Unbelievable news stories

A quick list of news stories in the past few weeks that still make me go, "What? Really?" after hearing them:


1. Malaysia Flight 370
Along with the rest of the world, I continue to be baffled that in today's technology age, there is still no accurate tracking of this flight or any of its passengers.

2. Crimea voting to leave Ukraine and join Russia 
This one shocks me because it happened so quickly. "Oh, we're going to be part of another country now, k thx!"

3. A recent Lake Shore Drive car chase / standoff for a murderer
When one man shuts down one of the biggest access points in Chicago after an hours-long car chase with police over a recent murder

4. A woman leaving an alligator at Chicago O'Hare
This was a few weeks back, but how did a woman casually bring an alligator on public transportation and leave it at the airport? 

5. Edward Snowden speaking at SXSW
How can someone who had to flee the United States perfectly fine video-conferencing with one of the largest US festivals? 

What do you strive to be?

What do you want your title to be in three years?

This is an interesting question that I've received a lot in meetings or training sessions over the past few weeks. Knowing the nature of the role you aim to be in is an important question to answer, but I believe there is a more significant question that this one doesn't encompass that everyone must answer to themselves first.

What do you strive to be?

Instead of looking at what you’re doing, it looks at the nature of how you will go about tackling it. What do you want your impression to be at a given work place? What impression do you want to make on friends, family and in relationships? What attributes do you strive to “own”? What type of person do you want to be?

For me, the answer to this is accountability. I want everyone I interact with to leave and know that I will follow through & get the job done. I value accountability over ambition because you can be a go-getter without delivering on every promise.

It is definitely possible to strive for more than one attribute as well, but choosing a primary and secondary quality helps you prioritize actions in many components of your life.

So what do you want to be? Actionable? A leader? Expert on a specific subject? Whether it’s a noun or an adjective, narrow in on some attributes and set goals around them. 

Monopolies of tomorrow

This morning in the news, I read about the finalization of a merger - Men's Wearhouse acquiring Jos. A. Bank. In just the past few months:

• Facebook has purchased WhatsApp
• Omnicom & Publicis Groupe applied to merge 
• Office Max & Office Depot merged 
• American Airlines & US Airways are merging 
• Comcast is attempting to acquire Time Warner 

These mergers and acquisitions are not all focused in one line of business; they are across various industries.

What does this mean for business when today's workforce has seen every big company attempt to become a monopoly? Apple, Google and Facebook already dictate a lot of the Internet and data marketplace. What will happen when companies continue to consolidate into mega-companies?

Sure, mergers are not new. And we know the FTC spends plenty of time investigating regulation and business effects before passing these joint agreements. But today's workplace knows something new and different than the notion that if you are a startup, you are not successful if you're not acquired for billions. While that remains true, it now applies to large companies. If you are an established company and are not investing in smaller businesses, big-scale partnerships or buying companies out, you are also not successful. We'll continue to see how these monopolies affect our future as employees, businesspeople and consumers.

Cross-posting

When an image from one of your blog posts gets posted on another website, and you don't know until your sister points it out here.

20-something problems.

City streets

Spotted on my street this evening…wonder how this car's going to get out. Time for the polar vortex to end!

Is winter over yet?

Breaking down Chicago area codes

When you receive a phone call or text message, the three-digit area code it comes from signifies a lot. Someone's phone number teaches you about their hometown or place of work, which can instantly be means to connect.

The more I meet people in Chicago, the more I realize how confident people are in where they currently live or grew up. People love to boast about their whereabouts, so I broke down how I explain the various area codes here. Enjoy! 

312- Classy Chicago

773- I can say I'm from Chicago, but I'm actually further north 

847- I grew up in Cook County and want you to know it 

630 and 708- I love my South or West suburb more than you love your dog

815- I'm a poser that's not really from Chicago

224- I was really delayed in getting a cell phone

219- I think I'm from Chicago but I'm actually from Northwest Indiana

February Quotes

With a trip to Boston, the Super Bowl and plenty of outings in Chicago, the short month of February flew by. Time to laugh at the quotes!

Past months' quotes here
_______

"He must be important every day because people sue him." -Lauren, on Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snapchat

"And if you have a dog or a boyfriend, here's a leash." -Paul, pointing out leashes at the brewery gift shop in Boston 

"I can only imagine what high schoolers do on this thing." -Lauren, on Snapchat

"So how do you like talking to drunk strangers?" -Lauren, to our UberX driver

"Isn't that good that we ate a ton of calories but didn't have dinner so it's worth it?" -Lauren, on our Saturday (girls problems

"It's going well. [My fiance's  planning everything which is great. She even planned the honeymoon which I'm supposed to do from what I understand." -Tasso, on his wedding

"Are you inviting my cousins to your bachelor party?" -girl

"I'm not even inviting my brothers to my bachelor party." -boy

"It's not that great of an area though. You'll want to leave." -Boy from Springfield. Massachusetts on me going there

"Why is the mascot, the person with the least visibility, on the horse?" -on the Broncos entrance at the Super Bowl

"There are two minds of people with weed- Seattle who does it & gets stuff done, and Denver who does it and sits on the couch watching Spongebob." -boy at a Super Bowl party 

  

"My next big purchase is going to be a nice TV." -Boy

"Not a ring? ...just kidding." -Girl

“No LinkedIn at this age? It's like all this lost time. It's like getting Facebook...now.” –one co-worker on another who just got a LinkedIn profile

  

“Apparently we’re going to a bar where you get as many pitchers as the birthday you’re turning.” -Lexi, on visiting University of Iowa 

“That tableaus.” -Chris, #businessjokes 

“There are to go containers!” -A Greek at her engagement party

“I’m going out on a date with this girl from Tinder and she’s actually legit. Like, I found her on LinkedIn.” -a co-worker 

“Can we just pause and take a moment to realize that we’re at the point in our lives where I use anti wrinkle cream now?” -Kathryn

"I was on a first date and the guy had no social media at all. I was kid of offended. This is what I do for a living.” -a girl at work

“Is there a way to change the settings? I just got a 63 year-old.” -A friend on Tinder 

“My dad puts a spade between the end of the word and the punctuation. Like hey !” -Elizabeth

    

“This is such good olive oil. I wish you had a bigger purse.” -Hannah

“We pretty much unintentionally ignored her, well...I guess intentionally.” -Sherman, on a girl at a bar 

  

"If we didn't have your laundry we could pick that guy up. He was cute." -Mom about a young businessman on the street hailing a cab 

“These people are getting married and they can't even function by themselves. What is this!” -Meredith H, on our dorm-mates 

“I just saw Frozen.” -Sara

“Too bad that’s the story of Chicago.” -Chris B. 

“This jeweler is giving away a free Xbox One when you buy an engagement ring.” -Boy, around Valentine's Day 

“Why not just buy the Xbox One?” -Girl

  

"Wait, Michigan and Ohio border each other?" -a 24 year-old 

  

"I come here and everyone rates their neighborhoods by the mall they have in their suburb." -John Z. 

"Most people get peer pressured into going to do destructive things, we pressure people to come to church." -John Z.

"I like your funny pictures with your cat, but I would never want to meet your cat." -Katy, to her friend 

"Asian people eat a lot of this thing." -Lexi S, describing rice in a game of Catchphrase 

"Usually our (Friday) meetings are very unproductive but super fun." -Meredith 

"And everyone on the face of Instagram was there." -Penelope, on the Hawks game at Soldier Field