day 46- Notes in books- take two

Last time around I left notes inside books I really enjoyed, this time again, I did it a little differently.


Last time I hand wrote all the notes-- I hate my handwriting, I'm ashamed of it, so it was a big deal to write it. This time I typed it.

Last time I picked random books I really enjoyed.

This time I picked test prep books and I put inspirational quotes on the paper.

Event:

I wrote up 16 different happy notes. I printed them out and cut them to size. Then while my family and I were driving around after dinner, we stopped by at Borders. Yes the same Borders I went to last time.

I stuck the notes in SAT prep books, GMAT, LSAT, Nursing Test Prep books, Praxis, AP exams, and GRE books.

I put notes in like:

Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out- Robert Collier

Good Luck on your tes.

Reaction:

I don't know- but I know I would be pretty excited to get a note like that. I'm a terrible test taker. The idea that someone cared enough to stick a little note in my book would mean a lot to me.

Would I do it again- I've already done it twice.
Cost: None
Effort: not a whole lot, I did have to cut the paper and fold it, and remember to bring it with me to Borders.
Time: 5 minutes to type and print and 3 minutes to cut and fold and 5 minutes to pick the books to place it in.


On a personal note- I did all of this on the day we put our cat down. He was 13 years old and we had discovered the night before he had bone cancer. It was a hard day. Chooch had been our first furry child. He was a great cat. He never bit, scratched or hissed. When he was annoyed he walked away. I've never met a cat quite like him. I'm a dog person and he was the only cat I ever loved.

Being nice to people doesn't mean that only good things are going to happen to you.

Some days are harder then other to be nice.

It doesn't mean it can't be done.

Day 45- Donuts for Great Guys

Happy Valentine's Day.

In case anyone was wondering--- I bought my husband a card, but I will probably forget to give it to him, like I did with his Christmas and birthday card. I'm pretty sure I forgot our anniversary as well.

Back to the event-
Not many people can say they have the best and nicest automatics in the world-- but I do. They are incredible. I've never had to wait for an appointment, they're literally one street away from my house. They have a Keurig coffee maker. And I've never once felt like they've tried to take advantage of me.

Yesterday while I was digging out my car I saw I had ANOTHER nail in my tire. If you are really interest in reading what happened to me a few months ago, it's all on my other blog.

I called them at 7:30 in the morning and asked if they could patch the tire. They said sure, come on by. They also said if it was serious they would send me over to another place that was two miles down the road because they would rather the hole get patched from the inside because that would probably be safer.
He was about to turn down business and send it to someone else. He is made out of awesome.

I said I'd rather they patch it.

So I packed up my kid, and a half an hour later I was sitting in their waiting room.

Five minutes- I was there five minutes. It was a screw in my tire and they used a screwdriver to get it out. It wasn't deep enough to do any damage but they filled it up anyway.

No charge.

I thanked them drove up to Dunkin Donuts and bought a box of donuts.

Reaction:
I drove back to the shop, walked in and handed them the box. They thanked me by name.
"Thanks Erinn, they guys in the back will love these."

Win- win for everyone!

I love Foreign Auto in Elkridge MD. They are the reason I bought another foreign car.

Would I do it again; Of course these guys are excellent- its a family run business and there aren't too many of them left anyone.
Cost: 6.99
Effort: I did have to go slightly out of my way but I did buy myself breakfast in the process.
Time: 5 minutes.

Day 44 Dug out maibox

Dug out community mail box.

FINALLY!!!!! It took three blizzards but I was finally able to do it. I shoveled out the community mailbox.

Event:
This last blizzard was what I would call soul- crushing. It was colder and windier than the previous ones. My husband was out by 8 am digging out his car and the street. I, on the other hand, spent my morning checking Howard Countries Live Snow removal website every 15 minutes to see the progress.

When I saw the truck (according to the website) was one street over, I rushed down stairs, made coffee for the plow guy and started to dig out my car.

No truck.

I dug out the mail box. Three feet of snow, carefully placed off the road and mounted up.

Still no truck.

I started to shovel the street.

I didn't get far.

Still no truck.

My husband called me into the house a half an hour later.

No truck.

Reaction:
Well hopefully the mail will come today- (I'm writing this on Friday) We haven't had mail service in a week.

Hopefully the mail carrier will appreciate it and deliver my Entertainment Weekly.

About 15 minutes after I came in- I hear the roar of an engine. I looked outside. There was an ATV with a plow attachment to the front of it driving down my street. I checked on the website and according to the officials my road had been plowed.

Now I do have to give a lot of credit to Howard County- They had 90% of the roads cleared by 2 pm. Much better then the three days it took last time.

My road still looks icy and patchy.

Would I do it again- If my neighbors give me an oppertunity. The past few snow storms they've beaten me to it.
Cost- Nothing
Effort- I moved a whole lot of icy heavy snow... so lots of effort
Time- about 15 minutes.

day 43- Forgive someone

Forgive someone.

