My guys worked hard through the hottest, busiest month of the year.
July here was a hot, muggy month. these guys work hard for their living. What that means is that we went through a long month. That combined with the fact that they like to have time off in the summer is a recipe for a lot of hard-working, very sweaty guys trying to make up for the guys who are off. They went through more bottles of Gatorade than the dealership could supply them with. And I was very thankful for the hard work at the end of last week.
Now, I'm likely to be the cheapest guy that you know. But last week Friday, I reached into my wallet and bought the guys a bunch of dilly bars from Dairy Queen. And at the end of the day, we all took a few minutes and had an ice cream treat. And who knew a cherry dilly bar could taste so good.
I really am going somewhere with this. I promise.
The problem with dilly bars is that every bit of them is good. And they last a long time. But sooner or later, they are gone. They end.
This is true for an awful lot of things in life. There are a ton of things that a person enjoys that sooner or later come to an end, sometimes even a screeching halt. I had a car like that once. I also had a friend.
I met I.T. guy when I was about 18. That is 17 years ago. We were fast friends, and had a lot of similar interests. We didn't really see eye to eye on a lot of things, but like any friendship, we got along, so we got around those things. We worked on projects together, had great times hanging out, and later in life took turns pissing off each others wife. And this went on for the better part of two decades.
After that amount of time you pretty much know a guy inside out and backwards. You have been through it all together. Think of the things that a person goes through between 18 and 35 years old. There are a lot of firsts.
This is a guy that i had as a friend through first loves, high school graduation, college graduation (both of us) Job issues. race cars. First time drunks. drag races. Children. first homes. you can imagine the rest of the list. Absolutely endless.
It is like the worlds longest lasting dilly bar. Even if you get a cherry one it is still pretty good.
My friend and I had words about 6 months ago and haven't spoken since. And I'm being held to blame, which I don't really deny the blame for. And although Ive apologized, it was likely not soon enough. At the time i considered the biggest major issue to have been in good fun. And I took his reaction as having been blown completely out of proportion.
But after that amount of time we started tonight through a text message to get to the bottom of things. His take apparently is that we've grown apart. We didn't hang out like we used to, our interests were different, our priorities. So i get the idea he isn't interested anymore. I feel like a high school girl who just got dumped. I would like to apologize to every girl I have ever broken up with.
Now. I do want to say that my life is just fine without seeing the guy. But we were friends for so damned long that it bugs me. I do not find myself able to just say screw it and walk away after that amount of time. Apparently he can. And yes, 6 months without speaking, but I have tried to make contact with the intent to patch it up during that time.
And what amazes me about the situation, what really gets at my heart, is the time. I cant begin to tell you how at the ready we always were for each other. Say the word and the guy was there. Me or him. Can you help me with my car? Want a beer? Lets take a road trip. Dude, help me with this. Hey lets hang out on Saturday. Feel like some golf? Lets have a cookout this afternoon. Those are the things that I'm going to miss.
I mean, I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of really good friends. I am really really blessed to have guys like the Iowan, Foose, Puller, The Legend, B-Money, The Professor, and a lot more, but I think I would be writing this about any of them in a similar situation.
And I also have a lot of friends that I haven't seen in years due to the natural progression of life. I haven't seen the guys that I hung out with in high school in like five years. Id like to, but there never seems to be time. But this one. This one hurts. This isn't a guy I want to give up. But, like breaking up, he seems all too willing to do so. So I guess I don't have a choice.
So I guess this is going to be like my dilly bar Friday. It was a big dilly bar, and damned it was good, but now all Ive got left is the stick at the end.
At the end........
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
My Wedding Ring
When Babe and I were in the process of planning our wedding, there came a day to pick out the rings. Her ring was relatively easy to choose, because it was part of a set, the other ring being of course the engagement ring that she was already wearing. Mine was a bit more difficult. For young men, the process of choosing a ring is sometimes complicated. For me, I wanted a ring that blended with my life and my personality. If you look at a man's wedding ring, you generally can tell a lot about him. I have a friend who has one that is titanium. Very heavy, yet very sleek looking. The edges are sort of tapered and faceted, and look modern and classy. I have another friend who has a very basic, but very handsome simple gold band. If you were to commit yourself to it, and look intentionally at the rings that men wear, I think you would understand the corollary that I am trying to examine.
The other thing that you might get a glimpse of would be the roads that those rings have taken. The shiny and new rings will often belong to people who are somewhat newly married. Men like my father, who have been married a very long time, will often have replaced the original ring one or more times, and yet the ring they wear will often have some scratches and some natural polishing and wear showing. Because a man will usually wear his ring at all times, it is exposed to whatever the hand wearing it is exposed to. A ring belonging to a gardener will often be softly polished by the abrasive dirt it finds itself in.
My favorite are the ones that have been worn for a very long time. Those rings are usually in a condition similar to the bearer. I recently saw a wedding ring that a gentleman had been wearing for 50 years. That amount of time, combined with faithful polishing, had created a piece of jewelry that was polished and patinad in a way that only time can do. I imagine that this man's marriage shows the same amount of luster and history.
Soon, we will celebrate ten years of marriage. And with that, I examined my own ring today. My ring is a fairly simple gold band, that band is wrapped with a narrower platinum band. When it was new, and still polished, the luster of the gold was such that it was hard to tell that the two metals were a different color. For the first several years that we were married, I made a point to have it polished every so often at the jewelry store.
But, like any relationship; after a while the ring began to age a little. I havent had it polished in quite a while. Thinking about that is what prompted this essay. It has developed scratches, dings, and a very large dent. Quite a few years ago now I had to jumpstart a truck. Remember what I said about the resemblance of the ring to the bearer? Well, the hood of the truck had quite a bit of snow on it, and while I was removing the battery box after getting it running, the hood slammed down. It could not have hit my ring more squarely. Later that evening, I was telling the story, and went to pull the ring off, only to discover that the ring had been fairly crushed, and was now oblong to the point that it would not slide off of my finger. What was odd was that not only had i felt no pain when the hood came down, but there was absolutely no damage to my finger.
Yes, I believe that my wedding ring saved my finger from major injury.
SO, like any good mechanic would do, I used a few tools and did my best to make the thing round again. And I wear it that way to this day.
I know a lot of people who take care of thier rings the same way that I did at first, Those guys are the ones who ask me now and then when I'm going to take mine in to be straightened out and repolished. They keep them in polished, shiny condition at all times. They dont want anybody to ever see the ring looking less than perfect.
