RAK

It's been a while since I've really enjoyed Christmastime. It's become so commercial and so chaotic and so stressful that I just haven't been able to get in the mood. With annoying Christmas music starting November 1st and no measurable snowfall in quite a while, it's just not happening for me.

One thing that I'm trying this year to get a little of the Christmas Spirit back is to share more of what I have with people less fortunate. I like giving. My job situation has changed a bit recently and though I still have a long way to go to feel financially secure, I wanted to do something a little different this year.

I was inspired by Robyn Bomar's birthday outing post. As she turned 38, she decided to perform 38 Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) - one for each year of her life. With her kids along to help, she spent the day dispensing goodwill to unsuspecting, but very surprised and grateful persons. These were not the acts of handing out $100 bills to everyone they saw, but rather more meaningful, in the moment, acts... Whether it be helping shoppers load their groceries into their cars, handing bottled water out the car window to joggers, sprinkling coins around a playground for the little tikes to find, paying for the person in line behind them at a store/restaurant or handing handwritten thank you notes (and donuts :-) ) to local law enforcement.

The kids and I have made several $100+ grocery shopping trips to donate to food banks. We also spent several hours working at Gleaners Community Food Bank sorting food for donations. One day this week (while I'm off work between holidays), the kids and I are going to do our own RAK day. We've started making a list of things to do. Just the planning is making me feel good.

One of the things that my daughter latched onto was a story where one party paid for the car behind them in a drive through line. And then, the pay-it-for..., er um, backward plan kicked in, and the recipient of the first gift, paid for the car behind them, and they paid for the car behind them. I'm not sure how long it went on, but the cynic would say that they were all just passing the original money backward. I would rather see it as all of those people continued a good deed and likely felt inspired and good about their own good deed. She really wants to do this one.

We started a little preparation for this (or something similar at least) by buying a few McD gift cards while we were there the other day. I stuck them in my pocket. As we were walking between stores today I noticed a young mother loading groceries into her van. I also noticed that she had three young children all probably less than 5 in the van already. I pulled a couple of gift cards out of my pocket and walked up to her (trying not to scare her - people are not used to people walking up to them in the parking lot). I asked her if they ever ate at McDonald's (with three young children I thought the odds were pretty good). She said "occasionally." I handed her the cards and suggested that maybe she could take the kids for a treat sometime. She thanked me and I replied with "Merry Christmas" and walked away.

I can't even describe the feeling that I felt as I walked away. It was a small thing, really, but a big gesture. I hope that I gave her a little smile and notice that there are still nice people around. I can't wait to spread more cheer and kindness this week.

Ms Bomar received so much feedback and support for her "birthday project" that she has setup The B'Day Project to inform and inspire others. Remember that birthdays are not the only days to spread goodwill. :-)

ocupado

Whenever I sit down to write a new post, I always seem to get distracted. First my mail then by Pinterest or Google's Reader Play, our Youtube.

Recently it's been the Pinterest (pin your interests) that's been occupying my attention. I'm not a really social person (in real life or online), but I love being a lurker in other people's lives. Pinterest allows people to pin/post things that they find on line that they like / find interesting / want to share or even just save for themselves for later. They can pin them to different boards, arranging them by topic for instance. It's been on a huge growth track recently so there are more an more people posting more and more cool findings!

There are people posting cool sayings and motivational quotes, recipes, humor, images, crafts, libraries, showers, tips, and just about anything else you can think of.

I don't think I've been able to scan through the site any one time without finding something that I want to share. I have a Gmail this bookmarklet that I use to send the sites to my wife (usually humor or really cool crafts), or daughter (quotes, recipes, etc), or others (a potpourri). I should switch to my Blog this bookmarklet instead so that I can share with everyone instead. Some people would suggest that I use a more global social sharing method, but I'm fine with my little circle of followers.

I'll try to do better about posting some of my finds here...

New year's resolution

If you have one of these as a password, you should resolve to change it. These are the 25 most popular "according to SplashData who gathered the data from the millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers in 2011."

1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

Time for a change?

a very powerful story about what a little change can do for so many people if given a chance.

Remember others this season, and always, as your out and about.

hil-hair-ious

The only winning move is not to play

While riding in the car, my youngest son is not always good at keeping himself occupied. One way I help him (and me by keeping my mind sharp) is to play tic-tac-toe with him. But, instead of passing a piece of paper back and forth between us, he keeps track of the game on paper and I keep track in my mind. By numbering the grid squares between 1 and 9, I can call out the square number and he applies my X or O to the paper.

I think he's broken the code though. :-( Perhaps he's got this tac-tac-toe book memorized! It's a whole new kind of "Choose your own adventure." I loved those books!

