My Apologies

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When you’re wrong, the right thing to say is – of course – my apologies.

That is one option…there are many others which mean the same thing.

  • I’m sorry.
  • My bad.
  • Oops.
  • I’m so sorry.
  • Did I say that? Oh, yes, I did. I didn’t mean it that way…(really.)
  • How can I make it right?

Instantly offering a refund isn’t always going to solve the issue…for everyone or for every problem.

More importantly, is that last apology. Don’t just end the issue with “my apologies” unless you can figure out what made them get upset and how to help make it better. 

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Swimming Upstream

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Fish go swiming upstream all the time. Well, some of them do anyway.

We never really think of how hard the salmon have it do we? 

Then, one late evening, after walking all day in 95 degree weather and 90%+ humidity, we decide to go BACK into the fray. 

Everyone is leaving, trying to get out and home before the rain starts. 

Swimming upstream, against the flow of tired, hot, hurried people is not easy – but it gets you what you want. It gets you what you decided to bring home to say thank you, and that my friends is totally worth it. You can do it if you set your mind to it and have a singled-minded focus on the prize. Just like going back home for the beautiful salmon.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl 

Pretty Much The Same

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When you go around the country, there are places that are pretty much the same as home. 

It is not just the national restaurants that have enticed owners to invest in their brand and open their own restaurants…Dominos, TGI Fridays, Panera. (Consistent and known menu – you might even have their app to order online.) There is always Starbucks, of course and depending on where you are Dunkin Donuts.

There is also (just like home) the same afternoon threat of rain in the humid, hot summer days, complete with mosquitos, deer, and squirrels. 

Oh, yea – don’t forget traffic during rush hour. 

You know what helps with that? Not having to drive and taking UBER, which is in most major cities now, too.  Then, even though the back up is pretty much the same you don’t have the same stress and if you are lucky, the driver will give you advice on what to do, where to go and when…so that you can enjoy your stay. Happy summer everyone. Enjoy your time off (whenever you get to take some.) 

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Just When You Think…

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It is just when you think you can’t believe that someone is saying – actually saying what they are saying – out loud, to you or someone else that you realize something very important.

It doesn’t matter.

Just like in Animal House.

“Did it matter when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

No. Because it isn’t true. It is completely ridiculous and part of a drunken fraternity house pep talk to expelled college students. (Sorry, should have warned you about the spoiler alert.)

It doesn’t matter.

Just when you think that they can’t say anything else more ridiculous than that…you overhear a group of people talking and the things they are saying – well…they don’t matter either, but I guess it helps them pass the time. This is what I think sometimes when I watch the news.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Plan For Everything

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You can plan for everything and then still need to do something last minute.

For months and months there have been drips of information from the planning team. 

Emails, memos, lists.

Days even weeks…in advance, you look at the list, pull things together, make piles and sort items. Then, just when you think you have the plan for everything you get smacked in the face with a missing – but key – item.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Rockin’ It Old School

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Most kids today would not say that it is cool to say that they are rockin’ it old school, at least, not like their parents.

Like back in the 90s when e-mail was new and all we knew was AOL.

Today, along with the radio station set to Classic Rock (for the boy who plays the drums – it is the only option…) we are definitely rockin’ it old school with our very own, new old e-mail address on Verizon. Of course, you can find us the same way you did before. Text us please – or call my mom, ’cause we never (ever) okay rarely, pick up the phone and there is no way in h-e-double-hockey sticks that we are using the aol app.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

PS Thanks to Nora Ephron and her sister Delia Ephron (and Pinterest) for the image which is subject to Copyright by Warner Brothers.

Too Many Restrictions

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When there are too many restrictions or barriers to entry, you lose people who might otherwise be so inclined to participate.

Key word.

Inclined.

Not as in steep hill or mountain.

More as in passionate. Intrigued. Compelled.

In an article I read today in Wired, the problem, is not too many restrictions against girls or minorities of any nationality or background joining the hacker movement (all for the good I might add) – it is instead – a true lack of interest.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Finding Memories

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Earlier today, I spent a while – maybe over an hour – finding memories to share online in honor of Father’s Day. It took longer than I’d thought it would, but I was working on the iPad, not the laptop, so the ease of finding pictures is hindered by a lack of sorting and tagging of my photos.

It’s all my fault.

I have failed to tag and label and sort according to names, events and places we have been.

However, family members have done wonderful things – finding memories in boxes, in albums and in envelopes with film negatives – then, sorting, labeling and sharing them with all of us. They have made it so simple to find that perfect moment in time – the one that we can only remember because of being there – talking about it and remembering fondly those days’ past. May we have many more moments ahead…and document them accordingly.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Further Away At the End

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Sometimes the Internet is less than perfect…like when the mapping software gives you the wrong directions and you are further away at the end of your journey than you were at the beginning of the trip.

It’s easy to get lost – even when you think you know where you’re going.

Google maps are actually the same as Waze maps…at least since Google purchased Waze anyway… We all know how imperfect Google can be. 

Bad inputs equals bad results.

Like when you search what you’re thinking, but the terms are far too specific.  It is very easy to be much further away at the end of the search than you were if you’d started with a wider view. Rethinking where you are and turning around isn’t such a bad idea sometimes.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

Life Doesn’t Change

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In the short term, life doesn’t change.

It’s been 36 hours since I left town, and 48 since our graduate – well, graduated.

  1. The kids didn’t know I was gone
  2. They work at their own pace (from home work to chores to keeping a schedule)
  3. They don’t like movies from the Eighties (as a general rule, the easiest way to get them to leave the room is to put on a classic 1980s Blockbuster – tonight it was Beverly Hills Cop)
  4. They can all spend the entire day in the house and not talk to each other, but when it comes to making a joke or laughing at their sibling’s or parent’s expense they come together 
  5. We can come together over dinner and it feels right

Luckily – it is still home and life doesn’t change that fast.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl