I had this boss once. Granted, I've had a few bosses... but this boss instilled in me a great a wisdom. Besides encouraging me to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People--which I still reference from time to time--this boss equated my job to the act of spinning plates. I had to keep all the plates spinning--the salespeople, the collateral, the leads, and the quarterly pipelines. I could have taken my act to Atlantic City. Since then, I've shuffled positions in the same company. I'm no longer a corporate plate spinner--at least not like I used to be. I am--however--still spinning...

These past few weeks, I haven't been able to recruit any relatives to watch my kids. (For those of you who don't know, I have a eighteen-month-old daughter and a four-year-old son.) And let's face it, unless I'm plucking diamond rings off the beach or gold nuggets from the creek, I can't afford the going rate of a babysitter. Last I checked, South Central PA doesn't have very many beaches or gold deposits. So--being the compulsive digger that I am--I opted to strap the little one to my back and buy a dog harness for the other one. (Hah! Just kidding, though the thought had crossed my mind once...