Viva la Vida

I've Moved!

2011-09-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

On one Friday afternoon, I decided there was no reason that I shouldn't buy my very own domain name. For $17 a year? Why not. I've spent money in worst ways... case in point: Central Iowa Polka Club Membership for 2010-11. So I did. And created a little website/blog thing. You can now visit me at www.sarahjroth.com. Cheers!

Soap Box Friday

2011-08-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

While perusing the Wall Street Journal today, as I do most days (when I remember), I came across an article entitled "Conjuing the Next Harry Potter." As a self proclaimed book nerd, I couldn't stop myself from reading the entire thing. In summary, book publishers are frantically looking for the next series to replace the high sales Harry Potter achieved. With the HP last book completed years ago and the final movie still in theaters, publishers and producers have now turned their sights to "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern claiming that it will be the best of both Harry Potter and Twilight and thus will be a huge hit.

My concern with this article stems from the mass produced society that I am not only a part of but have grown up in. The Harry Potter series was discovered by accident and will likely be one of the few series/books that will still be read in 60 years. Books are printed at high rates of speed and while I get the information needs of today's world also functions at a high rate of speed, shouldn't we also be focusing on quality instead of quantity?

The same argument can go for movies and music. What will my children consider classic movies and tunes from my lifetime? I had a conversation with B on Tuesday about how we need to see several "oldies" bands before they retire or die since there won't be anything around for the next generation to see. I'm betting the music played on today's oldies stations and the movies shown on AMC will be the same as they show today. And while I want my kids to be fans of Journey, Bon Jovi, Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club, it's sad to think that so few things be created today will be well-known and treasured in the future.

So while I too await the next fantastic series, I don't think it needs to be such a heavily recruited and publicized event. Otherwise, we'll end up with more mass produced mumbo jumbo that no one will remember. And I want to this generation leave an impact in this world, darn it.

< stepping down from my soap box >

Digital Drama

2011-08-17T19:33:00.002-05:00

My desktop’s hard drive crashed last week while I was out of the office. While that was perfect timing for me, the issue didn’t get resolved until today when I was informed that a new one was on order. Awesome! Who doesn’t love new toys?

In the meantime, I’ve set up two lap tops. One has been acting strange (and is currently being scanned for viruses) so I borrowed a second one to use for internet while utilizing the strange one for word documents and accessing our network. Awkward, but still useful. Until the wireless went out in our office meaning I couldn’t access my:

a. email

b. network

c. files

d. any one of our five office printers

So until it was resolved five hours later, I checked email from my cell phone (until the battery went low) and tried to find things I could accomplish that didn’t include the above bulleted list. Which wasn’t much.

I was lost.

Besides this sounding like a country song about technology, I realize that I need to work on unplugging my life a little bit at a time. I check Facebook at red lights and unlock my phone as soon as the green indicator tells me I have a new text/email/tweet. All unnecessary as the world will continue if I’m not up on the last second life crisis of some Facebook friend I don’t even talk to these days. (I realize that blogging about this technological malfunction of a day isn’t and will never be considered unplugging… but I can’t distribute to the masses via pen and paper, so we’ll let this example slide. )

I brought this up to my boss today as her computer has also died and we are like antsy kids waiting for Christmas morning. So I guess baby steps are key to not being ruled by my Droid. Hopefully the withdrawal symptoms are not intense.

Bittersweet

2011-08-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

With our summer programs now over, my social life is re-engaged. That said, I'm currently in the "let down" phase many describe after their wedding; months of planning and preparing now over. It was an awesome, if not hectic month and a half where I learned so much from over 110 high school and college students from across the state.

Throughout each program, we have our "bread and butter" speakers who always speak and are always relevant, regardless of age demographic. With this being my third summer (yikes), that also means that I've heard many of these speakers up to eight times. And as good speakers go, I learn something each time. So I while I hope you get to hear these individuals sometime in your life, I wanted to pass along two quick takeaways today that I was reminded of this past week, after hearing him speak for, yes, the eighth time.

