GenX Museum Board Results Oriented

Just ran across this article about a children’s museum board run by a bunch of GenXers, touting their results-oriented focus.

An exceprt:

Sherri Petro, president of the consulting firm VPI Strategies in Kearny Mesa and an expert on multi-generational communication and business, says the success of the board doesn’t surprise her. “Gen X (in their late 30s and 40s) is very results-oriented,” she says. “They were the first generation of latch-key kids, mom and dad said, ‘get this done’ and then left. So they had a lot of creative latitude to get results.”

Petro said older boards, where Boomers dominate, tend to be process-oriented. “They want to make sure the processes are followed. Whatever the process is doesn’t matter as much as following it to get the results you want. Whereas Gen X-ers tend to be very creative and go to a bunch of different sources to make something happened.”

Just because….

… I haven’t posted in awhile. Not sure exactly why not. Not sure why I’m posting now, other than I haven’t posted in awhile.

July has been a busy month. That could have something to do with it. I’ve been traveling a lot. Plus I’m working on an application to a graduate certificate program. It’s in Technical Communications, specifically called Writing for the Digital Age. I’m hoping it will  help me retool, bolstering my current writing skills and helping me to refocus my career.

It’s not that I haven’t felt like writing. I have. But I’ve been feeling more internal, I guess. So I’ve been keeping a private journal, writing stuff I would never want anyone to read (until I was dead anyway) much  less publish online. I’m just not that confessional. Also, I’ve been working on my novel, the one that grew out of my MFA thesis project, a novella about a young girl whose brother disappears after a semester at college. Not really a thriller or who-done-it, more of a psychological/circumstantial examination, if I may be so haughty about it.

The other thing is this month was my final divorce judgment. It was this week in fact, Tuesday. I am now officially divorced and single again at the age of 42. It’s a little sad and depressing, but also a bit of a relief to, to have it over with. The build up to it was rather emotional. It didn’t help any that we, Colleen and I, had to wait on our attorney. Our case was supposed to be at 8:30. We didn’t get up in front of the judge until  maybe 10 o’clock. I was pretty nervous. Never been in front of a judge before. My legs were shaking. But in the end I was surprised at how effortless it was, how quickly the past 7 years and almost a month weve dissolved. Well, not really dissolved, I guess, but you know what I mean.

Next thing I knew Colleen and I were heading out of the court house, as single people, saying goodbye in the parking lot, driving away in our separate directions. <sigh>

Still, I try to remind myself that it could have been worse. At least we weren’t being petty and trying to tear each other down. There was a couple up before us, who were there because the ex-wife was claiming that the ex-husband refused to work blah blah blah and thus provide for his kids. Man, did the judge lay into those two. Colleen and I quietly made an agreement to never drag each other into court, to always sit down and figure things out between the two of us. Hopefully we can keep that promise. I know I’d  rather never step inside a courtroom ever again. And I’m pretty sure that Colleen wouldn’t either, especially not against each other.

Anyhoo… I thought I’d post some random musings, just to fill  up some more cyberspace with my chatter.

Traveling Man

I’ve been traveling the past two weekends, one reason I haven’t posted as of late. Also, the summer just seems really busy for some reason, even more so than the school year.

Anyhoo… for the 4th I went down the West Virginia to visit relatives. I figured I might as well since I had to take a mandatory furlough day at work. That would be unpaid. But it gave me a four-day weekends, which made the 7-hour trip worth it.

I don’t do much long-distance driving anymore. When I was living in Kalamazoo, going to school at WMU, I did a lot more, because I was always driving back and forth from the west side to the east side of the state. Since then it would seem that I’ve become a much more cautious, not to mention nervous, driver. Maybe it’s age. Or maybe it has something to do with being a father and wanting to be more careful. I don’t know. I’ve considered it could have something to do with my deteriorating eye-sight (last time I got my eyes checked the optometrist said I was one tiny step away from bi-focals — Yikes!). In any case, I drive much more cautiously, which includes going slower, often under the max speed-limit (yep, I’m one of those people), especially on route 50 that winds through the mountains. That really makes me nervous.

I’ve always enjoyed visiting West Virginia. I have tons of relatives there. And it’s peaceful and calming. Besides, I really needed to get out of town.

The weekend following the 4th, Addy and I headed down to Indianapolis to visit my brother, Robbie, his partner, Jim,  and their daughter Riley. That drive is only 5 hours, which is much easier. I imagine this will be a semi-regular trip for Addy and me. We’ve already developed a tradition of stopping at the McDonalds in Coldwater, Michigan, so she can play on the playscape, although I imagine that it won’t be long before she outgrows that. Probably not too soon, though — Addy loves being a kid and does not seem to be in too much of hurry to grow up, for which I’m grateful.

And I’m not done with traveling this month. The last weekend in July/first weekend in August, going to Mackinaw Island. Haven’t been there in years.