Care

What do YOU care about?

Happy Thanksgiving!

One step closer...

:-)

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Growing old...

Do not regret growing old. It's a privilege denied to many. - Unknown

quote

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

It's about time!

Street Art Tribute To Steve Jobs

Here's another interesting tribute. For all Jobs was and in all of the ways in which he has changed technology and design forever, I like finding tributes that go a little beyond.

Milk wars

jonathan mak's tribute

Much has been made about Jonathan Mak's tribute to Steve Jobs, but regardless of the comparisons and arguments about originality, I think that this one is the best looking that I've seen. It has been around the Internet a lot since Jobs' death, but I think it's a stunning tribute worth sharing.

http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056

A new me... (teaser)

I have something in the works that will totally change who I am... Stay tuned... :-)

So much to say...

What?! He's posting again?!

Sorry I've not been around here for a while. I've been otherwise occupied -- with life!

So let me get a few things out there and then I'll try to get back to regular posting...

One big thing that has happened over the past couple of months involves our home computing environment. My wife and I were both really excited when Google announced their Chromebook beta program. We'd already come to love Google 's Chrome browser and the idea of having a Chromebook (for free!) was simply amazing. It's not quite a notebook and not quite a netbook. It's a laptop that's intended for web surfing. I filled out all of the lottery applications and kept my fingers crossed. I even found a site that was listing (still not sure how) all of the shipments as they went out and to which ZIP code they were shipped. Every time I found one that had been shipped to my ZIP, I'd call my wife and make sure she checked the porch for a delivery. But alas, it was not to be. Or was it...

I got my coworker caught up in the frenzy as well. He submitted his lottery form and waited with me for our present to show up at one our doorsteps. But again, nothing.

AND THEN... his other friend received one! We were geeked just to be able to hold it in our hands (on loan). I must admit to feeling a little bit like the Apple fanboys that I keep making fun of. I get you guys now. My friend was able to use the the CR-48 (the official name of the beta Chromebook) for a while. In fact, he just kinda took common law possession of it after a while. Oh well. I could live vicariously I guess...

THEN... One day, my friend came in to work and said he had something for me in his trunk, but he couldn't bring it inside the office. We had been talking about me taking some of his scrap computers to use for parts to beef up a few old ones I had laying around, so I figured it was an old CPU tower, or a monitor or something. He wouldn't fess up, though, so when it was time for lunch, we walked over to his car and he pulled a small briefcase-sized cardboard box out and handed it to me...?! It still hadn't hit me. Then I glanced at the side of the box and recognized the cartoon-like Rube Goldberg diagram of the CR-48 boxes I had seen in the YouTube unboxing videos! WHAT?! REALLY?! Apparently his friend had snagged another Chromebook! And he was giving it TO ME! WOW!

I snuck it home that night and waited until my wife and kids were asleep before I brought it in the house. I got a couple of hours out of it (configuring, charging, playing, investigating, etc) that night. And I've not seen it since :-( Well, not completely true, but it has definitely become my wife's laptop and not mine. I still use it occasionally, and really like a lot of what it has to offer (including the free built-in Verizon 3G access for 2 years, and the instant, OK, 8-second, boot up from power off, etc), but by allowing my wife to take ownership of it, I've been able to take over the other laptop we got last fall. Now we've both got something to use when needed.

Moving on...

My daughter ran track last spring and plans to run again this coming spring. I think that helped spur my son to join cross country this fall. They planned and raced all summer together. My son is definitely more of an endurance runner and my daughter the sprinter. He had some growing pains in his bones that kept him from fully participating in all of the meets, but I think he had a good time anyway. He's not the fastest runner, but he kept up with it. I can't fault him at all since I didn't even make it to the first meet when I was in track :-( I hope he continues with his plans to join track in the spring with his sister. It will make our lives a little more chaotic (I'm certain that the meets will be at the same time on completely opposite ends of the city), but I'm proud of both of them. My son and I were also planning a 14-ish mile bike trip for just the two of us late this summer, but I fear we may have missed the weather-window. Maybe we'll try again in the spring.

Both of my older kids spent the better part of the summer at my mother-in-law's house in North Carolina. They had a blast and have many great memories. They've both been talking about what to do next summer.

Hmmm... The older two have also had band and choir concerts this year. I'm glad that they've both found something creative that they enjoy. I enjoy hearing them "practice" at home as well. All of them are doing very well in school (as expected) and they have each found that they are smarter than they give themselves credit for (-- right son?! I know you're reading this. No more dumbing down the tests so you don't have to work as hard. They know how smart you are already!).