I'm trapped in my house. There's ten feet of snow outside my door and I'm pretty sure I just saw a polar bear walk down my street. It was either a polar bear or huge dog.

I've been meaning to write this one up for a while now.

Forgivness. It's not easy. It doesn't make you divine, contary to what you may have heard. Not everyone is nice. Some people are jerks. Some people are jerks but they don't realize the dramatic effects of what they do or say. Some people are mean because they have a lot on their plate.

I teach middle school. I teach it because middle school was the worst time of my life. Every mental battle scar I have comes from middle school.

I had an average group of friends. We did the sort of things kids did. At lunch, we made fun of each other. Harmless sort of stuff. I insult you, you insult me, so one and so forth. It's all cool as along as the score board at the end of the period is a tie and no one crosses any lines.

All jokes have a grain of truth, which is what makes them funny. Right?

For two years my best friends called me a dog, flat and made fun of my nose. I called them dumb and ugly. It's all fair, right?

Nearly twenty years later, I still think I am the ugliest girl in the room. The term "dog" (not a female one either) when referring to a woman's outer appearance makes my stomach knot up. Even as I write this I want to threw up.

Every year I tell my students that story because I want them to understand that words matter. Things they say can have a direct effect on someone else.

We've all said nasty things behind someone's back. We've all heard nasty thing said about us.

I thought it was a completely normal part of growing up.

Until last year, when a student approached me and said, "Ms. Manack, that's not supposed to happen. No one should ever say those things about you, no one should be that mean."
What?
Seriously?
My lunchtime activities wasn't a typical right of passage? But I thought EVERYONE carried the mental battle scars of childhood.

Crap.

Without going into too much emotional detail, because really who needs to read about that, this caused me to look at my life differently.

Event:
I stopped and thought about my friends, what I knew about them then and what I know about them now.
Things started to make sense.
And again without going into too much detail as to the reasons and who my main tormentor turned out to be, I forgave her.

It wasn't into much later in life I put two and two together. She had it much harder then I did. She was dealing with things I couldn't even imagine. Maybe she was sad, or confused or just as insecure about everything that I was. Middle school and high school was probably just as hard on her as it was on me. No, it was probably harder.

So I forgave her.

Reaction:
I didn't tell her. I haven't confronted her. What's the point? Why would I do that, tell her, "you hurt me feelings-- boo hoo." It's not going to do any good. These issues are mine, not hers. Maybe one day she'll look back and think about what she did and realized her words effected me.

I still carry my scars (they are figurative scars-- not literal) But they hold a new meaning for me. My issues are about vanity and if that's the worst of my problems, so be it.

I've got a pretty amazing life. I have a job I love. A husband who is wonderful and gives me plenty of time to do the things I love. My daughter is incredible and can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star like a pro. I've got the cutest dog and cat. Very supportive parents. My friends are my best source of cheerleaders and motivation. I live in a time where there internet is everywhere and I don't have to worry about the elements trying to kill me (let's face the facts, if we were born 100 years ago this winter would have killed most of us). All in all it's a great life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Would I do it again- Sure, there's lots of people out there, I'm sure someone is going to be a jerk to me.
Cost- Nothing, in fact it probably saved me a few thousand dollars in therapy and plastic surgery.
Effort- yep a whole lot.
Time- years. But totally worth it. I feel lighter now and I look at life a little bit differently.

Day 42- bought flowers for the doctor's office

Bought flowers for the my daughter's doctor's office.

My daughter has been sick since November. She's had pretty constant ear infections. Every two weeks I'm back at the doctor's office. It's been a good time. You know, in a way that's not good at all, but boring and stressful.

Do you have any idea what its like to be in a doctor's office with a two year old who likes to play hide and seek? She also thinks it's hilarious to run out of the little rooms and run around out the nurses station, while her mother runs after her yelling. Yep, I always feel like parent of the year when I'm there.

Anyway she had a follow up appointment on Tuesday @ 5:45. Well, blizzard # 3 was supposed to hit at that time. I was getting worried about getting her to the office. Just as I was about to call them on Monday night to see if I could get an earlier appointment-- magically the phone rang. It was the doctor's office asking if I could come in at 8:30 in the morning.

I did a happy dance.

When we got there, by the time my daughter ran off and I got her back, and paid for the co-pay, we were called back to see the doctor.

Yep another ear infection.

Normally the pace at the office is nice, slow and efficient. Today it was lightening fast. They were trying to see every patient who had an appointment, plus the people from Monday who couldn't get to the office because the road in front of the office hadn't been plowed. And they were shutting down the office by two, so everyone could get home before the snow.

Event:
As I was dropping off my daughters prescription, there was s florist open. I walked in and bought a cute plant for the office.

I drove back to the doctor's office a few hours later and gave them the plant.

