Day 8: Who couldn't use some Tulips?

Day 8

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

When it comes to technology I know the basics. When it comes to downloading music, I think I can do it but I find no joy in the process, seriously. It would take me about 1 hour to figure out how to burn a CD when it can take others, 2 minutes.

So, imagine my dismay when our company bought IPhones for everyone. I mean, I know they can be great but my goodness...there are a thousand things you can do with them. That phrase, "there's an app for that" is so true and rather than feeling relieved by this, it stresses me out.

My wonderful friend at work is an IPhone secret agent and is addicted to her phone. Both yesterday and today she has taken hours out of her day to teach me how to maneuver this button, that app and those files.

Now, I understand why kids are addicted to their phones. Now I understand how traffic accidents happen. Now I understand that as I'm driving on my way to Tokyo Joe's...I can actually order my food from my phone, pay for it AND get directions all at once. Then while at Tokyo Joe's, I can take a picture of myself and turn that into a postcard that is stamped, addressed and mailed! Amazing. 

The clouds have parted and the birds are chirping. All is right with the world.

I would have been living in the land of frustration and irritability if it weren't for my friend Elizabeth! Granted, she loves IPhones but she's busy here at work but took time out of her days to help me. She even brought it a ton of music and downloaded it to my phone. I bet she helped me for a total of 4 hours!

To show her how much I appreciated her, I bought her a small bouquet of pink tulips today, wrote a thank you note and left it on her desk. 

How it made her feel:
She was very surprised and I think very a little proud. She was clearly surprised, happy and had a little smile on her face.

How it made me feel:
Cheap at first. Whole Foods is called Whole Paycheck for a reason but I savored the experience of buying tulips (which really weren't even that bad, like $9.00) but still...I have that dumb voice in my head saying, "ah ah - too expensive, try again" so resisting the urge to listen to it was hard. But, I overcame. For a split second I even felt like I was in Europe at their local corner florists where they wrap the bouquet in newspaper. It was fun to pretend I was somewhere else, even for a split second.

Then I had to sneak the card and flowers onto her chair without her seeing me to it became a little game. It was fun!

Lessons Learned:
I spend a lot of time talking myself out of doing things than talking myself in to something. It should be the reverse.