Dopp Juice Archive

I have 10 browser windows open (including tabs… thank you Firefox), iTunes playing a variety of songs, a handful of other programs open mid-project, my inbox boasting a number of unanswered emails, papers strewn across my desk, my new pride-and-joy large whiteboard displaying several color-coded things-to-do lists next to a half-finished brainstorm, and a spiral bound notebook boasting a brain-purge list of everything on my mind that I haven’t yet taken care of.And I’m staring blankly at a wall.When the noise around me starts to resemble the static of a missing television station, I realize I’m no longer acting. I’m reacting. And not very effectively at that. I don’t think I’m alone in this experience. It’s the multitasker’s reality, the self-employed professional’s life, the modern American situation. We live at the levels we expect to live at. We expect certain levels of noise, procrastination, and disatisfaction. There’s a threshold of pain we don’t allow ourselves to go beyond, and there’s a threshold of peace we don’t allow ourselves to enter. We know our limits, we chock them up to reality, and we stay within them.It takes a lot of work to change those limits. Right now, I’m exploring the options for reducing the noise in my life, and battling myself in internal debates. Half of me is struggling to be more aware and make decisions to simplify the distracting stimuli around me, while the other half of me is fighting tooth and nail to maintain those comfortable levels of noise. I reduce one thing, another one pops up. I spend an hour examining my patterns, and then follow it with two hours zoning out on autopilot. Breaking habits is a process of negotiation.You can either jump into the cold water from the cliff and risk a heart attack and paralysis, or you can ease yourself in and take all day.

Update: 1/29/06The very sweet manager at the local Sprint store defended me to the higher-ups and secured my insurance. Thank you, Duane. And thank you, Sprint. We’ll just put this matter behind us now and get back to the mutually beneficial relationship that we’ve had in the past… sound good?-Sarah

Attention Blogosphere: Sprint is providing me with extremely poor customer service right now to the point where I’m seriously angry, and they just don’t seem to care.Attention Sprint: If you’ll just resolve my issue, I’ll retract this public complaint and once again sing your praises to the world. I really don’t like being angry with you, but you’re displaying a level of incompetence right now that I just can’t accept.Generally, I’m pretty happy with Sprint. They have great coverage in the places I’ve lived. Their customer service is friendly. Their phones tend to have more features than most companies. Their new Fair and Flexible plan makes me jump for joy. They didn’t charge me a contract-breaking fee when my ex left my plan and started his own account. They even have a great website, which is something that matters to me. But they’re not treating me well right now, and I’m running out of options. We’re talking about 3 months of back-and-forth phone calls that have done no more than send me in circles, as well as a number of blatant customer service botches. Let me take you through the experience. Read the rest of this entry »

If your passion is to lead organizations that change the world in significant–and meaningful–ways, we want to hear from you. –Robert L. Joss, Professor and Dean, Stanford Graduate Business School

I am going to Stanford for my MBA.No, they haven’t accepted me yet. But that’s only because I haven’t applied. Rest assured, it will all happen. But I have some work to do first. Here’s the list:

• Fill my head with business info from some key books (suggestions?).
• Take a business math class.
• Take an economics class.
• Take the GMAT and do exceptionally well (Stanford doesn’t require the “exceptionally well” part, but I might as well do that anyway).
• Get a summer 2006 internship with a Stanford Graduate Business School alum (my eye is on you, Seth Godin. When are you announcing your next big project?).
• Get a recommendation letter from that alum.
• Start volunteering at a local nonprofit that uses my technical & professional writing skills (suggestions?), and get a recommendation letter from my direct supervisor there.
• Incorporate The Writ as a tax-exempt nonprofit.
• Secure grant money for The Writ and start giving the staff stipends.
• Get a peer recommendation letter from Julián Esteban Torres, my partner in literary organization crime.
• Write a personal essay about my work on The Writ.
• Pick something else remarkable that I’ve done and write another personal essay about it.
• Learn Chinese (hey, it can’t hurt).
• Get my bachelor’s degree (note to self: don’t forget this one).

Consider this my New Year’s Resolution. With the possible exception of incorporating The Writ (the govt. likes to drag its feet on such issues), I intend to do all of this in 2006.Wish me luck and send me tips (only encouraging ones). I’ll keep you posted on my progress.