Do you want a sneak peak before you make it home to your DVRs? Gayle loves the song with her name. “Yes, I’m 11” she admits. I have to say…the show’s song is getting catchy as the show goes on…but please tell me, in season 2, we’ll get a new beat! Gayle’s asking is we all did our homework….class in session…well, did you?
About the President’s speech last night – @7:30pm, Gayle watched and took notes for us. It’s been 9 days since the Libya strikes…Gayle says she at least understood his reasoning process. “A city the size of Charlotte…was facing a massacre…it was not in our national interest to let this happen….I was not going to let this happen,” President Obama told the nation. Don’t we want a nation with a conscience? I think so!
About finger pointing between Republicans – The government might shut down, Senator Reed tells us…because of the Republican’s in-fighting. Do your job, elected officials. If you don’t want to work, move over for someone who doesn’t have a job and who would be more than happy to roll up their sleeves. Please…this is shameful.
About the ‘Feeling Old’ study – “Men start to feel old at the age of 58,” Gayle tells us. “Women start to feel old at the age of 29.” YIKES! Gray hair does it apparently. Hello….color! But….another survey says, “The older you get, the happier you become…” Gayle reads on from the study, “that’s it’s when you get older and at that time when we have the ability to focus on what makes you happy…” I’m in that middle demographic…and think that feeling old is a state of mind…and maybe caused by a few aches and pains in the body attributed to my 20’s, I’m pretty sure. Otherwise, I’m good.
About Gayle’s Notes on the President’s Speech – Cost of the ‘military action’ – $600 million for the first week. Yikes. They aren’t looking to kill Ghadafi, but would like him to take his parting gifts and leave. Gayle brings in Chuck Todd, Chief WH Correspondent for NBC News to get his take on what this all meant. “The speech was necessary, realistic, and unsatisfactory…” because he didn’t tell us when it would end…and people are concerned about the cost… “We heard the President lay out the best case he could with the cards he’s holding…Libya is in the vital national interest of a lot of European nations…it’s all connected…when you have allies, sometimes you need them to be with you…and sometimes they need you with them,” Chuck tells us. Chuck also brings up Syria and the desire for change that is taking place all over the Middle East. “Do we intervene if Syria starts up like Libya?” Chuck thinks not. We will see… Gayle also brings up the breaking news story that ‘there is an exit strategy being put together for Ghadafi.” “Have you heard this?” Gayle asks. Chuck tells us that the exit strategy may be more for those around Ghadafi…it makes sense… everybody…take 2 steps back and slowly walk toward the exit… shhhhhh… very quietly.
About Starbucks, Howard Shultz, Chairman and CEO – Over 17,000 stores… Onward: How Starbucks Fought For It’s Life Without Losing It’s Soul, is Howard’s new book. It chronicles how he turned Starbucks around. Gayle reminds us that in February 2008, Howard took action and closed down the stores to retrain Starbucks employees… “to reboot the company,”he says. “I came back in January ’08 and I began to notice some issues with quality,” Howard tells us. “The growth of the company had become more of the strategy as opposed to the quality and the customer…so I came back to transform the company.” Sunday, 9pm meeting at he boss’s house…this is when it started. Howard tells us, “Here’s the thing…If you want to do something and you want to win and you really believe passionately in it and you love it, then you need people around you who believe as much as you do.” “Starbucks created something in America that perhaps didn’t exist”…Howard tells us. He’s right – it’s the place between home and work that you want to go to…that is YOUR place to relax and refuel. Gayle tells him, “What I like is that you are passionate about your company…and it trickles down to your employees.” Howard reminds us that Starbucks wanted to be profitable…but prove that you could also have a social conscience. Health insurance….and stock options for EVERY Starbucks employee… which includes part timers. Coffee and a company that cares…this is why, I think, the products taste so good.
Some questions that his employees were asking:
- What qualities make a good boss? – “A boss needs to put their feet in the shoes of their employees and understand with empathy what you are asking the employees to do and how they feel about it,” Howard says. “People need to feel that the boss cares,” Gayle adds.
- After a long days work, where do you find your happy place? – “I became a cyclist a number of years ago and getting on my bike…its’ very therapeutic and gives me time to unwind,” Howard tells us.
- Who influenced your life decisions the most? – Howard tells us, “That’s an easy question to answer – my mother, who was not an educated woman but who somehow had incredible insight, wisdom and believed very strongly in the American dream.”
Gayle talks about the Starbucks brand – their language and their logo. “Starbucks has always been more than about coffee,” Gayle quotes Howard. Howard finishes the interview by saying he believes that “People need a place to go…they need human connections…and Starbucks brings people together.” I feel the need right now to run down and just hang out at my local Starbucks…want to join me?
About Financially Toxic Friends – Friends who encourage you to spend and buy things that maybe you can’t afford. What do you do? “Honesty is the best policy,” Gayle says. Gayle asks, “What about going out with the friends that drink like fishes.” That’s tough…but hey, cell phones have calculators. I say, get ‘em out…and make sure that a sober person is the one that is figuring it out.
About Barry Bonds on Trial – Kimberly Bell is the star witness in the Barry Bonds trial for perjury,….”his ex-mistress who says he blamed his elbow injury on steroid use and that he was verbally abusive,” read the video footage. “She must be really mad at you Barry Bonds,” Gayle says, because she testified that “while he was taking the steroids, his testicles and penis changed shape – they became mis-shapen, shrank in size and he became agitated.” “Just another reason not to be a cheater-cheater pumplin eater,” says Gayle. Also, another reason to NOT take steroids. Not a good side effect, I would say.
About Money and Friends and Alexa von Tobel – “If you are going out with 6 people or more…you split the bill…that is the Emily Post rule and is only fair to the wait staff,” Alexa says, founder of LearnVest. Gayle clarifies, “You aren’t trying to say that you can only be friends that make as much as you do, right?” Alexa says “of course not.” Be friends with any body…just understand what the complications might be. Dinner, roommates, being in a wedding, charity requests…just recognize them and set your boundaries. To navigate it, ask for a separate bill and say it’s because “you might be leaving early…” or suggest 2 restaurants – expensive and not so expensive. For weddings, ask if you can pick your own dress. With close friends and family, just be honest and clear, Alexa says. “I’m trying to save…I am cutting back…” People understand…at least your good friends do.
About the Snake on the Loose that Speaks? – A cobra is on the loose from the NYC Bronx Zoo…but it’s raised it’s snakey head on Twitter… “It speaks and it has jokes!” Gayle tells us. He has over 17,000 followers. How do I get me that? Gayle shares one of tweets:
@BronxZooCobra – “Rockerfeller Plaza is amaz…wait.OMG! Tina Fey totally just walked by me! HUUUUUGE FAN! #snakeonthetown
Too funny…I got to go right now to follow him! Here snakey, snakey….
Come back tomorrow to find out what our favorite soap opera diva, Susan Lucci, has to say about her life and more…