thinking inside the box

public employee unions……

2012-02-04T00:33:00.001-06:00

A number of years ago, I was elected to the Fort Atkinson City Council. While I was on the council, my brother Doug had a lot of projects come up for vote. In each case, I recused myself from voting due to potential conflict of interest.

As I think of public employee unions, I’m beginning to feel the conflict between unions and the public administration is palpable. During the protests last winter, it was obvious the unions were trying to wield their influence with semi-trailers parked around the Capitol Square. Union members stalked the square with their placards, bullhorns, drums and more.

While an interesting event, I began to wonder where else an employee could protest, miss work (in some cases with a fraudulent medical excuse), and enlist others to help get their boss fired.

While I don’t really have anything against unions, the line is crossed when one of the bargainers at the table can essentially influence others to help get their boss fired. Obviously, this position creates an atmosphere of conflict of interest, with the promise of campaign donations and public support for anyone who delivers for the union at the public service level.

So, here is what I think. Since I really don’t have anything against unions, we should allow them to bargain at the public service level. But, with that bargaining power and influence, union members should be recused from voting in the elections that affect their bargaining position, namely state, county and municipal elections.

Like me, as a city councilman, it was and is important that we retain complete transparency and root out favoritism or influence peddling at any level. That could be a start.

defining poor….

2012-02-02T22:40:00.001-06:00

I just read a post on Facebook opposing the sunsetting of the Homestead Tax Credit as something that would unfairly target seniors and poor people.

Now, I might not have all the requisite intelligence to have a discussion regarding this. In fact, I was called “out of touch”. But, here is my argument.

Poor people don’t own homes. By definition, if they owned their home, they have an asset that makes them unpoor. It’s something that they can transfer for money.

Now, I understand that having a home can make you poorer than you want to be, and it might be necessary to relieve yourself of that “asset” and get into something your income will allow you to afford.

But, my sense is that some people believe we somehow “owe” it to people to keep their assets when they go into retirement, that we somehow owe it to them when there are alternatives, that they have a right to not pay taxes simply by turning a page on the calendar.

I get that it sucks when you’re forced out of your home when you can’t afford it. It happens all the time, often to people with families and incomes that are much lower than those with Social Security benefits.

Here is an idea that I could support. Get your house appraised. If you can’t afford the taxes, the government could set up a program that allows you to live in your home as long as there is a positive balance on the ledger. Once you pass on, or move on, the government gets a lien against the estate and gets the taxes to which it is entitled. That’s an idea I could live with.

the most important day in history….

2012-01-28T10:27:00.001-06:00

I was watching a movie trailer when a question was asked. “What is the most important day in history?”

The answer. Today.

I’m working on living in the present. A new friend of mine spent time with me emphasizing the importance of living now, not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today.

As an ambitious guy, I’ve always done this game plan. If I do this, that will happen. And, when that happens, I’ll do this. And when I do this, that will happen. And, I work myself into unknown times forward planning this and that.

And, while I’m planning this and that, I’m missing now Sure, if there’s a car accident in front of me, I’ll notice. But, really, not much else, because my head’s buried up my ass trying to plan my way to oblivion.

So, with my friend’s help, I’m going to work on this. I’m going to let things come in their time. I’m going to see and feel and touch and hear and smell and breathe. I’m going to find a chair and just sit. I’m going to play some music, LOUD. I’m going to play with my food. I’m going to stop and listen. I’m going to live a life worth living.

And then, I’ll do the Rocky dance.

Hello Today!

he’s dead….

2012-01-22T10:55:00.001-06:00

A while ago, I wrote a very tough blog on Joe Paterno and the mess at Penn State. Joe Paterno died today at age 85.

His situation caused me to think about things that I haven’t done or things I should have done. What inaction on my part has caused others harm. When didn’t I do all I could to correct a situation. That’s a lot of stuff to think about.

While thinking about that, I thought about all of the things Paterno did that were good. In a world that placed winning above everything else, he graduated citizens at a greater rate than any big time football program in the land.

In a world where coaches jump from job to job for a bigger check, he gave away most of what he earned, down to the last days where he gave $100,000 back to the university that unceremoniously fired him just weeks before.

I can’t think of many things worse than what happened at Penn State while under Paterno’s watch. Was he too old? Was he too attached to the image of Penn State? Did he respect chain of command too much to go around those who were supposed to do their jobs?

I don’t know. And, I will never know.

What I do know is we shouldn’t judge a man, at least this man, from the events uncovered over the past few months. He died with a broken soul.

It sucks that he didn’t have a chance at redemption, as if doing good works for all of his life required that.

Rest in peace Joe Paterno.

the world is coming to an end….

2012-01-04T10:20:00.001-06:00

Justin Bieber singing toothbrushes. Really, who thought this was a good idea? And, if it is a good idea, what does that say about us? Shoot me now.

another year…..

2011-12-30T14:31:00.001-06:00

A while back, I saw “Another Year”, a beautifully written and acted movie about a group of friends and family as they move through the seasons of the year.

Well, this has been another year for me. I’ve learned more about myself, experienced failure when I expected success, and found success when I never expected it.

My daughter called with the news she is getting married. As a doting dad, I am very protective of Cortney. But, as I’ve gotten to know her future husband, I couldn’t be more proud of both of them. I will be glad to introduce Jimmy as my son-in-law. And, Cortney never ceases to amaze me with her ability to find her way and make great choices.

Nick was able to stabilize himself on his job at the greenhouse. I believe he’s found his “thing”, the thing that makes him get up and look forward to each day. I’m proud of him for the struggles he’s made to become relevant, to reach the great potential he has.

And Alex. I wish I had the answers for him. He struggles daily with his demons. There is progress, good progress, but I would like to see it come faster, and it’s clear the world doesn’t move on my timeline. He’s now got a job that gets him up in the morning and keeps him going through the day. But, it’s not his love. I want him to find that, whatever it is.

As for me, I’m a work in progress. Professionally, I feel very good about what I do and who I’ve become. Personally, I think I still step in it from time to time. I’m learning patience. I’m learning process. I guess, I’m just learning.

I’m trying to make my footprint smaller, live in a smaller space, consume less, reduce my wants, understand my needs. That will be my charge in the coming year. As the old Volkwagen ads used to say, “Think Small”.

Have a good year, everyone!

here we go again…..

2011-11-20T09:11:00.001-06:00

So, we’re here again. The scabs from the bitter wounds of last winter have been re-opened.

Opposition teams to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are pounding the pavement to get the requisite 540,000 signatures for a recall election.

Based on all of the shenanigans going on both sides of the aisle, I can see dirty tricks happening on all fronts. It’s already started.

Understanding that fund raising for a recall effort can only start when papers are filed, the Walker camp started a recall effort against its own candidate so they could start fund raising earlier and get the TV ads on earlier than their opposition. Interesting tactics.

And, on field trips going to the Capitol, protesters have been engaging school children in their chants for “Scott must go!”, hardly the high ground we would hope for in our educators.

With an expected $100 million pouring into the state over the next few months, this could very easily be the most expensive political effort in Wisconsin history, and this is just for the opportunity to hold a new election.

While I disagree with how Walker handled the labor issues with public employees, and no matter how badly he bungled it, there were plenty of co-conspirators.

I’m getting tired of this. I’m tired of everyone being an activist. I’m tired of reading points of view vilifying the other side. I’m tired of the whiner-take-all approach to government.

We have elections. For governor, they happen every four years. There are winners and there are losers. And, there are consequences for both sides.

Government used to be about compromise, about reaching a consensus with neither side getting all of what they want. Government used to be about leadership, about standing in front of the electorate and bringing the best solution.

Today, it seems to be all about winning, with constituents watching on the sidelines as our elected gangs do battle to control the turf they so badly want.

