours this...

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I'm inspired this week not only by the Supreme Court ruling on Gay Marriage but also Jurassic World coming out in theaters. Over the weekend I watched the original Jurassic Park... for the first time. I know, it may be as great an insult as not seeing Star Wars, but...

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It is always about half way through the second week that the small talk turns a bit more personal. You've covered the weather, local restaurants, feelings about the project, etc. and you're out of polite conversation. It's not that you aren't friendly but you know that you won't ever see...

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I am an engineer by heart and yes, I can read binary. I think that the basics of computers are simple and graceful way to evaluate things and when I started thinking about it, there are a lot of applications for the on or off, true or false, one or...

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I got back from a long trip (over a whole month) and when I walked into the office Monday morning, I was surprised to be greeted by so many "Welcome Back!"s. It made me feel really special because it wasn't a "Where have you been" or "I haven't seen you...

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I just watched the movie In a World (Netflix!) and boy does it show you a real world example of getting exactly what you wanted. It never is with all the rainbows and piles of money that you imagined but I think it demonstrates the human aspects of true happiness...

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I just got invited to become one with Denver's Yelp Elite Squad! Check out my reviews if you're interested. I travel a lot for work and I rely on Yelp to find the good food spots and am glad to share my finds for future out-of-towners. Finding the non-chain places adds...

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A little bragging of my team: successful day one completed! When you are introducing massive change to nearly 200 people all at once, it can be overwhelming. One bad attitude, one misunderstanding, one mishap and slow correction, can quickly domino the day away... and none of that happened. It was...

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Inspired by Mother's Day this week, here's a post to help you think about how lucky you have it. There have been some pretty sweet commercials for Mother's Day this year and your mom really is someone unique and special to you. It makes me think of how many people...

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My inspiration this week comes from a great article full of tips from TED talk speakers. The last one states that "If you have thirty minutes, take 25. If you have an hour, take 50." They say that you are respecting your audience when you are conscientious of their time....

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Are you in a place where you love what you do? Are you excited about coming to work every day and feel like you don't work a day in your life. Haha, no probably not. I think there are a rare breed that is that certain about their life choices....

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It is no lie that even with all of the great minds, great resources, and great intentions that projects can still fall apart. It is frustrating when dealing with missed deadlines, budgets, or worst of all, both. So what can you do if you are off track? Well, obviously you...

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Last month I hit my one year anniversary at my new (can I still call it new?) company. Hooray! What I realized though is that emotionally it is more a relief than a celebration. A year ago I was unemployed after being laid off and well, it still stresses me...

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The Answer? Laughter. Seriously. It is the key to a good team, to easing tensions, and for simply brightening up your life. It is a body language tool that you can use to your advantage whether intentionally or not. Whether you have a hearty boom, a snickering smile, or continuous...

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Yup, it happened to me. And I think there are two reactions to this scenario: you love it or hate it. You're either jealous or proud. Honestly, it was a bit of both for me as I have similar ambitions but for our team, this change will be good for...

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Holy moly, my last post was #100 and I wasn't even paying attention! To be honest, I'm a little surprised myself that I've been blogging [almost] once a week for 2.5 years. It's time to rethink my goals of this blog so there may be some changes coming soon so...

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It has been over a year since I completed my MBA and not being on the education system schedule is... weird. I haven't stopped learning though - right now I'm reading about the stock market at home and SQL scripts at work. Why do we feel driven to learn and...

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I finished my first sci-fi book of the year and when I learned it was made into a movie I watched it right away. This 2010 movie, Never Let Me Go (which is actually also a song), just didn't live up to the book. There seemed to be so much left out, implied,...

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It is hard to ignore the winter storm that Colorado had this weekend. My house got over a foot with some drifts closer to two. It is amazing how snow can bring out the cuddle bunny in all of us: reading, hot tea, family movie time, snowman building, and lots...

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I finally finished Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer and the story of the Busch family, politics, commerce, and more. It was interesting because this truely "American" company is a very strong brand that has evolved over 100+ years before its monarchy ended...

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Standing on the edge with sweat on your forehead looking down, down, down into a deep blue pool of water. Count down, 3, 2, 1 and... do you jump off the cliff into the certain fun? Do you know that combined feeling of fear and excitment in this song? This...

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I've been tired this week. The constant travel has really taken a lot of my energy and all I really want to do is get some sleep and take it easy for a couple days. Unfortunately, life doesn't always let you take a break when you need it. Sometimes you...

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I had a few lunch meetings in the last two weeks and there is just something about some people that makes you feel good after you hang out with them. I feel grateful to have some of these people in my life so thank you shoutout to Miranda, Jung, Jeanne,...

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Why do we work 40 hours a week and can the government do anything about changing that? Actually, just this last week the Save American Workers Act of 2015 is in the news about Obamacare workers' hours. There are a bunch of great books out there that advocate a 30 hour...

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IT'S GONE! Finally. We had bought a keg of Dale's Pale Ale for my dad for his retirement back in November and it is finally empty! Now that we have gained more weight than anyone should over the holidays, we can start the New Year's weight loss resolutions on the right...

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