But my ring tells a story. All in all, we have had a pretty good marriage. I know a lot of people who have not made it this long. We have had some struggles, we've seen some scratches in our rings, and we've even had a couple big dents over the years. But over time, we have always managed to find a way to get things back into shape. We are not the exact same shiny polished couple that we may have been, but each of those scratches, dings, and dents have had an impact on us. To me, to polish the ring would be to deny the past. It would mean a willingness to set aside some of those things that we have gotten through together. It would almost make light of the struggle. Babe and I have worked hard, and worked together over the last decade to be a team in things, to smooth out the bumps in the road. To polish the ring to me is pretending that some of the things that have happened to us as a couple were not important.
One of the best things about metal is what is called Tempering. By inducing stress into a metal, through heat or through force, or some combination of the two, the metal itself becomes stronger. My ring was tempered by the force of the truck-hood. In much the same way, struggle and difficulty can temper a relationship.
You have heard in these posts about some of the things that Babe and I have been through together. Each of these has caused us stress as a couple, and tempered our relationship. Each of these things has been very important to our relationship on a very basic level. And I wouldn't dare try to forget about them.
I think that it is important to remember with pride those things that a couple has conquered. Those times when things weren't necessarily fun. The sad things that have happened. The financial struggles. Times when you didn't like your job, or didnt have a job. I'm not talking about problems in a relationship here, but rather those problems that your relationship has allowed you to overcome together.
I'm still not sure if I will go get my ring polished or not. Part of me says that it would be a way to close a chapter and open another. Part of me says that it is just fine the way it is. Part of me says I should do what any married man would do and ask my wife.
The other thing that you might get a glimpse of would be the roads that those rings have taken. The shiny and new rings will often belong to people who are somewhat newly married. Men like my father, who have been married a very long time, will often have replaced the original ring one or more times, and yet the ring they wear will often have some scratches and some natural polishing and wear showing. Because a man will usually wear his ring at all times, it is exposed to whatever the hand wearing it is exposed to. A ring belonging to a gardener will often be softly polished by the abrasive dirt it finds itself in.
My favorite are the ones that have been worn for a very long time. Those rings are usually in a condition similar to the bearer. I recently saw a wedding ring that a gentleman had been wearing for 50 years. That amount of time, combined with faithful polishing, had created a piece of jewelry that was polished and patinad in a way that only time can do. I imagine that this man's marriage shows the same amount of luster and history.
Soon, we will celebrate ten years of marriage. And with that, I examined my own ring today. My ring is a fairly simple gold band, that band is wrapped with a narrower platinum band. When it was new, and still polished, the luster of the gold was such that it was hard to tell that the two metals were a different color. For the first several years that we were married, I made a point to have it polished every so often at the jewelry store.
But, like any relationship; after a while the ring began to age a little. I havent had it polished in quite a while. Thinking about that is what prompted this essay. It has developed scratches, dings, and a very large dent. Quite a few years ago now I had to jumpstart a truck. Remember what I said about the resemblance of the ring to the bearer? Well, the hood of the truck had quite a bit of snow on it, and while I was removing the battery box after getting it running, the hood slammed down. It could not have hit my ring more squarely. Later that evening, I was telling the story, and went to pull the ring off, only to discover that the ring had been fairly crushed, and was now oblong to the point that it would not slide off of my finger. What was odd was that not only had i felt no pain when the hood came down, but there was absolutely no damage to my finger.
Yes, I believe that my wedding ring saved my finger from major injury.
SO, like any good mechanic would do, I used a few tools and did my best to make the thing round again. And I wear it that way to this day.
I know a lot of people who take care of thier rings the same way that I did at first, Those guys are the ones who ask me now and then when I'm going to take mine in to be straightened out and repolished. They keep them in polished, shiny condition at all times. They dont want anybody to ever see the ring looking less than perfect.
But my ring tells a story. All in all, we have had a pretty good marriage. I know a lot of people who have not made it this long. We have had some struggles, we've seen some scratches in our rings, and we've even had a couple big dents over the years. But over time, we have always managed to find a way to get things back into shape. We are not the exact same shiny polished couple that we may have been, but each of those scratches, dings, and dents have had an impact on us. To me, to polish the ring would be to deny the past. It would mean a willingness to set aside some of those things that we have gotten through together. It would almost make light of the struggle. Babe and I have worked hard, and worked together over the last decade to be a team in things, to smooth out the bumps in the road. To polish the ring to me is pretending that some of the things that have happened to us as a couple were not important.
One of the best things about metal is what is called Tempering. By inducing stress into a metal, through heat or through force, or some combination of the two, the metal itself becomes stronger. My ring was tempered by the force of the truck-hood. In much the same way, struggle and difficulty can temper a relationship.
You have heard in these posts about some of the things that Babe and I have been through together. Each of these has caused us stress as a couple, and tempered our relationship. Each of these things has been very important to our relationship on a very basic level. And I wouldn't dare try to forget about them.
I think that it is important to remember with pride those things that a couple has conquered. Those times when things weren't necessarily fun. The sad things that have happened. The financial struggles. Times when you didn't like your job, or didnt have a job. I'm not talking about problems in a relationship here, but rather those problems that your relationship has allowed you to overcome together.
I'm still not sure if I will go get my ring polished or not. Part of me says that it would be a way to close a chapter and open another. Part of me says that it is just fine the way it is. Part of me says I should do what any married man would do and ask my wife.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Mom's Gonna kill you.
This is the first post, and possibly the first mention that I have made about Moms. Needless to say, I am thinking about the topic because of the pending holiday.
I am not going to give you any of our usual cliches. I am not going to drool out some crap about i love you mom, (which i do) or any of that other predictable crap. SO here goes an ode to moms everywhere. Especially Bonnie, Stacy, Diane, Betty, Jenn, June, Louise, Dayna, Laura, Jody and Greta.
There are two holidays that recognize parents. We somehow hold mothers day in higher esteem than the other one. I think that it is for good reason. Although i am not trying to make a comparison between moms and dads, I do think that it goes without saying that Mothers day is definitely the more important holiday.
Why? Because you never really know what your Dad is going to do. He might kick your ass; But your mom is going to kill you. Dads have always been the first parent to hear you swear. See you smoke. Catch you beating on his truck. And they also have always been the ones who said they would not tell mom. That's because they love you. And they know mom is gonna kill you.
See this goes both ways. How many Dads have told their kids not to tell mom? Um Yeah. All of them. How many Moms have said don't tell dad? not all of them anyway. Dads and kids have a trust that moms and kids don't always have. Because mom's gonna kill you.
This is really a compliment to mom by the way. Mom is burdened by the fact that she usually is the moral compass to her household. Dad has the luxury of knowing that he's just a big kid anyway, and everybody sort of expects him to act like it. Take the following quiz if you don't believe me. The answer to each question is either Mom or Dad.
