Saturday, July 31, 2010

Doe And Dane Do Burgers, Salt

Non-celebrity unicouples Dena and Joe McDonald and Darren and Jane Freidinger were spotted cavorting about Normal's hot spots Friday night, with children mysteriously absent.

Attempting to avoid paparazzi, the Freidingers arrived separately at McDonaldland Ranch. He entered sporting his trademark Caterpillar corporate work combination and resurfaced in plain white T-shirt and shorts of unknown designer. She wore the stylish flip-flops and classy His Ranch top typifying "The Jane" look popularized by her fans.

Doe and Dane were whisked to the cozy Jesse's Grille, famous for its lack of patrons, apparently seeking a quiet adults-only dining experience. With prices worthy of its Mariott hotel restaurant status, the establishment named for local legend Jesse Fell has successfully laid low beneath the B-N celebrity scene. To protect its "nobody eats here" culture and 1-to-1 waiter-to-customer ratio, some sources suggest that it goes so far as to plant its own dowdy reviews on the Web, such as:

"Not very good: Its a corporate hotel restaurant with no heart.

The decor is innovative and adventurous, in a totally bland and corporate kind of way. It reminds me of what they say about carpet patterns in casinos. This is the kind of place that your old and out-of-touch aunt will think is 'neat' or 'far out' or 'funky', but those comments will be drowned out by the yawns of everybody else. They have astroturf patches of grass as some kind of zen-inspired decoration. The joint has no character, just a mishmash of contemporary ugliness that a committee at Marriott was apparently able to reach consensus on."

Dena delighted in lime green quesadillas, with Joe and Jane engaging the Mariott burger, and Darren trying a dish involving the word "skirt" that was reminiscent of steak.

Controversy erupted in the parking garage as a minivan driven by two women blocked their exit at the gate. After a heated exchange in which Joe frisked the driver for a hidden camera and she claimed to "speak little English," a tender humanitarian moment followed when he helped her discover that her garage ticket was unreadable by the pay station machine, and called maintenance to solve their problem.

Duameda's children then escorted their spouses to a hopping Starplex Cinema, where they were engulfed by unaware fans in the ticket lines, and unhounded in the restrooms.

Claiming seats in the furthest upper corner of the theater, they were seen riveted to the edge of their seats by Brangelina's latter half's performance in the action thriller "Salt." The high-profile tiff between Jolie and J-Mac flared up again upon her blatantly ad libbed line "I hate math" in the early scenes.

After clown-carring it home in the trusty red Saturn, roars of delight were heard from within the condo, with some earwitnesses reporting disjointed phrases of pirate lingo. Shortly thereafter Dane breezed into the summer evening air for the trip home, smelling faintly of fresh-baked strawberry shortcake.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Hidden Blog Gains Obscure Award

Hidden Blog received the Beloved Fake News Award by the Emancipated Parental Association on Friday.

The announcement was released from the EPA's national headquarters in Woodford County Illinois. Because EPA membership fluctuates wildly on a daily basis depending on the availability of sitters, it was unclear at press time exactly how recipients were chosen, how many candidates were eligible, or whether the EPA will exist in the morning.

In addition to the "Beloved" honor bestowed upon its fake news reporting, it also earned trophies for "Disinterested" in the category of sports-related stuff and "Eh" for its abundance of celebrity quotes.

"Fabrication is the thread of the American fabric we wear from birth," wrote LeBron Obama, neither celebrity nor sports enthusiast. "American pride has depended upon phony stories since the days of the supposed ride of Paul Revere. And Hidden Blog continues that spirit of patriotism today, in a fashion both fiercely local and passionately self-centered."

A formal award ceremony is scheduled for Friday evening, as long as it's over by 10ish, unless there's an emergency at home beforehand.

None of the blog's nine followers were reached for comment.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

How The Earth Is Alive

This fascinating story is from Yahoo! News. It reminds me of the natural antibodies most of us are born with that fight off infection and heal disease. Guess what? God equipped the earth similarly, in this case with oil-eating microbes to cleanse the toxins of mankind!

Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast. And the small cleanup army in the Gulf has only managed to skim up a tiny fraction of the millions of gallons of oil spilled in the 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon rig went up in flames.

So where did the oil go? "Some of the oil evaporates," explains Edward Bouwer, professor of environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s especially true for the more toxic components of oil, which tend to be very volatile, he says. Jeffrey W. Short, a scientist with the environmental group Oceana, told the New York Times that as much as 40 percent of the oil might have evaporated when it reached the surface. High winds from two recent storms may have speeded the evaporation process.

Although there were more than 4,000 boats involved in the skimming operations, those cleanup crews may have only picked up a small percentage of the oil so far. That’s not unusual; in previous oil spills, crews could only scoop up a small amount of oil. "It’s very unusual to get more than 1 or 2 percent," says Cornell University ecologist Richard Howarth, who worked on the Exxon Valdez spill. Skimming operations will continue in the Gulf for several weeks.

Some of the oil has sunk into the sediments on the ocean floor. Researchers say that’s where the spill could do the most damage. But according to a report in Wednesday’s New York Times, "federal scientists [have determined] the oil [is] primarily sitting in the water column and not on the sea floor."

Perhaps the most important cause of the oil’s disappearance, some researchers suspect, is that the oil has been devoured by microbes. The lesson from past spills is that the lion’s share of the cleanup work is done by nature in the form of oil-eating bacteria and fungi. The microbes break down the hydrocarbons in oil to use as fuel to grow and reproduce. A bit of oil in the water is like a feeding frenzy, causing microbial populations to grow exponentially.

Typically, there are enough microbes in the ocean to consume half of any oil spilled in a month or two, says Howarth. Such microbes have been found in every ocean of the world sampled, from the Arctic to Antarctica. But there are reasons to think that the process may occur more quickly in the Gulf than in other oceans.

Microbes grow faster in the warmer water of the Gulf than they do in, say, the cool waters off Alaska, where the Exxon Valdez spill occurred. Moreover, the Gulf is hardly pristine. Even before humans started drilling for oil in the Gulf — and spilling lots of it — oil naturally seeped into the water. As a result, the Gulf evolved a rich collection of petroleum-loving microbes, ready to pounce on any new spill. The microbes are clever and tough, observes Samantha Joye, microbial geochemist at the University of Georgia. Joye has shown that oxygen levels in parts of the Gulf contaminated with oil have dropped. Since microbes need oxygen to eat the petroleum, that’s evidence that the microbes are hard at work.