1. Significance instead of success. I am extremely guilty of looking at material successes in life... cars, clothes, cash. Instead I need to focus on the significance I'm bringing to my life; with my personal relationships and through my work, and to focus on careers that help me bring out significance to the world. Whoa, deep. Because, at my 40 year class reunion I won't be bragging about the size of my house or brand of my wheels but instead of on the significance I've had in my life and that I've had on others.

2. Rule #6 - Rule #6 is don't take yourself so seriously. Live, laugh, love. Not a new concept or quote but oh so true. What are the other five rules? There aren't any. That's the point. Use it today.

While I realize these are not brand new, life changing concepts I thought you too might need these thoughts re-emphasized in your life. I'm so excited about it, I wrote them on Post-It's and stuck 'em on my work computer screen. Can't wait to find out what I write on Post-It's after the ninth time of hearing him speak.

Make it a great day.

A Best Friend's Wedding

2011-08-07T20:49:00.001-05:00

I spent the weekend with some rather wonderful individuals at one of B's great friend's weddings. I'm pretty lucky that my significant other has a stellar group of people he's associated with and their significant others are equally fantastic. I'm even more lucky that I was grandfathered into the group once we started dating and can now call them my friends/family as well. Being embraced with open arms by these fine folks when few of my close friends lived in Des Moines meant and still does mean the world.

While there were many highlights of our weekend in small town western Iowa, (including meeting many of the equally great families these people come from) the most memorable moment came at the last song. With 50+ people standing in a circle, arm in arm singing and swaying to Piano Man at the top of our lungs, as the bride and groom danced in the middle. I know a few people had a tear or two in their eye at the amount of love that was in that room last night. A whole bunch of love. I wish I had been smart enough to take a picture of it. Hopefully someone did, but that visual will stick with me for awhile.
I guess I'm still on a high from the weekend and realize there's really not a value in this post if you a. haven't met his/our friends or b. weren't at said wedding... but I guess I am once again reiterating, as I've done before, that I'm pretty lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. So this post is for my benefit, possibly alone,... and I'll do my best to post something a little less personal soon.

I love technology... this week.

2011-08-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

I, like many, have used Skype to chat with friends and family on a personal level. Most of it has been on a “within Iowa” basis but my college roommate went to Spain one summer so we skyped back and forth then. It’s fun to see people you talk with, especially when you don’t get to see them as regularly as you might wish. This week, though, I used Skype on a professional level for the first time. I had heard many companies are using this feature to set up long distance interviews (after all, the free software is much less expensive than the cross country… or world flight) but this was my first walk through a b2b Skype convo.

Details: I conference called, via Skype, with an Englishman in Spain and German in Brazil from my downtown Des Moines office. (let’s not get started on their fantastic accents). Over two days, two separate calls and from three continents, we hashed out details for a business simulation our collegiate program will be using Sunday. All for free. Sunday, they will be facilitating said simulation and discussion remotely in from their respective continents. Cool, right? I’m considering adding “Sarah Roth, International Businesswoman” to my resume. I could swing it, right?

Now here’s to hoping that this fantastic technology ends up working like when it needs to this weekend. Knocking on wood… now.

Things I've learned from my mother

2011-07-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

When Mom would go away for teacher events, she always left with a few bottles of wine in tow... with twist off caps. Packing a wine opener was much too difficult. As I've gotten older, I've realized my mom is much smarter than I used to think... especially on this topic. The first official errand of this work trip was to HyVee for some inexpensive bottles of wine... with twist off caps of course. Mom - you smart woman, you.

And so here I sit, sweats on, feet up, working, listening to DMB and drinking wine out of plastic cups in a student apartment building (yep, check out that picture) that I will call my home for the next 6 days... a look much different than what I resembled two years ago in my collegiate prime. But I must say life is good. Cheers to a week filled with 100 high school kids... oh the things I will have to report along the way.