That we are in this process just one year after the last election bastardizes the process and the integrity of our government.

That $100 million going to media outlets could just as easily go to wages, or poverty, or building a railroad. But, no. We are getting another election. What a bargain for everyone involved.

It’s just what we need, again.

ignoring the protest…..

2011-11-18T05:14:00.001-06:00

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, as reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, "We're not going to fulfill the martyrdom fantasies of people who insist on being arrested while they disrupt the lives of this neighborhood."

Asked about the economic issues in the protest, Flynn told reporters, "If they're angry about the economy, go to Wall Street. There's 35% unemployment in this neighborhood. Who are they disrupting?"

Referring to below-freezing evening temperatures, Flynn said, "They can sit and freeze their butts off, I don't care."

Flynn then pulled police officers from the site and ignored the protest.

I think I like this guy.

huh?????

2011-11-11T07:54:00.001-06:00

Standard and Poors, the credit reporting agency, “accidentally” downgraded France’s bond rating from AAA to AA. They regret the error.

say it ain’t so, Joe….

2011-11-08T13:24:00.001-06:00

Chicken Little was right. The sky is falling.

Amid the sex scandal surrounding the Penn State football program, and the apparent cover up by university officials, Joe Paterno finds himself in the middle of something that none of us could have imagined.

That one of his coaches, Jerry Sandusky, was caught in the middle of a sex act with a young boy in the showers of the Penn State football complex, and the reporting of this act up the managerial ladder, including Paterno, exemplifies the hand washing of everyone involved.

Call the police? That would be embarrassing.

The stench is palpable. Much like the Catholic Church cover up, officials at Penn State are lawyering up. They’re circling the wagons. They’re setting up protective layers to cocoon what was once a beacon of integrity.

Too bad the kids couldn’t lawyer up while they were being raped. Too bad the kids couldn’t speak for fear of reprisals. Too bad, these kids are scarred for life.

I’m not agruing that Paterno was personally involved, but that he turned his head, that he didn’t do enough, that he allowed this act to continue going forward without going to the authorities when it became apparent his superiors didn’t.

Paterno? Really, Joe Paterno? He’s the guy who stood for something, who meant what he said, a man you could trust. He was different.

Things seem to be upside down. It’s as if Mount Rushmore turned out to be Hitler, bin Laden, Stalin, and Pol Pot. What’s good is bad. Up is down. In is out. Black is white.

second fiddle….

2011-11-08T08:02:00.001-06:00

Smokin’ Joe is dead. A son of South Carolina, Joe Frazier made the bright lights and the big city in Philadelphia his home for the past four plus decades as a fighter and ex-fighter.

Frazier was a great fighter, feared by all.

Forever linked with Mohammed Ali, Frazier played the unwitting boob to Ali’s quick tongue and even quicker hands. Ali mocked him, berated him, and humiliated him, and eventually, diminished him as a man.

Frazier’s only sin was beating Ali in 1970 during Ali’s comeback. The country was divided and Frazier represented the “dumb” establishment, while the cocky, ambitious Ali took up the case of the young, progressive part of society.

To be caught up in that mess was unfair to Frazier. He was a decent man who was unprepared for what lay in front of him. Eventually, Frazier found solace in the bottle, and eventually, liver cancer beat him.

Frazier never found the glory of Ali, never walked the steps of Atlanta to light the Olympic flame, never met with leaders of other countries. And yet, he will always be measured against Ali.

What a shame.

a time for leadership…..

2011-11-08T07:38:00.001-06:00

Each time I listen to Bill Clinton speak, the more I believe we have amateurs running our country. It feels like the kids from “Our Gang” took over and Spanky’s in charge.

I know Clinton’s been making a fortune making speeches and writing books. I saw him speak earlier this year. It was rambling, thoughtful, insightful, and above my head. But, it was clear he thinks about everything. His appetite for knowledge is insatiable.

Change the Constitution and get this guy back in the driver’s seat. We are a nation in crisis and we need the best. Today, Clinton is the best.

a $400 cup of soup, continued…..

2011-11-02T00:15:00.001-05:00

You’ll remember me paying $400 for a blender for myself. And, I actually took one home for my son, who likes to try things in the kitchen.

That purchase made me think about what I do, the products we make, and the value they bring.

When we design a sofa, is it about being something that serves it’s owners in a better way? Can it make our customers, our clients, feel better about their lives? Can it improve their circumstances like the blender did for me? Will it help them sleep better? Will they feel better? Will they be better?

I paid $400 for a blender. Can that translate to other products. Would people be willing to pay $3000 for a mattress? If you can demonstrate they are buying better sleep, yes! Just ask the folks at Tempurpedic.

Will I be more comfortable if I buy this recliner? Yes! Just ask the folks at La-Z-Boy, who’ve been selling comfort for decades.

In fact, consumers are willing to pay when given a good reason. Offering something for 50% off, buy one, get one free, no interest for a million years, is not an argument that leads to a better purchase. It leads to the bottom.

The next time we offer a click clack sofa for $199, we need to ask ourselves if we’ve done the best we can for the consumer. When we sell someone a mattress for $199, have we really helped that consumer to a better life?

We need to do better. We need not to commoditize everything, but make products that make a difference. By making price the prevailing reason for purchase is not marketing or selling, but the laziest approach to retail there is.

So, like that blender, we need to remember what it is we’re really selling. It’s not the blender. It’s the soup. And, it’s not really the soup; it’s about better eating. And, it’s not really about better eating; it’s about quality of life.

And, if you have a product that can sell that, you’ve got something. It made me pay $400 for a blender.

a $400 cup of soup…..

2011-11-01T18:25:00.001-05:00

I’ve always been a picky eater. I guess you could say I’m a carnivore’s carnivore. Meat, meat, meat. Potatoes, I love potatoes. Bake ‘em, fry ‘em, mash ‘em, just bring ‘em. And, I like soups, just about any soup.

But, vegetables have always been difficult for me. If they’re on the plate, I eat them. But, they’re not the first thing for me. If I could hide them under the gravy, I would.

In any case, I know it’s important to eat a balanced diet. And now, with me getting into my middle fifties, I know I need to change. But, how?

A couple of weeks ago, I was going through a Costco, when I came across a demonstration of some high powered blender. I’m a sucker for any live presentation. Sort of like how a magician wants to watch another magician do his thing, I like to watch how other products are sold.

So, there I was, in a semi-circle around this guy who’s cutting up some tomatoes, onions, peppers, a little cheese, cilantro, and maybe a few other things. He adds a little seasoning, water, and a tiny bit of vinegar to this solution in this blender. “Touch the jar”, he tells me. I comply. It’s cold. “Touch this button”, he says, and I do just that.

In an instant, this machine, with the ferocity of a chain saw, starts emulsifying all of those things, most of which I don’t like to eat by themselves, into something that’s steamy hot. He adds a few tortilla chips, touches a button for a second and voila.

“Hold your cup out”, he says. I do. “This is the best tortilla soup you’ll ever eat”. He was right.

Now, blenders are all over the place for under $50, some even under $20. But, I’ve never run into a blender than did THAT. I wanted one. No, I needed one. And, my son, he’d use something like that as well.

So, as I left that Costco with two blenders at $400 each, I started wondering if I’d made a wise choice. Of course I did.

This purchase wasn’t about the blender, or really the soup, but about my ability to make something that is good for me, that can give me better health, that can change the way I eat, and do it in a way I can do. In selling me the blender, he sold me the soup, and better health, and eventually, a better life.

to be continued….

God and government…..

2011-09-05T09:46:00.001-05:00

Occasionally, I see the God and the Pledge of Allegiance being used as a political football. Should “under God” be in the Pledge of Allegiance as the “official” pledge of our flag and country?

