This is a f-ing crazy job application…

Posted by random olio

When I came across this Fast Company article titled: “Are you a social strategist? Can you make your mom a star on Twitter? Wieden + Kennedy wants you.” Wow. Wieden + Kennedy is savvy. If you have not heard of them they are a local and famous ad agency. As I read over the job description I was dumbfounded. While it would be such a forward movement for a career to work for Wieden + Kennedy, I think reading this job description made me feel old.

You might not be able to read the article entirely unless you subscribe, so I will do a short recap so you understand a bit of the context. Wieden + Kennedy is looking for a social strategist for their Old Spice campaign. They are looking for someone to “shake things up in the social sphere.” Below are the options someone could try when they apply, with my additional notes after each:

Challenge 1 – Create the best original Pinterest board dedicated to the sport of inline speed skating (NOT roller-hockey). Um. Inline speed skating. Not my thing, so no interest there to create the best Pinterest board. Sorry folks.

Challenge 2 – Create and post an original piece of content to Reddit that then receives the most upvotes in a single week. Wow. I think I might be starting to break a sweat.

Challenge 3 – Create and upload to SlideShare an original, in-depth competitive analysis of the Ed Hardy social media ecosystem. I would have no idea where to even start on this one.

Challenge 4 – Get the most people to friend your mother or your father (or a parent-like figure in your life) on Facebook in a single week. My mother and father are no longer living. Not even remotely interested in this one.

Challenge 5 – Create an original (new) Twitter account and then use it to get the most followers in a week using any verbs you like, but only the following nouns: “BLUEFUDGE,” “HAMMERPANTS” and “GREEK YOGURT.” Um. Seriously. I would love to see results from this challenge.

Challenge 6 – Create an original YouTube video that then receives the most plays in a single week using this script verbatim:
#1: “Wait. What are you doing?”
#2: “Trust me. This will be fine.”
#1: “Ok. Go ahead.” No comment.

Challenge 7 – Get recommendations on LinkedIn from at least three other people trying to get this job. I think this one could top the charts if successful.

Challenge 8 – Create the most reviewed recipe on allrecipes.com in a single week using cottage cheese as an ingredient. The reviews don’t have to be good. I’m in! Food bloggers unite!

Challenge 9 – Upload the most pictures of your armpit(s) to Instagram during the course of this challenge. The pictures must have your face in them to verify your identity and include the hashtag #mypits. Um. Gross. Especially since I started sweating reading Challenge 2.

Challenge 10 – Using Quora, give thought-out, meaningful answers to as many dream catcher-related questions as possible in a single week. How many could there really be?

Whew. I am exhausted. Are you? So if you wanted to be the social strategist for Wieden + Kennedy which challenge would you pick? Cottage cheese? That one seemed like the easiest and I do not even cook. Job searches, resumes, and online applications have been taken to a whole new level. What will be next?

Do we have to be perfect?

Posted by random olio

I have always thought of myself as “Type-A” or a perfectionist. Some words I have used to describe myself have been: anal, particular, and needing to have things a certain way. To a point, these words do describe me. However, I am not neurotic about it. I just want things to go well. I want to do my best. I want things to look good, and happen as planned. Is that so bad?

So when I read the section on perfection in “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead” by Brene Brown (the book which I blogged about last week). I was in awe. I was wowed. It shifted me to have an ah-ha moment and look at myself differently. All of these years I have thought of myself as a perfectionist, and yet all I have ever really wanted is to have excellence shine through. Anything my name was attached to, well I wanted it to be good. Wikipedia states that perfectionism is: “striving for flawlessness and setting excessively high performance standards, accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ evaluations.” After reading that description and Brown’s book, I realize I am not that into being perfect. Which is why I love this specific line from Brown’s book:

“Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving for excellence.” Page 128

I feel as though a boulder has been thrown off. It makes me not feel so nit picky about myself. If I try hard, do my best, and the outcome is good, then that is my own excellence. I have never wanted it to be flawless, as that is too picky to me. Besides, we learn more from making mistakes. Perfection is not everything.

How have I lived this long and just now learned this about myself? What a revelation! Does Brown’s quote resonate with you?

“Does your face light up?”

Posted by random olio

I recently read a book called: “You Can Be Right [or You Can Be Married]” by Dana Adam Shapiro. While the book has more to do with marriage (which I might tell you about in a future post), the following quote is what inspired me today as I think about all the precious little munchkins that came by my house in their costumes last night. It makes me think about all the times my parent’s face did or did not light up when I came into a room.

