At HJMT COMMUNICATIONS’ Sweet 16 party on March 13, we held a candle lighting ceremony in honor of our clients, friends and family who have supported us along the way. Interestingly, candle 11 went to Red Bull, both diet and regular, for keeping us awake and alert during our long hours.

Today, while I was drinking Red Bull (www.redbull.com), I noticed that at least three other people in the office were also drinking Red Bull. That made me think about candle 11.

What did we do before Red Bull or any other energy drink? Did we just drink a lot of coffee?

After a long week of work, my husband, son and I spent the last four hours in the car going to Binghamton University for the New York State competition of Odyssey of the Mind (http://nysoma.org). His group, in Division I – The Muses, performed a play solving a problem.

The problem was to take a muse – one of nine – and include a historical person who made a positive contribution and an original team-created person who made a positive impact on society. The muse needed to inspire those two people in some way. Derek, my son, played the team created character, the mailman, who upon going to deliver mail would get attacked by dogs. At the end of the production, dogs everywhere would never attack mailmen again because the muse inspired the mailman and the dog that mainly attacked him!

This was the second time I saw the production. The first time was in Wantagh at BOCES. His team won first place from Long Island and made it up the state competition.

When I asked the Muse in Derek’s production how she got her inspiration. She held up a bobble head of Tim Gunn and said “I stared at him and said to myself, what would Tim Gunn do? He was my inspiration!” BTW, her father held up the bobble head of Mr. Gunn during the entire production.

Sitting in a lecture hall seating about two hundred people at Binghamton, I started to reflect back on the days that I went to college. I often wondered whether or not I missed out on the “college experience” by not attending a university with an on-site campus.

I went to Hunter College for my bachelor’s degree. It’s located on 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. Manhattan was my campus. Every time I walked around I would feel the energy and excitement of the city. I don’t regret going to a college in NYC. I even continued by graduating Baruch and getting my Master’s Degree.

“We got a 136!” said one of the parent coaches, interrupting my thoughts. “That’s a great score. I think we may have a chance for nationals in Maryland….”

Later that evening, the parents and the kids sat in a large gymnasium that held thousands of people. Almost every seat was taken and prior to the announcement of the winners, most of the contestants were on the gym floor dancing to the music of the DJ. It looked like a sea of colors, because each team wore their team colored shirts!

Although our team ended up coming in 7th place in the state, I was really proud of my son and his teammates for doing a great job and getting to the state finals!

On the way home, he said to me, “boy, that ruined my weekend!” I looked at him, looked at my husband and grinned. “This is what we do for our kids….”

Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t but tonight at A La Carte in Lynbrook, NY, the HJMT Communications, LLC team had a lot of fun!

Prior to the evening, we were given a menu and had choices. Jointly, the HJMT team decided on creating:

• Bacon Wrapped Ginger Soy Scallops
• Asparagus with Serrano Ham and Balsamic Drizzle
• Roasted Red Peppers, Portobello & Mozzarella Napoleons on a Bed of Greens
• Party Paella
• Mini Pavlovas with Chocolate, Strawberries and Whipped Cream

We were put into groups of three. Team A consisted of Christina, Mike, Rick and Me. Team B — Kristie, Lori and Ellen and Team C was Allie, Lisa, Aaron and Jillian. The groups were chosen randomly. Interestingly, many of the PR people were on the same team as were the Event People….

Each team made something else. My team created the scallops and roasted peppers with portobello and mozzarella. We really worked well as a team. When the culinary class was over, we all got to sample our creations. It was totally delicious.

I always believed in team building. I think it’s important when trying to serve clients in a service business. How can you treat your clients well without treating each other well?

A La Carte has a wonderful program that’s different and exciting. By working together in the kitchen, teams learn to really work together in the work place.

It seemed to me that everyone took to the program. A La Carte just hired us to help them build their corporate team building program by reaching out to the community and targeting prospective corporate clients to utilize their team building program. They have successfully worked with JP Morgan Chase, The Gap, Winthrop Hospital, Ernst and Young, Hofstra University, Lexus Nexus and many others.

Ask my staff, they will tell you it was definitely worth it!

Are people generally honest? I always thought so until I ran an investment forum nearly 14 years ago. Everyone was in business suits and everyone looked like honest business people. What struck me about this show was that while I was sitting at registration signing people in, I realized that there were many people who either tried to sneak in without paying or tried to convince me that they paid when they didn’t.

I did some work for a local podiatrist who pleaded with me to continue to work for him. When he owed me nearly six months worth of retainers, I asked him for the payment and he promised he would make good on the payment. Six bounced checks later and nearly a year after my firm worked for him, we are still trying to collect. If only he had been honest with me from the start and told me he couldn’t afford our services that I would have had a great respect for him.

Today, I got a disturbing email from a one of my associates. She told me that a vendor we use got an email from a former client saying that the client refused to pay the vendor because the client felt that she never authorized the use of this service. Why would she say this? She authorized the transaction. Was it because she doesn’t want to pay her debt?

Look at the real life situation — Elliot Spitzer. Everyone thought he was the most honest man around. And now, he’s being threatened with a prison sentence. But what about Patterson? Is it okay to be honest and upfront and tell people things that may not be appropriate to get out?

I always ran my business as an honest business woman. I may have made a bad judgement or two, but I have always kept to my word. If I tell someone something I deliver no matter what. I always felt that your word and your reputation is all that you have so it better be right.

I’m in Florida and it’s nearly 3 am.  My father is going in for surgery in a few hours and I can’t sleep.  About four weeks ago, I was in a skiing accident which left my knee in bad shape.  Two days ago, I had a huge shot of steriods placed into my painful knee and for about a day or so, I actually felt “normal.”  And now, it hurts again!  So between my dad going in for surgery and my knee, it’s one of those nights…

I know I have no control of the future and whatever will happen will happen, but I’m still nervous.

You go through the day and you focus on what you need to happen and you never think that things can change in an instant.  We go skiing as a family, like we do every year, and one small little fall the wrong way, and I’m out of skiing for the season.  I book a trip to see my parents in Florida and my dad needs surgery.  Crazy, huh?

And now, I’m sitting in bed with the lights off, thinking about how many people out there have the same experience — one day things are the way they always are and the next everything changes….

If this sounds like you, share it with me…