My wife has three jobs this year so far. Well, three paying jobs, all part-time, in addition to the volunteering she does at all of the schools and keeping the kids and the house in line. Tax time will be fun next year.

Speaking of jobs, I've got a new one too. My new job is pretty familiar territory for me, but for this move, I left a career of 18 years to start at the "bottom" of the totem pole again. It's a little, ok, a lot scary, but I think it was the best move for me right now. I'm excited about the possibilities for the future.

So that's a quick recap to bring me mostly current. Sorry I've been so lax lately, but I promise to try harder to post more often. Thanks for sticking with me.

Sound of Silence - 9/11/11

Back to school time?

This makes me feel really old :-(

For Release: TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011

Author contacts:
Ron Nief (608-770-2625)
niefr@beloit.edu
Tom McBride (608-312-9508)
mcbridet@beloit.edu


Beloit College Releases the Mindset List for the "Internet Class" of 2015

Beloit, Wis. - This year's entering college class of 2015 was born just as the Internet took everyone onto the information highway and as Amazon began its relentless flow of books and everything else into their lives. Members of this year's freshman class, most of them born in 1993, are the first generation to grow up taking the word "online" for granted and for whom crossing the digital divide has redefined research, original sources and access to information, changing the central experiences and methods in their lives. They have come of age as women assumed command of U.S. Navy ships, altar girls served routinely at Catholic Mass, and when everything from parents analyzing childhood maladies to their breaking up with boyfriends and girlfriends, sometimes quite publicly, have been accomplished on the Internet.

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloit's former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief and Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. Mindset List websites at Beloit College and at mindsetmoment.com, the Mediasite webcast and their Facebook page receive more than a million hits annually.

Nief and McBride recently applied their popular format to 10 generations of Americans over 150 years in their new book, The Mindset Lists of American History: From Typewriters to Text Messages, What Ten Generations of Americans Think Is Normal (Wiley and Sons.).

As for the class of 2015, without any memory whatever of George Herbert Walker Bush as president, they came into existence as Bill Clinton came into the presidency. Their parents, frequently older than one might expect because women have always been able to get pregnant almost regardless of age, have hovered over them with extra care and have agreed with those states that mandated the wearing of bike helmets. Ferris Bueller could be their overly cautious dad, and Jimmy Carter is an elderly smiling public man who appears occasionally on television doing good works. "Dial-up," Woolworths and the Sears "Big Book" are as antique to them as "talking machines" might have been to their grandparents. Meanwhile, as they've wondered why O.J. Simpson has always been suspected of something, they have all "been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt," shortened boring conversations with "yadda, yadda, yadda," and recognized LBJ as LeBron James.
For those who cannot comprehend that it has been 18 years since this year's class was born, they will quickly confirm that the next four years will go even faster and, like the rest of us, they will continue to grow older at increasing speed.

The Mindset List for the Class of 2015

Andre the Giant, River Phoenix, Frank Zappa, Arthur Ashe and the Commodore 64 have always been dead.

Their classmates could include Taylor Momsen, Angus Jones, Howard Stern's daughter Ashley, and the Dilley Sextuplets.

1. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
3. States and Velcro parents have always been requiring that they wear their bike helmets.
4. The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
5. There have always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S.Navy ships.
6. They "swipe" cards, not merchandise.
7. As they've grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
8. Their school's "blackboards" have always been getting smarter.
9. "Don't touch that dial!"....what dial?
10. American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
11. More Americans have always traveled to Latin America than to Europe.
12. Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
13. Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you're talking about LeBron James.
14. All their lives, Whitney Houston has always been declaring "I Will Always Love You."
15. O.J. Simpson has always been looking for the killers of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
16. Women have never been too old to have children.
17. Japan has always been importing rice.
18. Jim Carrey has always been bigger than a pet detective.
19. We have never asked, and they have never had to tell.
20. Life has always been like a box of chocolates.
21. They've always gone to school with Mohammed and Jesus.
22. John Wayne Bobbitt has always slept with one eye open.
23. There has never been an official Communist Party in Russia.
24. "Yadda, yadda, yadda" has always come in handy to make long stories short.
25. Video games have always had ratings.
26. Chicken soup has always been soul food.
27. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has always been available on TV.
28. Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief.
29. Arnold Palmer has always been a drink.
30. Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!
31. Women have always been kissing women on television.
32. Their older siblings have told them about the days when Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera were Mouseketeers.
33. Faux Christmas trees have always outsold real ones.
34. They've always been able to dismiss boring old ideas with "been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt."
35. The bloody conflict between the government and a religious cult has always made Waco sound a little whacko.
36. Unlike their older siblings, they spent bedtime on their backs until they learned to roll over.
37. Music has always been available via free downloads.
38. Grown-ups have always been arguing about health care policy.
39. Moderate amounts of red wine and baby aspirin have always been thought good for the heart.
40. Sears has never sold anything out of a Big Book that could also serve as a doorstop.
41. The United States has always been shedding fur.
42. Electric cars have always been humming in relative silence on the road.
43. No longer known for just gambling and quickie divorces, Nevada has always been one of the fastest growing states in the Union.
44. They're the first generation to grow up hearing about the dangerous overuse of antibiotics.
45. They pressured their parents to take them to Taco Bell or Burger King to get free pogs.
46. Russian courts have always had juries.
47. No state has ever failed to observe Martin Luther King Day.
48. While they've been playing outside, their parents have always worried about nasty new bugs borne by birds and mosquitoes.
49. Public schools have always made space available for advertising.
50. Some of them have been inspired to actually cook by watching the Food Channel.
51. Fidel Castro's daughter and granddaughter have always lived in the United States.
52. Their parents have always been able to create a will and other legal documents online.
53. Charter schools have always been an alternative.
54. They've grown up with George Stephanopoulos as the Dick Clark of political analysts.
55. New kids have always been known as NKOTB.
56. They've always wanted to be like Shaq or Kobe: Michael Who?
57. They've often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.
58. Their parents sort of remember Woolworths as this store that used to be downtown.
59. Kim Jong-il has always been bluffing, but the West has always had to take him seriously.
60. Frasier, Sam, Woody and Rebecca have never Cheerfully frequented a bar in Boston during primetime.
61. Major League Baseball has never had fewer than three divisions and never lacked a wild card entry in the playoffs.
62. Nurses have always been in short supply.
63. They won't go near a retailer that lacks a website.
64. Altar girls have never been a big deal.
65. When they were 3, their parents may have battled other parents in toy stores to buy them a Tickle Me Elmo while they lasted.
66. It seems the United States has always been looking for an acceptable means of capital execution.
67. Folks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have always been able to energize with Pepsi Cola.
68. Andy Warhol is a museum in Pittsburgh.
69. They've grown up hearing about suspiciously vanishing frogs.
70. They've always had the privilege of talking with a chatterbot.
71. Refugees and prisoners have always been housed by the U.S. government at Guantanamo.
72. Women have always been Venusians; men, Martians.
73. McDonalds coffee has always been just a little too hot to handle.
74. "PC" has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness.
75. The New York Times and the Boston Globe have never been rival newspapers.

Copyright© 2011 Beloit College
Mindset List is a registered trademark

Cute Cats

Silly animals

REALLY long distance phone call?

My grandmother passed away last week. She was 92 years old. She was a very sweet, kind, funny, intelligent, warm woman who is, and will be missed dearly. Her funeral was this past Thursday, but she was brought home to Kentucky for burial. She grew up down here and her husband and her deceased children are buried here as well.

After the grave-side service, all of her relatives from Kentucky that had come to pay their respects and those of us from up north started to file out of the cemetery. As we looked back, my sister and daughter noticed that the cemetery workers had come on site to lower her into her final resting place. Though it's not something that one wants to witness, the added closure seemed necessary for them so they returned grave-side.

The workmen secured their tethers and began to lower the casket into the earth. As they began, one of their cell phones began to ring. It wasn't the standard T-Mobile jingle, or even an old-fashioned metallic ringtone that those sitting around watching their Mamaw laid to rest heard though. Instead, it was this classic: http://youtu.be/1bGOgY1CmiU .

I'm not sure how this happened, nor who that call was intended for, nor who made the call, but I can tell you that it definitely added a freaky, yet reassuring moment to the day.

Down at the tracks...

Here's another one for the 4th

Happy 4th of July!

If at least ONE of these doesn't make you cry...

Ad Week's collection of 10 Patriotic ads

...then you're better at holding in your tears than I am.

Happy Fourth of July, and Thank You to all who have made this day possible to continue celebrating our freedom.

And they're off...!

My two older children left this morning to spend 5 weeks with their grandma in the mountains of North Carolina. I'm still trying to balance the excitement I have for them and the adventures they're going to have, and the fun and activities my wife and I will be able to do with our youngest in that time, with the fact that I will miss them :-( I'm on the excitement side of the pendulum right now because they just left, but I know that soon I will switch to the other side and miss their chaos, humor, and spirit.

For now I'll enjoy the relative peace (two less people for my youngest to argue with) and quiet (two less people running through the house).

All in a day's work...

Thank You!

The New Empire?!

A local remake of Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind

Thank You!

Drawing Conan...

Really cool documentary on the process used by a caricaturist to capture his subject.

