Norwegian Chocolate Pizza

I recently came across this recipe on the website of one of my favorite authors. It seemed tempting and easy to make, so I gave it a try last week. Here's the end result.

Wow, is it ever tasty. The crust is oats, butter, and brown sugar. The "sauce" is peanut butter and chocolate chips. The "cheese" is shredded coconut, and I used Reese's Pieces for the pepperoni. As the site warns, it is addictive. Even one of my super finicky coworkers really liked it.

It was indeed very easy to make too. I'd highly recommend you give it a try.

Planning is a good thing

Friday I got a new computer at work. I'll be there 12 years next month, and this is my 3rd computer. Let's just say the process did not go as hoped. First, there were no printers installed. Oops. IT came back and fixed that. Next I noticed our HR software wasn't there. Oops again. It gets better though. The version of our HR software that we are running (MANY versions behind the current version) is not compatible with Windows 7. There is also a problem running Outlook 2007 when you have multiple e-mail addresses. I have close to 10 other accounts I check for resumes, meeting room reservations, etc. When you switch for 1 account to the next, it can take minutes for it to open. Not good. To work around the issues for the last two, they gave me virtual machine access to the latter two programs. I don't really know what that means, but it worked.

Come Monday, I found out that I couldn't print in the virtual machine mode. That simply won't do as I have to print items from those two programs. I ended up getting my old computer back. At least it can run all my programs without crazy work arounds.

What gets me in all this is most if not all of these issues should have been foreseen. Again, this is my 3rd computer. Somewhere there should be profile showing what printers, programs, etc. I have. This should have been referenced when my new unit was set up. That's the purpose of having this documentation. Planning is as natural as breathing to me. It's almost as useful too.

I could have told you this was a bad idea

Today my coworker was telling me about a lady who donated a kidney to her boss, then got fired. Later I ran across the story online. I could have told you this donation was going to be bad news. You need to have boundaries at work, and this doesn't just cross them, it shatters through them and keeps going. It was nice of the lady to try to help, but she should not have volunteered a body part in the process.

P.S. Good luck getting that kidney back. I don't think they have a return policy on organs.

What's on your screen saver?

Your screen saver can say a lot about you. Does your show pictures of your family and friends? Perhaps you use a quote that you really like. Maybe you are very low key and your monitor just turns off. My home computer shows pictures of the day I got my 2nd car. My computer at work displays the following: "Where are the lions when you need them?" I got the idea from this passage in 2nd Kings 17.

²⁴ The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. ²⁵ When they first lived there, they did not worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people.


I loved the idea of lions eating people who aren't doing what they are supposed to do. Thus, it had to go on my screen saver at work. As you might have guessed, my screen saver shows that I am a disgruntled employee.

A True Leader Cares About More Than Just Today

Two weeks ago I was reading about Hezekiah in 2nd Kings. If you aren't familiar with him, you should check out his story sometime. He was a good king of Judah. This category was unfortunately far outnumbered by the bad. During his reign the Assyrians withdrew from the land after suffering massive casualties at the hand of God. If this wasn't enough, he was granted an additional 15 years of life after being told his illness would be fatal. A miraculous sign accompanied his healing.

The focus of our story today occurs immediately after that. Here is the text, starting with verse 12 (NIV):

¹² At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. ¹³ Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”
“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”
¹⁵ The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. ¹⁸ And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Now, knowing what you already do about Hezekiah, you'd think he'd be upset and try to do something to change the situation. Not so much.

¹⁹ “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”

Wow. Who cares what happens in the future as long as life is good for me. That is not a true leader. That is selfishness pure and simple. Unfortunately, this idea has far from gone out of style. Two modern examples:

1. The CEO who make decisions based on what will help this quarter's numbers while ignoring the long term impact on the health of the company
2. Our politicians who refuse to make the difficult choices on shoring up our nation's economy. Instead they kick the can to the generations that follow. Let's be real here, balancing the nation's budget isn't different from balancing your family's. It's simple (but not easy). You either cut spending, make more money (aka raise taxes), or do both. Those are the only choices.

True leaders are as rare today as they were in Old Testament times. In the choices you make both professionally and personally, ask yourself if you are being a leader or only doing what leads to an immediately pleasant outcome.

