For those of you who may have missed it during the pre-lims of So You Think You Can Dance, here's your chance to check it out! This guy really can dance!
Your various wardrobe choices set different tones in all your encounters and can have a subtle yet deep impact. What you wear and where you wear it all affects the way you are perceived and treated.
If you currently have coverage for massage therapy you need to start taking advantage of it. Why? Well, firstly you are probably paying for it through work deductions. If that's not enough, work is extremely stressful, both physically (sitting too long, bad posture, moving boxes) and mentally (long hours, bad bosses, difficult assignments). You've actually earned some time getting your body worked over and the kinks worked out.
Most times you will need a doctor's note before you can claim for a massage. This shouldn't be a problem; ask your doctor, referencing your hours spent at the computer or doing physical labor. If your doctor refuses you need yourself a new doctor. just saying.
Did you know:
1) Medical school students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School who were massaged before an exam showed a significant decrease in anxiety and respiratory rates, as well as a significant increase in white blood cells and natural killer cell activity, suggesting a benefit to the immune system.
2) Preliminary results suggested cancer patients had less pain and anxiety after receiving therapeutic massage at the James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.
3) Women who had experienced the recent death of a child were less depressed after receiving therapeutic massage, according to preliminary results of a study at the University of South Carolina.
Career Changes for Baby Boomers: Ability, Not Age, Matters
By: Kelli Smith
Baby boomers. They're the generation born between 1946 and 1964. They came of age in the early 70s and early 80s. They're the generation that made changes and waves, worked harder and longer, put off marriage and children, did things differently than previous generations.
Whether because of financial necessity or because they have something to offer, baby boomers are staying in the workforce longer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and projections indicate that by 2010 there should be 18.5 million boomers ages 45 to 49 in the labor force, as compared to 14.7 in 1995, and 16.8 million versus 10.6 million in the 50- to 54-years-old range.
They're still making changes. They're retiring later, or not at all. If not downsized or laid off, boomers often continue to work. When they don't choose to continue in the same career, it doesn't mean they're ready to stop contributing, and sometimes they're making transitions to new careers.
"On average there are three to five career changes in a person's lifetime and that's pretty common," says Kevin Gaw, Director of Career Development, University of Nevada, Reno. "It's pretty common that a layoff ends up being a great opportunity for someone to find something that's more suited to them, too."
But it can be challenging to a baby boomer to be suddenly confronted with a career change. They were raised in a world where you got your education, then got your job, and while you may not have stayed with the job until you retired, you would probably stay in the same profession. "It can be jarring to realize you have to transfer your skill set to another area," says Gaw.
In 2004, Gaw's office worked with 208 alumni. Nearly 7.5 percent were going through a career change, three percent because of a forced situation such as layoff or company closure or relocation. The rest of them just wanted to do something different. When you?re faced with an important career shift, there are things you can to do make it easier on yourself and achieve a more enjoyable, productive career change.
• Look at your skills. Determine which are transferable to other jobs.
• Find your passion. What do you love to do? "It's not about the money," Gaw says. "The money isn't what makes us happy. What makes us happy is doing something that's meaningful to us."
• Look at reality. If you want to be an astronaut but can't do math, Gaw says, the reality is it's unlikely. People need to work through that disappointment and maybe change that passion to a hobby rather than a vocation.
• Determine whether you want to make a radical career change? say from legal secretary to Web designer? or stay within the same profession.
• If you like the company you're with but feel the need for change, see if they can retain and retrain you. If it comes down to a complete career change, there are also some things you can do to help create a whole new career for yourself.
• Promote yourself rather than your age. Once you get into a position and can show off your skills, you'll be known for those skills rather than your years.
• Start slow. Before investing heavily in education, determine if it's the right career path for you.
• Network. Many non-entry level positions are found by references. Join professional organizations in the field you want to enter.
• Consider working for yourself. A job market survey conducted in 2005 by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., quoted on thematuremarket.com, indicated that of 3000 job seekers, 13 percent chose to work for themselves, and 86.6 percent of them were over 40.
Another option is to leverage your experience and teach or train. Moving into training and coaching people just entering the profession you're leaving is a fairly informal move. Teaching requires state licensing, and there are programs helping place retiring workers into teaching positions. The University of Nevada Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning takes executives through a first-time licensing program and puts them in the schools in just a couple semesters, often teaching in high-needs areas like math, science and languages. Likewise, IBM unveiled their Transition to Teaching program in September, reimbursing them for tuition and providing stipends while they student teach. Many of their executives are highly trained in math and computer sciences.
Whether making a career change to a new profession or a new position, Gaw says such changes are a normal life pattern. "It's a good thing to be open to change. The challenge is recognizing skill sets and knowing how to capitalize on them and present them to the new opportunities." Author Bio Kelli Smith is the editor for Edu411.org, a career education directory for finding colleges and universities, training schools, and technical institutes.
