A plate of crudites (read veggies) is sitting in front of you.  What do you do?
Everyone looks in horror as I reached for the cauliflower…

I love cauliflower…I will eat it raw, no dressing…cooked…in a salad…fresh out of the ground if I could…
I really do enjoy it…think I will go buy some of it after work while contemplating what to make for dinner tonight since I am actually off…

want to come over for dinner???

when choosing food from a supermarket — from shelves to cart — we make so many decisions…
fat – no fat?
shredded – block?
ham – turkey?
whole wheat – rye?

we represent ourselves to the world while putting our 40 lb bag of lamb&rice dog food on the belt to checkout….the 24 pack of diet coke…the sweet and low….the skim milk….

most of us…MOST of us..are total hypocrites when it comes to grocery shopping…
the low fat cottage cheese next to the Doritos…next to the apples next to the caramel dip for the apples….

one note…I don’t dip Doritos in cottage cheese as the above sentence may seem to project…gross…I put cucumbers or grape tomatoes or fruit…or just eat it plain.

I find it funny that I totally hate grocery shopping yet I love food that much…I love it..eating it…making it….chopping it….finding cool things to mix together in total anticipation of what I can create….I think I will make something with goat cheese tonight..maybe some pasta or I don’t know…

I will get to looking on the web for that fun fall recipe that makes me go…ohhhhhhhhh

So while you are all hungry now and I sit and eat my slightly watery Easy Mac (more hypocrisy),  I guess I challenge you to try something new this fall…maybe make your shopping basket a little different.

Eat some cauliflower…I dare you…without ranch dressing dripping off of it…

I just finished watching the final presidential debate.  This is not going to turn into a political piece, I promise!  But it did help to remind me of a topic I’ve been meaning to think some more about -  the value of a discount. The economy is on most American’s minds – old and young, musicians and fans, business owners and consumers. Many families have created new budgets for themselves, making cuts where possible.  Bands are starting to find more economical ways to spread their music through online outlets and creative fan interaction, as the van and trailer touring isn’t as feasible as it once was.  However, I have been especially interested in some new challenges that face businesses, particularly the decision of choosing to promote savings over the quality of services and products. 

One example comes to mind on this topic and can hopefully show the choice being made – I recently moved closer in town to be near work, school and friends, with the intentions of saving on gas and time.  I love it.  I can wake up 20 minutes later and be home 20 minutes sooner, I fill up once a week rather than twice and can visit with friends on a whim rather than making a day trip out of if.  Regardless, I am still driving 15 miles each way once a week to visit my old neighborhood and do my grocery shopping.  Seems pretty silly at first, when I’ve made all of the other efforts to save some change. BUT I can explain. Not only does the Publix on Cumberland in the Vinings have the freshest produce, largest wine selection and tastiest sushi, they also have the friendliest employees and shortest lines.  I’m hooked. I’ll spend the gas money and time each week because I feel I am getting the best quality product and service here, rather than at the other five stores I pass on my drive with “mega-deals” and “huge discounts.” 

I questioned myself the first few weeks and have decided that I feel better, even in this tight economy, spending a little extra for the return of consistent quality and service. Many businesses have immediately turned to slashing prices and giving deep discounts that will become permanent and eventually devalue their product.  It is tough with such an uneasy economy to maintain a price point rather than giving in to the pressure of lowering prices to stay competitive.  I think Publix has found the key to avoiding the pressure by finding and providing the little extra’s.  Keeping customers satisfied with high-class service and products will in the long run maintain loyalty and a high return of sales. While everyone can appreciate a good sale at their favorite shoe store, and enjoy the Tax Free holidays, a consistent quality of product is equally valued.  The Publix on Cumberland is one example of a business that recognizes and has built their company around this ideal. It seems to be a tough job for a business – to draw the line between good sales pricing and avoiding devaluing the brand as a whole.  I’d choose the brand, the company reputation and a 15mile drive over a neon sales sign. Is that a crazy way to choose in this economy, or can you relate?

-Melissa

Halloween is coming! YAY! It really is one of my favorite times of year. First of all, I love all things pumpkin. And I mean LOVE. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin lattes, frosting, beer, pancakes…I could go on. Secondly, I grew up in New England, where the air smells like crisp, colorful leaves at Halloween. Third, and most importantly, I am from the town next to Salem. Yes, THE Salem. “Salem, Massachusetts: The Witch City” In other words, Home of Wiccans, Willows and Weirdos. Really. The town has this certain energy like no others on the North Shore. There is just something about it. The aura is so strange, so edgy, its palpable. And yes, the TRUE history of the Salem Witch Trials is quite unsavory indeed. All of those innocent souls were taken away. Now they are unable to rest and continue to lurk in the nooks of this old sea town.

