kt moxie - parley

Of email sorting and pack rats...

noreply@blogspirit.com (Kristen Truong) — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:26:34 -0500

Here's my latest response to the parley question,

"What's the oldest message in your email? And why are you holding onto it?"

While Nicole is a pack rat, I'm an obsessive organizer of my email. (Actually, I'm an obsessive organizer of everything.) I hate my inbox clogging up with irrelevant emails. I periodically go through my inboxes (both work & home) and clear out all emails except ones I still need to "do something" about. My emails are also automatically sorted into folders by subject line or author. This way, I know any email that comes into my actual inbox should be reviewed now. These inbox emails are eventually deleted or sorted into the right folder, too.

The oldest email in my current inbox is my confirmation from Contiki for our trip to Hawaii in January! It's dated Nov. 8, 2005. I'm keeping it as a record of my confirmation. Or maybe I kept it to remind me we are going to Hawaii!

My oldest archived email is from Nov 22, 2000 (Ha! Over 5 years! I got you beat Nicole!). It's from a headhunter. The one that got me a job. I guess I decided to keep it just in case I needed to contact her again. Ironically, I know through the grapevine (the IT community in Detroit is VERY small and VERY inbred) that she is no longer working for that headhunter company. In fact, I heard she was in real estate! I guess I can delete that email now.

Oh, I suppose I have even older emails. I have archive files of my older email accounts stored on a hard drive at home. So, if you consider this, am I a pack rat, too? If I am, I'm the librarian of the pack rats.

Open Parley: communication lines...

noreply@blogspirit.com (Kristen Truong) — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 14:50:35 -0500

Here's my latest response to the Parley Open, "Name ten ways You communicate."

1. The Look: I've been told I'm quite effective at this one. I can communicate "Cut it out", "I'm annoyed with you" or "Are you an idiot?" with slight variations of my Look.

2. Fits of argument: I don't like to lose a fight...

3. Innuendo: - if you know what I mean... ;)

4. Question monger: I often resort to questioning people to death if a) I don't understand their point of view, b) I'm intrigued by their point of view, or c) I'm hoping the will see the faults in their perspective if they have to explain themselves into a corner.

5. Loudly: I've been told that my voice excalates as I get more excited, more adamant, or more amused. I have to blame my family - you had to speak loud to get a word in edgewise!

6. Even keel: In an attempt to not intimidate, offend or enrage, I often try to painstakenly compose emails and other written material to convey "no blame", "I have an open mind", and "Let's negotiate."

7. Silence: Sometimes nothing is more powerful.

8. Teacher style: Though I have left the profession, I get the job of instructor often.

9. Encourager: With children and those seeking my help, I easily fall into encouraging language: "Good job", "You're doing better...", "Do you need help?", "That looks great!", etc, etc... Must be related to the teacher thing. Maybe the mom thing, too.

10. Interrupting: I'm working on reducing this habit, because it's not my best attribute. But, when I'm involved in a conversation, I *sometimes* will interrupt if I feel the other parties are talking in circles or not hearing my point.

Ok. You are right, Nicole. This was pretty easy to come up with a list of ten.

Parley: movies, money & George Lucas

noreply@blogspirit.com (Kristen Truong) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 09:24:57 -0500

Here's my parley response to the latest interview from Rick McCallum, a producer from the Star Wars films.

I guess I'm a skeptic, but when a man who has made millions in the entertainment industry says he want to "restructure the process of how television is made", I'm less than convinced.

So, a producer wants to make everything cheaper - that sounds like "get a higher profit margin" to me. I highly doubt that making cheaper films will suddenly make my movie ticket cheaper. Right now, I pay the same for a 100 million dollar movie as an independent film made for 1 million. Do we really think they will bring down movie ticket prices if all movies are made for 10 million or less?

Now, I'm all for paying the rest of a crew a more reasonable wage for their work. But, I don't see "movie stars" - and yes, we see films because of these stars - taking the same wage as the camera guy. Why? The camera guy is replaceable. But if you got Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, or Tom Hanks to star in your film, there's a certain amount of stability in how much money a movie will probably bring in.

So, if a movie is made for 10 million, and the movie is a blockbuster that makes 200 million in the theaters, who gets the money? Hmmm.... the producers? Sounds like Rick's theory is a bit self-serving to me.

Parley: a picture from Iraq

noreply@blogspirit.com (Kristen Truong) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 10:45:00 -0500

I'm responding to the Weekend Parley, which is commenting the following picture:

My first thoughts: Sweet and scary. This little girl looks so innocent and adorable. I can't help but think of my own daughter. Imagine having to walk to school with armed soldiers guarding my way. Are the soldiers helping her feel safe? Or more terrified?

It's ambiguous from this picture if the soldier is guarding her, or if she's "sneaking up" on him.

The color of her clothes just emphasis the bleak state of her surroundings. Can a kid really "be a kid" in this environment?

Parley: TomKat

noreply@blogspirit.com (Kristen Truong) — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:12:33 -0500

Here's my response to the Fun Friday Parley:

Tom Cruise - when did he go insane? I remember the cute little guy in Top Gun. I thought he was great then - of course that was when I had 80's bangs and thought Christian Slater was a great actor. I was impressed that he landed such a ~~tall hot~~ talented wife in Nicole Kidman. But really - Katie Holmes? Plus, we don't want to forget the other Cruz - Penelope. What is he thinking? I'm sorry. He clearly was not thinking with his brain. Talk about a mid-life crisis! Let me knock up a cute young actress - then I'll stay in the spotlight. This all does seem to be more of a ploy to increase his publicity.

And then there's poor Katie. Can we say brainwashed? Poor little child has been sucked into the Scientology cult without her mind! And, now, she's bearing his child? Ick. Well, it's nice to know that his other children (with Kidman) are adopted. Fewer of his genes spreading.

Let us all bow our heads and pray that this child will - somehow - not turn into another crazed egomaniac.