Who Will It Be

This week I had a similar conversation on 3 different occasions. It goes like this: Which one of our 3 people who are on their last warning for attendance issues will be fired first? First, I'll list the contenders.

Employee A
Has done a no call/no show twice in two months. Hates his supervisor and vice versa.

Employee B
Has used 5 of his 6 personals days for the year. And it's mid-April. Apparently has constant domestic drama consisting of being apart/together with his wife. Stepbrother (also an employee) calls him every morning to make sure he's awake for work.

Employee C
Has used almost all of his personal days as well. A 15+ year employee. Coworkers say he stays up all night playing video games (despite being 20 years older than me!) and naps in the production area during breaks.

So, who will it be? No fair reading ahead. Pick one now. Got it? Good.

I'd like to run a pool on this at work, but everyone picks the same one- Candidate A. No call/no show is very serious (and stupid). To have 2 in a month is indicative of some sort of serious problem. Rumor has it the person was in jail for some sort of domestic dispute for no call number one. No data yet on no call number two which was Tuesday.

How'd you do? Even if you didn't win, you can see the sort of craziness HR people deal with daily. And yes, we're inclined to run pools, tell each other how stupid you are, etc.

Now THAT's a corporate value

I was getting ready to recyle an annual report I'd finished reading when I saw the company's values listed on the back. What struck me was this one:

Integrity:
We do the right thing
We honor our commitments
We admit when we're wrong

Let me tell you, it can be difficult to do each of these at times. But the hardest for me and I think for people in general is the last one. I hate to be wrong, and I bet it's not your favorite thing either. However, it is definitely a necessary part of having integrity. I truly believe in the value of having integrity,  and I wish my company did too.

Being thankful in ALL things

Two weeks ago my coworker was catching me up on what had transpired while I'd been out of the office most of the week on a business trip. She said Sheena had acted up. Sheena is her car, a Benz she's had for several years and that is 11 years old. The air hadn't been working right, so she took Sheena in to the repair shop. The owner called her and said it would be $1200. My coworker told him to put Sheena back together. She told me she wasn't going to put that kind of money into a car that old. She said the next afternoon she called the repair shop and told them to fix Sheena. She said she been thinking about the cost of fixing the air in her otherwise in fine condition vehicle to car payments. It didn't take her long to decide that fixing Sheena was the way to go.

Some time later we started talking about being thankful for the things we have, as there are so many people with issues much worse than our own. She said how fortunate she was that she was able to have her car fixed. She said "How many people can't afford $300 to fix their car?". I said yes, and that to them not being able to fix their car could mean they can't get to work and they lose their job. She said her car repair, while expensive, was "merely an inconvenience. I even had another car to drive while it was being repaired". May we all remember to continually give thanks for how blessed we are.

A Divine Moment

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were exactly where you were supposed to be just then? I call that a divine moment. I'd like to share with you one I was fortunate to have recently.

I was sitting at the gate ready to board a flight for a business trip. An announcement was made: "We need volunteers to give up their seats on this flight. In exchange we'll offer you $400 in (airline name) vouchers". Yes, I RAN to the counter and asked when they could get me to my final destination. It would only delay me an hour and 45 minutes AND they would upgrade me to first class on the 1st leg of the trip. I told them "you had me at $400, but first class put me over the edge". I had never in my life flown first class. The gate agents were very appreciative and expressed their thanks that I was willing to take the bump. Yes, they really need that seat. I think they had a crew member they needed to get to another destination. Whatever the reason, I was THRILLED.

In addition to the fabulous blessing of the airline voucher and upgrade to first class, two other things happened that would not otherwise have occurred if I'd have taken my original flight. First, I got to have an hour and a half conversation with a friend in another state. She is normally unavailable when I'm off work and vice versa. It was great to get to catch up with her. Next, when I went to each lunch, I ran into a high school classmate I hadn't seen in years.

I know for sure that I was exactly where I was meant to be during this period of time. It was an awesome experience.

P.S. If you're wondering what I thought about first class, I loved it. What was so great? Your seat is much larger and nicer, and there is SO much more legroom. If you ever get the chance to get upgraded or fly business or first class on someone else's dime, go for it.