Reaction:
The nurse at the front desk smiled at me and thanked me.
I said, 'I wanted to thank you guys for seeing my daughter. I know you guys are really busy."
I was going to buy them coffee but since they are a doctor's office I didn't know what the food policy was, and there are all sorts of No Eating signs all over walls.
The nurse called over to the other nurses, "Look, Mrs. Manack bought us flowers." I was impressed she knew my name-- but I guess I am there a lot.
I laughed, "I hope it survives the snow storm."
"We've got a lot of people in the office with green thumbs."
YAY! I kill plants-- as I stated in earlier postings--- I'm always impressed when people can keep plants alive.
I thanked them again and I walked out to return home before the snow-- take three.

Would I do it again--Sure, who doesn't like plants.
Cost: $13.50 for the plant-- although I did think it was over priced, but I wasn't about go to the grocery store an hour before a blizzard. The extra money was worth it.
Effort: I did have to drive back to the doctor's office-- and I had to make sure I didn't kill the plant.
Time: 30 minutes total. The doctor's office is about 15 minutes away from my house and the time to pick up a plant.

Project Nice NEWS

The Project Nice deadline has been extended due to Snowmg or Snowmaggedon, or the third blizzard.

Look there's been a lot of snow. LOTS OF IT!!!

It snowed on Friday into Saturday and some people didn't get plowed out until yesterday.

New Deadline for Project Nice is March 5, 2010.

As of today @ 8:30 39 people signed up for Project Nice. I had three people sign up today!

9 are co workers
1 person is family (my mom)
1 person is from high school (Katy)
6 are students or former students
5 are writer friends
18 people are NERDFIGHTERS!

Total of 273 good deeds done. Hopefully.

I've already got some people telling me they've done a few nice things.

Katy White Beykirch who has done 4 good deeds.

Also people who are doing Project Nice will be from this point on known as.........
Do Good Crew-- DGC

Yay!!! Let's keep up the good work everyone!

Thanks everyone!

So here's a funny picture of a bunny... Thanks Alicia for showing it to me!

Day 41- the great dig out

NASA took this image of snowmageddon from space. Pretty cool-- you can click the picture and read the article


Snowmageddon, that's what the media called it. I preferred Snowmg, because it was easier to spell.

My town got 38 inches-- yuck.

Figures I tried to be nice to people in the worst winter in Maryland history. As bad as it's been I'm grateful I live in a time period where I don't have to worry that the snow is going to kill me. I just knocked on wood as soon as I wrote that last sentence.

For three days I shoveled. Hubby and I split our driveway and digging out the cars. Mostly he did the cars and I did the soul crushing wall of snow created by the snow plow.

Funny side story:

A plow came by at 11:30 am Sunday.
At 11:00 a guy who lives a few doors down decide he was going to drive to BWI --- please note the time and that the road hadn't been plowed out yet. He tried driving his van down the road. He got about ten feet. Then he put it in reverse and pulled back in the driveway... then he tried again in a SUV. The neighbors who were outside digging out, felt socially obligated to help get this guy down the street so they dug tire tracks for him. Please note, we live in the back of the neighborhood, on top of a hill. They got about another 25 feet and gave up because they saw the snow plow coming.

I'm all about being nice to people, but I don't have to be nice to stupid people.

Event:
You guess it, I dug people out. Again. On Sunday I dug out the woman who I helped last time. She had done her entire driveway herself on Saturday. I came by to help her with her soul crushing wall of doom. We chatted and good news, her husband is coming home in a few weeks.

Monday I was going to dig a path from the street to the community mailbox. Guess what? It was already done. I've lived in this neighborhood for 5 years now. I've watch people go out of their way NOT to help people. Now suddenly people are stepping up. I guess I should be proud and say that my positive influence is paying off. But in reality it was pretty annoying. How can I be nice to be nice to people if other people are doing it.

Instead I helped a few more people dig out their cars, who hadn't done it the day before. I also extended some of the parking spots people made.


Reaction:
What was cool about this time around is I met a lot more of my neighbors. People who I had one opinion of, once I got to know them, I walked away with a completely different opinion.

I also continued to give coffee to all the snow plow guys. We were dug out a whole 24 hours before most of the county. Our snow plow guys were pretty amazing. They even came by to salt.

Would I do it again--- Well as I'm writing this, the first flakes of blizzard number 3 are falling so it looks like a great big yes.
Cost- I did lose another metal coffee cup-- now my hubby bought insulated paper cups with lids. Each time around we're getting a little better at this.
Effort- Yes-- a lot. I've shoveled everyday for three days. My whole body hurts. My neck hurts, my back hurts and even my fingers hurt.
Time: Hours.. probably 2 hours helping other people.

During blizzard 3 I'm going to shovel out the mailbox--- as you are my witnesses I'M DOING IT!!!!