This is Just the Beginning...: Crucial Conversations?

I'm pretty upset. I mean it, I am. Someone gave me a pretty hellacious stomach virus. I was bent over the toilet all weekend, which means I am now a few days behind on my training for the 10K. I still couldn't run today because my stomach is still very sensitive. I only ate saltines, 7up, and a little bit of chicken soup in two days. I even lost two pounds. Tonight was the first time I ate and my stomach feels like I ate a very large Thanksgiving dinner, when really, I ate very little. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel a little better so I can try to run may be 2 miles or so before going out for Valentine's Dinner.

After school today I attended the bi-weekly teacher book talks. We are reading the book Crucial Conversations. It is a pretty excellent book. It is basically about having high stake conversations with people. The kind of conversations that can ultimately change the outcome of a relationship. we discuss so many important things. Many of the subjects open my eyes to how I communicate with the people around me. I learned that I am one kind of communicator with my work peeps and with my personal relationships.

One of the questions that Really got to me today was... How do you respect someone that you have no respect for? Yeah I know. I guess for me I try and find at least one positive thing about someone and roll with it. It is hard. If I have no respect for someone, I try to avoid them at all cost. But the thing is, when I am at work, I have to deal with people that I dislike and maybe have no respect for, but still have to be work friendly with them. It's called "being professional", right? RIGHT????

Anyway, I really enjoy hanging out and talking with my co-workers about a book. It really reminds me of being in college. Man I love talking about literature and stuff! Love it, love, love it!

Here are some pictures of some of the people involved in the book talks. I really didn't warn them that I was taking the pictures!