1. Who encouraged you to go to church more often?
2. Who Taught you to bait a fish-hook?
3. Who checked your homework, and who just asked if it was done?
4. Who did you spend more time playing video games with?
5. Who read to you more?
6. Who taught you how to match your clothes?
7. Who helped you with a band-aid, and who told you to wipe some dirt on it?
you get the idea. Dads spend time with us with the idea of making Men out of us. Mom's spend time making Citizens out of us. Not that one is more important than the other, but society could survive without Mans Men. Is the same true of Citizens? Imagine the things people wouldn't know how to do without moms.
Further, Mom was a lot more adamant about it. Mom would wear herself out trying to mold us into good people. Nothing was more important to Mom than the development of her children. Our grades. our future. We never worried about Dad's opinion of people we dated. We never called Dad when we had a personal problem. We called Dad when the car wouldn't start.
That's the thing. We always knew dad was our friend. We always knew Dad loved us. Dad would help us. Dad had our back.
But Mom. Mom expected a lot more of us. And Mom was tough. Dad would laugh and give us a Hug. Mom would kill us. you never heard a Dad say "I brought you into this world..."
Our Moms didn't only want the best for us. They expected that we listen to them about it. If your Mom didn't approve, you knew it. Sometimes Dad had to come talk to you about it, but you knew where it came from. This is the great thing about having parents. Parents can work together this way. There are usually not two bad guys. Parents sometimes take turns.. One can Nurture. The other can Discipline. By the way, neither really works without the other, and yes, the roles do switch from time to time.
But this is about Mom.
We love our moms for all that they have done for us. We love our moms for unconditional love. We love our moms for the effort they have put into taking care of us. Teaching us. Spending the time we needed. Making us do things we didn't want to . And all of the other things Mom does that help us to be who we are today.
SO i encourage you. Make a big deal of Mothers day next month. I'm giving you plenty of warning. And remember, if you don't, Mom's gonna Kill you.
happy Mothers Day ladies.
Greg
I am not going to give you any of our usual cliches. I am not going to drool out some crap about i love you mom, (which i do) or any of that other predictable crap. SO here goes an ode to moms everywhere. Especially Bonnie, Stacy, Diane, Betty, Jenn, June, Louise, Dayna, Laura, Jody and Greta.
There are two holidays that recognize parents. We somehow hold mothers day in higher esteem than the other one. I think that it is for good reason. Although i am not trying to make a comparison between moms and dads, I do think that it goes without saying that Mothers day is definitely the more important holiday.
Why? Because you never really know what your Dad is going to do. He might kick your ass; But your mom is going to kill you. Dads have always been the first parent to hear you swear. See you smoke. Catch you beating on his truck. And they also have always been the ones who said they would not tell mom. That's because they love you. And they know mom is gonna kill you.
See this goes both ways. How many Dads have told their kids not to tell mom? Um Yeah. All of them. How many Moms have said don't tell dad? not all of them anyway. Dads and kids have a trust that moms and kids don't always have. Because mom's gonna kill you.
This is really a compliment to mom by the way. Mom is burdened by the fact that she usually is the moral compass to her household. Dad has the luxury of knowing that he's just a big kid anyway, and everybody sort of expects him to act like it. Take the following quiz if you don't believe me. The answer to each question is either Mom or Dad.
1. Who encouraged you to go to church more often?
2. Who Taught you to bait a fish-hook?
3. Who checked your homework, and who just asked if it was done?
4. Who did you spend more time playing video games with?
5. Who read to you more?
6. Who taught you how to match your clothes?
7. Who helped you with a band-aid, and who told you to wipe some dirt on it?
you get the idea. Dads spend time with us with the idea of making Men out of us. Mom's spend time making Citizens out of us. Not that one is more important than the other, but society could survive without Mans Men. Is the same true of Citizens? Imagine the things people wouldn't know how to do without moms.
Further, Mom was a lot more adamant about it. Mom would wear herself out trying to mold us into good people. Nothing was more important to Mom than the development of her children. Our grades. our future. We never worried about Dad's opinion of people we dated. We never called Dad when we had a personal problem. We called Dad when the car wouldn't start.
That's the thing. We always knew dad was our friend. We always knew Dad loved us. Dad would help us. Dad had our back.
But Mom. Mom expected a lot more of us. And Mom was tough. Dad would laugh and give us a Hug. Mom would kill us. you never heard a Dad say "I brought you into this world..."
Our Moms didn't only want the best for us. They expected that we listen to them about it. If your Mom didn't approve, you knew it. Sometimes Dad had to come talk to you about it, but you knew where it came from. This is the great thing about having parents. Parents can work together this way. There are usually not two bad guys. Parents sometimes take turns.. One can Nurture. The other can Discipline. By the way, neither really works without the other, and yes, the roles do switch from time to time.
But this is about Mom.
We love our moms for all that they have done for us. We love our moms for unconditional love. We love our moms for the effort they have put into taking care of us. Teaching us. Spending the time we needed. Making us do things we didn't want to . And all of the other things Mom does that help us to be who we are today.
SO i encourage you. Make a big deal of Mothers day next month. I'm giving you plenty of warning. And remember, if you don't, Mom's gonna Kill you.
happy Mothers Day ladies.
Greg
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
A Thank You,
John Kupsh
A&J Vans
April 20, 2011
John,
On my drive home tonight, I got to thinking about my new position. Reflecting on the things that I find myself involved in a day, and the reasons why I have those responsibilities; I decided that I needed to write down some of my thoughts.
I was in your employ for roughly 9 years. I realize now how truly young and inexperienced I was when you hired me. And I find myself thinking about some of the things that I was blessed to have learned during that time.
I guess this is a thank you letter. Once in a while, we all need to be recognized for what we do for people. For that reason, I want to recognize you for the mentor that you have truly been to me. During my friendship with you, you have been a constant source of insight into how business needs to be done. You were willing to take the time and effort to make me a better business person, in all aspects of the phrase.
Just a brief list of the skills that you tried to endow me with, and coach, and provide feedback on. Organization. Focus. Drive and Ambition. Competition. Marketing. Advertising. Customer Service. Public Relations. Negotiation. Human Resources. Accounting. Budget Management. Housekeeping. Merchandising. Product Design. Product and Workplace Ergonomics. Continual Improvement. Coaching. Mentoring. And most importantly Leadership.
All of these skills are things that I now find myself with some level of ability that is far and beyond what it was when I started working for you. And I believe that you deserve a fair amount of the credit for that. I now realize the effort you put in on a constant and consistent basis to attempt this level of mentorship to your people.
I used to say that I didn’t really have a job description. My normal comment was that if we didn’t know whose job it was, it was probably mine. When I think of the breadth of my duties with A&J, I even sometimes wonder how it all got done. It was sometimes overwhelming. I notice now however that I find myself taking responsibility for things that are beyond the scope of this new position based only on the need for those things to happen. Seems like that word, responsibility, may be the biggest thing that you managed to instill in my workplace persona.