I’m always suspicious of politicians who use God as their “go to” guy. In fact, many who have diabolical ideals use God as their secret weapon. A foundation of the Ku Klux Klan is white supremacy as a God given right. For some reason, I don’t know that their god is my God.

Those people who crashed planes into the World Trade Center used their god as their reason for killing the infidels in those buildings.

It makes me nervous when our country endorses God, like he’s some sort of commodity, a tool to be used to make us feel better, something to make us superior to others, something to make us feel righteous. How does that make us different than other theocracies?

I think we get confused as a country when these issues arise. Should God be in our schools? Should God be in our courts? Should God be on our currency? It seems, somehow, if we stamp it on a building or on a piece of paper, it makes it so.

For me, God is in my heart, in my everyday life, in nature, in my relationships. My government has nothing to do with that, and should have nothing to do with it.

Do I believe in God? Absolutely! But, I don’t want my government telling me anything about God and who I should worship, or even if I should worship. That is my choice.

it’s about the cash…..

2011-08-28T09:38:00.001-05:00

I heard a statistic recently that caused me to pause. Over the past few years, 40,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug wars. Another number, $40 billion a year, the amount of drug trafficked into the United States, which turned into a $150 billion retail trade, is the real reason for the violence.

Violence, and much of all crime is related to mind altering substances. In many low income areas, the most successful business person is not the insurance agent, or retailer, or manufacturer, but the drug distributor.

Drugs are too available not because they are legal, but because they are illegal. They require an underground distribution network with a pusher, somebody who is in contact with you, enticing you with a free hit of whatever it is they are selling. They aren’t regulated or taxed, but act as free agents interloping between darkness and light.

It’s time we looked at drugs as something other than narcotics. We need to look at them as an economic business model. We need to find out how to make that model unattractive. We need to suck the cash out of the drug business.

We have the perfect historical model. When we made booze illegal, we invented an entire illegal industry that claimed lives and created unchecked crime. When Prohibition was lifted, those criminals moved to something else, including drugs.

For those who want to make the puritanical argument that drugs are bad, you are correct. But, so are polyunsaturated fat, salt, and cigarettes.

Make drugs legal and tax them so we can pay for the rehabilitation of those who use them. Put the light of day on the problem to help those who need help to get the care they require without fear of retribution or incarceration.

There are too many casualties for us to ignore. It’s time.

playing politics…….

2011-07-28T06:48:00.001-05:00

David Copperfield would have trouble following the sleight of hand going on in the budget debates going on in Washington, D.C.

With an Armegeddon date of August 2, markets are failing, the dollar is falling, the economy is listing, and people are wondering about their futures, while our “leaders” play political chicken.

So, while our “leaders” are spending all of their time sending messages back home, that they’re very serious about spending cuts, deficit reduction, and taxes, they’re all winking and nodding, knowing the end result will be a debt ceiling extension.

People are dying in other countries defending our freedom. People are losing their homes. People are losing their jobs. We are losing our respect throughout the world.

But, the very most important part of this is that our politicians get re-elected, that they can say the fought the good fight, that it’s not their fault, that it’s the other guy who’s the bad guy, that they are worthy of my vote.

Thomas Jefferson must be very proud.

there’s something wrong with this….

2011-07-27T07:37:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine called me the other night.

I asked him how he was doing. “Great!”, he said, “I just turned 65.”

He proceeded to tell me he’d just had some cancerous spots removed from his ankle (he plays golf a lot and apparently doesn’t wear socks). And apparently, he’d been to the doctor for other things for which they gave him pills.

So, why was he doing great with all of this medical stuff going on?

“It was free!”, he said. “I didn’t pay a nickel. I asked how much I owed and they said nothing! Nothing!”

And there’s the rub. My friend could pay. He could pay at least some. But, our all-or-nothing system doesn’t allow for that. We have to take it, no matter how much we have. It’s sort of like the Academy Awards with those little gift bags everywhere.

It seems when you turn 65 in this country, pills fly like confetti at a parade; all those frowns at the admissions desk turn into smiles. I wonder if they bake you a cake.

There is something wrong with this system.

and sometimes I just sits…..

2011-07-26T20:42:00.001-05:00

“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits” –Satchel Paige

It seems Satchel Paige may have had it right. To sit. To think. To relax. Those are traits we seem to have forgotten.

A good friend of mine told me she loves to go to the bookstore, to feel and smell the books, to sit, to relax, to breath.

The loss of retailers up and down Main Street has left us with less of that, the ability to peruse, to browse, to linger. Yes, it’s easier to touch the keypad and get it delivered to the door, but the social process of shopping is leaving us.

“What do you think?”, those words heard so often when trying something on, or flipping through greeting cards, are gone. Who do you ask for approval on that just right purchase?

We’re heading into eternity at warp speed. Why are we in such a hurry? Why does it need to be now? Why can’t we just sit and relax? Why can we just sits?

I think I’ll do that now.

the death of a retailer….

2011-07-24T09:02:00.001-05:00

So, I went to the going out of business sale of Borders Books yesterday somewhere near Washington, D.C. I was with my daughter, Cortney and her new fiance Jimmy. It was hot outside and we were looking for something to do before they dropped me off at the airport.

This is a scene that is happening far too often these days. As a sort of evolution in retail, the big bad Borders, the book retailer shark that ate the small retail bookstore, was eaten themselves by even bigger sharks like Amazon and all of the dotcoms out there. It seems we might want to see a new version of “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks’ bookstore being the sympathetic victim.

Any kind of retail is difficult. But now, with warp speed developments in technology changing how people get information and shop, it is damned near impossible. Profit, that thing that no consumer wants to pay, but the necessary element of successful retail, is more and more difficult to achieve with ever more transparency.

It used to be that you paid the price of the local merchant, who probably bought his wares from a distributor, who in turn, purchased his stuff directly from the manufacturer. It was a system that worked well for a long time.

Then, retailers determined they could buy better by forming cooperative groups to buy directly from manufacturers, using the buying power of the group, but still having inflated costs through inefficient logistics.

And then, we started to see the mega retailers (Wal-Mart, Target), who not only purchased from these manufacturers, but delivered enough scale to dictate the terms of the sale. They decided how much they would pay and it was up to the manufacturer to meet those demands, or they would simply buy from someone else.

You would think it would end there. But, it won’t. Information is too prevalent, too available. Some manufacturers are selling directly to their consumer, controlling the message, the price and the sale from beginning to end. Ever heard of Apple, the company sitting on a ridiculously crazy $76 billion in cash?

So, as we think of how sad it is to see Borders going down the tubes, it is just a part of retail evolution. And, one day we will mourn the demise of Apple. That’s just how things work.

who’s in charge?……..

2011-07-06T19:08:00.001-05:00

A few days ago, I went by a sign that said something about cigarettes being on sale for $6.57 a pack. Because I’m a non-smoker, I’ve never really thought about cigarettes, what a pack of them costs, and why people continue to smoke. $6.57!

Now, I know the vast majority of the cost of those things goes to pay off the settlements with the states that measure in the billions of dollars for each state. No wonder they need to get $6.57 a pack.

And, I also know the states really don’t get that money anymore, because all of them were standing at their windows yelling “It’s my money and I want it now!” So, they all took their structured settlements and went to J.G. Wentworth and settled at pennies on the billions of dollars.

The city of Chicago sold all of their parking spaces and Illinois sold its toll roads. They even sold the Skyway. They must be very smart, selling off all of the revenue producing assets and keeping the ones that produce zippo. Even Indiana sold its toll road.

What was supposed to be punishment for something that kills people, turned into a revenue drug. What was supposed to be something that paid off road construction on a user basis, has now been leveraged to the hills. And those machines that take your money in quarters for the right to squat your car in downtown Chicago now belong to the suits. Free parking on Wednesday? Not on your fat wallet.

So, as our state and federal legislators figure out how to pay for the ever burgeoning gap between revenue and expenditures, I’m wondering the same thing. How are we going to fix this mess?

It seems the people we elect to protect our interests are pretty bad business people.

And, that got me to thinking. What if the guys who are able to sell a product that kills you for ten times what it cost a few decades ago, or at least makes you sick, is illegal in most public places, can’t be advertised, and makes you smell bad…What if they were in charge?

being there…..

2011-06-19T09:17:00.001-05:00

A good friend of mine tells me that success begins with just showing up.

My dad has been showing up for me for all of my 53 years. I went to see him yesterday. And, I’ll see him again today with my youngest, Alex.

My sister from Florida was there, so was my aunt, my sister from Two Rivers, my mother, and a cousin. I showed up, sort of arriving in the middle of a female talkfest.

And there, in this scenario, my dad showed up, cane in hand, feeling his way around to his seat at the head of the table. The house was noisy, making it impossible for him to hear any single conversation. But, there he was trying, struggling to keep up with the words flying from every direction he couldn’t see. Much of it just noise to him.

In this estrogen filled room, I was watching my dad. I watched him move his head back and forth, trying to figure out where each voice came from and what they were saying. I watched him toil to remain relevant, to comment when appropriate, to start a new topic because he wasn’t able to follow the last.

It would have been easier to leave the room and the verbal chaos created by his lack of vision and hearing. But then, he would have given up. It would have been easier to listen to one of his two radios flanking his recliner. But, that’s not him. It’s not his way.

You see, in spite of all of his maladies, my dad is relevant. He’s relevant because he tries. He’s relevant because he’s not a quitter. He’s relevant because he’s proud. He’s relevant because he shows up.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

tired of this….

2011-06-18T07:43:00.001-05:00

Dear Republican Party of Wisconsin,

You’ve lost me. Fake candidates?

Dear Democratic party of Wisconsin,

You’ve lost me. Leaving Wisconsin in a policy dispute?

Dear Republican Party of Wisconsin,

Get out of my bedroom. Stop spying on me.

Dear Democratic Party of Wisconsin,

Recall elections should not be used as a club, but a last resort. Grow up!

We need a new form of government.

life goes on…..

2011-06-12T20:56:00.001-05:00

An icon of my youth is gone. Schroedl’s Meat Market recently closed its doors.

The Schroedl family has been processing meats for a long time. My parents, who are 90 and 87 said it's been there as long as they can remember.

I was raised down the road from Schroedl’s, maybe a half mile. Many of my earliest recollections in involve Schroedl’s. As a five year-old, I used to take a nickel and get a popcicle. The smell of their meats permeated our home on more nights than not. More recently, I would go there for the best summer sausage made anywhere.

A victim of superstores, Schroedl’s was a humble place with a meat counter, whizzing band saws making all kinds of noise in the back, and banging trays echoing throughout the store. It was real. Now it’s gone.

Over the years, the Schroedl family did what they could to modernize their business. They added a dairy, and then closed it. I never once felt they gave less than they had.

They were good neighbors. They are good people. They were good business people. And, they sold damn good meat.

Thank you Schroedl family for making my life just a little bit better. I’ll miss it.

defending the weiner…..

2011-06-10T13:54:00.001-05:00

Look, there are a million puns I could use while writing this piece, and some might leak in inadvertently, but I’ve just got to say this.

If you read me, you know I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Some might call me Libertarian, but that sort of government really never works, sort of how Communism or Socialism never work.

In any case, over the years, I’ve come to admire Anthony Weiner’s positions on the liberal side. I believe he is the finest articulator of the liberal cause, making no apologies for his positions, not parsing his words, standing in front of the crowd, true to his inner McGovern, somebody I could admire without agreeing with almost anything he said. His is an important voice.

His language is precise. His positions concise. He’s good at what he does. He has a brilliant legislative mind. With him, you get reasoned and impassioned arguments.

He doesn’t lay in the weeds, say one thing and mean another, appease those who disagree. He stands in front of you with his opinion and he dares you to disagree. These traits will help him as he attempts to regain some form reputation.

Yes, what he did is unfathomable, stupid, reckless, immoral. Get out the thesaurus and use all the words. They all apply. He deserves punishment. He needs mental help.

But, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, his voice needs to stay. As warped as it is, we need his mind. We need his positions, because the rest of the cowards on Capitol Hill are too wussy to stand in front of the crowd with the truth.

on a lighter note….

2011-06-08T11:15:00.001-05:00

Politics has been such a downer lately. With Anthony Weiner showing his….well…wiener, or at least the bulge it makes, here we are investigating yet another politician.

So, it comes with some relief that we see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a full belly laugh after seeing a photo of her and her pantsuit wearing sister, German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the waste down.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110608/ts_yblog_theticket/hillary-clinton-and-angela-merkel-joke-about-their-mutual-love-of-pantsuits

two ideas……

2011-05-29T14:01:00.001-05:00

I’m sick of seeing companies pitting communities and states against one another for tax subsidies, with the receiving community offering more than they should to get the jobs, and the home community offering more than they should because they can’t afford to lose the jobs.

Here’s a solution. If a government body offers incentives to an existing business from someplace else, they will lose federal funds equal to the incentives or tax breaks. That way, a business and community will make a decision based on the merits of the move and not the incentives involved.

It’s pretty simple; taxes come from all of us. So, to use taxes from one community at the expense of another is like us negotiating against ourselves. That has got to end.

The second is something I’ve talked about before. We need to think of products coming into our country as tax payers, not objects. What will it cost to dispose of those products? What will it cost to house those objects? And, how much social responsibility should come attached to those objects?

Right now, we have higher taxes associated with goods made in the U.S. than those produced outside. Each of us is required to pay FICA and Medicare on all wages paid. That is a tax paid on the labor to make domestic goods. We have to pay property taxes on our factories and warehouses. We have to pay income taxes on all goods produced, which are also a tax on the labor to produce goods.

As a guy who has products shipped in from China, I’m in favor of having tariffs on all goods coming in, the higher the better. Then, we would be forced to work domestically, instead of the current system that forces us to produce offshore.

Because the U.S. is a consumer dominated society, we have the appetite for goods and services that is unrivaled in the world, with markets and demand already established. It’s a total no brainer.

And, maybe that’s why it won’t happen.

the dignity of the worker……

2011-05-29T10:11:00.001-05:00

With the way the economy has been over the past few years, I’ve been involved in a lot of conversations with people about work, or more accurately, the lack of work. Unemployment seems to be as common as employment, or it at least it feels that way.

Many of the conversations revolve and evolve into discussions as to how people define themselves. Some who define themselves as carpenters or auto assemblers or welders or furniture makers have seen their livelihoods and their identifications leave. They are no longer important, no longer viable.

Where can they find the importance in their lives they once enjoyed? It used to be people did the same things all their lives and they retired, elevated into worker emeritus, someone to be respected for the work they did, the things they built, and the family they supported.

So, here we are, in an economy that reports that one in eleven is not employed, is not economically productive, and is dependent on the State to support themselves and their families.

The jobs that are available don’t measure up to how they see themselves, that they are somehow better than what is being offered. And, the jobs that are available, barely cover what they are being paid on unemployment. Why should a person work when they get paid nearly as much, or less, not to work?

And, there’s the rub. In an environment where workers have been treated like machines, where they’ve been disposed of like last week’s trash, where economic considerations only put them into this position; we’re asking them to make economic decisions that don’t make sense in a business way.

We’re asking the worker to act differently than the corporation who taught them to think in a “me first” way, taking the tax break, moving offshore. We’re asking them to work when work is not the best deal for them.