Does that contribute to the pull I feel when I’m there? Feeling restless and exhilarated, I get an irresistible urge for a wild, wild night. In fact, upon my visits, of all the places we could go, my high school friends and I always choose to romp through Salem. We always have and we always will. Where else could you pass by The House of Seven Gables? Where else could you creep through ancient cemeteries after dark and look at headstones dating back to the 1630s? What other town could possibly have a neighborhood called Witchcraft Heights?
Oh, I love it so! Walking the streets, digging the scene, feeling the eerie sensation from strange looking locals as they pass you by on Derby St. Of course, in the years since high school, Salem has embraced its witchy heritage full on. It is no longer just one or two days of Halloween, when we would search out our own fun, along with the rest of the tweakers. Now it is Halloween month, with the sponsors and the events and the tourists. I don’t mind though. Everyone should experience Salem. It is a bona fide gem of American history, complete with drama, tragedy and intrigue. And it may be more crowded and “mainstream” now, but the vibe is still there. You just have to slow down long enough to feel it. After all, the spirits still lurking there definitely feel you.

-Carla

Hi, my name is Steve, and I’ve been clutter-free for 2 weeks now.  (Hi Steve!)

This blog is long, so bear with me:  I used to save EVERYTHING.  I had receipts in my George Costanza wallet from my trip to Kroger months ago.  I had birthday cards in my closet from when I was in High School.  My room was a disaster: every area of space (dresser, desk, bookshelf) was covered with opened mail, old magazines, and books I had finished reading.

Two weeks ago, I decided to make a change, beginning with my workspace, and it has carried over to the rest of my life.  It all started when I read Tim Ferriss’s blog on Rethinking the Office (whole blog here) where he explains a unique office situation in Europe:

“Through simple redesign of workspaces, Interpolis of Holland increased productivity 20%, and sick leave has dropped from 9% to 2.5%. Last but not least, their new design also brings in 90,000 visitors a year.”

How did they do it? This next part will seem confusing to anybody working in a cubicle or behind a big desk with filing cabinets in a corporate environment:

“Individual offices seem to play no role?

No. Interpolis has open designed work floors and a large meeting floor: The Plaza, which was differently designed by artists. That’s where you can eat, drink coffee and discuss in large or small groups.

And every morning everybody hunts for his desk…

The employees are released, so to speak, in environments where there is no separate desk, where you work almost paperless without standard office desks but several different ones – suitable for all kinds of activities.”

Then, Tim posted a picture of his own home office (if you can even call it that):

I looked at the picture, then looked at my desk, and decided that I was going to make a change.  Before beginning the transformation, I forwarded the blog to Andy knowing that he had a similar philosophy.  Two minutes later, he ran into the marketing department yelling, “That blog!  That was how I wanted to set up our new office, but everybody looked at me like I was crazy! I knew it was a good idea!”

30 minutes later, after going through every piece of paper on my desk and realizing they were completely unnecessary, I had a desk with four things on it: my computer, a lamp, my Sixthman notebook, and a glass of water.  Immediately my day seemed less stressful, there was more clarity to each task I needed to complete, and I was more productive.  That night, I went home and cleaned up my room: I took all the papers off my desk, fixed my unorganized filing cabinet (a shoebox with all my important documents mixed in with useless junk mail), and folded all my laundry.  Suddenly, my entire life seemed less stressful.  This stuff actually works!

I’m currently trying to apply this simplistic, minimalist approach to other aspects of my life:

1) Stop buying DVDs!  I have a DVD collection that borders on ridiculous.  However, I haven’t bought a new movie in about 3 months, I have saved tons of money, and I still get to watch whatever I want, whenever I want (thank you netflix and iTunes).

2) Plan to buy a Kindle when I can afford it.  I love to read: I read every night before bed, and every morning right when I wake up.  I often go through two or three books a week, which means I have a bookshelf LOADED with books I probably won’t read again.  If I could condense a bookshelf full of old books into a 6 by 9 inch tablet, that’s one less thing to deal with, right?

3)Make sure all of my bills are paid electronically, so that I don’t have to receive them in the mail and deal with individually: one less thing to remember once the automatic payments are set up too.  Better for the environment as well.

4)Go through my closet, applying the 80/20 rule, and find out which 20% of my clothes I wear 80% of the time, and get rid of the stuff I never wear.  Try it out with your closet.  I guarantee you’ll find plenty of clothes you’ll never wear again, but you’re holding onto “just in case.”  You’ll never wear them, so why not bring them to a homeless shelter or goodwill?

This is where I’m at so far.  Anybody else have issues with a cluttered desk or too much junk in their closets?  Any suggestions on what else I can do to keep it simple?

Steve

Sixthman team members Steve, Lauren, and Barb talk about all things Sixthman!  Tune in as they talk about the exciting announcement of Kids in the Hall on Ships and Dip, how terrible Steve’s Fantasy Football team is, and what’s new in the world of Sixthman.

