Susanne and I covered a lot of topics in July and August from girlfriends and grudges to hiring and management training. If you were away on a fabulous summer vacation or spent a month by the lake (at the shore, in the mountains, on a cruise) and didn’t keep up with The Next Phase, here’s a handy summary of the posts you missed.

Triple Bloom in Peach

Personal

• The Long Trip – Aline
• Alaska: There and Back Again — Aline
• Going Home – Susanne
• Seven Things My Perennial Garden Taught Me – Aline
• Heading Up to the BitNorth Conference — Aline

Business &Technology

• Adventures in Hiring: What Were They Thinking?
• Ignore That Notice of Copyright Infringement
• The Importance of Chocolate on Friday
• Employee Training: Yes, It’s Your Job
• Management Training: The Cost of Doing Nothing
• The DeMoulas Family Feud
  Update: Since this post was published, the feud has been resolved. Artie T. DeMoulas has purchased a majority share of the company’s stock, the stores have been restocked and customers are flocking back to show their continued support by making Market Basket profitable again.
• The Myth of Work-Life Balance
• Multi-Tasking Humans and Work-Life Balance
• Social Media + Water + Ice = $

Is the bag half full or half empty?

Food and Cooking

• When the Chips Are Down . . . Down . . . Down
• Are You Addicted to Sugar or Salt and Fat?
• Volunteering for Lovin Spoonfuls and Community Servings
• A Day of Volunteer Activities

History

• A Cemetery Tour with Ice Cream
• Small Treasures of Boston’s Back Bay

Language

• A Word Means What It Means

Lifestyle & Culture

• The Art of Holding a Grudge
• Don’t Be That Guy—Women Don’t Like It
  Update: Since this post was published,  Upworthy published a video of a woman who wore a camera to show how often she was harassed on the street.  I am ambivalent about this video. The woman admittedly wears “provocative” clothing but seems shocked when men react to it.  The word “provoke” has three meanings: (1) To cause anger, resentment or deep feeling in; (2) To cause or take action; (3) To bring on by inciting.  It seems to me that she is wearing clothing designed to accomplish all three but dislikes the result. My sympathies lie with women who are dressed in ordinary office or street clothes and have done nothing to provoke a reaction from men on the street—yet still get harassed.
• The Persistence of Sexism
• New York, New York; It’s a Helluva Town
• The New Approach to Pet Care
• Casual Drinking on TV: Why So Much?

Movies & TV (And Movies About Food)

• Lucy: This is Your Brain on Movies
• Jersey Boys vs. James Brown on the Big Screen
  Update: Jersey Boys has earned $46,702,878 on a production budget of $40 million and Get on Up has brought in $29,590,000 on a reported production budget of $170M so the first one has become profitable, if just by a hair, while the second has a long way to go.
• True Blood vs. The Strain: Future Vampires
• The Hundred Foot Journey:  A Passion for Food
  Update: Since this post was published, readers have suggested two additions to my list of movies about food:

o   The Lunchbox (Indian food)

o   The Trip (English food)
People who enjoyed this delightful movie about two food critics on a tour of England’s finest restaurants might look forward to The Trip to Italy.  Despite a good follow-on premise in a country that is sunny , beautiful, and known for good food, advance reviews are not good.