Project Management

Being a project manager is really being a good listener and mediator.  More accurately, it feels like baby sitting a bunch of loud and hyper kids.  Making sure feelings and egos are not hurt, no one picks a fight, and everyone feels appreciated and encouraged to play nice.  Everyone knows they have a safe shoulder to cry on, share their fears and problems without worrying it can be used against them later on!

As I immerse into this new role of mine, I realize how much more important it is to have females in such roles, especially in male dominant fields.  Projects need managers who do not see communication as a burden or pressure but as a necessity and a tool, someone who is good at feeling and recognizing tensions, future issues, and problems before they are communicated and before they come to the surface.  Someone whose ego does not stand on the way of achieving goals.

My Sanctuary

Unfinished businesses and trails of thoughts are carried with me every night as I leave my small office.  Worries of the next day, weeks, months' milestones, deadlines, and meetings are with me.  I wake up, have breakfast, and drive just to get to where things happen, to make them happen, with some sense of urgency, day after day.  Then, when I open the office door, just as I sit behind my desk, an amazing sense of peace and quiet conquers me.  It has not got old and does not fail. It is as if by just being here, my own little corner, everything is going to be just fine.  The fact that I made it here one more day calls for celebration.  The quiet early hour in the morning, no officemates, no meetings, no family, no events, only me, my thoughts, my plans, my brain.  I rule my universe in that early hour of the day.  I am in my sanctuary. I am home.

فال سال نو

از اين بهتر نميشد!  عيد همگى مبارك.

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معاشران گره از زلف یار باز کنید

شبی خوش است، بدین قصه‌اش دراز کنید

حضور خلوت انس است و دوستان جمعند

و ان یکاد بخوانید و در فراز کنید

رباب و چنگ به بانگ بلند می‌گویند

 که گوش هوش به پیغام اهل راز کنید

به جان دوست، که غم پرده بر شما ندرد

گر اعتماد بر الطاف کارساز کنید

میان عاشق و معشوق فرق بسیار است

چو یار ناز نماید، شما نیاز کنید

نخست موعظه پیر صحبت این حرف است

که از مصاحب ناجنس احتراز کنید

هر آن کسی که در این حلقه نیست زنده به عشق

بر او نمرده به فِتوای من نماز کنید

وگر طلب کند انعامی از شما حافظ

حوالتش به لب یار دلنواز کنید

Remember

It turned out, there was a seed, beneath the bitter cold snow,
After lonely nights,
After a long journey,
As the theory went.
And,
It did become a rose,
Just when it heard,
Spring whisper,
Just when it felt,
Sun's love.
Just remember.*

* referring to the lyrics of the Rose.

Control free

It is amazing how theory and practice are different.  I think I live, act, and think independently, or like to do so, with regard to my life.  However, I have caught myself red-handed several times when something someone said or did affected me, my thoughts, or behavior, and thus in a way controlled me.  There are so many things, subtle and obvious, that controls our choices.  The struggle to be free of those external influences, being focused on our inner goals and dreams, is a constant struggle.  It is not that easy.  At least, I do not find it so.

Nobody knows ...

The truth is we all seek answers from each other.  As if the key to our life and happiness depends on another.  The truth is, we ourselves, do not know how we will feel about someone or something year(s) from now, and yet we expect others to know and have the answers.  All we know is how we feel now and what we want now; Let that guide us to what will be later, not what we think should be the case later, or others think should be the case for us later.  Let's enjoy floating in the ocean of life, the journey of being one with the ocean, and if it led us to safe shores, let's enjoy that and be grateful for it too.

What would be the word for it?

I am watching the evening news.  There are two stories broadcast within less than 15 minutes of each other:

1. An 87 year old woman in an assisted living housing is out of breath.  A nurse at that facility calls 911.  911 operator sends help but tells the nurse she needs to perform CPR right away.  The nurse refuses because it is against their policy.  The operator asks if there is anyone else there who is willing to help and perform CPR? They do not need to know how to do it, I can instruct them, she says.  The nurse, who is professionally trained to do CPR, says no,  not at this time.  The lady is dead by the time 911 dispatcher arrives. She died with a nurse next to her who refused to perform CPR.  As if this was not enough, the old lady's daughter, ironically a registered nurse also, does not mind the treatment her mother received!
   http://wtvr.com/2013/03/03/nurse-refuses-to-give-cpr/
   
2. Sacramento firefighters pulled two lifeless dogs from a burnt house.  They performed CPR on dogs and they came back to life!
   http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/03/01/sacramento-firefighters-resuscitate-2-dogs-rescued-from-burning-home/