Creativity

The creative adult is the child who survived.- U. LeGuin

Password security

"Passwords are like underwear; You shouldn't leave them out where people can see them. You should change them regularly. And you shouldn't loan them out to strangers."

--unknown

Really smart kid!

Very cool. Can't wait to see it "in the wild."

Nursey Rhymes revisited

Edward Reid Sings Nursery Rhymes to Run backing...

Batter Up

The kids and I went to the Scrap Box last Friday looking for cool "industrial waste" to play with :-)

In the process we came across a huge tub of baseball cards. For a $4 bag, we walked away with hundreds of great condition, mostly baseball cards, but some other sports as well. I haven't collected cards since I was about 10, and I'm not really into sports now, but I thought it would be fun to sort through with the kids and see if we could find anything worth more than a few pennies.

Now the fun part - finding somewhere to research the values. I recognize a few names from when I was listening to the Tiger's winning streak and a few for other reasons, but I have no idea whose card is really worth something. If you're a collector or have a good place to start, leave a comment. I've been Asking Google and a few friends have recommended Beckett's, but I've not really dug in yet.

Worst case, I package them up in zip locks and sell them to the kids at our garage sale. I can easily make back my $4.00 investment.

Given the condition and quantity, I think the collection came from a divorce, death or someone who left them behind when they went to college. It's interesting to speculate.

Wish me luck!

Thanks Gary!

It's been a little over two years since Gary passed away. Because of his needs, I was introduced to additional forms of Red Cross donations. I had been donating whole blood since high school, but now, thanks to Gary I've also been donating platelets. So far, I've donated platelets over 20 times (each donation session may provide up to the equivalent of 12 whole blood donations) and have been able to help many people that I would not otherwise have been aware of. On behalf of all of those people, Thanks Gary!

For those of you who have a couple of extra hours a month (or at all), please consider some of the additional donation methods: Platelets, Double Reds, and Plasma. The process is no more painful than regular whole blood donation. Your time could save a life.

See http://www.redcross.org/ or call 800-Red-Cross for more information or to schedule an donation appointment.

It's not what you say...

...it's how you say it. That's something I'm still working on in my professional (and private) life . This video shows how powerful the right choice of words is, though. I promise to keep working on my choice.

...Kids are quick...

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America.

MARIA: Here it is.

TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America?

CLASS: Maria.

__________________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?

JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell "crocodile?"

GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L"

TEACHER: No, that's wrong

GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

_______________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?

DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking about?

DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

__________________________________

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.

WINNIE: Me!

__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?

GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with "I."

MILLIE: I is...

TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, "I am "

MILLIE: All right... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."

_________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still had the ax in his hand.

______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?

SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.

______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde, your composition on "My Dog" is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?

CLYDE: No, teacher, it's the same dog.

___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?

HAROLD: A teacher.

Walk quickly

My eldest two children will be joining my mother-in-law in North Carolina for an extended vacation this summer. They're really looking forward to hiking as part of that trip. My mother-in-law lives about 1-1/2 mile from the Appalachian Trail and has hiked quite a bit of it. It's taken her a lot longer than this, and she's not finished the whole thing yet, but if you think it'd be interesting to hike the whole thing, but are too much of a couch potato or just haven't made the time yet and want to see what you're missing, Kevin Gallagher has something to show you. :-)

Wired Magazine has an interesting article about his adventures, but in a nutshell, he hiked the whole trail and took 24 shots a day over his six-month-long trek and stitched them into a really cool video. As cool and beautiful as this video is, it really doesn't do the Trail justice. It's just something to whet your appetite until you can experience it for yourself. Enjoy.

Life is 'Baeutiful'

All kinds of nasty things that take place daily all over the world. All kinds of nasty things are printed in the newspapers (yeah, they do still print those) and on news websites everyday. Every once in a while, it's nice to forget about the real world and imagine (or remember) the good in the world. The Daily Good site helps you do just that. It shares stories and posts like this one reprinted below:

DailyGood: Life is 'Baeutiful'

Do you remember the name of your kindergarden teacher? I do, mine. Her name was Mrs White. And I remember thinking she must be some older relation of Walt Disney's Snow White, because she had the same bright blue eyes, short dark hair, red lips and fair skin.

I don't remember much about what we learned in her class, but my mother once told me that we used to write a lot. And I would bring back what I wrote and she would look at it and see there were so many mistakes. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes even a Good! scrawled in that would make my heart soar with happiness. But it worried my mother, so one day when she went in to meet Mrs White for one of those Parent-Teacher meetings, she asked her why she never corrected my mistakes. Why she never red-pencilled in the right spellings of words or pointed out grammatical errors.