While we feel it’s the corporation or the government who should lead us from the morass we’re in, it’s the worker who must. We must rebuild our country from the ground up, not the top down. We must rely on the dignity of the worker to do what sometimes doesn’t make sense.

Because, it’s the person who builds things, who gets dirt under the fingernails, who provides for his or her family who defines this country. There is dignity in the worker. There is dignity in work, no matter the task. Let’s never forget that.

what now…..

2011-05-06T06:44:00.001-05:00

Ding dong, the witch is dead! What now?

I’ve waited a few days to write a post about the assassination of Osama bin Laden. I think I’m ready now.

I’ve never rooted for anyone to die. It seems not Christian, like it would make me like him, an evil doer. But, I can’t help but feel some satisfaction over this, that wounds have been healed and unfinished business resolved.

So, here we are, the great Satan is no longer, but we’re still at war, still watching our own maimed and slain, still watching our own, away from home trying to make things right.

When will it end? Who is the next Hussein or Osama? Muammar Gaddafi? When we kill him, who then?

In a global game of whack a mole, our government seems to stand over governments with oil or strategic geography, hammer in hand, waiting for the next head to bop.

What happens when we don’t have heads to bop?

It never seems we go after the evil doers in countries that don’t have desired resources or geography. Sudan? Nope. Somalia? Forget it. Myanmar? Really, are you kidding? Most of us think that is some kind of a shiny balloon fabric.

I’m not advocating we go after every problem in the world. What I am saying is that I think we can tell the truth when we do go after another leader, that there is something in it for us, that we are working from self interest, not some altruistic vision of ourselves.

So, you can be a bad actor if you don’t have oil. You can torture your subjects if you don’t have strategic geography. You can do anything if you have nothing we want. Because, in those locations, there is nothing for us. As Edith Ann would say, “and that’s the truth”.

the fix….

2011-04-24T08:31:00.001-05:00

I few months back, I went to see “Restrepo”, a documentary directed by Tim Hetherington. Hetherington died last week in Libya, a casualty of the wars he covered, just like over 4000 plus soldiers since we decided it was our place to mediate all of the Middle East.

For those who have seen “Restrepo”, the feeling of helplessness can’t be overstated. Why is it that we feel the need to fix these unfixable places with people whose best interests are not served by the fix?

I’m not sure what the answer is. But, I do know this. When somebody drops bombs on my home, threatens my livelihood, and then tries to call himself my friend, I’m skeptical, no matter how noble the cause. And, that is the role we’ve chosen in Afghanistan.

Hetherington’s movie shows us the difficulty in fighting in such a place. The enemy and the friend looks the same. The enemy and the friend make deals for survival. The enemy and the friend don’t want the war we’ve imposed on them.

He shows us how horrible the war is, and that the scars don’t need to be visible to be real. He shows us that wars aren’t video games, but life and death realities whose outcomes aren’t about who’s right or wrong, but who’s in front of the bullet when it arrives. And, in the end, it may be the survivor who’s most injured.

Survival there isn’t about what is right, but who will pay the most. Does the Taliban have the better deal? Does Al Qaeda offer cover? Does the eradication of the poppy fields really mean a better life?

The people of Afghanistan don’t have TVs, or understand the world situation. They just want to survive from one day to the next. The future is an esoteric argument, something to deal with tomorrow by thinkers, not survivors.

So, it is in that light that we fight. We are just the next in line trying to fix this unfixable place. And, eventually, we will leave, just like everyone else.

a misunderstanding…..

2011-04-17T11:16:00.001-05:00

I just read a blog of a friend of mine who saw “Waiting for Superman”. For those of you who have not seen this movie, take the 90 minutes and take a look.

The basis of the movie is how our educational system is broken, the people out there trying to fix it, and running into the traditional roadblocks of unions and poor administration trying to protect their personal interests.

I’ve written several blogs about how I believe unions are bad for education, and really, most public jobs. I don’t belong, nor would I ever belong to a union, not because I don’t believe in their validity, but because they would restrict my ability to earn to my potential.

I actually believe unions are in place because administrators are lazy, that administrators don’t want to do the hard work of evaluating their employees. It’s easier to index everyone into one standard, no matter how different the output is. Oversight is hard work. And, this is the bargain we’ve made.

So, as I rail against unions, and more specifically teachers’ unions, it’s not about wanting to reduce the pay of teachers. I don’t like that great and poor teachers are paid the same. Where is the incentive to be excellent? Why should that great teacher be paid the same as the poor teacher? And, why are we even paying a poor teacher?

I’ve always felt that education should be about the kids, not job protection. Yes, we need to be fair to the teacher, but the only way to do that is to treat them differently, not the same. The good teacher should be paid more, much more.

Maybe, with that system, we’ll draw better teachers, instead of people choosing an occupation because it has three months off in the summer with an almost lifetime guarantee, and retirement benefits before the age of 60.

We need to do better.

I’m baaaaaaack……

2011-04-17T09:45:00.001-05:00

You might have noticed I’ve slowed down on blogging recently.

On March 4, I left for a visit to Omaha, Nebraska for a meeting with a company called Hayneedle. This was the first in what could be called a mega travel month.

The following day I left for Los Angeles to do a photo shoot for four days, and then China for a week before I made my way to Tijuana, Mexico for a couple of days, then to Seattle for a couple of days, Chicago for a day, Salt Lake City for three days, High Point, North Carolina for five days, Boston for a day and Philadelphia for two days. Needless to say, my suitcase got a workout.

While in China, blogging and Facebook are not available, so I kind of get out of the habit. By the time I was in Mexico, I was getting a little tired. The time changes and sleep patterns change so much, it’s hard to figure out when to have my eyes open and when to have them closed.

By the time I got to Seattle, I was on autopilot. That’s not a time for real creative or constructive thought. My brain mostly thinks about how to get the easiest meal and find the most comfortable pillow, and to seem somewhat competent in my job.

And so it went, city after city. But, now the crazy travel is over.

So, if you’ve noticed I haven’t visited your blog, I apologize. I will return, and maybe you’ll be sorry about that. I will try to sharpen my skills and challenge the thinking that I find so interesting out there in cyber world.

justice evaded……

2011-04-10T11:27:00.001-05:00

In 1980, Tim Hack and Kelly Drew attended a wedding in the town of Concord. They were never seen alive again.

Decades passed before their killer was found, a now elderly, infirm man named Edward Edwards. He was in a mood to clear his conscience of these killings, along with others he committed over the years.

He was found guilty in Jefferson County Court and was given life in prison, which in his condition, was little more than a parking ticket. But, he wanted more. He wanted to be executed.

So, he was extradited to Ohio, where he confessed to other killings, and where they have the death penalty. He was found guilty on March 8 of these murders and was given the death penalty.

Edward Edwards died on Friday of natural causes, exactly one month after the conviction that would lead to his death. So, even in dying, he managed to evade the justice he so rightly deserved.

I’ve never believed in wishing harm on others, or damning someone to Hell. But, if anyone deserved it…..

anger…..

2011-03-13T11:31:00.001-05:00

Anger is a very powerful and destructive thing.

As I’ve watched the events in Madison unfold, it’s been interesting and disconcerting to watch protests, things said and done, and the continued fire that causes people to go out into the cold and voice their position on the budget repair bill, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Walker on Friday.

The part that bothers me is the desire to injure the opponent. Now, I don’t mean from a physical standpoint, although there have been random threats, but from an economic or reputation standpoint.

There seems to be a sentiment of “if i don’t get mine, you can’t have yours.”

I was hoping we could be bigger than that, that those on the “losing” side could pick up and use positive ways to balance the ledger. Nobody wins when another is torn down. And, in this case, spending your time in taking away from others is a very negative pursuit.

I think I’ve made it plain that I believe there is a better way to negotiate pay than is currently done. And, I believe unions have become barnacles on the hulls of our economy. They don’t bring value to goods and services, costing hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of doing government business in Wisconsin.

