🇺🇸 A day to remember

Ep 38: Laugh-out-loud moments with colleagues, the beginnings of a professional wardrobe, and the relief (re-leaf?) of late frost damage.

It’s Memorial Day. 🇺🇸 Thank you to all who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the U.S. military. It’s fitting that this weekend has been filled with gorgeous weather in upstate New York. It’s easy to look at the natural sun-soaked beauty here, reflecting and remembering those who helped keep this land free. Thank you.

A Tip for the Modern Worker

Have fun. We’re not all comedians, but a little appropriate humor goes a long way. We’re all human. When we’re too serious about our jobs and remove the humanity from the equation, it feels like work. When we can have fun while we’re working, we establish more rapport with others and it feels a whole lot better. Have fun with each other!

This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. Ah, laughter is the best medicine, even more so in the working world. I love laugh-out-loud moments with colleagues. They’re not long, and they’re not disruptive, but they do strengthen those bonds and make work feel a little less like work.

#365DayDraw

I drew this and wrote the accompanying annotation as part of my #365DayDraw project 7 years ago today.

It just came out of my brain this way today

Ah, the abstract. I see part of a pencil and some dancing Ds. So inspired! Hah.

Commentary

Part of Xander’s wardrobe: pressed and ready for service.

Xander heads out tomorrow to join up with the rest of his ensemble before they head to Europe to board Explora I. They were given a pretty extensive list of clothing items to pack as a “core wardrobe” but since Xander’s just starting out on his professional career, he really didn’t have much of a wardrobe to pull items from. We had just a week to get most of the items if possible.

During my lunch break, we visited Benjamin Peters on the Ithaca Commons early last week. Ironically, I visited them at the beginning of my own professional journey in 1996. I’d just graduated with a Master’s degree and was about to begin my job in New York City. I remember buying several suits, shirts, and ties there for the occasion, just two years after they opened.

When Rachel asked what she could help us with, I shared the “lookbook” Xander had received and said, “If we can walk out of here with 75% of what we need, this will be a massive success.” Well, they delivered. Shopping local – especially with the fantastic customer service, professionalism, and inventory – truly paid off. It took just slightly over an hour for us to walk out with a black suit, a blue blazer, two dress shirts, gray slacks, and khaki pants. Even though they were slammed with tailoring, they committed to getting the necessary alterations done before Xander’s flight out. And, we got solid sizing for a tuxedo we’d later buy online. They didn’t have tuxedos in stock, and though they could have ordered one, it would not have arrived in time.

So, he has the beginnings of a professional wardrobe, thanks to shopping locally. Thanks, Benjamin Peters!

Miscellanea

• 👐 Who’s still playing Wordle? I took a break but I’ve been back at it for a stretch, along with the daily Mini from the New York Times. They just announced Wordle Review, “a daily column where a solver writes about how they played Wordle that day.” It’s interesting to read about someone’s thought process, and how much it does (or doesn’t) bear resemblance to your own.

• 🌳 We had a few trees show signs of serious problems last week. Our beautiful backyard oak and a Japanese Maple both had shriveled leaves, getting more pronounced near the top. Panicked, I called our favorite arborist Dave who installed the trees decades ago. He popped over and said, “Oh, yeah, this is late frost damage.” And we did have a late frost. No need to fret! They’ll recover just fine. The two ashes that he noted are infested with emerald ash borer will not, however. There’s a tree service in our future.

• 👑 Rest in peace, Tina Turner. The eponymous musical rolls on and Xander raved when he saw it in Boston.