The controversial dispersant used to break up the oil as it gushed from the deep-sea well may have helped the microbes do their work. Microbes can more easily consume small drops of oil than big ones. And there is evidence the microbes like to munch on the dispersant as well.

It is still far too early to know how much damage the spill has done — and may still be doing — to the environment. Tar balls continue to wash up on beaches. And the risk of a leak remains, until the well is permanently capped sometime in the next few weeks.

The Ryne Sandberg Game - 6/23/84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXAfAy1v96I&feature=related

Gen X and older Cub fans know where they were when Sandberg did his thing in this one!

Some Great Sports Calls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeCuNRWqdLg&feature=related

Monday, July 26, 2010

Smoke, But No Fire

"Without long-range goals, daily frustrations begin to look like the whole oceanfront. If you have specific long-range goals, daily frustrations will look like pebbles on the beach of life." - Zig Ziglar

Someone was out smoking cigarettes by the pool today. There's a long string of undocumented complaints similar to it. Stressful? Yes. Conquerable? Yes. We'll document it. Things will happen. In the long run, the behaviors will be anchored with consequences and wear to a halt. Meanwhile, we'll keep walking down the beach.

Money For Noting

A study was done of people who habitually set goals, and those who didn't. On average, those who did earned twice as much.

You get what you focus on. If that's nothing in particular, there you go...

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Bix 7

The Bix is a seven-mile race in the Quad Cities. A good 15,000 runners sign up for about $40 apiece. These runners' goals vary from attractive prize money to elite runners (who are afforded generous starting places at the front), to a cheap supply of unlimited beer for those walking the abbreviated 2-mile Quick Bix.

Both Dena and Rosann Diedrich had done the 7-mile route as walkers back in college. By Dena's own admission, she couldn't run a half-mile in those younger days. Over fifteen years later, here we were trying to run it.

Rosann's hubby John was there with us, as well as their witty and gabby 9-year old Brennan. The notorious leg of the race is the first third of a mile up a nearly 45 degree incline. Fortunately we were able to conquer that easily for several reasons:

1. A week of 90 degree temperatures was replaced unexpectedly this day by a steady pour of rain that kept us cool.
2. Since we enrolled for the slowest tier of runners (expecting a 12-minute mile pace), our eyes were mainly focused on avoiding the heels of the slowly accelerating hordes in front of us.
3. Brennan joined us for the two-mile route. His competitiveness spurred him to sprint into the crowd ahead like an addiction, giving us that tingly feeling that any parent would feel if their child's head were bobbing in and out of water a hundred yards out to sea.

Suddenly, we'd covered two miles in 23 minutes. And the fans! Citizens numbering thousands cheered us on, as if we were winning Olympic gold. It was touching to see them huddled in the drizzle for no good reason other than selfless civic support of these amateurish strangers from all over the country.

We not only conquered the course, but did so in almost exactly a 12-minute mile pace (1:22:13). Sure, I came in 564th out of 714 in my age group. The real reward was in escorting Dena and Rosann, and being there to celebrate their accomplishment - nonstop running over the longest distance in either of their lives.

High/Low Week 29, 2010

This week's low point stemmed from a tough choice.

On one hand, there was the Walker Hall Reunion. All things considered, my four collegiate years in Walker were the most productive and satisfying I've had. As a freshman it was the home of the Honors House and the International House. It was a dorm of "quiet hours" after 10 p.m. So the kind of fun at Walker was more creative and intellectual than rowdy - board games breaking out in the lobby (which by the way was the only air conditioned part of the building), the occasional piano-playing patron in the Large Lounge, games of Tetris and Tecmo Bowl and Doom. Role-playing games like Illuminati, casino nights, and talent shows. I could go on for pages about Walker, and maybe I should in other posts. It was demolished in the last couple of years, leaving only memories, and plenty of them. And several alumni put on a reunion this year with lots of activities. It pains me to have missed it.

Walker is part of my past, the glorious past. The present was a chance to contribute to a couple of charitable causes and get some exercise to boot. The Bix 7 race was a fun weekend that I'll cover in another post. It was the right choice.

Now that Rob Stoltz is coming aboard to round out my unit at work, I feel more encouraged about our ability to get the job done than I have in two years since returning to my old department. It's just the latest in a seemingly endless string of good fortune that undeservedly leads toward the promise of success. I am looking forward to the leadership challenge now of guiding them confidently into an uncertain future.

I was glad to learn this week that our friend Rosann is interested not only in joining up with the duet of Evelyn and me for a three-person musical performance at the church sometime, but also enjoys real estate shopping. It's a perfect union of needs and wants, as I've been curious as to the options for Mom around here in case she decides to move south someday. Now Mom can provide her "specs," and Rosann can peruse the market.

There are still nearly two full months of summer left, and the heat is in full swing, which has made for some stellar days for poolside reading. Hidden Bloggers have benefited from a basket's worth of insight from Zig Ziglar's book as a result.

In the spirit of exploration, I discovered Empire Spa this week, a tucked out of the way place that provides a relaxing, homestyle comfort and privileged experience.

In the week to come I look forward to everything being all right - as long as my mentality is happy, helpful, humble and strong.

Birth Of Friendship

"Certainly everyone wants to have friends, but as you've already discovered, when you go out in life looking for friends, they're going to be scarce. When you go out in life to be a friend, you will find them everywhere." - Zig Ziglar

Dena and I happened to meet after I'd settled into a mindset of satisfaction being single. How successful are relationships - whether romantic, civic or professional - when fueled by what I want, regardless of what others want?

Fat Chance Of Happiness

A man who weighted 406 pounds, recently divorced, and failing in his job adopted the practice of passing some positive thoughts through his mind on a regular basis. He started to feel better. One day he was walking through a store.

"Suddenly, he heard a little girl about five years old scream at the top of her voice, 'Mama, look at that fat man!' Tom said he whirled around and looked all over the place for the fat man. Then it occurred to him the little girl was talking about him, and he started laughing. He laughed until he cried - and then the realization of why he was laughing hit him and he shed a tear of a different kind. For the first time in his adult life, Tom Hartman saw hope in full bloom and knew he was going to make it." - Zig Ziglar

In time, Tom reached his ideal weight and a successful career.

We become what we see ourselves to be!