Union leadership doesn’t teach a class, plow a road, mow a lawn, or build anything. They are lawyers and negotiators who take our money and use it for means that don’t necessarily line up with the interest of the community.

That said, I am impressed by the impassioned protests and the zeal of people who believe otherwise.

I would hope that those protesting would find ways to use that anger to promote and improve their position instead of tearing another’s down. That is how good things happen.

NPR…

2011-03-12T09:34:00.001-06:00

Last week, we saw NPR blow up over comments made by their president over the Tea Party and their supporters, a very broad brushed attack on all members. This is the same organization that didn’t renew Juan Williams contract over comments that could be seen as similar about Muslims. In my mind, it’s clear that NPR has a political point of view and is somewhat intolerant of others.

So, why do we fund it? If we fund that, shouldn’t we fund XM radio, which clearly has a singular national reach, many points of view, and would be available to anyone, anywhere? In my mind XM, has a unique platform, offering all kinds of content, not left or right, but all, and is available to anyone with access to the sky. In my mind, it is a better platform for public funding because of its availability.

In my world, government shouldn’t fund anything like this, either XM or NPR. Support for NPR could easily be made up privately, and the bulk of their funding comes from private sources anyway. They’re very good at asking for money, they just should ask for a little more. I know I’ve supported them, probably more than most of their ardent supporters.

I believe NPR is a legitimate platform for news and opinion. And, I like the measured way they approach topics, with the ability to parse and nuance.

While valuable, NPR’s time of public funding is past. It will survive. And, completely free of government funding, it will be able to say what it wants, without worry. But, it will have to pay taxes and be subject to the rules of the rest of the world. What a novel concept.

we deserve better…..

2011-03-10T11:35:00.001-06:00

Have you ever gotten yourself so inside an argument that no longer resembled the argument you started, but just needed to win, no matter how stupid it looks to those on the outside?

I think that’s what happened at the Capitol in Madison last night as the Republican Senate jammed through legislation to curb union negotiating rights.

Now, I’m no friend of unions. They have their place, but I think they’ve turned into political organizations, not labor organizations. I believe they inflate the costs of goods and services, not because of payroll, but work rules and pensions. I believe they cost jobs, not save them.

That said, our state government has acted like the petulant lot they’ve become, more interested in winning the point, than negotiating the proper future. They need to start representing us, and not the special interest groups that seem to be pulling the strings.

It was interesting to hear how John Erpenbach, the senator from Waunakee, and now TV star, was completely unaware of the negotiating between the governor’s office and the Senate 14 who fled to Illinois. His leadership didn’t seem to think it was necessary to brief him with information that might have been helpful in solving this mess. It seems his leadership was being directed from another venue, and it wasn’t Wisconsin.

And why, exactly, did the Senate 14 find it necessary to legislate from Illinois. They don’t deserve to be considered if they feel that the proper route is to run our government as a hostage situation.

And, in listening to the non-debate that occurred last night prior to the bill being passed, the yelling and shouting in the chambers sounded like something you’d be hearing outside the building from protesters, not inside the building where cooler heads should prevail.

Shame on the Republican Party for not allowing some notice to get this done. An ethical approach would have been to allow a day’s notice. But, ethics didn’t seem to be important last night.

They had every right to pass this legislation, but they didn’t have to look like thugs doing it.

You don’t have to like what they did, but you have to respect our laws. The opportunity will come in two years to reverse this, like any other law.

This has been an embarrassing few weeks for our state. What used to be held up as a model for clean government has been tarnished in a way that will be difficult to reverse.

They were all wrong. And they all deserve their piece of the blame. We deserve better.

remembering…..

2011-03-04T23:08:00.001-06:00

I was in Omaha, Nebraska today for business. It used to be a weekly thing when I lived in Lincoln, just 45 miles away.

I had a little extra time and decided to take a look at our old neighborhood. I bought my first house in Lincoln in 1979, when I was just 22. A few years later, we built a house in the same area.

So, I wanted to see what happened in the thirty years or so since those days. I pulled into the subdivision, and I really didn’t recognize much. I did remember the street names, so that helped.

Gradually, I came up to the first house. I think we paid $51,000 for it back then. I remember mowing the lawn cross ways like they do in the baseball stadiums. We planted red and white petunias, lots of them. We played catch in the yard. We planted trees. We knew our neighbors. We had cookouts.

It was a dump. How disappointing, the house I first loved fell into disrepair. What used to be a cute little neighborhood turned into tract housing with little regard for maintenance or care. I felt a little defeated, like the part of me that cared for that home meant nothing.

I went to the second house. Same thing. We planted these great trees. I built a wood fence and painted it. More flowers. We built a two tiered deck for parties. It was really nice in a nice neighborhood.

When I saw graffiti painted on a little shed on the back, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to leave.

I wish I wouldn’t have gone. I wish my memories of those houses were those of 10:00 this morning instead of 1:00 this afternoon.

and the winner is…..

2011-02-28T05:49:00.001-06:00

I see a lot of movies. In fact, I believe I saw every best picture nominee.

So, as I sat watching last night, I was hoping a couple of pictures would find their way into the spotlight once again. One was “Animal Kingdom”, and the performance of Jacki Weaver, one of the most diabolical characters seen on the silver screen in some time. Weaver played the matriarch of her band of small time thugs, with an odd, and sometimes difficult to watch, quasi romantic relationship, with her sons. You knew when she delivered a full, on the mouth kiss to one of her sons, this was no ordinary mommy.

But, I applaud the performance of Melissa Leo, the equally diabolical mother in “The Fighter”, whose self-centered, less than sympathetic, always in the center,self appointed victim, inserts herself in every situation to capitalize on her son’s work. She makes you want to throw a punch at her in this movie of redemption and heart.

The other was “Winter’s Bone” and the performance of Jennifer Lawrence, a movie about a high school aged girl, trying to raise a brother and sister on her own, while trying to find her meth dealing father, knowing he’s dead, with unspeakable grit and composure.

For me, both the movie and performance are unforgettable, on par with any I’ve seen in recent years.

I did see Natalie Portman’s performance in “Black Swan”, the disturbing ballerina who fought off her demons and mental illness. The performance was very good, but the movie felt so contrived, I couldn’t get past all of the scenes that seemed to be inserted in an unnatural way. For me, both the movie and the performance didn’t match up to “Winter’s Bone” and Lawrence.

But, it was the King’s year, and well deserved.

As for the hosts, Anne Hathaway was stunning, bright and beautiful. I could watch her do her laundry and it would be riveting. James Franco, on the other hand, mailed it in. Bring her back. Leave him at home.

playing a game they can’t win….

2011-02-26T21:27:00.001-06:00

Democratic senators and union leaders have badly misjudged Governor Scott Walker. Characterized as heartless and even Hitler, Walker is resolute in his desire to see this situation through. He is in a winning position and he is going to use it.

Walker has already indicated that 1500 pink slips will be delivered to state workers next week, with more on the way if some sort of deal isn’t made.

If they really believe he is the Satan they say he is, it would be wise to take a different approach. In negotiation, it is important to understand your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. They are attacking his strength by questioning his resolve. He will see this through. His weakness is there are elections next year.

Instead, they should accept his deal and keep the union intact, although in a marginalized way.

If they continue to butt heads with him, he will continue to turn screws until he wins. That could, and probably would, include sending pink slips to all teachers in Wisconsin at the end of the school year and then having them reapply for their jobs. That would break the union.

Right now, there are recall petitions being circulated in the districts of two Democratic senators who are seen to be vulnerable. The Republicans will win at least one of those recalls. Then, the Republicans will be able to hold votes with no Democrats present.

With his current offer, the union is damaged, but still intact.

