Pausemeister Scoop

Here are twenty-five lesser known facts about your pausemeister, Patricia Katz:

  1. Pat and her five sisters grew up in a Saskatchewan farmhouse that had, as you might imagine, one very congested bathroom.
  2. Pat loves hot air ballooning - whether over the Canadian prairies or the Arizona desert. She has been up (and down) many times and helped crew with the Remax balloon team for a couple of summers.
  3. Bobby Curtola was the star of the first concert Pat ever attended - in Saskatoon, SK. Bette Midler starred in the most recent concert she attended - in Seattle, WA.
  4. Pat is proud to be Canadian and has visited every province in the Dominion.
  5. Pat's greatest (and only) athletic triumph was placing second in the Potato Race at her very first Track and Field Day. She was not then - nor is she now - a fast runner, but she was coordinated enough not to drop her spuds!
  6. It took Pat three trips to Paris before she finally got to meet Mona.
  7. Pat spent 104 weeks (two years) of her life working as a counselor, camp director and programmer at Rayner Centre on Lake Diefenbaker.
  8. In the 1970's Pat learned how to spin a yarn - on her Grandmother's antique spinning wheel. She spent many hours at her 45" Lillistina floor loom weaving into the wee hours of the morning.
  9. Pat has led singsongs for groups of 5 around campfires and groups of 500 in conference rooms. She knows all the words to 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo'.
  10. Pat's writing was first published at the age of 8 by the Young Cooperators pages of the Western Producer. Her pen name was Princess Dale.
  11. Pat was awarded a soccer medal at the age of 45 - not for any prowess on the field, but for her stamina on the sidelines. She spent an entire weekend cheering on her daughter's team wearing a sweaty Tiger mascot suit.
  12. Pat attended 'kindergarten' in her playhouse where Karen (a cousin one year her senior) taught the skills she had learned in Grade One each day after school. As a result, Pat tore through stacks of library books and covered two grades in her first year at school.
  13. In a quest for bonus points for her team, Pat leaped on and off a cruise ship grand piano in a chest beating imitation of Tarzan of the Jungle.
  14. Pizza first crossed Pat's lips at the age of 16 at Shakey's Pizza on a 4-H Exchange trip to Iowa City, IA.
  15. Pat knows how to use a router, skill saw, drill press, belt sander, and paint roller.
  16. In 1985, Pat chaperoned 20 Canadian teenagers on a five country tour of Europe and lived to tell about it.
  17. Pat totally embarrassed herself in front of Canada's very first astronaut. In her overly excited incoherence, Pat extended her hand for a shake and announced, "Hi, I'm Marc Garneau!"
  18. Pat ran a weekend bakery operation for her Dad at the age of 10. Each Saturday, she was paid ten cents a loaf for baking 16 loaves of bread. The family couldn't eat it fast enough. Gifts to neighbours couldn't take up the slack. The freezer filled to overflowing. The business failed due to over zealous supply!
  19. Pat writes songs - both spoofs and serious 'masterpieces'. She's still waiting for a genuine musical artist to record one of her original tunes.
  20. Pat slept in Stockholm's floating ship hostel on a solo backpacking trip through Scandinavia after university.
  21. Pat can sew with the best of them. She was crowned Provincial 4-H Dress Revue Queen in 1968. She also won Eaton's Sewing Contest to become Saskatchewan's representative at a national competition in Toronto.
  22. Pat won an Oratory Contest at the age of 8 by reciting the poem, Pitapat. (She's lost the words. Let her know if you find them.)
  23. Pat does TV. She produced a television program, Consumer Notes, for the University of Saskatchewan. She hosted 16 satellite broadcasts of the management development program, Frontline Leadership. She made 24 guest appearances on CBC television's What On Earth.
  24. Pat loved whitewater rafting on the Kananaskis River in the Canadian Rockies.
  25. Pat's family includes two beautiful daughters, Tristan and Lindsay, and husband, Dave - her greatest fan and cheerleader.

As you can see, I'm as human as everyone else you know. I'd love to help you and your organization solve your stress, pressure and performance problems. Contact me to see how we might work together.

"Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you."

-John De Paola