Fifteen camels, two zebras and several llamas and pot-bellied pigs escaped from a circus visiting Amsterdam.
"We suspect that a giraffe kicked open a pen," claimed Dutch police, adding that the animals did not get far before they were rounded up and returned to the circus.
Dr. Laura Crawshaw, 'The Boss Whisperer', explains how hostility and unpleasantness can be curbed in the workplace. If you hate your boss, or you hate your employees, this book is for you
A puppy born with a heart-shaped pattern on his coat becomes a symbol of luck in northern Japan. The long-coated baby male chihuahua was born in May, one of a litter, to a breeder in Odate, northern Japan. Dog shop owner Emiko Sakurada says it's the first time a puppy with the marks has been born out of a thousand she has bred.
Jon Gordon, author of "The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work," tells Paul Lin that driving out the negatives in the workplace could save companies hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
A Japanese electronic piggy bank aims to help people save money and find virtual heartthrobs. Bandai's Ikemen or "good looking guy" bank is a heart-shaped depository where up to $500 in coins can pile up. Dan Sloan reports.
Excerpted from The Truth About Managing Your Career... And Nothing But The Truth.
Someone once asked a Washington insider how to deal with important people whom you can't stand. His reply? "You put on your respectful face and you don't blink." This strategy is known in business circles as "kissing the ring." Its origins lie in a much earlier era, when royalty and clerics wore rings of office denoting their status. Bowing your head as you kissed their rings was how you showed respect for their office, while not necessarily feeling that sentiment towards the characters themselves.
Why go to the trouble to show deference to someone you don't personally like or respect? In the cut and thrust world of business, as in the political sphere, it's all about survival. Or, to look at it more positively, enlightened self-interest. Like it or not, the business world is structured by a strong sense of hierarchy. Why else would we be so fixated on gaining promotions and better titles? Those high up can have a significant impact upon your reputation and career: positive if they like you and see you playing by the rules, negative if they feel slighted by you in some way. Showing them the appropriate respect helps keep your career path obstacle free.
"Kissing the ring" might mean responding in a neutral to positive way when someone important says something off base in a meeting. Or staying positive with your boss when he or she doesn't understand what you're trying to do or say. However irritated or amazed you feel, keep your facial expression kind and free of negativity, a kind of poker face. It's worth practicing this in front of the mirror so that it's ready to put on when you need it.
"Kissing the ring" doesn't mean being sycophantic though. It's just about treading carefully around egos. There's nothing wrong with telling a senior person that you think there might be a better way of doing things, but just make sure that you think strategically and don't react there and then, especially if there are others present. If you are genuinely concerned about something you might want to bring it up in private in a neutral way but not make a big deal out of it. You do this by talking about it in a low-key way, tactfully introducing your point by saying, "By the way, what do you think of... " or, "Is there is a case to be made for this other point of view?"
Are there "don't kiss the ring" moments too? You bet. As soon as anything looks the slightest bit immoral or illegal you need to stop and think. Don't jump to conclusions, but once you've confirmed that something improper is up, do everything you can to extricate yourself from the situation before you get into trouble. If, for example, your company requires that the highest level person at a dinner should pick up the expenses then you might hesitate before paying for something so that your boss doesn't have to put it on his or her expense report. While illegality is something that you should always report, without exception. There are ex-employees of Enron or Health South, currently in jail, who probably wish they had spoken up, or even left their jobs, rather than keeping mum.
"Kissing the ring" is one of a repertoire of respectful behaviors that will serve you in good stead with high ranking people. At some point in your career you will have to suck in your gut and show deference to a senior person whom you can't stand. Be prepared for it.
Author BioDr Otazo is an author, consultant and global executive coach. She worked in multi-nationals in US, China, Indonesia, India, France. See more about Dr. Karen Otazo at www.globalleadershipnetwork.com
A British student who scribbled an expletive on an English language exam paper has been awarded 7.5 per cent for accurate spelling and effective communication.
The pupil, who wrote "f–- off" after being asked in an English exam to "describe the room you are sitting in", got 2 marks out of 27 and would have got more if he had added some punctuation, chief examiner Peter Buckroyd told The Times.
"It does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling," said Buckroyd, who works for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance examinations board. "It shows some nominal skills but no relevance to the task".
"If it had had an exclamation mark it would have got a little bit more because it would have been showing a little bit of skill".
Hope you can check back every work day for a little pick-me-up before your 9-5 grind starts. These posts are funny, irreverent, irrelevant and weird ... but they should all be relatively safe for work. Good, (mostly) clean, innocent fun. Enjoy!