Lesson In Photography

"Fear is the dark room where we develop our negatives." - Zig Ziglar

Hidden Bloggers know that I'd add fatigue to that short list. And that everything's gonna be all right.

I Am...

"Just before you go to work the next day, go to a room alone, close the door, look yourself right in the eye, and in first-person tense, say 'I, [your name], am a [...] person,'" where [...] is a list of qualities that you aspire to be. - Zig Ziglar

The qualities that I like are happy, helpful, humble, and strong. Zig claims that this habit, practiced for ten days, will have altering effects. The negative fountain of politics, economy, and talk radio provides a plentiful supply of toxin for the enthusiasm. It's wise to pour some medicine in against it.

Two Lessons For The Price Of One

"Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night, and it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts." - Zig Ziglar

Recently a memory came to mind about a person who I'm fairly sure ripped me off for a good sum of money. At the end of a project he looked me in the eye and told me that the cost was $X, when he'd suggested that it was $Y originally. I hesitated, but being non-confrontational and quickly rationalizing that he could be right, I wrote the check and he was out the door. Who enjoys a feeling like that? So Zig's point hits the mark. That image is strong in my mind, enough to use it for better reaction if I encounter a similar future situation. It was a failure, but not me. It's in the past and stays there.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

High School Or Long School?

Just watched the movie Grease.

Hmm. Rydell is a HIGH SCHOOL? Really. Lessee here.

John Travolta. 24 years old. Um, a bit of a stretch there, but okay.

Olivia Newton-John. 30 years old? Maybe a few credits didn't transfer from Australia.

Stockard Channing. 34 years old. So, basically twice the age of a high school senior. The one who nearly had a baby right? Isn't it a statutory offense to have relations with a teenager? Thank goodness the guy was actually 28.

Average age of the top ten cast members: 27.6.

Remember at the end, Travolta brags about earning a varsity letter in track? Takes a bit of the shine off, don't it?

Motto Of The Day

Find happiness in as many moments as possible.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Failures Into Opportunities

"What makes us so afraid of failure? It's worry about what people think. 'What will they say?' we ask, as if it were the ultimate scandal to fail. We assume that because we've made one or several mistakes, we're failures and therefore forever disgraced. What a ridiculous assumption! How many people are completely successful in every department of life? Not one. The most successful people are the ones who learn from their mistakes and turn failures into opportunities." - Zig Ziglar

Working High

"It's amazing how everything changed for me when my thinking changed. When things change inside you, things change around you. You get along better with other people; your business improves; your health improves; everything improves. Do I believe that motivation and right attitudes are important? You bet!" - Zig Ziglar

Two months ago I fielded the theoretical question about the one thing that I would change about my job:

http://joemcdonald.blogspot.com/2010/05/take-this-job-and-mull-it.html

Guess what happened? Tyson and I took time to draw a picture of what that extra employee's job duties would look like. A year ago we began sharing that vision with management. These things take time. Like prayers, these were submitted in earnest, but understanding with peace that it may never happen. Budgeting for next year began, and we re-submitted the plan, requesting the extra employee.

Monday morning a management meeting began. It was revealed that with the end of the college year, a new employee was coming on board. Who would like to have this employee?

It is not easy to take on a new employee. Like a sudden opportunity to adopt a newborn, it's a mighty challenge to engage such a responsibility without preparation and do it well. It was the combination of a persistent vision and patient faith that allowed me to roll out onto the table a handful of duties that we could give the new person.

Today it was finalized - Rob will join the team on Monday. The "one change" has come to pass. The inner resolve that "everything's gonna be all right" has made it more so than at any time since I took on this job. At last, we seem to be fully staffed.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Sweet Memories

This is the best YouTube clip I've found regarding the White Sox breathless run to the 2005 World Series championship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzeeSSBIS5Y&feature=related

A Different Kind Of Drawing

"Motivation is drawing out what is inside." - Zig Ziglar

I like it - in this way, motivation isn't about converting a person into something they're not. It's about helping a person to unlock what's lying quietly inside. Perhaps it starts as simply as asking the person about their happiest moments.

Some People Practice Better Than They Preach

I'm reading this book called "Over The Top," by Zig Ziglar.

Copyright date is 1994.

Quote: "The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that's the day you start to the top."

Speaker of the quote: O.J. Simpson.

Burning In The Rain

With rain clouds threatening my soccer game today, I wondered whether I'd be able to get a good cardio workout in. The game was scheduled for 6:30. It was 5:00 now. Why not go for a 3 mile run?

What's the downside? It was about to pour rain, maybe hard, based on the dark clouds moving in. So? When I run I get wet anyway. Rain in the fall would be chilling. But in the middle of a July heat wave, it's like being in a refreshing shower. Worst case scenario, I figure, I wear out my legs a bit before the game and lose a step of quickness. But it's not so big a deal, since (1) we usually have enough subs to compensate, and (2) we're scheduled to play the dominant team in the league, so my health probably wouldn't be the difference between winning and losing.

Enthused, I sprinted out into the falling droplets, which indeed turned into a steady downpour. I managed to cover the distance at about a 7:45 mile pace. And five minutes later, a quick check of the activities hotline revealed that the game was cancelled.

Winner!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Must See T.V.

Who says that television drains the social fabric of America?

Whether it be a barber, co-worker, or relative, I've found television to be a great way to get to know other people. Not everyone attends a church, or roots for a ball club, or reads for pleasure. But pretty much EVERYONE has a favorite television show. Even if they only watch it irregularly, it gives some basis for conversation and shares a touch of their personality. Comedy? Drama? Sci-fi?

"So have you seen anything good on T.V. lately?" It's harmless, easy to answer no... whether it's because you don't watch T.V., whether you dislike everything you see on the tube, or whether you're simply having a bad day for remembering anything older than ten minutes ago. It's a legitimate question about the interests of others. And far more often than not, I get an answer that leads me to a new adventure in programming.

In the last year, it's how I've been introduced to CSI Miami, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood, Modern Family, and How I Met Your Mother. Whether or not the show grows on me, I learn at least a little about it. Enough to fuel future conversations with the fan who named it... the things I liked about it, and a genuine expression of thanks for leading me to it. Plus, someone I meet in the future might get a recommendation from me, setting up a whole new branch of conversation.

DVR and the like have made this easier still. Even the busiest people are usually able to find time to stay true to at least one show.

Tonight I'm debuting The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick, the fave of my newest co-worker Jennifer. I have a meet-and-greet with her tomorrow afternoon, and as luck would have it I recorded the season opener. It's win-win all the way around!

