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My company recently held a fun event called The Schwartzies. It was a cross between the Oscars and the high school senior year superlatives. The Fun Committee sent out a survey asking people to vote for the “most likely to…” on categories such as “Best Bahstahn Accent,” “Best Phone Voice,” “Most Likely to Tweet,” and “Most Likely to Blog.” Well, guess what? I won “Most Likely to Blog.” I was certainly honored and slightly surprised. Then I realized I have had Set Point since March 30, 2008, nearly three years! I also do a fair amount of blog writing for company's blog.

My first Set Point post was titled, “The Grammar Sheriffs are Coming," at the end of which I wrote, “My point…Although I might not go to this length to reform the world of its grammatical flaws, I have been known to offer solicited and unsolicited corrections to just about anything that crosses my desk, home and work.” This continues to be true.

And over the past three years, I have written on a variety of topics for Schwartz, such as healthcare IT, social media, client accomplishments, trade shows and marketing.

The posts which I find easiest to write are those on which subjects I am most familiar, such as tennis, parenting, a place I have visited, psychology. On the other hand, I step out of my comfort zone and write about topics which I need to learn more about (uh oh, I ended a sentence with a preposition).

I might be driving and run a few ideas in my head for my personal blog.. did one of the kids do or say anything particularly interesting which taught a lesson and is worth sharing? Have I experienced a situation which is worth analyzing? At work, I talk with people to map out ideas and then take some on myself and assign others.
It’s not difficult to find a topic, but it is challenging to make it interesting and fun for the masses. I do my best, and hope even a couple of people take a peek and even learn a little something along the way.

My Point: Like everyone out there, my schedule can get busy. We are all bombarded with information. Blogging is a great way to get lost in your thoughts, figure out a problem and practice self-expression. It can be cathartic for the writer and beneficial for the reader. I can’t wait until I figure out what my next topic will be.

Friends

I was thinking about how we have different categories of friends. At any time, one friend may become more important in our lives. And that can change at any time and for any length of time. We have friends at work with whom we communicate, gossip, and maybe socialize. I love my colleagues at Schwartz Communications (http://www.schwartz-pr.com/).






After 12 years here, I have met many fascinating, smart and interesting people. I have made a lot of friends. I don’t socialize much outside of Schwartz with my “work friends,” although I do not discourage that in the least. Then there are neighbor friends. We have lived in Ashland for nine years and are fortunate to have a number of friendly neighbors. The people who live across the street have two boys, so that works for my son. But we don’t go out with them. Our next door neighbors are also wonderful people. Ari plays with their son, but we don’t seem to socialize with them outside of neighborhood events, such as sledding or standing at the busstop. Then, we have friends through our children. But for the most part, the parents speak during drop-off. Sometimes we stay and talk.

We have a number of friends through our synagogue, Temple Israel of Natick.




One could say that everyone at the Temple is our friend, but we do not get together socially with all of them. Another category is our long-time friends – those whom we have known since childhood, through school, as a couple. Many of these friends aren’t on the primary radar anymore for such reasons as location and schedules, and the fact that other friends are more prominent in our lives now. But we stay in touch through holiday cards, email, phone and letters (yes, the thing you use with a stamp and put in the mailbox) when we can. I might also mention those friends who aren’t friends anymore. They simply dropped from your radar. Is there anyone in that category with whom you’d like to connect?

So, what is the point? Friends are important. The saying goes: “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold.” Not sure about the silver and gold, but I like the beginning. It is hard to stay in touch with all of your friends all of the time.

But isn’t it great to hear from someone out of the blue? Why don’t you call a friend you haven’t seen or heard from in a while. He/she might move to a new category.