“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.” –Abraham Lincoln
Oh, how true it is!
How often do we find ourselves in that same situation? Or, if you are too uncomfortable to admit it yourself, how often have you seen someone else there?
I’m not sure what I’ve got. But I want something different.
I suspect a massive percentage of our problems in this world can be traced back to that simple state of discontentment. [Read more…]
“Basic research is what I am doing when I don’t know what I am doing.” –Wernher von Braun
You may remember the name Wernher von Braun. He was a true rocket scientist. One of the first.
He headed up the rocket program for Nazi Germany in World War II and when the war was ending surrendered to US troops and was moved to the States to continue working on his rockets.
I remember him as the mythical hero of the main character in the movie October Sky. You know. The one that the main character met in his moment of triumph and didn’t even recognize.
I can relate to that moment.
Anyway. There is no question that von Braun was a brilliant man. Even if I’m not.
Words are powerful.
How we phrase things can make all the difference.
I sometimes tell people “I’m deadline motivated.” My wife says that’s a polite way to say that I’m a procrastinator.
If you had a choice, which one would you share with folks?
Now I see there is a polite way to describe all the time I’m on the internet. I used to think I was just cruising the web, surfing the internet. Mostly just poking around. My wife is often tempted to say I’m wasting time.
Now, in those moments when the subject comes up, I can honestly say, “No honey. I’m doing some basic research.”
Talk about a better say to say it! Perfect.
During my research time (I gotta start practicing this one now) putting this post together I found that Homer Hickam, the guy that wrote the book that the movie October sky is based on, has a web site.
I think that’s cool because Gorgeous and I listened to one of his other books on tape during our road trip over the holidays. We really enjoyed it. In fact, I liked it enough that the author’s name stuck with me. And that’s saying something.
You can even check out Homer Hickam’s blog.
Well its sort of bloggish. A little bit.
I guess blogs are starting to become cool, even if folks don’t quite get it completely yet. But that’s just the Way I C it.
–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that there are some things I just don’t get.
For example I don’t get most things that have to do with home decorating. When Christmas rolls around my wife will take some classy looking ornaments and, say, arrange them on a side table over a snazzy table cloth with some glass bead strings snaked around the table.
It looks great! But I never would have thought to do that on my own. To my way of thinking ornaments belonged on a tree. Arranging them festively on a table would never have occurred to me.
This sort of thing has become a running joke in our marriage. We’ll see something along those lines and she will turn to me. Do you get that? You don’t get that do you?
Nope.
It looks great and all. But that someone would have taken the time and effort? Don’t get it.
I’m really OK with not getting some things.
I get most things about business. But there are some things about the whole marketing thing that I just make me shake my head. Nope. Don’t get that either. [Read more…]
Isn’t a generally accepted principle here in the US that monopolies are pretty much bad things?
I mean it’s something that most folks here seem to agree on regardless of their political persuasion. Those who shade toward the conservative side see competition as beneficial for the economy. And folks with a more liberal outlook generally see behemoth corporations as undesirable.
And didn’t the US government spend something like 8 years in court to break up the monopoly that AT&T had over out nation’s communication system?
I’m sure they spent a ton of our tax dollars on that.
Where I lived we weren’t too affected one way or the other by the break up. We happened to live in a very rural part of Upstate New York and our family somewhat affectionately called our local phone company, Taconic Telephone, Rinky-dink Tel. [Read more…]
SERGEANT HULKA: Soldier, I’ve noticed that you’re always last.
PRIVATE WINGER: I’m pacing myself, Sergeant.
–From the Movie Stripes
I’ve always been an all or nothing sort of guy.
When I was growing up my folks bought some horses. I wasn’t part of that decision. Really didn’t have any passion for the beasts, at least not at first. But I discovered I liked them, threw myself into working with them. Eventually found myself in an unusual place. I was an eighteen year old guy who was really good with horses.
Then I went off to college and I’ve maybe ridden a horse 5 times in the nearly 20 years since graduating.
I used to drink a lot. The short version is that I was a drunk. Then one day I stopped completely. Haven’t had any alcohol in well over 10 years now.
About a year and a half ago I got into blogging. My wife says I’m a bit obsessed. (I see no signs of that one slowing down yet.)
My two favorite food groups are coffee and chocolate. (I count Klondike Bars in the second group. They go good with coffee too!) I seem to prefer quantity over quality in these two groups, although that shows some signs of changing as I get a little older. I don’t know if my taste buds are getting more refined or if maybe my wallet is getting just a tich fatter.
What’s my point?
Well I tend to be a little intense and driven. I sometimes take on more than I can get done. And I often find the alarm clock rudely shaking me away too shortly after I fell asleep the night before.
Private John Winger, on the other hand was the other extreme. He was good at pacing himself. Perhaps too good.
He tended to be a slacker who had to learn to get things accomplished.
But he seemed to get enough sleep most nights.
Me, sometimes I seem to be on the path Neil Young talked about when he said, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
There’s got to be some good middle ground out there that will be healthier for us but where we’ll still get things done. The trick is to find it.
So I’ll throw the question out to all you smart Successful-Bloggers. How do you pace yourself?
–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.
Wait, wait. Don’t tell me. I’m sure I know this one.
Scanning through the headlines yesterday I saw this one:
California may ban conventional lightbulbs by 2012
What will they think of next?
Apparently conventional lightbulbs are bad. They are the scourge of the planet and must be banned. That wondrous joy of late night reading that Thomas Edison gave to us nearly 140 years ago has to be cast aside in favor of newer, more expensive technologies.
And California has just the legislature to make this happen.
You see there are folks there who are working on enacting a ban on traditional incandescent lightbulbs. This would leave folks in the Golden State with a couple options. [Read more…]