Christmas Day

Ah Christmas,

I spent a relaxing day with the hubby. We had waffles for breakfast, opened gifts, spoke to our families, rented a video, I knitted a hat, we ate chocolate, hung pictures, ate leg of lamb for dinner, watched the iron chef, and yet something is missing.

Could it be the lack of snow? The lack of family here in Vancouver? The fact that the seasons don't change here in Vancouver. It is either warm and sunny or grey and raining. I feel like time has not passed, I am stuck in a time limbo.

I head off to Toronto next week to see my family and friends. It will be weird, I left it all behind and yet that city draws you back. What is it about Toronto? That buzzzzzzzz, that feeling like you are living, accomplishing something, it doesn't exist here in Vancouver. Is it merely just reminiscing, a bitter sweet memory? I guess we will see

A great picture of Laurie and Tim 

THE TERMINAL

Aghhh

I wish someone had warned me about this. This has got to be one of the worst films I have ever seen. Like the Tom Hanks character Victor, I was kept waiting, waiting to be entertained in a educated and respectful manner. I want my 2 hours back. To everyone else out there, do not see this movie, do anything else with your life. I am wondering what my cousin Matthew thought of this movie? I don't care if Tom Hanks gave great performance or it was beautifully directed by Spielberg himself, the story could have been so interesting, but nooooo, it went from mediocre to very bad.

empowerment

We are having our "all store meeting" tomorrow. For those of you new to Whole Foods Market lingo; it is a meeting that we have every 4-6 weeks with our entire store and team members. It will be the second meeting for the new Vancouver store. It is an opportunity to share information, appreciate fellow team members and meet as a whole. I have always enjoyed the store meeting because it brings us together as one team and is inspiring. Retail inspiring? Sounds iffy? I have been asked to lead a discussion group (15 people) on the topic of empowerment. That particular word is getting a lot of buzz these days, but how many of us know what it means?

So here are two definitions I pulled up

Empowerment: A condition whereby employees have the authority to make decisions and take action in their work areas without prior approval. For example, an operator can stop a production process if he or she detects a problem, or a customer service representative can send out a replacement product if a customer calls with a problem.

Empowerment
The act of providing decision-making power to someone, often associated with redistributing responsibility from managers to their team members. Empowerment helps employees accept authority and responsibility and take initiative.

For me, I feel empowered everyday.

I am wondering how many other people out there feel empowered...
How much of the population in their day to day lives, actually get to make decisions? Or bet yet want to make decisions?