Just finished “reading” (listening to book on tape) the book:
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most
By Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher
One of the best “self-help” books I’ve read in a long, long time. It really cuts to the heart of what makes some conversations difficult and gives some very helpful advice on how to manage these discussions with the highest likelihood of success. I don’t mean “success” as “getting your way” (that really goes against the point of the book), but success in resolving the issue in the way in which the participants all win.
One of the main points (which absolutely cannot be appreciated outside the full treatment it gets in the book) is that the best way to approach a conversation that has potential for conflict is to be curious about the other person’s point of view, and make the first goal of the conversation understanding this in full . How does the other person see the situation, how does s/he feel, and what kind of effect does it have on their self image? Of course this comes after working through (on your own) clarifying all these issues from your own point of view first.
Anyway - the book has a lot to offer anyone who interacts with other humans. Does that include you? Probably. 
Throughout this summer (and previous ones too) I, like most folks, have witnessed a fair share of road construction sites. And, I do NOT exaggerate, EVERY SINGLE ONE that had a person just standing holding a sign up had just ONE woman on the entire crew, and that woman was the person holding the sign. WTF?!!
Do the women REQUEST to be given this duty? Is it thrust upon them by misogynist coworkers? Are they simply physically unable to do any of the real construction work and are just hired to fill some stupid quota? I would really love to know what is behind this. Because every time I pass one of these construction sites, I get so unbelievably PISSED OFF!
Anyone else notice this? Anyone else pissed? Anyone who knows (not just guessing) if any of the “reasons” I listed above are in play?
Finally got my first Torchwood Series 2 disk from netflix. OMG! The first scene between Jack and Capt John Hart (James Marsters) is SO INCREDIBLY HOT.
Did I mention it was so incredibly hot.
There was some awesome dialog too. I can’t remember them right now, so I’ll have to rewatch the episode again. Damn! 
Hooray, Carlos Zambrano! Congrats - you go, man!