6,175 km (3,837 miles) from the Inauguration
Thousands of miles and a couple of time zones stand between The Hague and Washington D.C. Of course I longed to be there live, but I was determined to celebrate in a special way! Luckily, with the inauguration in the morning, we got to view it in prime time(EST +6) instead of in the middle of the night, like most televised American events.In the spirit of the Obama Inauguration, I decided to pass on the stuffy event planned at a big venue, with a high ticket price and speeches by Dutch Politicians and “Dutch Experts on American Stuff”, and plan a grassroots event myself. I imagined an informal neighborhood party, like thousands taking place across America. I started planning the event only 5 days in advance!
Today was the dawn of a new era and it was a thrill to lace up my electric blue pumas this morning. Along with a rotation of T-shirts, the pumas were part of my daily Obama election uniform ( it took me several days to ween myself away from my Obama gear as office attire after the election). It was so much fun to sport my Obama gear again for the big day. Maybe it is my bizarre accumulation of Obama gear in a land where it is scarce, but people on the street always smile. We made our own buttons and you can see I had plenty! My hat is a creation by L. Rouissi (no animals were harmed in making it, but plenty of scotch tape was used) and the decorations were improvised!
The party was exactly as I hoped and imagined. I put the word out through various networks, and the place, a neighborhood bar Sherlock Holmes, was packed! We had the crowded feeling, without the cold! The Dutch and English couple that own the place also caught Obama Fever in these 5 days! An enthusiastic crowd came together from many different countries and walks of life to share this historic occassion. Of course President Obama (my first time writing that) has extremely difficult times ahead, but today was the day to revel in the magic of the moment!
Unbridled Optimism
Optimism is infectious, much like entrepreneurship, and the two often go hand in hand. Luckily, both are less nasty than the current flu on offer!
Despite all of the economic doom and gloom of the moment, I am more upbeat and optimistic about business than I have been in recent years, so I’d like to share 9 reasons to be optimistic in 2009!
1. Market! What goes down, will eventually come back up!
2. Opportunity! Crisis forces change and this is an advantage for small business.
3. Innovation! People and companies will be open to doing things differently, instead of the way they’ve always done them.
4. Efficiency! More mindful spending is good for you in the long run, even if your company is unaffected by the downturn.
5. Reality! With the illusion of prosperity and easy money stripped away, you will make better decisions.
6. Courage! Have the guts to make a move you’ve been contemplating.
7. Momentum! Identify what is going well in your business or career and build on it.
8. Hope! Obama.
9. Inspiration! If 1-8 don’t do it for you, surround yourself with people that are seizing the opportunities and reap the rewards of their infectious optimism!
The Onion Takes Over Yahoo News?
Is it a prank or did The Onion really take over Yahoo News? Today’s headlines have me shaking my head in disbelief.
The first story is an appalling commentary on the prevalence of ignorance and racism in the US and the next two make me extremely concerned about our future. These incidents are inconceivable in Europe.
$240,000 awarded to man forced to cover up Arabic T-shirt Jet Blue refused to board this passenger because of Arabic writing on his T-shirt. Not racism? He is a terrorist because he speaks the same language? Hundreds of millions of people all around the world speak Arabic, shall we try to ban it? I only wish each passenger that complained about his T-shirt had to chip in on the $240,000.
Angry Ohio Boy, 4, Shoots Babysitter None Very few families have a gun in their home in the Netherlands. It is one of the things I like most about living here!
6 Year old boy misses school bus, takes family car, crashes This would never happen here, but only because all the kids are riding their bikes to school (even today with temperature of -5).
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