I don’t know if anybody has ever thanked you in writing before. I somehow doubt it. Even as I attempt to do so it seems out of place. It is not part of our normal employment cycle. Nonetheless, Thank You. Although I do feel that the time was right for me to move on, I also feel that my time with you has been absolutely crucial to the future of my career. I wish you, and A&J, all the best in the future.
Sincerely,
Greg M. Wilker
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
toys
Yes. It's spring again. In my neck of the woods, thats what we call our area here, we got a brief taste of warm weather over the weekend. I had the good fortune to have taken a 3 day weekend. Which of course meant that I was drooling over the chance at getting out some of my warm weather toys.
So I did. I drained the crappy fuel out of the moped, and rode that around some. And then the hot rod. I discovered quickly that the battery from the last 4 or so years was junk, and stole the one from my car for the weekend. The old worn out engine in the truck started right up. So I drove that around the village a bit, and then out to the Iowan's new house to work with him a while.
And then it was time to drop the engine from the boat into a barrel of water and get it running. you get the idea.
Every year, when spring comes, it is the same for me. I love the excitement of escaping the winter doldrums. I love walking out to the barn and looking at the warm weather toys. The anticipation is intense.
But what I like most about spring is the toys. It seems as though it takes me an entire saturday each fall to winterize the toys. A bottle or two of stabil, Pull out the batteries, cover them up, Drain the water and refill with antifreeze. It is a lot of work.
But each spring, with each ignition of each engine. That boring day of winterizing just floats away. I look forward to my boys sitting in the back of the Hot Rod eating ice cream. Loading the boat for a few hours of slaying bluegills. Racing around on the four wheeler. The days of summer are truly my favorite.
What escapes me though is the why. How come I like those times the best? Why is it that most of the truly good pictures I have of my kids and my friends were taken indoors? If my favorite moments are spent outdoors playing with things that burn gas, Why dont I capture those more often?
I think that it has something to do with the moment. When I am playing with my toys, I get caught up in the moment. I dont think to preserve it. I dont worry about remembering it later. I just enjoy the moment. I tell so many stories about stuff my boys did, or things they said, but never seem to capture it for others to see.
What is funny about that is the polarity it seems to emphasize with what my own parents did.
I have a smart-phone. Where i used to carry a camera, a camcorder, a navigation device, and all of those other things, my cellphone now does all of them better and faster by itself. Which means that I can document a lot of things with my phone much faster than I used to be able to do. But I dont.
15 or 25 years ago my parents had a polaroid. And they have albums full of pictures of things that I may never have pictures of my own kids doing.
What I think has happened is that we have gotten very used to having the ability. We have forgotten the wealth of technology that is literally at our fingertips, and have begun to take it for granted.
When I was a kid, it was work to take a picture. To do so meant something was a special event, and you had to carry an additional device to embed it into your history. Today, all you have to do to save that event is grab the phone in your pocket and take a high-res video of it. Sometimes when things are that easy, I dont think that we hold them to the same level of importance.
So I challenge you tonight. As spring dawns. As you begin to leave the house. And play with your warm weather toys. Take the time to think about what makes them great. Take a few pictures or videos. Do a little journal keeping. Maybe you'll have something to look forward to while the snowflakes fall.
So I did. I drained the crappy fuel out of the moped, and rode that around some. And then the hot rod. I discovered quickly that the battery from the last 4 or so years was junk, and stole the one from my car for the weekend. The old worn out engine in the truck started right up. So I drove that around the village a bit, and then out to the Iowan's new house to work with him a while.
And then it was time to drop the engine from the boat into a barrel of water and get it running. you get the idea.
Every year, when spring comes, it is the same for me. I love the excitement of escaping the winter doldrums. I love walking out to the barn and looking at the warm weather toys. The anticipation is intense.
But what I like most about spring is the toys. It seems as though it takes me an entire saturday each fall to winterize the toys. A bottle or two of stabil, Pull out the batteries, cover them up, Drain the water and refill with antifreeze. It is a lot of work.
But each spring, with each ignition of each engine. That boring day of winterizing just floats away. I look forward to my boys sitting in the back of the Hot Rod eating ice cream. Loading the boat for a few hours of slaying bluegills. Racing around on the four wheeler. The days of summer are truly my favorite.
What escapes me though is the why. How come I like those times the best? Why is it that most of the truly good pictures I have of my kids and my friends were taken indoors? If my favorite moments are spent outdoors playing with things that burn gas, Why dont I capture those more often?
I think that it has something to do with the moment. When I am playing with my toys, I get caught up in the moment. I dont think to preserve it. I dont worry about remembering it later. I just enjoy the moment. I tell so many stories about stuff my boys did, or things they said, but never seem to capture it for others to see.
What is funny about that is the polarity it seems to emphasize with what my own parents did.
I have a smart-phone. Where i used to carry a camera, a camcorder, a navigation device, and all of those other things, my cellphone now does all of them better and faster by itself. Which means that I can document a lot of things with my phone much faster than I used to be able to do. But I dont.
15 or 25 years ago my parents had a polaroid. And they have albums full of pictures of things that I may never have pictures of my own kids doing.
What I think has happened is that we have gotten very used to having the ability. We have forgotten the wealth of technology that is literally at our fingertips, and have begun to take it for granted.
When I was a kid, it was work to take a picture. To do so meant something was a special event, and you had to carry an additional device to embed it into your history. Today, all you have to do to save that event is grab the phone in your pocket and take a high-res video of it. Sometimes when things are that easy, I dont think that we hold them to the same level of importance.
So I challenge you tonight. As spring dawns. As you begin to leave the house. And play with your warm weather toys. Take the time to think about what makes them great. Take a few pictures or videos. Do a little journal keeping. Maybe you'll have something to look forward to while the snowflakes fall.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Stewardship. As Is.... As a gift.....
So I got to thinking today. This is going to come at you from two different directions, so read it through if you want to get the idea in my brain.
We have all met somebody who was full of life, energy, etc, and who was just absolutely inspirational. In spite of their disability. I probably dont need to go much further than that. Regardless of the fact that our friend's body was broken, mangled, or that their mind was somehow incomplete; that person that you are thinking of was inspirational to you. Somehow, it seems as though these folks wouldn't be nearly as inspiring without that particular facet of their life. If they were able to see. To walk. To do so many of the things that the rest of the world takes for granted.
Oddly, we have all met the same person with regard to the life that they lead. We all know some truly inspirational people who are not very successful in life according to the social definition. They have to stretch to make ends meet. They shop at a second hand store. Perhaps they find the food that they eat, and the roof over their heads at a homeless shelter.
Homeless. As in; according to that thick book I reference now and again; Your body is a temple. Or according to Psalms, My Lord made my body, and then He breathed the breathe of life, my soul, into it.