Casting Call

Once every few years State Farm renews and updates its database of amateur talent for training videos and other digital marketing masterpieces. So it was that I entered the new building and signed my life away for the uberfriendly people at the greeting table.

Back to a room filled with modern desk-winged chairs like you'd see in college, only corporation-quality. I showed up during the eighth out of nine hours of the open house. I had the option to audition just for audio roles, but was happy to open up to video as well. I was the 169th person to sign in, which I imagine is about a tenth the number of people who apply for the average job in Hollywood.

I had a minute to skim the script given me, which would also be on teleprompter during the taping. Another gleeful woman took me back to the first room, which was the home of some type of fake drivers license project. That gave me a chance to warm up my facial muscles with a few goofy expressions. Lord knows where they might appear...

On to the video room. I drew upon the skills learned at my masters voice-over class to provide my best shot at an expressive yet poised reading of an introduction for a show based on Suds Man, who evidently heroically defends the cleanliness of some laundromat. The videographer and other woman in charge reacted with the kind of enthusiasm and wonderment to be expected from someone processing their 169th customer.

The ultimate feedback, of course, would be a call back. They asked for not only my work but also my home number. I can just imagine an emergency ring in the middle of the night: "Joe, we've got a 5 a.m. deadline for this male-female training video, James Earl Jones just cancelled and we've no one to pair with Jennifer Aniston. Help!" A mess that not even Suds Man can clean up. This is a job for Captain Baritone!

High/Low Week 28, 2010

It was physically a low point to endure a big loss on the ultimate frisbee field, with our abundance of errant and dropped throws, and opponents left hopelessly open to score. And it was a high in the big picture to be unstressed by it. In fact, recently I disposed of all the intramural sports plaques in my office. Being associated with champion teams isn't the part of my identity that it once was. Good exercise, rapport with all players (teammates and opponents), and a reasonable amount of success are sufficient for me... as long as I'm playing my personal best.

As Jennifer fills Tyson's former spot at work tomorrow, there's a hearty cheer of thanks for the remarkably calm waters over the last month that we were short staffed. Emily and Paulette have provided spark with their new contributions. And the $1 million project discussed in prior posts got official clearance to launch on August 1.

Dena and I got a couple of runs in through the punishing afternoon heat, which should steel us against the hills and temperatures we'll face in the 7-mile Bix next weekend.

Mom was in great spirits for her birthday visit, and enjoyed the video picture frame that we got her. Plus, we went out for meals and enjoyed Dena's delicious chocolate cake. May next week be just as sweet!

Ties That Unite

I've read books that portray Abraham Lincoln's home life as draining and burdensome, as if his marriage were a contract with an asylum. And I'm reading another that suggests a two-way street. Granted that 19th century America had a much lower rate of divorce than today, one still wonders what did hold the marriage together? One section describes the things they had in common with each other. Each had ambition for Abraham's career. They shared the same political views. They were well-read. They loved children. Those were the bonds too strong to be broken by the numerous places of difference.

I'm guessing that the history books would look back more kindly on Dena and my marriage. What would they say?

- We have faith in a loving and generous God
- We support each other almost unconditionally in our career adventures
- We exercise, and watch what we eat (sometimes regretfully)
- We love a good sports movie, and enjoy taking in the occasional ball game
- We're fans of clean and romantic comedies
- We're sticklers for the finer points of good writing
- We're content with Midwest living
- We're curious about history
- We believe in quality more than price
- We believe in marriage enrichment seminars
- We prefer quiet times at restaurants and avoid the rush
- We're up for a good double date

And the list stretches well beyond that! Plenty for the history book to have a sequel.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

On Party

Abe Lincoln was central to the origins of the Republican party. On one hand I consider myself non-partisan, because of the ways in which party politics often play against our common goals that would help focus on the mutual aims for national security, full employment, food, shelter, etc.

On the other hand, what much of anything is accomplished without organization, especially on a national basis? Prior to the two-party system, candidates emerged from independent and loosely gathered regional campaigns. America is diverse enough... how likely is it that a single person has sufficient simultaneous appeal to the masses across the vast number of issues on stage? And in this day and age, how would enough resources be raised and coordination be managed timely for elections if each individual must explain and sell to the populace his ideology and round up a support group?

It could be said that national parties grew out of that need for efficiency. However well the Republican and Democratic party principles remain stable, the voters need not inspect every candidate's views in the detail that they otherwise might. They can rest assured to some extent, like Christians with their leader, that the person shares many of the core beliefs they hold. From there they can sift through the particulars of each one's near-term plans and choose their favorite.

Those who prefer when voting to discern each person in the more cumbersome route can find satisfaction in that. Regardless, in matters of deciding how to employ the resources of the country for its betterment, the human condition cries out for compromise from its leaders in all but the most fundamental beliefs, in order to reach the needs of so broad and varied a constituency. And so it can be that teamwork rises above blind partisanship, trading animosity for degrees of consensus, in order to further the health of the nation.

Mom's Birthday!

Friday celebrates another year for Mom, born in the heat of summer, but as cool a customer as there is.

Her unappreciative kids were often aghast at the horrors of her pot roast, realizing only after years of dorm and other real world food that it was actually so tasty and succulent that you could cut it with a fork and it would melt in your mouth. And not knowing that she spared us the true horror of liver that Grandma indoctrinated her with in youth.

She quietly accepted that her boys mostly ignored music for sports. And that Dad once had Mom go on ahead by herself to Jack's graduation, that he could catch up after the ball game was over. And the long hours that Dad put in away from home, first a train ride away in Chicago, later in the offices, gyms and ball fields of the high school. In fact, she embraced it - her waiting headstone reads "Mom - Fan" beside the old man's "Dad - Coach". And if her purchasing patterns after Dad's passing are any indication, she more than tolerated the old heater/AC that was tolerable to Dad.

She supported and suffered for Dad for 18 months through his sickness and increasing non-communicativeness. She did the same at the bedside of Grandma, and for now-departed friends. She maintains the big old house beyond her needs, patiently waiting for the market to rebound. She concedes and abides by the body's painful demands of older age with a light heart. And she still gives smiling bear hugs at every hello and goodbye.

