Recently Dave’s wife went to a seminar on Feng Shui. Initially Dave was skeptical when she changed the drapes, moved furniture and changed the color of rooms but it grew on him. Dave empowered by the Feng or Shui – not sure which, decided he needed to bring his work area into harmony. He realized from his budding Feng Shui Master wife that his office needed to empower him with inspiration, productivity and power to bring about an enrichment in his creativity, discipline and success!

To start, Dave sat in his primary work area with his eyes closed for several hours one Monday to sense the power dynamics. Then he flushed the toilet and went to his other workspace where he took a Feng Shui inventory of his cubicle. Like a riverboat gambler he looked to see what was behind his back, to his sides and in front of him. He checked on the quality of light and air where he sat (better quality than the bathroom- just saying!) and the blind spots around him. He checked the traffic patterns of coworkers as well as the relative location of the boardroom, entrance, kitchen, and hallway.

Then Dave checked out the effects of each of these on the energy patterns in the book his wife gave him, “Fung Shui- Yes Way!”

I managed to get a copy of the memo he gave Sandra outlining the changes necessary to create his harmony perfect Fung Shui workspace. Here are some of them (I only got to see the first page):

  • His back must be to the wall- he cannot have his back to a door, window, or the overall office traffic. If this is not possible he wants a row of plants behind him. The plants must be at least 4.5 feet high (so it protects him when he’s standing).
  • He would like all office furniture to be made from oak with edges rounded so there are no sharp edges pointed toward him. This will neutralize the Sha Chi for him and everyone else in the office (its nice to help other people too!)
  • He would like some art work (real not just reproductions) of happy things to maintain his personal energy. He suggested pictures of beer, golf courses, Michael, leprechauns, clowns, pyramids and KISS.
  • He also wants his desk decluttered and would like his computer and monitors removed and replaced with a Zen Sand Garden and a quiet desktop water fountain.

I’ll post pictures once Dave’s harmony space is finished.

What’s in the Pipeline:

  • Ben is finishing custom projects and helping with some internal projects.
  • Carol is still off- missing her in the office!
  • Jan is working on CA releases and QAing eLearning.
  • Sydney is working on custom projects and eLearning courses.

Tech Topics:

  • Fixed an issue causing the user upload report not to be sent to administrators.
  • Fixed an issue causing the course progress to show under the wrong column in the workflow export report.
  • Fixed an issue causing audio files not to be re-loaded after re-recording TTS.
  • Archived organizations will no longer show under the available memberships while editing a user.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause page break boundaries to remain on the page after publishing.

Course Count:

Courses released this month:

Here is the official count of courses for both courseware and eLearning, broken down by Computer and SoftSkills.

Computer SoftSkills Total Courses
Courseware 281 170 451
eLearning 879 167 1046

Interesting Feng Shui facts 

(thanks to Knowingandsharing.com)

  • Feng Shui has been around for a long time. It is said to have originated some 2950 years before the Toronto Maple Leaf’s last Stanley Cup (yes that long ago!)
  • It’s not just about moving the furniture around- as Dave found out it’s about fabrics, colors and so much more.
  • A harmonious Feng Shui space needs to incorporate the five elements of water, fire, the earth, wood and metal (hence Dave’s inclusion of KISS artwork).
  • Feng Shui is all about harnessing the energy from everything surrounding you.