Things I'm Liking Lately

Haven't done one of these in a while!

(I'm not paid for any of this, it's just stuff I'm diggin'.)

1. Nextdoor. Are you familiar with Nextdoor? It's sort of the modern day version of knowing which of your neighbors will let you borrow a cup of sugar.

A month or two ago I went out to get the mail, and long story short, came across what appeared to be someone's pet bunny rabbit running around. A few other neighbors and I tried to catch it in order to keep it safe until we could get it home, to no avail. I'd heard of Nextdoor but never used it, and trying to reconnect Peter McFloofy Hops (I assume it was a boy and that was his name) with his parents proved to be the perfect reason to start. I unfortunately didn't find the bunny's owner (and haven't seen him since), but I have since come to rely on Nextdoor to find out what's going on around me, from events to recent crime to missing items to new and closing restaurants and businesses. Did I mention it's free? A good way to connect in our sometimes isolating modern world. Recommend.

2. Writing GoodReads reviews. I have proclaimed 2016 the year of the book, and apparently it's also the year of the review. You can find some direct links on my books page.

3. Ghirardelli brownie mix. The best. Better than homemade (yeah, that's right). Why reinvent the wheel? We had some folks over to watch a sportsball game recently, and I whipped up some of these. In doing so I was reminded of why I always have a box in the cupboard in the event of impromptu gatherings, sportsball or otherwise.

Photo from amazon.com.

4. The FugGirls' Downton Abbey Recaps. The only thing that's not to like is that I didn't start watching (and thus reading) sooner. Favorite line so far this season (spoiler-ish alert): "...The Blackmailer takes a bite of Mary's toast, and then tosses it aside with disdain, and the look on Mary's face is like, "HOW DARE YOU TREAT MY TOAST SO DISRESPECTFULLY.""

5. Thayer's rose petal witch hazel. Not a new love, and I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I recently was raving about it to a friend, and after trying it she agrees: it's a magical potion.

Photo from amazon.com.

6. A 30 day plank challenge. After a few months off from rowing while recovering from jaw surgeries, my core has gone all noodly. I'm working at building it back up. There are a million of these challenges out there so head to the google machine and find the one that works for you. (They do all seem to be basically the same.)

7. This pastina recipe for some cozy winter comfort. And/or an upset stomach. (In which case maybe leave out the parm.)

8. HabitBull. Shoot. This app. I am kind of obsessed with it. It allows you to set goals with varying metrics and then satisfyingly tick them off when completed. So whether it's something you want to do daily, weekly, multiple times a week, by amount/numbers (miles run, pages read), or simply Complete or Incomplete (did you call your Mom?), this has it all. I love it. I even paid the $3.99 for the upgrade. That never happens.

What's got your attention lately?

Friday Find: What happened to Target Canada

If you're in the States, and maybe even if you're not, you're familiar with Target. If you have Canadian friends, you might also be tuned into the long-held desire a lot of Canadians had for Target to make it's way up north. Canadian friends of mine were always sure to make a trip when they were south of the border, and longed for stores closer to home. Target did eventually land in Canada, but it quickly became apparent that Target Canada and Target America were two different animals. Things were bumpy, and just a couple of years after opening, Target Canada shuttered their doors.

So what happened?

A friend of mine shared this article that details it all - from the original real estate deal that forced an impossible timeline, to all the issues with new systems, data errors, and a million other tiny things that meant "What appeared to be isolated fires quickly became a raging inferno threatening to destroy the company’s supply chain." What did the boots on the ground think? Why were warehouses overflowing with goods, but store shelves were empty? How did company culture, which had worked so well otherwise, backfire under these circumstances? What does a customer in a Target Canada see (or not see) on a shelf when someone at the home office in Minnesota toggles a switch on a data system for reporting reasons? What happens when a supplier gives the wrong information about the dimensions of a product box and no one verifies it? Why wouldn't they verify it?

It's fascinating.

It's an interesting story on its own, but it also took me back to direct marketing; working with giant mailing lists that had to be segmented, sliced and diced a million ways, and processed through various vendors to ensure that mail & emails landed in the right inboxes at the right time. It had me remembering systems upgrades, vendor changes, process scale-up, and all the time it takes to actually learn a system. What happens when there's no one around to learn from because the system is new to everyone? Is it better to try and make some hard and time-consuming changes to a system everyone already knows, or go with an industry standard that everyone has to learn from scratch?

As I said, a fascinating piece. And maybe something that will have you walking down memory lane, too.

Friday Find: Adele, of course.

I love anything Adele does. I wasn't familiar with James Corden or his carpool karaoke until this came out, but it prompted me to fall down a rabbit hole and now I'm a fan of both those things too!

ENJOY.

While home in London for the holidays, James Corden picks up his friend Adele for a drive around the city singing some of her classic songs before Adele raps Nicki Minaj's "Monster."