They will have another shot in two years to reverse whatever changes have been made. I’m guessing money would pour into Wisconsin in unheard of amounts, showing the world what happens when you mess with a union.

money and power….

2011-02-26T09:52:00.001-06:00

As you probably know, I’ve been commenting on the goings on in Madison over the budget debate, the union issues, the tactics, all of it.

One of the things that is curious to me is how money is being described as a bad thing, that money is the root, that money is being extracted from one side to the other, that a person protecting money is a bad thing, that money being given to a person with less is a good thing.

To me, money represents work, not things. I don’t think about what I can buy, but how hard I worked to get it. Am I possessive? Maybe. But, I work hard, really hard to earn what I earn. Forty hours is not in my world.

And, I use my money to buy things, sometimes for myself, often for others. I pay bills. I try not to cheat others. I try to pave my way through life without being a liability to others. I try to be a positive in the ledger of life.

So, I resent it a little when somebody on a bullhorn says I’m not paying enough, when somebody compares my thoughts as those of being with Hitler. I resent the person whose whole focus in life is to take away those hours I worked for in wanting something positive in my life, while not making the same commitment himself in his. I resent it when I’m told the earnings from my work should go someplace else, for someone else to determine how it should be used.

Now, I’m not saying this about public employees and teachers. On the contrary, I honor their work. They earn their money.

But, I don’t honor the people who represent them. They set up structures that enrich them. They use the public employees to create a web that ensures their power going forward. They coerce and demand and ridicule when they don’t get their way. And, they don’t come up for election every two or four years. They can outlast any politician or public servant. Now, that is power.

And, every now and then, somebody comes up to challenge them. And, they don’t like it. They tell half truths and print signs and fly people in and protect their status, like Khaddafy in Libya, they’re fighting for their livelihood and salvation. This isn’t about teachers and public employees, but union funding that comes from the public pantry.

Unions, at the beginning, served their constituents well. They were noble, well meaning vehicles to help workers gain rights and privileges that made a good life possible.

When they turned into political power brokers, with the power of the check instead of the power of the idea, they ceased to be relevant for the worker. They would sell their soul to the highest bidder.

Now, I’m not about to forgive the public officials in this matter. They all stink. The Republicans finding their chance at turning the tables have acted like the rank amateurs they are. They’ve botched this thing with missteps too many to count.

And, the Senate Democrats, fleeing to Illinois have subverted our political process by running away, going MIA. It doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with their position, they have a duty to show up. Maybe they’ll show up with some bogus doctor’s slip saying they were suffering from stress.

It’s about time we had somebody who served us, the public, without some narrow view of how they’re going to split up the spoils of victory. As it stands, we are the losers.

choosing hope……

2011-02-26T08:00:00.001-06:00

In October of 2009, Sheila and Jeremy lost their daughter, Donna, to brain cancer.

Before last night, I didn’t know them. Today, I feel I know them intimately, with shared purpose and conviction to honor Donna, her life and her potential.

Beth, a blogger friend and friend of Angelo, arranged a dinner meeting as an introduction of everyone to each other, and the potential of developing some sort of vehicle to expand fund raising efforts and awareness for “Donna’s Good Things”.

Donna was a toddler when Jeremy and Sheila were told Donna had brain cancer. A life with cancer was all she knew.

She was described to me as confident, bright, perceptive, sensitive, and courageous. After meeting her parents, it’s not difficult to see from where these traits came.

These aren’t powerful or famous people, just two people finding their way after losing the light of their life. Instead of being bitter, they are thankful for the time they had with Donna and want to deliver on the potential of her life. They want to deliver the positive message that Donna delivered every day with the courage and optimism she exuded. They want to provide support to those parents in the same situation, to let them know that life doesn’t end with the death of a child.

During dinner, Sheila pulled out a few postcards with photos of Donna. What a beautiful girl, with expressive eyes just pulling you in. Her picture showed everything her parents described.

It’s not often you get to meet people like Jeremy and Sheila, people who are prepared to take on something big in their own, small way.

I get a sense they are approaching Mount Rushmore with a chisel, encouraged by the progress they make, chip by chip, looking at how much they’ve done, knowing there’s so much more to do.

So, that’s where we start, with the death of a child, with parents who are committed to living, not in the shadow of death, but in the light of the life of Donna.

Thank you for including me.

To learn more about Donna and Donna’s Good Things, I’ve attached a link to the webiste.

http://donnasgoodthings.org/

the new Dave…..

2011-02-25T06:47:00.001-06:00

Scott Walker’s history shows you he’s a tough guy. As Milwaukee County Executive, he cleaned up a political and fiscal mess left behind by his corrupt predecessor.

Prank Koch phone call aside, Walker ran a squeaky clean administration in Milwaukee. He returned a large portion of his pay and drives a 1998 Saturn. When Walker talks about fiscal responsibility, he starts at home. You might say he walks the talk.

When Walker won election, he felt there was more to go after. And, incorrectly, he has been positioned as being against public employees, and more specifically, teachers.

In a move that would remind you of the movie “Dave”, Walker looked at spending at the state level as a ledger only deal, looking at it line by line, trying to figure out how to save money.

At the heart of the issue is the health insurance premiums being paid on behalf of the teacher’s union. What most people aren’t being told is that those premiums are being paid to the Wisconsin Education Association Council’s insurance company, not the State of Wisconsin’s or a private insurance company. Independent audits show that the Wisconsin is overpaying by $73 million for insurance that could be bought privately.

Walker just can’t take his eye off that amount of money, and where that money’s going. That $73 million is not being used to teach kids, nor is it being used to pay for health care. It’s being used to pay salaries of union leadership and to fund political activities against people like Walker.

The reason Walker wants to take negotiating rights of the union away from benefits side is that he wants to regain control of runaway spending that is crippling the state. In Milwaukee, for every $100 spent on a teacher, only $56 of that is being spent in salary. This isn’t about teacher pay.

Understanding that health care costs are outstripping the ability of the state to pay, even without the $73 million of overpayments, and the open ended nature of pensions, with benefits being tied to years of service and not years of life, Walker sees this arena as the area that needs to be fixed immediately. Right now, he’s staring down a $4.9 billion unfunded liability.

Walker’s done a lousy job in the public relations battle. And, he’s up against politically savvy machines that are entrenched, fighting to save their livelihoods. They’ve figured out how to distill their disdain in short statements that fit nicely onto placards that make their way on TV. Before this is over, people will be convinced he killed Bambi.

There are 49 other governors who are secretly rooting for Walker to win this battle. There are no more stimulus dollars to help them balance their bloated budgets. This is the Normandy of government spending at the state level.

While I disagree with how he’s done it, I believe what he’s doing is necessary.

it’s time to end this…

2011-02-19T12:36:00.001-06:00

I've been reading too many personal attacks on the Wisconsin budget bill. This is a topic where both sides are passionate, and feel they're right. Each side believes they represent good.

People aren't stupid or ignorant if they believe one way or the other. They just believe something different. Instead of focusing on differences, let's find the common ground and work from there.

Polarizing attitudes create schisms that will be hard to bridge in the future.

The Governor vacating contracts unilaterally is unconscionable. The ends may be correct, but the means are wrong. He was elected governor, not dictator. He can and probably should get his way, but he needs to do it in a more collaborative way.

To the senators who "moved" to Illinois, I have some advice. Win next time. Elections have consequences. These are the consequences. The Wisconsin public has spoken and you now need to suck it up and deal with this governor.

To the teachers who protested during school hours, stay on the job and teach. I am not proud you walked out on your students. Quite frankly, putting your students in the middle of this debate shows me that you may not be the people I thought and hoped your were.

And to Jesse Jackson, please learn the damned English language.

Now, it's time all parties grow up and get in a room, mediate, do whatever is necessary to end this.

the Wisconsin problem….