Blogging Blues

2011-07-18T17:14:00.000-05:00

It bothers me when I can't put in 100%. My blog life is quite clearly lacking. And it bugs the crap out of me. I promise it's not out of uninteresting things to talk about but quite honestly the fact I have no time. I know, I know we're all busy. And it's a rather lame excuse. That said, summertime is our swamped time, when my work/life balance weighs heavily toward the work side. I'm okay with it because I love what I do... just means things like blogging and evenings spent at my favorite Mexican joint have gone by the wayside. But I'll be back to some regular posts soon... I promise.

If you don't believe me and need some concrete examples. Don't think this type A, anal gal is bothered by my messy work environment. It's driving me to drink. Quite literally. Cheers.

A few weeks ago:

Today:

Rulers of the World

2011-07-06T19:32:00.001-05:00

I've said it once to B, I'll say it a thousand more times: "what would you do without me?" While I'm not a feminist and know Brian could in fact function on his own accord, I firmly believe. I believe in the common theme that behind every great man is a superbly fantastic woman. And I have a case study to prove my point. Well it’s my own case study, observed this weekend… which makes it legit. Right? While I could use my own relationship to prove the above argument, I have a much better example... and why not pick on an buddy to shed some light.

This is my friend, Zach. Zach and I grew up 45 minutes from each other, in high schools that were rivals (I’m sure you don’t need to guess which school was superb). We knew each other from a mutual friend in high school but didn’t become great friends until half way through college. It’s amazing what some gen-ed business classes, a similar degree and a few late night downtown run in’s can do for a friendship. So we became friends, the best of, and developed a sibling-rivalry relationship that still holds true today. Zach used to be your typical male college student: a Birkenstock sandals wearing, overly stubborn guy who chose sports watching over studying, would pay someone to do their homework (although I’m sure he never did), hated the idea of plans, laundry and serious relationships, never lifted a cleaning supply and invested in stockpiles of frozen pizzas and tuna cans that he called his dinner.

All of the above were blatant opposites from my color coded homework schedule and lack of procrastination,. Between him and his all too similar roommates (also great gentlemen), I was often annoyed. But because Zach plus roommates were a part of many of my favorite college memories, I tried to get over such imperfections. I was also confident he would never ever grow up.

While we’ve spent time together since college, it’s usually been over a tailgate or during a long holiday weekend in one of our parents’ homes. While many of you were sunning (and burning) yourselves over the 4^th of July, B and I went to Iowa City to visit Zach last weekend for some socializing QT. Well to visit Zach AND Lydia.

This is Lydia. She came into Zach’s life just before our graduation. I have to admit, as the overprotective “sister,” I was wary of her in the beginning, an unnecessary feeling that has since passed. And I’m sure she’ll admit the same unsure feeling about me (and hope her wariness of me is gone too…). So we spent part of the weekend with this happy couple. And I was pleasantly surprised when I realized the below unbelievable changes… the changes I will attribute to Lydia's doing.

· First and foremost, they are now engaged, getting married next June. Hello commitment. Thank goodness.

In order to get engaged, he had to spend a. spend money and b. plan the engagement. More on planning later
Goodbye Birks’, hello Sperry’s
A Banana Republic outlet bag (what happened to high school t-shirts? Onto V-necks!)
The bag was spotted on his CLEAN and VACUUMED apartment floor
Made bed
Dishes not in the sink and instead conveniently put into the dishwasher
Plans. He was incessantly and (almost annoyingly) asking about what our plans would be. Whoa.

The good news is he is the same Michael Jackson dancing, good humored guy of old with the (necessary) mature qualities of new. While his freezer still contains frozen pizza and he eats far too much tuna, he now has a 401K and apartment with decorated walls. I still can’t believe it.

And so, tonight gentlemen make sure you thank your lovely lady for their good influences from fashion to furniture. And ladies, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. Finally to Lydia, should you be reading… job well done!