And my mother says Mrs White said-The children are just beginning to get excited about using words, about forming sentences. I don't want to dampen that enthusiasm with red ink. Spelling and grammar can wait. The wonder of words won't... And maybe she didn't say it Exactly like that. It was a long time ago. And what my mother gave me was the gist of what she could remember. The rest I added in. Because I grew up learning to use words with loving confidence like that.

And it occurs to me that if Mrs White had used her red pen more precisely I probably wouldn't be telling you about this now. Which is kind of obvious but also kind of not. I look back now and think she must have been a rather extraordinary teacher- to exercise such red-pen-restraint. To allow the joy, wonder and excitement of expression flower- however faultily- like that. Because to bloom is better than not to bloom. And a bud once nipped never opens. May we all be so kind...

I used to misspell beautiful a lot. Never could quite remember that the e went before the a. It exasperated my teacher in high school no end. If I was going to employ the word with such lavishness she figured the least I could do was spell it right. Eventually the e's and a's settled into their right places of their own accord. Am glad I didn't wait on them though. Pretty is easier to spell but it doesn't hold as much as you mean sometimes.

And thanks to Mrs White I had no qualms about writing what I meant even if couldn't quite spell it out. Because Life isn't Pretty. It's Baeutiful.

Thank you to all of you Mrs. (and Mr.) Whites out there that have influenced me and my children or anyone else and allowed us to express ourselves to the world around us.

Japan Aid Projects: Posters, prints, shirts and more

There are many organizations out there seeking support for the people of Japan who have suffered through the effects of their recent earthquake and tsunami. There are many eye-catching items available at the This is Colossal site that reference the aid request and generally commemorate, if that's the right word for a disaster, the event. This is one of my favorites; very understated, but powerful.

Is this what we sound like?!

Crack pot

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them." "For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Open up

Only those with eyes wide open can see the miracles of life everyday.

Laugh for today

Another view of Mother Nature's power

We've all been focusing on water's destructive forces recently, but Nature holds another source of unfathomable power as well. In this case the power is also pretty beautiful (since I was no where near where it connected). Click the image below...

Earth shakes

In the days leading up to the devastating earthquake in Japan, the region suffered MANY, MANY, MANY tremors. Earthquakes are quite usual for the region, and thankfully Japan was probably the most prepared for the recent quake of any country, or things could have, believe it or not, been oh so much worse.

Take a quick minute and see all of the earthquakes that lead up to (and after) the big one. It's hard to believe that the large quake was only a little over a week ago.

Accidental discovery

Maybe I'm the last to notice this, I'm rarely the first, but tonight I was watching a video on YouTube and had to pause it for a moment. Meaning to scroll the page down to read the comments, I hit the cursor down key. Instead of scrolling down though, the little rotating circle on the video turned into a game of Snake! Hitting left, right, up and down I could steer the snake in an attempt to run over a single flashing dot, somewhere on the video screen. Hit that dot and the snake grows longer. Not sure how long it's been there or if it works on other sites with the same rotation icon while loading videos, but I thought it was a cool little Easter Egg to find tonight.

Spooky!

Happy Pi Day!

Boys will be boys....

I hate watching American Idol with my sons. We can't get through a song by Pia Toscano without them rolling on the floor laughing about her name. Too bad. They're missing a great singer. I, on the other hand, can rewind the DVR later :-)

I thought Thea Megia was gonna be the one to make them laugh.

White Collar Welfare...

I've been trying to find the right way to write about this. Then, the other day, out of the blue, I got it. What is "White Collar Welfare"? As described by a co-worker, it's the process of a bunch of white collar workers generating busy work for a bunch of other white collar workers who in turn need the assistance of others and in the end, it's just a bunch of busy work to keep them all employed.

I am often dumbfounded by this whole process. There is sooooo much stuff that we do, just to do it. Not because there is any real value in it. Not because something will change because we did it. Not because someone will be more the wiser because of our work. Not because something will be better, faster, stronger, cheaper. We do it just to do it. Well, that, and because some superior told us to.

And yet, when it comes to real work - the work that WILL make things better, cheaper, faster, stronger, more secure... there's no support for that kind of work.

There are certain "standards" in industry that exemplify this "white collar welfare" perfectly. It's all about documentation. It's all about standard processes and practices. Yet none of the "standards" really work in industry. And yet, they are forced upon the company by some probably well-meaning executive with no footing in the real world. It complicates the job the workers are trying to accomplish, creates additional paperwork and drudgery and meetings up the wazoo, and for what? Nothing really changes, because after all of the work is done, everything goes back to the way it was.