Podcast 5 [ 13:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I, like most of you, dread the task of giving a toast.  For some reason, I find myself often in situations where I am asked to make a toast or say a few words about someone or a particular topic.  This weekend, I had the great pleasure of giving the “Best Man” toast at my twin brother’s wedding.

In the past, I can remember being so anxious in the hours leading up to the microphone being placed in my hand that I could not eat or relax.  For some reason, this weekend, I was at ease for the first time.  Why you ask?  It’s time to share the strategy that has calmed my fears about giving a toast.

About 7 years ago, I began working on a technique to help me overcome this fear.  I believed that toasts were successful based on the beginning and the end, while the middle only played a smaller role.  So I began preparing only and opening line, a closing line and noted a story or two that related to the topic.  That would allow me not to get caught up in having to write it out word for word and memorizing it.  I am a firm believer in not reading from a page as it disrupts the connection with the audience.

So now, when I am handed the microphone, I engage the audience with an opening and share a relevant story or two.  I try to leave the middle undefined in case its flowing well or going nowhere.  The minute I feel like it’s losing steam, I pull the parachute and head to the finish line with confidence.

This weekend I noticed that because I wasn’t so consumed with anxiety leading up to the toast, I was able to be more aware of things happening around me and beef up my middle section with a couple of funny things that had transpired before I spoke.  When it was time to toast my brother and his bride, I stepped up to the mic and confidently greeted everyone, shared a few stories and then lifted a glass to recite my closing line.

Anyone else use this strategy?  Or another one that works?

I haven’t finished unpacking yet.

I moved in June, and I have 10 boxes of stuff that still needs a home.  Last night, I was rearranging these boxes and trying to get rid of some of the stuff that I haven’t needed for months, and I came across a gem of a box.   It was full of all of my old Sister Hazel keepsakes.  Dozens of autographed set lists, posters, CDs, pictures, guitar picks, backstage passes, and more overflowed out of the box.

After shuffling it all around, I came across a photo album that was full of pictures from my introduction to Sixthman – The Rock Boat 03.  Leafing through the photos, I immediately felt the same rush as when I stepped foot on the cruise for the first time.  Getting to see my favorite musicians at all hours of the day and night, meeting up with old friends, relaxing in the sun, experiencing music in a whole new way…it was all a dream come true.

Then I turned to the page with one of my Top 5 life moments – the pictures (and guitar pick!) from when I played on stage with Sister Hazel.  I still can’t believe they let me do that.  But in every picture, I’m totally geeking out with giddy excitement.

Now here I am, 5 years later, and a proud member of the Sixthman team.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the day-to-day tasks that go into producing events of this magnitude and forget about those moments that make these cruises the best in the world.  But it was really refreshing to sit back for a minute and remember what brought me here – the love of music, community, and taking a few days to kick back and leave reality behind.

-Lauren

“You’re on the disappeared list. I knew you only live five minutes away, but don’t worry. I didn’t sell you out.” My best friend got married on Sunday. I first met Antoinette a week into our first semester of college at Agnes Scott College. If you’ve heard of it and live outside of the greater Atlanta area, I’m impressed. We were eighteen years old and within a few days were joined at the hip, commiserating with each other about our less than desirable random roommate assignments, plotting to room together the next year, sharing second thoughts about attending a woman’s college and mooching rides off campus from the few first years with cars. Antoinette and I remained close throughout various boyfriends, more bad dates than good, fights with friends who were not so nice and classes that were not so easy. I wore the same pair of socks for two weeks, she woke me up at dawn to be serenaded by a troupe of German men she had just met. We finished each others sentences and were always asked where the other one was on the rare occasion we showed up somewhere by ourselves. Over the next few years life took it’s course, blink and college was over. For me it was not a moment too soon.

Never one to shy away from a good old fashioned cliche, I was ready to be out in the “real world.” While I was happy with my education, I was done with the sheltered bubble of my single sex college campus. I was another sucker set loose on the street armed with a $100,000 English degree. The last term paper I ever wrote, entitled “The Sexuality of Flowers: The Secret Language of American Women Writers in the 19th Century,” pretty much sums up my education. I’m still waiting for the moment I can reference Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Life of Nancy in a staff meeting.

Fast forward five years to this past Sunday and I find myself thinking about good ole’ Agnes again. Antoinette and I remained close after school and after she moved to North Carolina for a job selling Japanese lab equipment two years ago—opposites really do attract, she majored in bio-chemistry and I struggled for a D in my one required Science course. Neither of us kept up much with any other classmates and didn’t stay in touch with the school itself despite the somewhat maniacal sorority tendencies of the school’s population of under 900 and an institution that encourages “involvement” aka “money” from its alumni.