Card Shark

2011-07-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

I love, love, love sending cards to friends. There's nothin' better than some snail mail when it's unexpected. And not a bill. Imagine my excitment when my boss dropped off a stack of these postcards for me after a lunch shopping trip at Domestica in Des Moines' East Village. The heart can be stamped whereve your heart desires... added bonus as not everyone has the Chicago/Boston connection pictured below. As luck would have it, this artist has an Etsy page with tons of other fun cards. Can't wait to buy some more. What a fantastic find!

That which doesn't kill you

2011-06-30T16:45:00.004-05:00

I’ve been informed my blog has been dismal lately. So I’ll break one overly long, overly boring post into two more manageable ones. That way, I’ll look like I have lots of things to say… and add to how many emails you through my RSS feed. :)

Last night I had the opportunity to briefly speak to 150 college students, On stage. With a microphone. Yikes. Let me tell ya, I wasn’t expecting a crowd of more than 10. They are living in Des Moines for the summer, interning for a variety of companies. The Greater Des Moines Partnership puts on networking/intern development programs for these kiddos each summer. I showed up to chat with them about our collegiate leadership program, hoping to recruit some or all of them to attend our rather fantastic program. I’ll let you know if it worked.

One thing I’ve left out is that I hate public speaking. Despise it, get scared by it, would rather jump off of a bridge. And I know I’m not alone in this. Some reports say people fear public speaking more than death… and while I’m not sure where I stand at that matter, it’s not on my list of things I love. Even worse than giving a speech is giving an unscripted one. I could stand in front of a room and read my well worded, typed soliloquy no problemo… but launching into some random jargon doesn’t turn out as well as I would like.

The good news is, I’ve come to accept this hitch in my communication giddyup and decided to move on. Since entering this so called real world, I’ve learned to embrace whatever strengths I have instead… and work on perfecting those instead of dwelling (for too long) on areas I could drastically improve on (think: spur of the moment speech giving). Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take some baby steps to go from mediocre to swell, I’m just realistic that I won’t make my millions on the public speaking circuit

So how do I know what I excel at, what to look for as a strength? I took a test. Yes, a test. Read post number two to learn more.

Makes you stronger

2011-06-30T16:42:00.003-05:00

Ok, so back to strengths… For the same collegiate leadership program mentioned before, we make each student participant read the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and complete the assessment. Many colleges are requiring students to take it because it’s importance. Why? Throughout the course of the program, we teach the students to not only know their strengths, but how to use them to their advantages, specifically in the work world… in team work, in understanding coworkers’ quirks and differences from yourself, in a company culture and/or your specific role, etc. So since we teach this, what kind of program leader would I be if I didn’t take the test myself?

Once you do the “answer which describes you most” question, zillions of times it pops out a report on your top 5 “strengths” out of a list of 34 options. In theory, these strengths should be things I’m able to use on a daily basis… because I will be a better employee and coworker if I can.

Here are my results. And they are ridiculously dead on.

• Empathy – sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or situations.
• Developer – recognize and cultivate the potential in others.
• Woo – love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over
• Positivity – upbeat and can get other excited about what they are going to do
• Communication – easy to put their thoughts into words (written)

After typing all of these out, I realized this comes across as ‘tooting my own horn, look at me’ when in reality, think of the power I now have in knowing these things about myself. And how much power you’ll have too when you take the test. I must drink the water because I think every employee in every organization should take the test and then under go some training to better understand all of it. I know my organization would probably have much less drama, gossip and stress if we knew the ins and outs of how the other operated. You dig?

Ok enough about work life and strengths consider the potential in personal lives. Example: Brian could never understand why the hell I talked so much. On road trips, shopping trips, movie previews, and sometimes during the movie itself… then I showed him my list. Hello… this is how I’m wired, no can do about the situation. SO now he has a little more patience with me because of the above list. And I made him take the same test, for the same reason. And it’s insanely helpful.