So what happens when you are blessed with a perfect home? And you spend your time taking perfect care of it? Or when you are blessed with a perfect body (ie, earthly home for your soul) and you spend your time taking extreme care of that. Well, the first thing that you do is glorify the Lord. You are acting as a good steward. That goes without saying. But what if you dont give credit where credit is due? So many of us think that because we mow the grass, and we clean out the gutters, and we refresh the paint; that we somehow deserve what we have been given. And sometimes, we take our homes for granted; thinking that we are somehow glorified by it, and we become proud. Some of us even get to the point of being unwilling to use our homes to God's purpose, which is the reason we have been allowed our stewardship of it. Other times, we take our home for granted to the degree that we find ourselves just too busy to properly care for that which we have become responsible for.
This works, oddly, with your body. The temple for your soul. The earthly home for your soul. We all are sometimes guilty of taking our bodies for granted. We become proud of them, and our body becomes something that we think gives us some sort of status. Other times, we take for granted to the extent that we dont take very good care of them. We even sometimes abuse them. We even use them to do things that do not express our desire, or our respect, for that which we have been given stewardship of.
Back to the ones who are inspirational.
Lets just pretend that we understood that our home was not ours to do with as we please. That it was granted to us in some fashion beyond our control. Lets also pretend that we knew that this was the only home we were going to get. Much the same way as a gift given to you by a parent. You dont always get to pick it out. And lets also imagine that our home was not perfect in some way. Maybe the back yard is smaller than our neighbor's back yard. Perhaps our home is somewhat drafty. Maybe the hot water doesn't get as warm as we might like. But yet, our house shelters us from the rain, the cold, and even the heat. It gives us a place to exist for the time that we are here. And we would take the best care of it that we were able, and we would therefore be happy with it as such. As Is. As a gift.
Or maybe we should imagine that our body was not ours to do with as we please. That it was the same sort of gift, as if from a parent, and that we also didn't get to choose it. Like an imperfect house, our existence meant that we needed help to breathe, to stand, all of those other things that most of us think of as horrible ways to live. Things that other peoples homes are able to do for them. And lets for a minute look at it from the perspective of not having a choice in the matter. Its this body or no body. And we would be thankful for what we had been given, a home for our souls, As Is. As a gift.
Is it easier to imagine why some of those folks in horrible situations can be so amazing? Perhaps they have stopped taking their homes for granted? Or worrying about people's perception of those parts of their homes, spiritual or actual, that they are not able to control? My friend's home is not the biggest, or the nicest, or the prettiest. In much the same way, my other friend Rudy needs a machine to breathe, and another machine to feed him. But both of their respective homes have been accepted, As Is. As a gift.
And the both are able to be inspirational BECAUSE of it rather than in spite of it.
God Bless.
We have all met somebody who was full of life, energy, etc, and who was just absolutely inspirational. In spite of their disability. I probably dont need to go much further than that. Regardless of the fact that our friend's body was broken, mangled, or that their mind was somehow incomplete; that person that you are thinking of was inspirational to you. Somehow, it seems as though these folks wouldn't be nearly as inspiring without that particular facet of their life. If they were able to see. To walk. To do so many of the things that the rest of the world takes for granted.
Oddly, we have all met the same person with regard to the life that they lead. We all know some truly inspirational people who are not very successful in life according to the social definition. They have to stretch to make ends meet. They shop at a second hand store. Perhaps they find the food that they eat, and the roof over their heads at a homeless shelter.
Homeless. As in; according to that thick book I reference now and again; Your body is a temple. Or according to Psalms, My Lord made my body, and then He breathed the breathe of life, my soul, into it.
So what happens when you are blessed with a perfect home? And you spend your time taking perfect care of it? Or when you are blessed with a perfect body (ie, earthly home for your soul) and you spend your time taking extreme care of that. Well, the first thing that you do is glorify the Lord. You are acting as a good steward. That goes without saying. But what if you dont give credit where credit is due? So many of us think that because we mow the grass, and we clean out the gutters, and we refresh the paint; that we somehow deserve what we have been given. And sometimes, we take our homes for granted; thinking that we are somehow glorified by it, and we become proud. Some of us even get to the point of being unwilling to use our homes to God's purpose, which is the reason we have been allowed our stewardship of it. Other times, we take our home for granted to the degree that we find ourselves just too busy to properly care for that which we have become responsible for.
This works, oddly, with your body. The temple for your soul. The earthly home for your soul. We all are sometimes guilty of taking our bodies for granted. We become proud of them, and our body becomes something that we think gives us some sort of status. Other times, we take for granted to the extent that we dont take very good care of them. We even sometimes abuse them. We even use them to do things that do not express our desire, or our respect, for that which we have been given stewardship of.
Back to the ones who are inspirational.
Lets just pretend that we understood that our home was not ours to do with as we please. That it was granted to us in some fashion beyond our control. Lets also pretend that we knew that this was the only home we were going to get. Much the same way as a gift given to you by a parent. You dont always get to pick it out. And lets also imagine that our home was not perfect in some way. Maybe the back yard is smaller than our neighbor's back yard. Perhaps our home is somewhat drafty. Maybe the hot water doesn't get as warm as we might like. But yet, our house shelters us from the rain, the cold, and even the heat. It gives us a place to exist for the time that we are here. And we would take the best care of it that we were able, and we would therefore be happy with it as such. As Is. As a gift.
Or maybe we should imagine that our body was not ours to do with as we please. That it was the same sort of gift, as if from a parent, and that we also didn't get to choose it. Like an imperfect house, our existence meant that we needed help to breathe, to stand, all of those other things that most of us think of as horrible ways to live. Things that other peoples homes are able to do for them. And lets for a minute look at it from the perspective of not having a choice in the matter. Its this body or no body. And we would be thankful for what we had been given, a home for our souls, As Is. As a gift.
Is it easier to imagine why some of those folks in horrible situations can be so amazing? Perhaps they have stopped taking their homes for granted? Or worrying about people's perception of those parts of their homes, spiritual or actual, that they are not able to control? My friend's home is not the biggest, or the nicest, or the prettiest. In much the same way, my other friend Rudy needs a machine to breathe, and another machine to feed him. But both of their respective homes have been accepted, As Is. As a gift.
And the both are able to be inspirational BECAUSE of it rather than in spite of it.
God Bless.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Life as I know it...and having faith.
Two or so years ago my wife and I made a decision. Up until that time, we had been living the dream. Whatever we wanted. Whenever we wanted it. And it did not matter what it cost.
The decision that we made back then was to be debt-free by 40. It gave us 7 years to get there.
When you owe as much as we did, and still do, that is one hell of a challenge. At the time, we owed on two cars. A boat. Our house (twice). Student loans. on and on and on. We were making plenty of payments.