Brigid, another girl I befriended that first week of my first year, was also at Antoinette’s wedding. Brigid, it turns out only lives a few streets away from where I live now. Although we have had a few happy run-ins with promises to get together soon, we’ve not stayed in touch as much as I would like. That of course is beside the point of the disappeared list. I have spent the past five years talking very little about my college years. I don’t have much to contribute when people reminisce about keg parties and homecoming games and even if I did watch football, I wouldn’t have “my team” to root for. Every now and then someone will comment on the black onyx ring I wear on my right hand, the same class ring worn by every ASC student since the early 1900′s, but I usually change the subject.

So, why did the fact that I had no idea I just missed a five year college reunion disturb me so much? I never gave my address after I jetted out the gates, never updated my phone number and never missed what I wasn’t getting, whatever that was. When I expressed my surprise at her mention of our reunion, Brigid pointed out that this was because I was on the disappeared list. Don’t worry, she didn’t sell me out. I can’t figure out if the thing that disturbs me most is the idea that there is a disappeared list in the first place or the fact that I’m on it. What do people think has become of me? Do they think about me at all? Does worrying about this at all make me a narcisist? Antointette is not on the disappeared list, but she didn’t tell me about the reunion and never entertained thoughts of going. I would have done the same thing.

-Joy

That is always the question. I’ve never been one to actually DO all the things on my to-do list; I just like making them. Most of the time, I find something to do that’s more fun or higher priority, so the list becomes inconsequential. I hear you asking, “Why bother making it?”

Because I can’t sleep at night. My brain runs constantly at 100 mph, thinking of the stuff I have to do. I live an action packed life. For the next few months, I’m booked solid. Improv classes, play rehearsal, rehabbing my busted up knee, re-learning how to play roller derby, traveling for work, three weddings, the list goes on… this is all in addition to the normal day to day stuff, like spending time with my cats so they don’t eat my face while I’m dozing on the couch. So I started making to-do lists before I go to bed. They’re kind of like the worry dolls my mom gave me as a child.

You know how sometimes, you have a full day scheduled ahead of you, and say to yourself, “I’ll squeeze that in, if I have time”? I say that all the time! Then I feel guilty about not squeezing it in and instead spending my time doing something I really want to do, like watching Beetlejuice in my underwear and eating ice cream. So, right next to my to-do list, I make a DO NOT DO list. I give myself permission NOT to do my physical therapy for a day, NOT to go to the gym, NOT to go to roller derby practice, and NOT to work on learning my lines. Because let’s face it- who has the time? My to-do list is still a zillion miles long, but I have four less things to worry (and feel guilty) about. And it’s not like those things are going to disappear if I don’t do them on this one particular day. My worries will still be there the next day. I’ll worry about them then.

What’s on your to-do list?

–Barbara

Do you have that artist or band that just moves you like no other? That you would do anything and go anywhere just to hear live, that when you see them you just kinda lose yourself for a while? This is the band, the music that made you realize how much you love and how powerful music is.

Well I had mine, then they broke up. When it happened I wasn’t entirely devastated. After all, I had given them years of my life, driven miles and miles packed into crowded cars, spent entire summers on tour, missed class, driven through the night, ate nothing but veggie burritos and grilled cheese sandwiches just to have enough money to get to the next show. If there was a show, I found a way to be there. So when the band announced their last show, I felt that I was ready for it. I was 24 and couldn’t really spend all my time on tour. I mourned, but not so much that I would never see the boys play together again, but more for the end of an era. It was the final sign that it was time to grow up and move on and to become an adult.

Last Thursday morning, after four long years and growing speculation, the band made the official announcement- they were back together and were going on tour. I think that this is also the day my office mates became aware of my passion for this particular band, as I pretty much screamed the entire day. The excitement was palpable. Almost immediately I was getting calls and emails from everyone in the old gang. Hotel reservations were made, airline tickets were purchased, and we all started planning for the first 3 night run of shows in March. This announcement brought us back together unlike any wedding, baby shower, or other life event. I swear I didn’t even get this many calls when I announced my engagement!

All of this planning and reuniting has me thinking, though, what will it be like this time around? I mean, four years have passed and now we are all in our late 20s and 30s. I don’t exactly envision myself sleeping in a tent or crammed into a hotel room with 20 other people, eating ‘fatty french bread pizza’ in the lot, and going unshowered for days.  And to be perfectly honest, the thought of partying like we used to for three straight days make me a little nervous! This time around I will be flying, no roadtrips here, and staying somewhere where I have my own bed. I probably won’t be wearing fairy wings and glitter dust either (probably).

It will be interesting to see what the scene will be like now that we are all a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and have to go back to work come Monday morning. The best part, though, is that the music will be the same, the friends will be the same, and there is a whole new slew of memories to be made. I can’t wait.