I'm sitting in the Monterey Airport, waiting to board a flight down to San Diego. I will be spending the next 3 days with a highly recommended speaking coach, Roberto Monaco. This was a last-minute spontaneous decision, and I'm excited. If I can learn how to clearly and confidently communicate my message, I can see myself helping many more people during the remainder of my career. Toastmasters is like a Polaroid of my speaking skills - giving me a good snapshot of my current strengths and weaknesses; Robert, I feel, will act like a high-res digital SLR - empowering me to fully express my best self.
I'm interrupting my vacation to do this seminar. If I were the only person involved in this decision, it would have been easy. But the true sacrifice was made by my dear wife, who is "on duty" as full-time single mommy for the next three days. I'm blessed.
And I've agreed to give her a vacation in the near future, to make it a fair trade :)
Getting situated at the gate, I noticed that the Boingo Wi-Fi was free until mid-January... a gift from Google. Sweet! That gave me a second change to get this blog out before boarding my flight.
When I signed into the wi-fi, I was presented with an opportunity to donate some holiday funds, with my contribution being matched by Google. Wow! They thought of everything! So I selected "Climate Savers Computing Initiative" and made a small donation. I'm thrilled to be able to take a small step in the right direction - it's a win/win/win.
(Referring back to my post about taking steps toward a "cooler" planet, I also intend to get the TED 5000 by Energy, Inc - a whole-house electrical meter that will help me monitor how much electricity me and my family are burning through. I love having a dashboard to chart progess; as their sales page says "if you can measure it, you can manage it."
I hope to find at least 1-2 similar carbon-reducing, energy saving ideas each week.
Okay I am being called to my plane. Talk to you tomorrow.
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