Whatever success and peace may come from my nature to accept of others' personal beliefs, circumstances, and lifestyles... I owe to Mom. And of course she played a fair role in everything else I've enjoyed in life too. :)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Condo Meeting Minutes

As you can imagine, having 32 people sharing living quarters causes its share of subtle and not-so-subtle tensions. Although I'm the association treasurer, this month I subbed in as secretary.

Board Minutes
July 13, 2010

Meeting was called to order at 7:35

Security/Compliance:

Recently a car was vandalized in a nearby parking lot. Vern, will you please cut it out?

Neighbors, please do not just park your car in the middle of the narrow driveway. For hours at a time. Your car is not made of smoke, and we can't get out if you leave it there. Don't make us call Vern.

Pool

Recently there were scary people in the pool. With glass bottles. And cutoff shorts. They left the gate unlocked. They were unshaven. We think they had knives. We weren't about to make eye contact. We'll just post a copy of the pool rules out there, pray they can read, and program the police's phone number into our speed dial.

Also, the inspector came by. He's mean.

Sewer/Gutters

Water is seeping into unit #22. We think it might be because the gutter is split in two and so water is pouring straight down into the ground. But we are not experts. We will get an estimate from someone in the yellow pages. What do you look under? "Gutterer"? Sounds like someone who cleans fish. Which might solve the other problem in #22's basement.

Landscaping

A motion was made by a guest from unit #26 to pass a resolution denouncing the idiots who voted to cut down the pretty tree in the corner of the yard. His daughter had his prom picture taken by that tree. Motion failed 7-0. A motion was made to cover unit #26's picture window with tar. Motion carried 7-0.

Sharon will get bids on patio pavers, to place in mulched areas for easier walking. It was also suggested that they may be durable enough to place near the driveway where the sod gets worn by tire tracks. A motion was made to test their durability by smashing them against unit #26's mailbox. Motion carried 7-0.

Clare asked if it would be legal to plant some bushes near the street. Everyone did that thing where you look at someone else so that you don't have to admit you don't know, nor do you feel like you have to volunteer to research it. After sufficient awkward silence, someone changed the subject.

Financial/Legal

Our treasurer is awesome. Did you know he blogs? Motion was made to award a big bonus to him. Motion failed 6-1.

Question was raised regarding FHA loans. Are those for poor people, or for all people? If for poor people, we don't want them. If for all people, we should go out of our way to enable them, right? Or are we pretty much content with those three "For Sale" signs that have been sitting out there for six months, screaming "BIG problems here! Is the place haunted? Termites? Scurvy?"

Question was asked as to who is responsible for replacing torn window screens. This is a big deal, since it costs at least, you know, $10 to replace one. Shocker: The unit owner, not the association. Of course you do realize that since you are part of the association, then if the association paid for it, then all units would chip in - you guessed it - $10 to fill the fund. Because it's just not physically possible for a governing body to bail out a problem with invisible funds that... um... what's next on the agenda?

Condo Clean-Up Day

Our semi-annual cleaning of the grounds will take place on November 6, with rain date November 13. We will bag up leaves, sweep dirt off sidewalks and into trash cans, collect loose rocks, and hurl them at unit #26.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35.

Triple-Digit Fun

We played ultimate frisbee in 100+ heat index. They were taller and faster than us, yet we jumped out into the lead! It was satisfying to grab the first scoring pass of the game. And less satisfying to watch them score every other point from then on. Fortunately, only one teammate collapsed to the ground from heat exhaustion. And thanks to 50 oz. of water and a couple quick pre-game pieces of fruit, it wasn't me. So it was a victory!

Double Take

Have you ever walked by someone and seen them do a double take? They glance at you, look away, then snap their eyes back in your direction. What are they thinking in that moment?

1. Wow, she's cute!
2. Is that my cousin Mick? Nah, too scrawny.
3. Why is he grinning at me? Creepy!
4. Whoa, that clock... I'm late!
5. Ah, finally got that kink out of my neck.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Who's The Man?

Two minutes left in a scoreless soccer game. Penalty kicks seem inevitable. Great, clean play throughout on both sides of the ball.

McDonald and Weber bring the ball up the right side from twenty yards away. Weber pokes it toward the goal.

One of their two defenders attacks the free ball and kicks it, but not cleanly. It dribbles ten feet away. The other defender charges up to clear the ball.

McDonald sprints at top speed, just in time to joust with the defender. McDonald pulls the ball free and gets ahead of him.

One defender to beat. McDonald taps it to the left and rushes past her.

McDonald vs. Goalie. Fifteen yards to go.

Two quick dribbles. Goalie commits halfway. There's a seam of daylight to his left.

McDonald strikes. And shreds the top right corner of the net.

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!

The flyin' Irishman's first tally in three seasons. His first game-winner in any sport in this century.

Now somebody get him the oxygen.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

High/Low, Week 27, 2010

Sitting here lazily on the couch enjoying the laptop computer and watching some Law & Order: Criminal Intent, it's a trick to think of a low spot for the week.

We had a follow-up meeting at work to further debate the $10 million versus $1 million issue. As a result, all of the pieces have fallen together nicely to capture that first $1 million. Whether or not to take the risks associated with the remaining $9 million is to be continued on August 12, once all the execs get back from their vacations. The multi-department team to put the $1 million changes in place on August 1 consists of some really talented people, and things are looking up.

On the basketball front, it was another successful Saturday run. Coaching-wise, logged the DVD-watching hours to become armed with a bunch of notes on the exciting new offense for the high school.

Evelyn and I are working up new songs for the August 1 performance, and the voices are blending well as we make significant progress. For a while my tempo with the guitar was a bit fast, but with some private practice it's dialing back well.

My co-worker Paulette made a significant step in upgrading our computer systems. Intern Emily, and Tyson, passed actuarial exams.

Weight workouts are going strong (pun intended), and as noted even the eyesight's getting better.

Let's make next week just as upbeat!

Seeing Things Differently

Time for the annual eye exam.