Make the StrengthsFinder 2.0 the next “adult book” you purchase (and pick one up for your significant other while you’re at it)… an access code is included in the $20… what a bargain. I’ve seen people put their strengths list on the top of their resume, used in interview situations and in the signature of emails… all of which is much more useful than the 5 beers you could buy with the same $20. You'll seem interested in developing yourself, your company... With something so widely accepted, why wouldn’t you want to jump on the band wagon?

Just a small town girl

2011-06-20T19:30:00.009-05:00

My weekend was spent in my hometown. While I love, love, love living in Des Moines, I know I also “drink the koolaid” when it comes to Mount Pleasant. I’m very proud (perhaps too proud) of where I came from and enjoy heading back now and again. Besides the all too scary trips to Wal-Mart (you never know who you will run into and more often than not, I probably don’t really want to see them anyway) it’s a ridiculously relaxing time. Because it’s been awhile since I’ve been home when it’s a. nice out and b. a non-holiday/wedding/special occasion, I was able to seriously enjoy all things home this go around.

After telling stories of some recent stupidity (accidentally leaving my unlocked car running for an extended period of time on a downtown street AND leaving my laptop in the hotel parking lot in Dubuque), Mom [Lois] (smartly) encouraged me to slow down. And so I did this weekend, taking in the small town vibe and figuring out that we can all learn from small Iowa town living. Here’s the synopsis.

1. The doorbell. When was the last time you doorbell rang unexpectedly (or your door was knocked on, if you don’t have this convenience?) Better yet, when was it rang (or knocked) and someone you wanted to see was the on the other side (not a pesky neighbor, religious recruiter or girl scout solicitor?) Probably been awhile… right? I feel like I’ve gotten away from the random and too focused on the schedule. While my parents definitely are calendar people, they also aren’t afraid to drop on by a friend’s for a beer just because and definitely welcome that unexpected doorbell whenever it rings. Watch out Des Moines friends, I may be stopping by unannounced soon.

2. The ride. Growing up, we always went for car rides. Sometimes it included a stop for ice cream (in the summer) or to look a Christmas lights, but we would often cruise the streets as a family. We did so again over the weekend, both in vehicle and bike form. It was super relaxing… and made me realize the calming effect of cruising the streets just because... without racing through yellow lights due to an agenda or time crunch.

Side note: my parents are the owners of new Schwinn cruiser bikes. Bri and I have added it to our purchase list. I can’t wait to get one!

3. The wave. Everyone in a small town waves. Whether they know you or not. And it makes me happy. Even Bri became hooked on it and waved like a beauty queen as we rode the streets on a bicycle built for two (a team building experience on its own… another story for a different day). Being acknowledged is refreshing. And living in a town where I know an extremely small percentage of people, being acknowledged is a rarity, especially when on the road. While adopting a constant wave in Des Moines would be a large investment of my time and driving safety, it’s a good idea in theory so maybe I’ll adopt it on a more limited basis.

Our DQ looks similar to this

4. The power of simple. We had a Dairy Queen in town throughout my childhood and it’s still thriving today. It’s an old school DQ… sans Brazier branding. In fact, they refuse to remodel it because they will have to join the Brazier ranks and complicating things with hot dogs, fries and chicken strips is not in the owner’s life time plan. While some might argue this is a closed-minded way of business, I would disagree. They believe in the power of simple. While I enjoy the Des Moines conveniences of a Hy-Vee every few miles, endless restaurant options and malls galore, keeping it simple is something I need to remember more often than not. And I think the summer is a good starting point in my (hopefully successful) transformation.

So I entered the work week on an extremely positive note; after a fantastic weekend with great people and some new takes on my current life situation. And while, I understand the above will probably not drastically change your life or cause the light from heaven to shine down with a hallelujah chorus, hopefully it’ll help remind ya to slow down a little. After all, it’s summer… and Lois says so.