Books yesterday, other items today.

A few items I don’t want to take up north.   It’s yours for the asking, except I do need a commitment that you’ll come get it either tomorrow (Fri), over the weekend (Feb 14, 15) or very early next week.

Wood bookshelf, deep brown paint.   Decent shape, solid wood (not ikea – this will last and last).  Could use another lick of paint but not bad.    48H,  46 W, 9 D    4 (built in) shelves, including bottom.    Sorry, no photo.

5 Drawer stainless steel filing cabinet, piles of character.  I hand scrubbed it with steel wool to get to the stainless steel, but the fronts of the drawers are still beige.  Solid piece of furniture – would look esp. great somewhere funky/industrial.  Note:  I haven’t looked at the back in 3 years.  Not sure of condition, but should be fine.  68inches H,  28 Deep, 15 W

Night Table (or whatever they’re called.  The things by your bed you put books (et alia)  in, and lamps on)

Oak.  Mid-brown stain.   24W,   16D,    22H.      Sorry, no photo.

Martini Glasses – 6, Glass.

Water Fountain, Indoor – pier 1 imports.  Really pretty bronze/Mexican motif.  Think Pier 1 style (it is). 12 inch diameter.

TV.  JVC, 13 inch, the old fashioned kind.  Remember those?  Good for those who want one, but without it dominating the room.

Piano Books, Royal Conservatory, various grades and Theory Rudiments (basically unused).  Collections of Elton John sheet music, Andrew Lloyd Weber.   May be convinced to part with the Bach/Beethoven/Chopin books too.

Mac Wireless Keyboard and Mouse (@brianleroux, you were right when you said I’d never use them)

Interested?  tweet me, facebook me a msg, leave a comment or e-mail me at n g z c a (no spaces)  not at hotmail, nor at gmail, but the other oldy but goody  dot com   (sorry to be cryptic.  don’t want robots to spam me)

Canadians, certainly Vancouverites, will likely recall the appalling story of the homeless panhandler who beat and robbed an elderly gentleman who had regularly given him some money, outside Holy Rosary Cathedral.

Here’s the extraordinary update on the story, courtesy of a newsletter from City in Focus:

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I was struck by a story in the Vancouver Sun Editorial back in March. A drug crazed homeless man named Darcy, who had been on the streets since dropping out of school in grade 6, attacked and robbed a retired 81-year-old doctor. The attack was videotaped inside the Holy Rosary Cathedral, a downtown church. The victim was a kind gentleman who had often given money to Darcy, a vulnerable individual who was known by many in the congregation because he hung around the building

At this point the doctor and the church had a choice – they could direct their anger at Darcy (and justifiably so!). Prosecuting this chap would be met with great public agreement. The other option (and the one the church members took) was to channel their anger in to a search for understanding and ultimately a constructive way to help this person.  They connected him with a Catholic transition home, Luke 15 House, located in Surrey. By the time of his court appearance, Darcy had been clean for 6 months and was preparing to join the church of the very member he had robbed.

Anger evolved in to courageous choices. The church community stepped up to offer forgiveness and aid to Darcy. But Darcy also had to make a choice to dwell or move forward. Coming from whatever place of pain and dysfunction he resided in, he had the courage to take the opportunity to become healthy and begin the road to “make things as they ought to be.”

It’s a perfect model for us as we face issues in 2009 where we are at a crossroads. Like Holy Rosary Cathedral we may need to choose forgiveness. While like Darcy, many of us may need help to move forward. Whatever our situation is, the important thing is that our anger is not just venting but indignation that propels us to courage. Our frustrations at how things are needs to be a mere stop-over, a motivation point for change.

Plundered from book sutlers in various ports!,
originally uploaded by lunawhimsy.

I switched to audible downloads and don’t want to haul these up north with me. If you want any, they’re yours for the asking (but you’ll need to pick up). They’re all paperback unless specified, and all in decent condition. Any left over will either go to the library or recyling bin.

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Philosophy/Political/Religion Books:

Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaardner

The Doubter’s Companion, John Raulston Saul:  Kate G.

Sources of the Self, Charles Taylor   Sandra V.

Jesus, a new vision, Markus Borg:  Isabella

A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle:   Kate D.

The demon-haunted world, Carl Sagan

The Tao of Pooh, Banjamin Hoff:    MJ

Class Warfare, Noam Chomsky

On Equilibrium, John Ralston Saul:   Isabella

The Koran    Kate D

Spiritual Literacy (a lovely compendium of short spiritual writings. Think, Ghandi, Jesus, Dalai Lama)

Self-help-y books:

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey

Unlimited Power, Anthony Robbins

Simple Loving, Janet Luhrs

Excel for Dummies:   E

Take Time for your Life, Cheryl Richardson

Art, for dummies:   E

Dr. Perricon’es 7 secrets to Health & Longevity

Secrets to Great Health, Matsen

Money-type books

The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton:    E

Buffett, The Making of an American Capitalist

Idiot’s guide to Online Investing, for Canadians: E

Secrets of the world’s richest investors (ed: not as boring or hype as it may sound), Adrian Day

The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley/William Danko:   E

Smart Women Finish Rich, David Bach

Don’t Worry, Make Money (ed: not as flaky as it may sound.) Richard Carlson:   E

How to Talk to a Liberal, if you must, Ann Coulter (David Drucker, thought you might like that one?    )

Beardstown Ladies (still a classic for investment clubs):   E

Literature:

Les Miserables (in english), Victor Hugo

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco   MJ

Possession, A.S. Byatt   MJ

The Kite Runner, Hosseini   MJ

In Cold Blood (movie “Capote”), Truman Capote    MJ

The Murder Room, P.D. James (yeah, I know, not *exactly lit.  but if you have “Children of Men”, care to trade?)   MJ

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (if you don’t know, don’t ask)

The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky

Plan B, Anne Lamott    MJ

Oh, and for my fellow Christians – 2 that may spontaneously combust if they’re on the same shelf:

The Pressure’s Off, Larry Crabb

The Purpose Driven Life (if you don’t know, don’t ask)

also (these won’t spontaneously combust):

Answering God, Eugene Petersen:   Isabella

Poetry by George Herbert

Knowing God, J.I. Packer:

Ordering your private world, Macdonald

Jesus: A New Vision, M. Borg:   Isabella

Magazines – a disgraceful number of old issues

Chatelaine

Cdn Living

Martha Stewart:   Mrs. K

New Internationalist

McLeans

B.C. Business

For the past 3.5 years I worked for Citizens Bank of Canada (bank esp. for progressive Canadians) which in turn is owned by Vancity Credit Union. The whole glory of credit unions is that they are cooperatives, and the members not only share in the profits (I’ll get mine in a month or so.  yippee!) but also we get to decide who is going to govern the credit union.

Last week I had coffee with Jennifer Sweeney who is running as an independent to be a director.  Last time, she missed being elected by a very small margin, and I hope this time she gets a landslide – I think she’s exactly right for the position.

Among other things, I probed re: employee engagement.  I’m a By The People, For The People kinda gal (would you guess?) and after 3.5 years on the inside am even more convinced that it’s the folks who do the everyday tasks that make, or break, the cooperative spirit of Vancity, and thus the quality of experience the members receive.   It’s not about metrics or output, it’s as much about soul as anything.   Genuine Soul, combined with competence, can generate results the likes of which Canada has yet to see from a financial institutions.

Here is Jennifer’s response to my query.  Read it and consider if you would also like to see her on the Board of Directors, and vote accordingly.

_____________________________________________

I had coffee with Nancy last week and she asked me my thoughts on employee engagement.

When I hear the term “employee engagement” I often wonder if it has become another meaningless catch-phrase.  People are quick to adopt new words and terminology without thinking about what they mean.  If employees are “engaged”, what does that look like?  What does it feel like?  How do you know?  How do you make it happen?

A few years ago, I worked under contract for a government ministry to address recruitment and retention of professionals working with young children.  During that time I had the chance to travel around the province and hold confidential interviews with people about their work and their working conditions.  Over and over, I heard stories of people going above and beyond the call of duty when there was a supervisor, manager or local champion who valued them and worked to support them.  I started reading anything I could put my hands on to help me understand the complexities of retention in an increasingly mobile workforce.  I posted a note above my desk to remind myself of this fact:  most people leave because of their boss, not their job.

The most corrosive element I have seen in my years of work with people in many different environments is when there is a lack of trust or trust has been breached. Few people have the courage or the willingness to enter into the difficult conversations that must happen in order to move past a problem. Human resources professionals need to be in a position to fully support employees in reporting problems and working them through.

As I am running for election for the board of directors of Vancity, I have been thinking about the role that a board plays in governing an organization.  A culture where people comes first is vital for real employee engagement.  This takes a human resources department that has adequate resources to influence major decisions.  Healthy organizational culture with employees engaged in the mission of the organization makes for happy employees providing outstanding service to members.   That is what I would like to continue to see at Vancity.

Photo Credit: Susan Charlip

who can also be found at Charlip’s Web – check out her blog.

Friends, I do believe I’ve just enjoyed the steal of the year, and it was a BC getaway.

The Galiano Inn & Spa has a two-for-one weekdays through March and I can’t say enough good things about my experience.

For $125 a night, my best friend of 20 years (we were thrown together as roomates in 1st yr UBC, and have kept going strong ever since) and I got a 5-star getaway of Gulf Island luxury.

We each had a room with french doors opening right out onto the ocean front.  The rooms were lovely – elegantly appointed, mediterranean feel, cork floors, heated bathroom floors, deep baths, and environmentally friendly soaps etc.   Mmmmm.

Breakfast was included, and I expected coffee and perhaps a danish.  Instead, omelettes with smoked salmon, goat cheese and pumpkin seeds, or crepes with fruit and ricotta cheese were on offer.  And this was preceded by fresh OJ and just-out-of-the-oven muffins.

Also included was 30 minutes in the spa steam room plus another 30 minutes in the flotation room.   I added on a 60-minute reflexology treatment for $100 and it was the best I ever had.  Four days later, my feet still feel good.  Louanne is a quintessential west-coast healer and among other things has me convinced to spend more time walking barefoot on the earth.

Dinner was also exceptional.  The somalier was simply perfect – the exact right balance of  maintaining a slightly fussy air, professional, yet not snooty.  Their lamb is to die for apparently.   Several of the other guests raved (I can’t bring myself to eat lamb, myself).

The daschunds particularly appreciated that there was a pet-friendly unit, although they messed things up by barking in my absence and disturbing other guests.  Bad Dogs!

Lest I appear all uncharacteristically shi-shi, I hasten to add we all (weinerdogs too) hiked to the bluffs one day, and walked through the forest (but not barefoot) to the Hummingbird Pub the next.

If you are looking for a high-end getaway at an incredibly reasonable budget (for its class) book yourself in!  Let Jenny (the incomparable manager) know Nancy sent you.

Photo Credit: Afearonwood

Readers:  do you know of any other truly special “deals” for getaways in Canada these days?