Y'all probably know that dehydration is a leading cause of eye strain. I wisely schedule my exams at the end of the work day, which does wonders for the get-out-of-school-early feeling, but not much for the ability to read tiny letters across the room. The combination of 8 hours of computer screen reading, a couple previous days of sun tanning, and old contact lenses helped ramp up the challenge. A game I tilted in my favor by declaring surrender practically as soon as my rear hit the chair. Fortunately, it doesn't necessarily matter how good my vision is at the moment. They're able to factor in those other elements and determine that my distance vision has actually improved during the last year. As Dr. Rocke dangles the Viewmaster-hanging-from-a-crane thing in front of me, he declares that I'm sporting 20/15 accuracy. As a guy once (and probably still) registering 20/200+ without corrective lenses, this is sweet music. On one hand, people marching toward 40 aren't expecting to hear that their health has improved when they visit the doctor. On the other hand, I guess I had noticed greater success in squint-guessing what the blobs on the scale were reading in the morning. "They" claim that my superb close-range eyesight will slip in the coming years... what do "they" know? Yeah okay, it's Dr. Rocke again, so the odds are good. But that should give me enough time to trade the actuarial gig for a career in refereeing or astronomy.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Road Rage Remedy

While pecking away happily at my desk at work, it hit me like a thunderbolt that it was nearly 4:00! The very time I was supposed to begin guitar rehearsal for my next gig. At a church all the way across town. Through the equivalent of rush hour traffic. I dashed to the car without closing down the computer. Ten stoplights upcoming in the five-mile stretch. Ah, anxiety... the fertile ground of road rage!

Not so fertile today, though:

1. I called ahead, and left a note that I'd be running 15 minutes late.

2. I try to always carry a book in the car. That way the whole trip is productive... during green lights I'm closing in on the destination, during red lights I'm thinking about fun or interesting topics rather than the relatively useless fact that I am powerless to go anywhere and getting later by the second.

3. "Everything's gonna be all right." I apologize sincerely, without a big story, and move on. As usual lately, I write the incident off as having some unseen good to it. Perhaps if I'd been on time I'd have crossed an intersection just as a drunk driver came racing through. Or maybe my duet partner benefited from the extra minutes alone, if she'd had a rough day and needed a few moments to gather herself. It's unlike me to be so forgetful, so why not chalk it up to divine intervention?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

LeBron

Just wanted to share, in the waning moments before LeBron James' big announcement as to where he'll next play basketball, that I am going to be happy no matter where he ends up.

Seeing three All-Stars in Miami would be intriguing. They're quite younger than the "Big Three" of Boston were when that nucleus first formed. At last, it could ensure that some power remains in the Eastern Conference for the future. Kind of like in Armageddon when they bundle up all the earth's nukes and fire them at the asteroid. Ignore the fact that the move did squat. It was still awesome to see. This would be too.

On the other hand, the salaries of those three would cash-strap the Heat (who literally have only 4 players under contract at the moment) from putting many other pieces on the floor around them. And though fans of the pick-and-roll would convince you otherwise, it takes five to win a championship, not three.

Keep in mind too, that if the Bulls land LeBron (which seems unlikely considering that his home is in Cleveland, he wore a Yankees cap at an Indians baseball game, and is apparently hosting a party in Miami) then they'll have three all-star players of their own. They'd be in some good shape.

If he goes to Cleveland, it's a home grown feel good story. New York, it's like surgically attaching concrete blocks to his ankles. Chicago, admittedly - who knows what goes on in their management's mind?

Excuse me while I go watch some TV!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Don Music

Gen X Sesame Street fans, this one's for you.

Dena and I were surfing the net last night and somehow got to talking about the show. Then, again out of the blue, this image flashed in my mind of an exasperated pianist slamming his head on the keys in mind-block despair.

"Oh... shoot... what is the NAME of that guy? Aauuggh..."

Frantic YouTubing for "muppet piano player" turned up that fuzzy dog from the Muppet Show.

I start typing "sesame street piano player."

Dena: "He wasn't on Sesame Street, was he?"
Me: "I'm sure he wasn't on the Muppet Show. That was more about comedy sketches. This guy was basically teaching us a couple new songs, more educational. That's Sesame Street."

Land ho!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Ugqh471IE

Sabarigiri Viswanathan Madheswaran

This was the name of the guy who fixed my password when my computer fussed at work today. We communicated exclusively by instant message, but I'm pretty sure he's Irish.

Mudslinging Party

On the way home I heard a radio report talking about two candidates for governor "taking shots at each other." Hidden Bloggers know that I believe in the connection between health and attitude. So here's a proposal for a healthier nation.

Let's acknowledge that politicians have faults. And that it's deceptive to hide faults. Voters have a yearning to know, on some level, what the dirty laundry is of each candidate. I think in part that's because we want to see the human side of our leaders (or servants, depending on how you view elected officials), rather than a character. Or because we want to better understand their weaknesses and see how they match up with the issues we each hold most dear.

Let's also remember that the great movies of all time, as a proxy for the American way, hit their low point well before the final scene. In Hoosiers, it was the town hall meeting to vote whether Coach Dale would keep his job. This was ugly. Citizens paraded up to the front and blasted the Coach's performance. Then he got a chance to speak on his own behalf. He defiantly defended his actions for a while before running out of gas. Then a soft-spoken town woman steps in with a vote of confidence. A soft-spoken star player seconds the emotion. In the end a thunderous "yea" vote rocks the house.

Let's schedule a town hall meeting one month prior to the election. This is the one and only sanctioned event in the process for unfettered mud slinging at each and every opponent. A roast without the laughs. No holds barred. Each candidate gets on stage, one at a time, and opponents are allowed a period of time to unearth and hold in the spotlight the very darkest, scariest, most offensive, un-American, selfish, extremist-leaning, unethical, idiotic, soft, inflexible, bumbling, incompetent tales of his or her nature. Up comes the next candidate. Slam city. Next up, an it's another verbal bloodbath. Then round two, where the vilified parade through in order again, allowed to respond in any fashion they please... except that they may not say anything derogatory about any other person. And once the meeting ends, so does the negativity. Thereafter, candidates may speak only favorably about other candidates for the duration of the campaign.

Let's remember that this is a nation of freedom of speech, and that candidates can say whatever they wish after this blessed event as well. But let's also remember that America overcame great odds to survive its infancy, and thrives when we expect our government to represent strength, and not backbiting. Let's vote in those who honor their opponents, honor the system, and in so doing honor the ideal American spirit of optimism that overcame the largest armies of the world to build the life we know today.

I'm sure loopholes abound with an idea like this. But wouldn't it be fun to see it tried?

