Outlook - Guest Post from Lisa Edwards

Here is another great guest post and story from Lisa Edwards called Outlook. Very cool - I love Lisa E's stories. You can also check out her book here. She makes a great point about our Outlook (and makes a good case for going Mac, in my macistimation :[] ).

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Outlook

"Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success." Brian Adams

 

As of this morning, my outlook is fixed.  Finally.

It all began a month and a half ago.  It was just about the same time that the place where I live, Seattle, began to live up to its reputation of being one of the greyest, rainiest and  most dismal places to be.  I wore my rain gear every night after work for my evening walk. Each night I rotated between three pairs of running shoes.  One pair was usually dried-out enough to wear, and the other two, still by the heater, working their way back to wearable.  On top of the rain was the daily deluge of lay-off announcements.  1,000 people at one company.  500 people at another company.  2,200 people at another company.

The commute into work each day was getting eerily light and I could actually drive the speed limit.  The bumper-to-bumper traffic had disappeared.

But, back to my story about my outlook being fixed.

A month and a half ago, I had upgraded my Microsoft Office to the 2007 version.  Yes, finally.  Everything seemed to be just fine. As the machine was shutting down that first night after the upgrade, I could see that three automatic updates were being installed.  "Good news," I thought.  "Microsoft is keeping my machine safe from viruses, worms and other nasty internet threats."

The next day, I opened my newly upgraded Microsoft Outlook.  Catastrophic Failure.  Not just one little pop-up window made that announcement, but seven.  I contacted Microsoft.  They told me to contact Dell.  Dell told me to contact Microsoft.  And, on this went for several weeks.  I tried to fix it myself by searching thru the WebPages of notes from others with the same problem.  Finally, I contacted Geek Squad.   My Agent there was more than happy to fix my outlook.

I know it sounds silly, but I liked the way my Geek Squad Agent took responsibility for fixing the problem.  He seemed confident and even though it took several attempts and a few weeks to get it fixed, he persisted.   Patient throughout each step, he would acknowledge each of the problems he resolved.  At one point, when it seemed we hit a roadblock, I thought he would send me back to Microsoft.  But instead, he continued on.  Focused on fixing my outlook.  Finally, last night, all issues are resolved.  My outlook works perfectly, now.

As irony would have it, I woke up to a sunny day this morning.  Giving my rain gear a break, I put on a dry pair of sneakers and headed down to the lake for a cup of coffee and to read the New York Times.   While one economist painted a bleak picture of the economy, another pointed to the indications that the economy seems to be improving.   While unemployment is the highest it's been in 25 years, the stock market is lifting, retail sales have stabilized, and while still weak, auto sales have improved slightly in February.  Houses have been selling in greater numbers and consumer spending appears to have leveled off after plummeting for the last three months of 2008.  Credit markets have even have even improved.

I know it will take longer than a month and a half to fix the economy, but it's important to notice the progress we're making.  We're not out of the water, yet. I get that.  But, with patience, confidence,  decisiveness and a rational outlook, I know we'll get there.  And, before we know it, our economic outlook will be fixed.    

© 2009 Lisa Edwards - www.BloomWhereYouArePlanted.com

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