All the presidents must face the same way.

Those were specific instructions I was given from Elaine Shackelford, who was the manager of the Kum & Go store I worked at in high school. She was referring to the cash in the register drawer and how those bills were to be lined up in each compartment. Keeping paper bills all facing the same way made them easier to count and less likely to be mistaken for larger bills. This helped to ensure the cash drawer was balanced after each shift and to ensure I still had a job.

Elaine’s instructions stuck with me. To this day, the cash in my billfold all have the presidents facing the same way. Habits may be tough to form, but they are also difficult to break.

I am also a fanatic about my keys and where they are. If you are a regular reader of this column, you know they are on a carabiner attached to my beltloop. Few things drive me as crazy as losing my keys. As such, I have a very specific process of where I put them when they are not by my side. And, as such, I get great anxiety when someone borrows my keys.

In today’s high-tech world, recharging has become a daily process. Phones. Watches. Tablets. Laptops. And plenty of other things that start with a lower case “i.” They all need plugged in and recharged. At home. In the car. At the office. Each has its own cord, and many are not interchangeable. I like to have my own cords for my own electronics. My wife and one of our daughters also like to have my cords for their electronics. Yes, they have their own— somewhere. But my cords are apparently easier to find, or they just like to see me get worked up. Probably both.

I have bought them new cords with the properly aligned cash in my billfold, but they still seem to disappear. “You need to learn to share,” my wife tells me. She is right, but that doesn’t seem to play well with my personal processes.

As I have learned, we all have our organizational obsessions. How about you? What are your personal fixations that others seem to infringe upon? Send me a note and let me know.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305

CITYVIEW announced its 2022 Best Of Des Moines readers' choices Feb.1. You can find all the results from the poll in the February issue of CITYVIEW magazine!

Best Local Margarita
1. Coa Cantina
2. Mi Mexico
3. El Fogon

Meet Alyson Bechtum

Marie Curie is her “Chemistry Hero.”

By Darren Tromblay

Alyson Bechtum teaches Chemistry 1 and AP Chemistry. She is also the National Honor Society advisor at Waukee Northwest High School.

Who are your “chemistry heroes,” and why?
“Mr. Eric Dralle, my high school chemistry teacher in Osage. He cared about his students and truly set us up for success at the collegiate level in terms of chemistry and problem solving. 

“Professor Cristina Bonaccorsi, my first chemistry professor at Iowa State University. Her passion for chemistry and her calm, positive demeanor really helped me thrive in the course and started to get me thinking about chemistry education.

“Marie Curie (1867-1934) is my ‘chemistry’ HERO. Marie Curie had to overcome many obstacles to advance chemistry in the field of radioactivity. Marie dedicated her life to advancing radioactive particles that pioneered work in X-rays, discovered two elements (Polonium and Radon), won two Nobel Prizes in different fields (physics and chemistry), oh, and married her lab partner, Pierre!” 

From March Waukee Living magazine

Happy Birthday Cindy Krage!

Happy Birthday to these celebrities: Ron Perlman, Allison Williams, Glenn Howerton, Ty Dolla $ign, Tatiana Navka, Dylan Frances Penn, Ricky Schroder, Kelli Giddish, Christopher Hitchens, DeVon Franklin, Carmen Carrera, Leticia Bufoni

SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to:tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com