Monday, July 5, 2010

Puttin' On The Ritual

"This is what rituals are for. We do spiritual ceremonies as human beings in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don't have to haul those feelings around with us forever, weighing us down. We all need such places of ritual safekeeping. And I do believe that if your culture or tradition doesn't have the specific ritual you're craving, then you are absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising, fixing your own broken-down emotional systems with all the do-it-yourself resourcefulness of a generous plumber/poet. If you bring the right earnestness to your homemade ceremony, God will provide the grace." - Elizabeth Gilbert

It's tough in some ways to be of a mind that gains little from church services or Bible studies. I feel more spiritually fulfilled in small groups of open-minded discussion and support of our perceptions of God's role in our lives, the steps in an ongoing journey to a better life on earth and reveling in how fortunate we all are. Privately, I feel sufficiently close to God through simple prayers of thanks for any number of infinite gifts in an average day. Thank goodness that enough people are fed through corporate worship that there are opportunities to share through my musical and creative talents. And rehearsing for those opportunities is a peaceful form of individual worship for me. Funny how the creation puzzle has just enough pieces to form a whole.

Off Limits

"You might just as well hang it up and kiss God good-bye if you really need to keep blaming somebody else for your own life's limitations." - Elizabeth Gilbert

Kinda silly in a way, isn't it? On one hand, fortunately, it's unnatural for me to get angry at God. Even as people are dying all around my Mom lately from various cancers... they still led full lives and were apportioned a good part of creation to enjoy during their time here. And then during a meeting someone will say something contrary to my way of thinking, and it'll get steam billowing. That person who... is simply another part of creation from the same God. Just a little closer to my "ego," which I seem to guard with illogical fervor as if it were more within my control and less a part of God's plan.

Humanity is all about limits. They may not always be enjoyable, but there's always something nearby to enjoy, so why not?

Master Of The Inner Universe

"Yoga is about self-mastery and the dedicated effort to haul your attention away from your endless brooding over the past and your nonstop worrying about the future so that you can seek, instead, a place of eternal presence from which you may regard yourself and your surroundings with poise." - Elizabeth Gilbert

Besides the too-familiar neuroses of brooding and worrying, this speaks to me because of the emphasis on what little we can control. We can master ourselves to know our own natural flash points, weaknesses, and passions. We must dedicate ourselves to this cause, focus far more than is habitual on our state of mind or presence. And it helps immeasurably to weigh ourselves in the surroundings of the big picture... that our biggest mistake is unknown to billions of others, and practically nonexistent as far as the universe is concerned.

Smilin' Island

"The Yogic path is about disentangling the built-in glitches of the human condition, which I'm going to over-simply define here as the heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." - Elizabeth Gilbert

On this day-off celebration of American independence, I awoke around noon and gathered thoughts gradually. Deciding to get the day off right with some exercise, I found myself in unhurried contentment while cruising in the Saturn toward Four Seasons. At that moment it didn't matter how many red lights I encountered or how many people cut me off. I was complacent and happy, just enjoying the day. Why ever leave this mental station? Why feel the need to dive into the water and swim for some bigger island? Why despair when a seagull makes an unwelcome deposit on my head, when there's an ocean of cleanser around? It's a healthy thing, to choose to stay on the smilin' island, ignoring the calls of the sailors offshore.

High/Low, Week 26, 2010

Halfway through the year!

My biggest moment of the work week involved a decision which, for purposes of simplification, I'll describe as a choice between saving the company $1 million in the next year or saving $5 million. The vice president thought that going the $5 million route would be too risky, due to the risk of misleading customers. Several including me disagreed with the degree of risk. It was the strongest test of enthusiasm for the week, and I felt it pounding in my ears in the throes of the meeting. Then I was asked to cancel part of my day off to come in later that same day and share the disagreeable result with our executive. And glad to say, I was able to almost immediately take the boiling water and put it on ice. In fact, the reality that I had a few hours out of the office worked to great advantage, as I got some time to step back from the situation physically as well as mentally. $1 million is still a lot of money! What matters is not the result, but how the result was achieved. The beginning of true influence is to present alternatives objectively, rather than personally. So while I tipped into personal attachment to $5 million for a while, it always feels good to catch it timely and return to the perspective of the team rather than myself.

On Saturday, I caught it even more quickly. I was matched up on the basketball court against a more athletic opponent who took advantage of me early. Nothing like having a ball stripped from your hands a time or two to douse the ego! Even in the moment that it was happening, I recognized it as a typical emotional tinder box and smothered it. "Everything's gonna be all right." And in the end, an hour later, he was quitting for the day and I was holding my own with him with energy to spare.

We had a fantastic outing on Saturday night with our friends Scott and Lisa. First Dena and I got to dabble in Thai food at a restaurant we'd not used before, and savored the chicken-fried-rice experience. Then off to State Farm park for a round of badminton... in gale force winds that made for utter comedy. If I were trying to kill flies with a broomstick I wouldn't have whiffed as much as I did on that court. I'm sure I looked like a hyperactive contortionist with each swipe, which drew Dena into hysterics every time (always nice to discover a new way to make your spouse laugh, even without trying). A couple games of shuffleboard, then 18 holes of victorious miniature golf. Over to Culver's for turtle sundaes, then off to the movies (see previous post... at least the company was good).

My boss and employees were in good spirits all week. That always helps!

Dena got some great news. This Kiwanis statewide convention coming to town has been consuming boatloads of time, and she learned that her responsibilities going forward are much smaller than she'd thought.

Hidden Blog just passed its 1,900th career post.

Surprised and happy to say that I've read 27 books so far, a book-a-week pace made far easier thanks to the library.

It's been another relatively blissful week inspired by the halo effects of vacation, which is saying a lot amidst a life that's already incredibly blessed!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Newlyweds' First Dance

Not ours, but oh man if it only were...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4OzHWvVyb8&feature=related

Rain, Sleet, Shine or Power Outage

Today's meaningless fact: E-mail is a real path to friendship with me.

The reason it's a meaningless fact is that there's no worldly importance to the word "e-mail" in there, it's just a harmless personal reality. For others, and very appropriately so, it could have been "conversation," or "birthday cards," or "broccoli." And "conversation" would suit me too. On the other hand, if it were "broccoli," then you'd have to substitute "path" with "death."

My first e-mail was in 1994, the year I graduated college and was given access at my job. I met Dena in 1995. The first computer I owned was in 1998, the summer after we got married. This is all to say that Dena and I never once exchanged an e-mail until we'd been wed, which is why I consider myself jaw-droppingly lucky that she is a perfect e-fit for me. Her writing is intelligent, spunky, witty, caring and sensitive all at once. And she responds FAST. This deserves its own paragraph.

