Today was graduation day and it caused me to reflect on the topic of choice, partly because of something said by the speakers, partly because of the whole movie vibe (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and partly because of all of the decision-making I and many others have had ( continue reading… )
The past year has seen additions to some of our families. Whether through birth or marriage, family additions are always exciting times. The new family member brings a new chance to develop a relationship, find things in common, discover diversity of thought and learn how to work through differences. The ( continue reading… )
The title has become relatively well-known in the past couple years because of a book written by Simon Sinek who also wrote “Start With Why.”I really enjoyed both books and have long ago internalized the first principles both titles communicate. In “”Leaders Eat Last,”Sinek describes the military leadership concept of ( continue reading… )
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html This beautifully crafted phrase from the Declaration of Independence implicitly states that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Let’s take a moment to deconstruct that sentence. First – those rights are endowed from our Creator, ( continue reading… )
Just received an invitation to my 35th high school reunion. At the same time the movie Grosse Point Blank just came on HBO. The movie revolves around John Cusack’s character going back to his high school reunion (10-year), while resolving some personal issues. There is more to the movie than ( continue reading… )
Today is a beautiful day. Hannah, the daughter of one of the pastors at Evergreen is celebrating her 25th birthday today. She has Downs Syndrome and us the guest of honor at a surprise party thrown by friends in the church. The day is pleasantly warm (as long as ( continue reading… )
Some of you will recognize the quote in the title from the campaign in the 70s to get children reading. There were many reasons for the effort, not the least of which was the American desire to beat the Soviet Union and China in literacy rates. A catchy slogan and ( continue reading… )
I love the poem If by Rudyard Kipling. I’m some circles it’s trite because guys who want to look manly often refer to it in order to bolster their perceptions of themselves. On the other hand, I’m surprised by how many people I’ve mentioned the poem to who have never ( continue reading… )
I had a surprise visit today from an previous colleague who gave me the wonderful news that he’s going to be a father. This was a surprise to him and his wife as they weren’t really planning to have kids anytime soon. He’s not taking the surprise very well and ( continue reading… )
Summer is officially here and it’s not just school-age kids who love its arrival. The summer solstice has been celebrated as a holiday for over 2000 years. It is the longest day of the year and was/is the source of many festivals worldwide. For the language geeks reading the blog, the word ( continue reading… )