“Ms. Morrison explained that it’s interesting to watch what happens when a child walks into a room. She asked, “Does your face light up?” She explained, “When my children used to walk in the room when they were little, I looked at them to see if they had buckled their trousers or if their hair was combed or if their socks were up…You think your affections and your deep love is on display because you’re caring for them. It’s not. When they see you, they see the critical face. What’s wrong now? Her advice was simple, but paradigm-shifting for me. She said, “Let your face speak what’s in your heart. When they walk in the room my face says I’m glad to see them. It’s just as small as that, you see?” page 223

Aww…this almost brings tears to my eyes. I can feel the tears there, just waiting. This is such a great reminder of how we need to be present and aware of how we come across to little bambinos. Having said all that, I think this still applies to adults too. What if our face lit up when we saw our spouses, family, and co-workers walk into a room. How would it feel if others reacted in that way towards us? Would we feel more loved and connected to others if we saw them light up when we arrived?

I thought about this yesterday when I answered the doorbell for those costumed munchkins. I knelt down with my bowl of candy and talked to them at their level. I looked at them face-to-face. I saw their excitement and energy for Halloween. I was inspired by their exuberance. That is my challenge to myself, to approach the munchkins and bambinos I encounter with the light in my eyes, and my heart on my face. I will let that all speak for itself.

Are you with me!?

Who will you pretend to be today?

Posted by random olio

Ah, the fun of Halloween. You get to dress up and be someone else for the day. The leaves are falling off the trees, the ground is covered in the colorful array of leaves. Homes are decorated with lights, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and goblins. It is really the beginning of the holiday season of festivities. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (Yes, I left out Black Friday, that is not a holiday, but like Halloween it can be just as scary).

It is good to have a day where we can pretend to be someone else. Often we work so hard just trying to be ourselves, that even adults can even get excited to get to play dress up once in a while. We even like to be creative and carve our own jack-o-lanterns. I love this photo of me watching our finished pumpkins turned jack-o-lanterns.

my excitement over jack-o-lanterns

(Be sure to note the pea colored refrigerator and I can assure you that while you cannot see it, there is wood paneling behind me. You can also see the head of the baby doll I am holding). Cutting pumpkins to me was like dying easter eggs, a process, but one of tradition around a certain day of the year. I was always in awe.

We would decide which pumpkin to carve, then draw on the design we were going to cut out, then the messy part of clearing out the guts and goop inside. Once it was cleaned out then it was time to carve. I have never been quite proficient with a sharp knife (Chris can attest to that). So I am not sure my creations were always superb, as artistic as I may have been, my lack of knife skills = poor pumpkin carving. Then adding the candle and putting the lid on top.

I cannot remember that much about the costumes I selected, although I do know one year I was a clown. We always had homemade costumes. What I remember most, and who knows why, was this one house in my neighborhood. I can remember the name of the family, and that they had a courtyard at the front of their house. They outfitted it with spooky music, Halloween lights and decorations, and would have people hiding in the bushes. You never knew what would happen from year to year, and it was always dark out. My memory of it was that it was the scariest house on Halloween. The fact that I can still picture it tells me that they designed it well. I was always impressed with myself if I could make it through the squeaky gate, down the courtyard path to the front door. Then if I made it that far and actually attained the candy then I knew I was brave that year. Candy at scary neighborhood house = I could conquer any fear.

I am hoping to make it home in time for the trick-or-treaters this year. It will be the first time as an adult that I am in a neighborhood that has kids to come door-to-door. Can you tell I am giddy about it?

Trick or treat!

Clever Halloween…and tasty pumpkin…

Posted by random olio

So for some random reason today I got inspired to dress up for Halloween. I think the last time I dressed up for Halloween was at LEAST ten years ago. However, I cannot decide what I should dress up as. Of course I want to do something unique and original, but I am not sure what. Maybe I should just shave my head and go as Sinead O’Connor. Ha. Not really that original though. I want to do something clever, but somehow I think I have maybe waited to close to Halloween to be able to pull off clever.

So I WELCOME your ideas. Please share your ideas and comments below.

I was in a meeting yesterday and I kept having a craving for pumpkin. Something happens to me at the beginning of October when the leaves start to change colors and crisply fall to the ground. There is a noise of crunching leaves as you walk, a smell in the air, sometimes of fires in fireplaces or just the crispness of autumn. In Portland, there is still the fresh greenness, mixed with the colors, and of course the rain. With all that color and smell, I think of everything tasting of pumpkin. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread, squash soup. Yum. I know I wrote about cranberry sauce the other day, but for me that just goes with Thanksgiving. Things with pumpkin I usually want to eat from October through January. Usually when I can no longer order a pumpkin spice latte, I know fall is over and winter has officially begun.

Just finished the loaf of pumpkin bread I made. Time for my next pumpkin recipe.

Happy weekend to you!