(Side note: While some of our funniest e-mails have happened while sitting ten feet apart, we mostly exchange between work and home. Like I said, conversation's a darn good path too!)

(Side note to side note: For anyone from work who reads that side note, I hereby certify according to our Code of Conduct that my use of company assets is primarily for business purposes. By a long, long, long way!)

Volunteer organizations are littered with unresponsive e-mailers. And why not? Writing lags face-to-face as an effective communication form. It's slower (one-on-one, anyway), tougher to convey tone, tougher to convey meaning. It involves grammar and punctuation (at least, in theory). And yet, failure to reply to e-mail is a life-sucker for these relationships. If you're standing in an elevator with someone and dish out a cheerful hello, and nothing is said... then the person might be unfriendly. Or deaf. I can't always know for sure, so it's not fair to judge well or harshly. But either way, after a while you just accept it as a sign that it's time to disengage and move on to something healthier.

This morning I sent an e-mail to my duet (and retired) partner Evelyn at 12:18. She replied at 12:30. Coach Goldman is cut from the same cloth. So is Dona, so is Tyson. And Jan, the secretary of our association board. And as the gene pool would suggest, Mom and Jack. And my fellow thespian Darren Plattner. I'm more likely to be struck by lightning than to receive more than a day's worth of silence. No ambiguity here - it's clear that we matter to each other. The feedback energizes me. So that's where I spend my time. There's just not much value in watering concrete.

Since you didn't ask, here's a bonus:

- Answer every question asked. What could be merrier than waiting a week to get a response, which answers only two of the three questions, thereby ushering in another week of waiting? It's like realizing you're on the wrong expressway an instant after passing an exit ramp, and the next one's ten miles away.

Mansion Over The Hilltop

Evelyn Ehlers and I performed this song to great satisfaction last Sunday. It had been a good six months since I'd gotten the chance to play and sing in front of a congregation, and it's always a rush to be able to provide a good experience like that. Music lubricates the soul. I spent a month's worth of morning showers practicing - this and that, ironing out that waver in the voice for a certain word, figuring out the right moments to breathe. Should I put more lung power behind this word, or that syllable, in order to draw out the most emotional message? Where to catch a breath? How to flow easily between sentences?

Typing all that reveals more artistry than I'd usually self-describe. Whether writing a song, singing or performing one, I can immerse in the adventure of mixing the elements together into something beautiful and harmonious. Like the painters and sculptors I routinely fail to appreciate, the details probably escape those who observe the finished product, at least in terms of being able to recall them. The impressions are more than enough - the captivated looks, the voluntary applause, the enthusiastic remarks about our joyful expression.

The next round looks better still - August 1, 8:00 and 9:30 services at Calvary United Methodist Church. The classic Hebrew hymn El Shaddai and the striking wedding song How Beautiful. I guess I'll be taking two showers a day for a while!

Read & React Offense

I spent a few hours reviewing the "read and react" basketball offense DVD that coach Witzig loaned me. I like it! There are no plays called per se, though several of the movements are initiated based simply on the way that the ballhandler moves (hence the name).

In short, the concepts are:

Whenever you pass, you cut toward the basket. And everyone else rotates to one of the five predetermined positions on the floor.

Whenever someone is running toward you (while dribbling or not), you run away.

There are many more variations within (for example, whether you choose to have zero, one, or two posts), but by the end of the hours I had a definite feel for how things should flow. And a couple pages of notes. See, the offense consists of distinct pieces that can be taught in layers. I believe that this ability to compartmentalize a concept and drill it is one of the powerful tools of teaching anything. Not only is it inherently simple, but as it comes together into a single integrated result the pupil sees increasing excitement, like a jigsaw puzzle.

R&R would work against a man or a zone defense. And it's natural to get into off the fast break transition. It's become an instant favorite! I'm looking forward to teaching it.

Grown Ups

See this movie if you have nothing else to do. Maybe.

The cast is perfectly fine. Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Selma Hayek, Rob Schneider and other familiar names ensure that plenty of ad libbed one liners find their way in to birth a chuckle or chortle. The movie's about a group of youth basketball players reunited for a weekend after their coach passes away. It is end-to-end comedy... even the "conflict" scenes carry a smirk-faced quality to them.

Somehow, it seemed to cross the line of Airplane! zaniness into plain, eye-rolling weirdness. The Schneider character who's married to the hypersexual sixtysomething. And who has two supermodel daughters (and one that looks like him, which was admittedly funny). The mother breastfeeding her four year old child.

Movies don't usually seem an hour longer than they actually are, but such was the case to me. To wonder how a movie will end which has no real conflict to resolve. Fortunately, they invented one at the end, and even figured out a way to add a stitch of sentimentality to a plot with deliberately little.

How about 1.5 stars out of 5. Hey, they can't all be winners!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Career Change

Sometimes a certain topic will seem to find its way to a person in bunches. Lately that topic's been career change.

One friend recently changed jobs and is loving it. Another has days where he can hardly drag himself into the office, and has his eye on another job. Both told me this over lunch, on differing days. And both said the same thing: "I'm okay as an analyst, but my real passion is managing people." And in my opinion, they're both right. I've seen each of them feast on the adventure of reading people's character and adjusting the landscape so as to meet employees' needs and get the team jelling toward success.

Another friend is losing her job at the end of July, and the flames of hope have been fanned by a possible job offer in a past career that she likes a lot less, but is close to home. Another college graduate just interviewed for an insurance agent job, and came away with a great feeling and a promise of being contacted within a week or so. Another is experiencing a new boss, but silently waiting to see if a new job dangled by a likable person in another department will materialize. I pray that they have patience and good fortune no matter what!

My job is a gift, but what's my calling? Some people are exceptionally tall and athletic... shouldn't they play pro basketball? Some are natural musicians... isn't it a shame if they don't pursue it for a living? The mechanically inclined. He who learns languages easily. She with the velvet voice. And this person, with strong mathematical and analytical skills. Isn't it clear what they should be doing?

I think so.

I feel a moment is wasted only when spent without enthusiasm. A basketball talent who loves to write, should write. An accountant who wants to dance, should dance. A full-time employee who wants to work part-time, should work part-time. Life is chasing passions, death is obliging abilities or groupthink. For me, success isn't measured so much in dollars as in dreams. If something must become dull and unused, let it be talent rather than time. Water can be beautiful in a puddle or a waterfall, it's up to us to choose our scene. And to celebrate others who find theirs.