So we decided to spend the next 7 years incurring no new un-needed debt. We also decided to eliminate as much of what we owed as quickly as we could. Not one of these things was easy to do. I really liked my boat. We had to either find a way to make extra payments and pay it off, or to sell the thing. I dont have that boat anymore. Same with my truck. Never in my life had I driven something with more than a couple miles on it. Suddenly I owned something with over 200,000 on it. We used our tax return to pay off my student loans. We stopped buying anything that didnt resemble groceries.
What I didnt realize was that everybody we knew was about to be doing the same thing.
In the last two years, the economy of this country has take a big hit. While I dont really know very many people who have lost jobs during this, I do know an awful lot who are worse off than they were when we made our changes.
And it makes me feel very fortunate to have made the decision that we made at the time that we did. Granted, we still have 5 years left in this endeavor, but we are seemingly way ahead of the curve right now. I have seen so many of my friends make similar decisions since then. And we have the proverbial jump on them.
That is not the wild part. What is funny about my current thought process is that our parents never had to make this decision. Part of what caused the whole thing is that we were able to borrow money that we could never afford to pay back. When my parents were young, there was no such thing as 12 months no interest or payments. You could not buy a car that you couldnt afford; especially at 3% interest. It just wasnt going to happen.
What is crazy to me is the amount that we as a people have come to rely on debt. We have forgotten how to save, and worse, most of us havent forgotten, we have never learned in the first place, We live paycheck to paycheck, and if something happens that costs more than our payments will allow us to give cash for, we use plastic to cover it (ie more debt)
This is a slippery slope. Because it is just way to easy to slide down. And it is fun by the way. I defer again to a country song, there is a line about "i learned credit cards dont mean you're rich" True Dat.
SO it has been a tough two years. I was fortunate recently to work my way into a new position which should make it a lot less tough.
And then, in the last few weeks, the reality of the real world set in. Turns out I'm still really glad for the decisions that we have made as a couple in the last two years. Because the extra pay that I am able to earn could very well be negated by some of the things that will likely happen to Babe's paycheck. And the price of fuel, and soooo many other things that this country is about to have to go without. I never thought that I would even think about examining the health insurance available through my employer. Her insurance basically made the idea laughable. But Today, Today I asked for the information.
When I was in school, when I was young, I grew up watching the Cleavers. Full House. The Brady Bunch. The images presented were of what I used to believe is the American Dream. Upper middle class families who wanted for nothing. Work hours were short. Family time was high quality and high quantity. And damn if I didnt grow up thinking that this was how life should be.
And Then. This show came out called "That 70's show" And the dad gets layed off. And loses his job. And there is some struggle. And countless other shows come along with the same theme. Two of the biggest mfr's in my town shut down and leave hundreds, almost thousands of people out of work. And you hear so much of it that you dont even notice anymore.
Now we are afraid for Babe's job. A schoolteacher. How can a schoolteacher have to worry about work? Its un-american right? But we are worried. We have, for the first time in our lives, a lot of apprehension about the next few years of her career.
Why is this happening? It is all about the almighty dollar. For forty or so years, our country has had this huge group of people called the baby boomers to rely on. They are a really large number of people. And they pay taxes. Unfortunately, they are starting to retire as quickly as they started paying taxes. And, unfortunately, they didnt have enough kids to replace themselves. So our tax dollars in total are declining. Which leads to lots of really really bad things.
But I will leave you tonight with a dash of hope. There were roughly 79 million baby-boomers. and although they didnt replace themselves right away, meaning with generation "X" they did do so later in life, and then the early gen x's, in turn had the early generation "Y" And at last count, there were 80 million of those Y's. That fact, in turn, means that over time our tax base will get back where it has been. And in the meantime, maybe we can balance a budget or two. It isnt going to be fun, because we will not be able to support the sorts of programs and fun stuff that we have all gotten used to, like my wife's current benefits package, but we might even learn how to save some of our money. The problem with the 80 million strong generation Y is that they do not subscribe to the line of reasoning that we have all gotten used to. They question everything, which is going to produce either a lot of bums, or a lot of hyper successful people. I'm hoping for the latter.
I hate to say it, but over time I think this will lead to a very healthy tax base. And frankly, that is what this country needs right now. So where are we headed? have faith. It might suck for a while, but sooner or later, things will be good again. If we can just get those 20-somethings off their skateboards.
The decision that we made back then was to be debt-free by 40. It gave us 7 years to get there.
When you owe as much as we did, and still do, that is one hell of a challenge. At the time, we owed on two cars. A boat. Our house (twice). Student loans. on and on and on. We were making plenty of payments.
So we decided to spend the next 7 years incurring no new un-needed debt. We also decided to eliminate as much of what we owed as quickly as we could. Not one of these things was easy to do. I really liked my boat. We had to either find a way to make extra payments and pay it off, or to sell the thing. I dont have that boat anymore. Same with my truck. Never in my life had I driven something with more than a couple miles on it. Suddenly I owned something with over 200,000 on it. We used our tax return to pay off my student loans. We stopped buying anything that didnt resemble groceries.
What I didnt realize was that everybody we knew was about to be doing the same thing.
In the last two years, the economy of this country has take a big hit. While I dont really know very many people who have lost jobs during this, I do know an awful lot who are worse off than they were when we made our changes.
And it makes me feel very fortunate to have made the decision that we made at the time that we did. Granted, we still have 5 years left in this endeavor, but we are seemingly way ahead of the curve right now. I have seen so many of my friends make similar decisions since then. And we have the proverbial jump on them.
That is not the wild part. What is funny about my current thought process is that our parents never had to make this decision. Part of what caused the whole thing is that we were able to borrow money that we could never afford to pay back. When my parents were young, there was no such thing as 12 months no interest or payments. You could not buy a car that you couldnt afford; especially at 3% interest. It just wasnt going to happen.
What is crazy to me is the amount that we as a people have come to rely on debt. We have forgotten how to save, and worse, most of us havent forgotten, we have never learned in the first place, We live paycheck to paycheck, and if something happens that costs more than our payments will allow us to give cash for, we use plastic to cover it (ie more debt)
This is a slippery slope. Because it is just way to easy to slide down. And it is fun by the way. I defer again to a country song, there is a line about "i learned credit cards dont mean you're rich" True Dat.
SO it has been a tough two years. I was fortunate recently to work my way into a new position which should make it a lot less tough.
And then, in the last few weeks, the reality of the real world set in. Turns out I'm still really glad for the decisions that we have made as a couple in the last two years. Because the extra pay that I am able to earn could very well be negated by some of the things that will likely happen to Babe's paycheck. And the price of fuel, and soooo many other things that this country is about to have to go without. I never thought that I would even think about examining the health insurance available through my employer. Her insurance basically made the idea laughable. But Today, Today I asked for the information.