What happened to just doing what needs to be done? To not needing a 16x48 cell spreadsheet to know who was Responsible, Accountable, Informed and whatever that C stands for. What did we do before the letters I, T, I and L were all stuck together? Or those before those guys in DC, Sarbanes and his buddy Oxley decided that ALL of us in business needed to be sentenced to death by paperwork for the grievous acts of a few idiots. The laws were already in place. They were broken. Punish them, not us. Are we any better off, or is unemployment just a little less.

Innovation is stifled by unwieldy processes and documentation. There is so much in the way of getting things done that nothing gets done. Common Sense, even Business Sense, has taken a back seat to Process 5.6.32.a.7 subsection 37b.9. Progress is hindered by the need to write a 500-page proposal and fill out for TP-8675309 before making a change to fix a spelling mistake found in Process 5.6.32.a.7 subsection 37b.9. Real work is subjugated by White Collar Welfare. Such is the life we life. :-(

Safety Check

My car was in the shop -- again :-( -- yesterday and I got a ride home from a co-worker much earlier than usual. This meant that there was no car in the driveway to give away my presence to my daughter when she came home. My "mother-of-the-year" wife and I conspired to take advantage of that fact and surprise her with a little test.

When I got home I hid upstairs in my bedroom. When she came home I started walking around a bit, creaking the floor. She walked to the base of the bedroom stairs and called the cat's name. When the creaking stopped at her call, and no cat came running, she decided to head back downstairs. I creaked a bit more for emphasis and then waited.

After a few more moments, when I didn't hear anything I started to get concerned that all of our discussions may be paying off and she was downstairs calling 911. I started screaming as I went running down the stairs. I made it down about 5 steps before she yelled, "DA-AD!" She was downstairs in the kitchen on the phone with Mom.

After a bit more of a lecture about scaring her, she called Mom back and told her that it was me who was in the house (though she already knew).

I discussed with my daughter that the right thing to have done would have been to go immediately back outside before calling Mom ... not to trap herself in the kitchen with no escape. Lesson learned. Safely... I told her next time it wouldn't be me, so she should act accordingly.

When my wife took the kids shopping when they were young and had her friend with her, they talked about (and did?) have her friend sneak up behind one of the kids and take them down another aisle. They used that opportunity to discuss the need to stay with Mom as they were shopping and not lag behind her. Again, safely, but it got the message across.

Do your kids know what to do in cases like these? You don't need to go to such extremes as these, but please take a moment and make sure that they know what to do when scared, etc. Take a moment and talk about Stranger Danger and the tricks that they use (including looking for lost pets, etc to lure them closer to the car, asking for directions, etc). They are never too young to start the conversations, but remember to keep them age appropriate and update them and re-discuss them as they grow older. Make sure to include the Internet bad guys in your discussions as well nowadays. Teach them to never use their real name, never give out address or phone number, never talk to (chat, email, etc) anyone that they don't (and YOU don't) know.

Take a few moments today, tomorrow or at least this week and protect your kids.

See National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Backed into a corner

When someone asks you if the glass is half empty or half full... just tell them that the glass is just the wrong size :-)

(...and pray they don't ask you if the glass should be larger or smaller)

Are you British?

Being an arrogant American who knows nothing about the rest of the world ('cuz they don't matter anyway), and having already completed the 5th grade, I really had no idea it was so complicated to live in England. Or is it the UK... oh well. At least I know that there are 46, er um, 50 United States in this, the Greatest Land on Earth. :-)

Mine just sit there :-(

Sight to see

Caught a little Thundersnow last night! Not exactly a double rainbow, but cool nonetheless. I think this was the first time that I've actually seen/heard thundersnow. All of that coolness was overshadowed by the 10-12 inches of snow that accompanied it though. Didn't make for a nice Monday...

President's Day Lesson

How many of these do you remember?

Night Life?

"It's when the sky is darkest that you can see the stars."
Battlefield, Jordan Sparks

Heart of a Teacher

Every so often, I find a story that truly inspires me - one that makes me cry or laugh, and one that makes me think. Simple Truths is just one place to receive this type of story. Here's one that I caught recently. Check Simple Truths yourself (and maybe even sign up for their newsletter) and see what inspires you...

An Excerpt from

The Heart of a Teacher,

by Paula Fox

He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in Morris, Minnesota. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, he had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.

Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving. "Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.

One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, "If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!" It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister."

At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math," he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend." That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" I heard whispered. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone! I didn't know others liked me so much." No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.

That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip, the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven't heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Vietnam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend." To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark.

I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, "Mark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me." The church was packed with Mark's friends. Chuck's sister sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. "Mark talked about you a lot," he said.