When I was in school, when I was young, I grew up watching the Cleavers. Full House. The Brady Bunch. The images presented were of what I used to believe is the American Dream. Upper middle class families who wanted for nothing. Work hours were short. Family time was high quality and high quantity. And damn if I didnt grow up thinking that this was how life should be.
And Then. This show came out called "That 70's show" And the dad gets layed off. And loses his job. And there is some struggle. And countless other shows come along with the same theme. Two of the biggest mfr's in my town shut down and leave hundreds, almost thousands of people out of work. And you hear so much of it that you dont even notice anymore.
Now we are afraid for Babe's job. A schoolteacher. How can a schoolteacher have to worry about work? Its un-american right? But we are worried. We have, for the first time in our lives, a lot of apprehension about the next few years of her career.
Why is this happening? It is all about the almighty dollar. For forty or so years, our country has had this huge group of people called the baby boomers to rely on. They are a really large number of people. And they pay taxes. Unfortunately, they are starting to retire as quickly as they started paying taxes. And, unfortunately, they didnt have enough kids to replace themselves. So our tax dollars in total are declining. Which leads to lots of really really bad things.
But I will leave you tonight with a dash of hope. There were roughly 79 million baby-boomers. and although they didnt replace themselves right away, meaning with generation "X" they did do so later in life, and then the early gen x's, in turn had the early generation "Y" And at last count, there were 80 million of those Y's. That fact, in turn, means that over time our tax base will get back where it has been. And in the meantime, maybe we can balance a budget or two. It isnt going to be fun, because we will not be able to support the sorts of programs and fun stuff that we have all gotten used to, like my wife's current benefits package, but we might even learn how to save some of our money. The problem with the 80 million strong generation Y is that they do not subscribe to the line of reasoning that we have all gotten used to. They question everything, which is going to produce either a lot of bums, or a lot of hyper successful people. I'm hoping for the latter.
I hate to say it, but over time I think this will lead to a very healthy tax base. And frankly, that is what this country needs right now. So where are we headed? have faith. It might suck for a while, but sooner or later, things will be good again. If we can just get those 20-somethings off their skateboards.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Surprises
The Green Bay Packers are going to the Superbowl. Next week Sunday, the team will compete against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the annual mother of all football games.
I'm not telling you anything new here. we all know this unless we have been living under a rock.
But. If i would have tried to convince you six weeks ago that this might happen, you would likely have looked at the statistics and told me I needed another beer, which would have been likely anyway.
Here is the thing about life. You can plan. You can work to a goal. You can try to control your world. But any time you think you can predict the future, you find out that you must have left your crystal ball at home today.
I am not saying that careful planning and what not is a bad idea. Just be sure to not think that you have any idea what is really going to happen. Because life has a way of working itself out.
Personally, I know what it is that I believe is responsible. But the long and short of it is that in the end, things seem to work out one way or another.
There is a question that people ask regarding life. When something bad happens, everybody blames God. Or uses it as proof that He doesn't exist. You know exactly the comment I am talking about. Somehow, it seems as though some bad situation is automatically proof that most of what I personally believe in doesn't exist.
The other thing that people do is not ask or assign credit when something good happens. Outside of a truly rigid christian society, when does God actually get the glory?
It is so easy for us to say there is no God because what God would allow this to happen. Why isn't it just as easy for us to say God must exist because this happens?
Two reasons.
One. Because we are all kindergartners. We EXPECT that our lives will go very well, that we will get all the toys we want, that our food will be the things we like to eat, and that we will never have a sad day. Like a 5 year old, these are the things that we want and expect from our God, if he exists. If we don't get those things all of the time, then either God is hateful or he doesn't exist at all.
Two. Because we want to believe that somehow God will intervene in our day to day lives. Let me tell you something. God knows. He knows what is going to happen in your life each and every second of each and every day. He doesn't have to intervene because nothing is going to surprise him. He knows.
So why do bad things happen?
I recently had the opportunity to watch a video by a guy that I'm not sure I truly agree with that does describe this very well.
God is our heavenly father right? Then those of you who are parents will definitely understand this, and those of you who aren't probably will too.
In the lives of my children I have gotten to experience both types of situations with them, the good, and the bad. As an example, because my children like to ride their atv's, they tend once in a while to crash. There was an example of this once at our usual riding haunt about 15 months ago. Turtle crashed. and crashed hard. looking back, I can say that the most important part of that crash was the amount that our relationship grew immediately after, and during the ensuing conversations about it. I got to hold my child during a rough time, when he was scared, and angry, and frankly blaming me for not watching him closer. (notice a similar thread here?) And then when we talked about it later, I asked what he did during the crash, how did he not get injured? You know what his answer was? "i did like you told me dad, i held on until i couldn't anymore, the four wheeler just went the other way then" (so if you follow your "fathers" advice it will work out at the end?)
I would not give up that bad thing for one instant. I got to comfort my child. I got to bond with my child, and my child recovered from his pain and his fear. Yes. God knew that he was going to crash. Yes, God knows that awful things are going to happen in all of our lives. And Yes, he could intervene at any time. I believe that he allows it to happen for a reason. I believe that God feels like daddy on those days to his children. And I believe that; like turtle's long forgotten crash; the worst hurt of this world will be a pimple compared to the joy that he has in store for eternity.
You get where I'm coming from?
Everything that I believe about Christianity has come from a book. I have never heard the voice of our lord. I have heard the message, from the book, rolling off the lips of many other people who are basically just like me. Either I am right to believe the things that I do; or it is one hell of a good book. But I promise you this much. If you at least take the teachings, for what they are worth, you will find peace in the good and the bad in your life. You will find some solace. And hopefully you will be able to recognize the fact that you might not be able to understand. And that's ok.
I'm not telling you anything new here. we all know this unless we have been living under a rock.
But. If i would have tried to convince you six weeks ago that this might happen, you would likely have looked at the statistics and told me I needed another beer, which would have been likely anyway.
Here is the thing about life. You can plan. You can work to a goal. You can try to control your world. But any time you think you can predict the future, you find out that you must have left your crystal ball at home today.
I am not saying that careful planning and what not is a bad idea. Just be sure to not think that you have any idea what is really going to happen. Because life has a way of working itself out.
Personally, I know what it is that I believe is responsible. But the long and short of it is that in the end, things seem to work out one way or another.
There is a question that people ask regarding life. When something bad happens, everybody blames God. Or uses it as proof that He doesn't exist. You know exactly the comment I am talking about. Somehow, it seems as though some bad situation is automatically proof that most of what I personally believe in doesn't exist.
The other thing that people do is not ask or assign credit when something good happens. Outside of a truly rigid christian society, when does God actually get the glory?