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. I keep it in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists." That's when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late."

Thanks to all of you who have inspired me!

When there's nothing else to do...

THIS is how to deal with the recent snowfall!

Letter Order Unimportant

Snopes still has this listed as undetermined, but it's interesting nonetheless.

"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pclae."

It's a good thing too. When I type messages at work on our instant messaging client I type close to 100 words a minute. Well, more accurately, close to 100 partial words a minute. Sometimes those partial partial words are the letters at the beginning of words, other times they're at the end. When I'm typing an email, I have the luxury of of AutoCorrect for things like 'teh,' 'nad', 'jsut', and a lot of others that my fingers type a little faster than I can control them.

When I'm typing emails (or instant messages to my manager) I tend to correct the misspellings (those little red lines under my letters drive me nuts), but, sorry co-workers, I generally haven't bothered to correct the chats. I think that the difference is the expectation of real-time communication when chatting. You need to get the response quickly in order to move the conversation along. With emails, you expect a delay in the response.

Whether Snopes ever proves this true or not, I think that my co-workers are evidence that the human brain can understand even my nonsensical typing :-)...

Squirrels and nuts!

Less time on the web...

Click here

Did you hear?

A couple of weeks ago, there was an instance reported in the press of thousands of bird deaths all at the same time, all in the same area. Speculation for the deaths at the time ranged from fireworks, to weather phenomenon, to signs from God. It must have been a slow news week, because the media became obsessed with this particular news item. Suddenly, every day brought a new batch of mass deaths of everything from ducks to crabs, to fish, to whatever.

Then the news started reporting that this was a normal occurrence and it happens all the time. Suddenly it was a non-story. Or was it?

Green Grass

The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be. -- Robert Fulghum

Cry Fowl

From the Internet :-)


Ducks Quack , Eagles Fly

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: “I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.” Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally's Mission Statement: “To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.”

This blew Harvey away, especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” My friend said jokingly, “No, I'd prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I'll take a Diet Coke.” Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called ‘You’ll See It When You Believe It’. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said. “It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice… He decided to stop quacking like the ducks and start soaring like the eagles.

No one can make you serve customers well. You make the choice. That's because great service is a choice.

Inspirational quotes

I've been collecting quotes for a long time. It's interesting to read back through those that I haven't sorted yet to get a chronological glimpse into my mood at any point in time. Regardless of my situation in life, inspirational quotes always seemed to find a place in my collection. Maybe I needed some inspiration at the time, or maybe I thought someone else could benefit from some...

Zig Ziglar has a number of items in my collection. The Excel Addict recently shared this collection / movie of his quotes.

Inspriation 365 Day a Year Movie | Simple Truths

Is it over yet?

Christmas is a time for family, for religious reflection, for food, for charity, and a time to witness the joy as children (and others) unwrap their presents. For the past several years though, I just haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's the lack of a wintery wonderland that I associate with Christmas from my childhood. Maybe it's the commercialism that's become worse and worse each year as retailers remove the calendar gap between selling fireworks for the 4th of July and selling toys and electronics aimed at the Christmas buyers. Maybe it's because I refuse to listen to Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving as opposed to when we get home from trick-or-treating (as one local radio station would have us do). Maybe it's the chaotic scheduling around having a split family with siblings and extended family on both sides to find time to share presence with. Maybe it's the added frustration of all the items that jump out of their hiding spots in closets and the garage once a year to make our living room feel even smaller. Maybe it's just the stress built up at work as projects try to wrap up at year-end. Maybe it's the frustration that I want to be one of those parents that buys my kids something big and flashy for Christmas, but can't afford to.

Or maybe it's something completely different. I don't know.

I enjoy the time with family (immediate and extended), some of whom I only see on holidays, but I'm really glad when I go back to work and return to a "normal" schedule.

I feel bad about feeling bad about Christmas, which just makes me feel worse. I want to get back (?) to a time where Christmas is a fun time. A time I can enjoy without regard to anything else that's going on. A time when I can release the chaos and just enjoy the moment. A time when I can stand outside on the porch with my family on Christmas Eve, look up at the sky and catch a snowflake on my tongue. A time when we all cuddle up by a fire and read 'Twas the night before Christmas and then tuck my little ones and my wife safely in bed before retiring myself in preparation for the excitement of the Christmas morn.

Maybe it's all part of parenting, of growing up, replacing the fun of Christmas with the function of Christmas. But that's not right. I don't want Christmas to be a function. I want Christmas to be a fun time -- to be a worry-free time to enjoy life and family. I want THAT as my Christmas present next year.

Bah Humbug, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thanks for visiting over the last year. I hope that this year brings you much health and happiness.