It is so easy for us to say there is no God because what God would allow this to happen. Why isn't it just as easy for us to say God must exist because this happens?
Two reasons.
One. Because we are all kindergartners. We EXPECT that our lives will go very well, that we will get all the toys we want, that our food will be the things we like to eat, and that we will never have a sad day. Like a 5 year old, these are the things that we want and expect from our God, if he exists. If we don't get those things all of the time, then either God is hateful or he doesn't exist at all.
Two. Because we want to believe that somehow God will intervene in our day to day lives. Let me tell you something. God knows. He knows what is going to happen in your life each and every second of each and every day. He doesn't have to intervene because nothing is going to surprise him. He knows.
So why do bad things happen?
I recently had the opportunity to watch a video by a guy that I'm not sure I truly agree with that does describe this very well.
God is our heavenly father right? Then those of you who are parents will definitely understand this, and those of you who aren't probably will too.
In the lives of my children I have gotten to experience both types of situations with them, the good, and the bad. As an example, because my children like to ride their atv's, they tend once in a while to crash. There was an example of this once at our usual riding haunt about 15 months ago. Turtle crashed. and crashed hard. looking back, I can say that the most important part of that crash was the amount that our relationship grew immediately after, and during the ensuing conversations about it. I got to hold my child during a rough time, when he was scared, and angry, and frankly blaming me for not watching him closer. (notice a similar thread here?) And then when we talked about it later, I asked what he did during the crash, how did he not get injured? You know what his answer was? "i did like you told me dad, i held on until i couldn't anymore, the four wheeler just went the other way then" (so if you follow your "fathers" advice it will work out at the end?)
I would not give up that bad thing for one instant. I got to comfort my child. I got to bond with my child, and my child recovered from his pain and his fear. Yes. God knew that he was going to crash. Yes, God knows that awful things are going to happen in all of our lives. And Yes, he could intervene at any time. I believe that he allows it to happen for a reason. I believe that God feels like daddy on those days to his children. And I believe that; like turtle's long forgotten crash; the worst hurt of this world will be a pimple compared to the joy that he has in store for eternity.
You get where I'm coming from?
Everything that I believe about Christianity has come from a book. I have never heard the voice of our lord. I have heard the message, from the book, rolling off the lips of many other people who are basically just like me. Either I am right to believe the things that I do; or it is one hell of a good book. But I promise you this much. If you at least take the teachings, for what they are worth, you will find peace in the good and the bad in your life. You will find some solace. And hopefully you will be able to recognize the fact that you might not be able to understand. And that's ok.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Ambition
As most of you know by now, I have taken a new job. As a person who has a history of working at jobs for a long time, you can imagine the amount of interest this new position must have had for me in order for me to make the change.
The job that I am taking on is not particularly different than the one that I had before. The level of seriousness that I am taking with it is very different. I did not take this on to fail.
And that is the problem.
Because of the excitement that I feel about the possibilities for this new spot; I find myself having to constantly reign in my ambition and excitement. It seems as though I find myself trying to do too much too fast. I can see all of the problems clearly. I can see the potential for improvement very clearly. And of course I arrogantly think that I can fix all of it.
What I fail to sometimes remember is that the group of people that I work with have been together for a long time. The things that I would like to see done differently have been done this way for a long time. I have only been involved for a couple weeks.
I know that I dont have enough background knowledge about where I am, who I work with, and the process that made the place the way it is to make an educated guess about what really should be different.
BUT I feel as though there are things that I would like to see different.
Thus the paradox.
It seems as though everybody in my personal life is telling me to wait. Dont do that yet. Hold your horses. Slow down.
And my new boss is telling me to go for it. Make it better. You can do it. That is your call to make.
Oddly, I have a better relationship with my new boss than I ever had with the old one. Yesterday he asked how I liked the job, and then suggested that we hold a noon-time cookout in honor of me joining the team. This is going great.
But it could go sooooo much better. There is so much opportunity for this place. There are so many things that are good, but could be great. And you all know how much I hate to wait.
This has been a huge ego boost. I have gone from feeling very meaningless to feeling very powerful. I have gone from having limited access to things to determining who has access to what things. And all of this has perhaps made me feel rather important. Which I can now see that I am not very important at all.
So, tonight, I wrote myself a note. Its a little post-it, and it will hang on my monitor starting tomorrow morning. it says
"not yet. wait a little longer. be patient. be sure you understand first. Listen the team you are just a small part of."
So I will bide my time. I will continue to act as a resource to these people. A helper. I wont try to be in charge, rather, I will ask questions, I will ask advice. I will ask how it has been done before. and I will remember that compared to these people; I dont know anything about anything. Maybe that noon-time cookout should be in honor of how long the others have been on the team.
And maybe, just maybe, I can make a dent in the place.
The job that I am taking on is not particularly different than the one that I had before. The level of seriousness that I am taking with it is very different. I did not take this on to fail.
And that is the problem.
Because of the excitement that I feel about the possibilities for this new spot; I find myself having to constantly reign in my ambition and excitement. It seems as though I find myself trying to do too much too fast. I can see all of the problems clearly. I can see the potential for improvement very clearly. And of course I arrogantly think that I can fix all of it.
What I fail to sometimes remember is that the group of people that I work with have been together for a long time. The things that I would like to see done differently have been done this way for a long time. I have only been involved for a couple weeks.
I know that I dont have enough background knowledge about where I am, who I work with, and the process that made the place the way it is to make an educated guess about what really should be different.
BUT I feel as though there are things that I would like to see different.
Thus the paradox.
It seems as though everybody in my personal life is telling me to wait. Dont do that yet. Hold your horses. Slow down.
And my new boss is telling me to go for it. Make it better. You can do it. That is your call to make.
Oddly, I have a better relationship with my new boss than I ever had with the old one. Yesterday he asked how I liked the job, and then suggested that we hold a noon-time cookout in honor of me joining the team. This is going great.
But it could go sooooo much better. There is so much opportunity for this place. There are so many things that are good, but could be great. And you all know how much I hate to wait.
This has been a huge ego boost. I have gone from feeling very meaningless to feeling very powerful. I have gone from having limited access to things to determining who has access to what things. And all of this has perhaps made me feel rather important. Which I can now see that I am not very important at all.
So, tonight, I wrote myself a note. Its a little post-it, and it will hang on my monitor starting tomorrow morning. it says
"not yet. wait a little longer. be patient. be sure you understand first. Listen the team you are just a small part of."
So I will bide my time. I will continue to act as a resource to these people. A helper. I wont try to be in charge, rather, I will ask questions, I will ask advice. I will ask how it has been done before. and I will remember that compared to these people; I dont know anything about anything. Maybe that noon-time cookout should be in honor of how long the others have been on the team.
And maybe, just maybe, I can make a dent in the place.
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