2011-02-18T01:00:00.001-06:00

I'm almost afraid to enter this one. But, here goes. The arguments are too personal.

We have a government for which we can't pay. I don't agree with unilateral moves in negotiated deals like Governor Walker is instituting. That is wrong.

But, the other option is significant layoffs, which is his option. I'm guessing if Walker came to the unions and laid out the future, maybe the union could help with ideas. Before he goes hardball, he needs to see where he can get help.

I believe in budgets, and staying within budgets. If we have government we can’t afford, we need to elect different officials to make decisions to bring those budgets into line. It seems that happened in November.

I believe in the current situation, given the choice of a 12% contribution to health insurance and a 5.8% contribution to retirement savings, or 5,000 layoffs, the union would accept the changes to benefits, but in a bi-lateral way. If Walker can't get consensus from the union, and he is serious, he should deliver pink slips.

A second layer of negotiations would need to take place that would involve how pensions are taken, work rules, and the like. We need to rethink how agreements made long ago hold up in today's environment.

A fully funded retirement at a number of years of service, at 55 or 60 or even 62 is fiscally irresponsible. There are many people today who receive retirement benefits for longer than they worked. People can retire at any age they want. They just cannot receive benefits until age 67. People just live too long.

The answer of raising revenue (taxes) is not an option. The tax the rich argument will only solve a small percentage of the problem. This really is a spend side issue with $55 billion being spent at the state and local levels.

This also is not, and should not be an argument of the value of the worker. I'm sure most people work hard for their money, and I'm sure each has set his or her life around that income stream.

This is not a time to fight each other, but to come together with solutions, not at the end of pointed fingers, but with real consensus.

There are going to be some casualties this time around. But, one of them should not be our integrity.

a math problem….

2011-02-15T06:57:00.001-06:00

There are 312,000,000 people in the United States. Our federal budget is $3,700,000,000,000.00. Now, with Jethro Bodine’s tutoring, that tells me that my share of the budget is about $12,000.00. In fact, everyone’s share of the Federal Budget is $12,000,000.

Now, let’s add state, county, local taxes and you have an, with deficits running in each state. In Wisconsin, our total state and local spending is about $55,000,000,000, or $10,000 per person. And again, with 9 percent unemployment, those numbers go up.

Now, with approximately 160,000,000 workers, the burden per worker is in the $50,000 range, or almost $25 per hour. So, if you’re paying less than $25 per hour to taxes, you are not paying your share. You are a slacker.

Yes, I completely understand money comes from businesses and rich people and hidden taxes and gas taxes and such, but the number is the same, and the dollar responsibility is the same per person, no matter where it comes from.

Wow!

a weekend away from home…..

2011-02-15T01:38:00.001-06:00

For most of you who know me, I travel a lot. And, sometimes when I travel, I have some down time away from home. This week, I’ll have one of those times.

I’ve decided to stay out in San Francisco for the weekend, instead of traveling home. I have meetings on Monday in Seattle and decided I would just stay on the west coast instead of flying back and forth to the Midwest.

I’m not used to down time, especially away from home, so I’ve decided to plan a sort of mini, solitary vacation for a couple of days in San Francisco. What to do? What to do?

San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. For a city that is not the size of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, it has a lot going on. I remember a couple of years ago, I checked the internet for something to do on a Tuesday night. There were 87 events. I ended up at a lecture being given by Deepak Chopra in a cathedral.

Other times, I’ve gone to theater, headed up to Napa, gone to Muir Woods, hung out in Sausalito, wandered around the many neighborhoods, and spent hours in City Lights Bookstore. I think I’ve seen “Beach Blanket Babylon” a dozen times. I might go again.

I love the North Beach neighborhood, with all of it’s Italian restaurants. I just like walking up Columbus Street. Many times I just decide to go into the first restaurant that invites me with a free sample. I’ve never been disappointed.

But, this trip will involve going to see the Walt Disney Family Museum. A child of the 60’s, and a frequent visitor to the theme parks named after Disney, this man shaped many memories from my youth, leading up to today. I’ve checked the reviews of the place and they’re glowing. I hope I don’t hear “It’s a Small World.”

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-02-10/entertainment/27740322_1_gallery-one-features-gallery-walt-disney-family-museum

things your parents never told you…..

2011-02-13T20:05:00.001-06:00

I live in an interesting family. We celebrated my dad’s 90th birthday today. The photo below shows my mom, who is 87 herself with my dad. They’ve been married 64 years.

So, as my brother, Doug and I are talking with my dad, Doug said something about my dad trading with Frank Lloyd Wright. So, I asked my dad about this.

And, of course, in his matter of fact, no big deal way, he said he traded two peacocks for a bull calf. Now, only in Wisconsin can this kind of thing happen.

perspective….

2011-02-13T08:46:00.001-06:00

As a youth, I remember thinking how weird happy people were. I mean, really, can anyone really be that happy?

And, why were they happy? I mean, really, people just chose to be happy? No way. They must be fakes.

But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned something, that I can choose the direction of my thought. I can choose to look at situations and determine which way I want to look things.

Now, I know there is mental illness, depression, social disorder and all of that. And, I know we all probably have some form of mental illness to varying degrees.

But, I also know that our happiness is not determined by what’s going on outside our bodies, but inside our brains. We get to choose our perspective. We get a chance to get it right.

I remember, as a child, reading Ivory Soap is 99.4% pure. Today’s newspapers might turn that to say Ivory Soap is .6% tainted. I choose the pure part as my message.

Sometimes it’s work to be happy, because it’s easy to dismiss others happiness with our own jealousy and bitterness, so we can feel better about ourselves.

It makes it so we don’t have to invest ourselves. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the good in a bad situation. But, we need to train ourselves to do it.

We need to train ourselves to find the bad as an opportunity for change, for good.

Yes, we can. Remember that?

I like to think of my brain as sort of a resort hotel. When I check in, I get to choose a room. Do I want the cheaper room with the view of dumbsters (spelling intended), or do I choose the ocean view for a few bucks more? I’ll take the view.

I know it sounds too simple. But it’s true. If I don’t invest in my own life and happiness, who will?

winners all….

2011-02-12T23:14:00.001-06:00

Every time I hear somebody talk about bad kids, I think about the kids that perform in show choirs, not because they are bad, but because they are completely the opposite.

We had our own little version of “glee” tonight at Fort Atkinson High School during the 16th annual Fort Showcase. Twenty show choirs from around the Midwest sang and danced their way into the hearts of the over 1000 people who attended.

The precision and energy of these groups is something to experience. I can’t explain it except to say that I had goose bumps, more than once, way more than once.

The cool thing about these performers is they root for one another. They cheer and dance and support each other. The winning choir’s biggest supporters were from the group that came in second. Now, how often does that happen? I’ll give you a hint. In show choir, all the time.

Congratulations go out to 10th Street Edition of Linn-Mar High School, Marion, Iowa as champions of this year’s Fort Showcase.

But, as I watched these performances, there was a feeling that everyone was a champion, that we all win when events and activities such as these are offered.

reinforcing my faith….

2011-02-12T15:18:00.001-06:00

I came upon an accident earlier today on Highway 26, a major two lane highway in southern Wisconsin. Apparently, the driver hit some black ice and careened across the road into a guard rail and came to rest there. That is what I know of the accident.

But, there is more. Upon arriving, and I arrived probably within a minute of the accident, there were six vehicles on the side of the road. There were people attending to the people inside the vehicle.

And then, one of the people at the scene took it upon himself to direct traffic, since the road was down to one lane, making sure everyone could get by safely.

So there you have it, one minute these people were passengers on the highway, on their way to who knows where, and the next they were taking care of their neighbors.

Thank you neighbors. Thank you for being the people I know you are. Thank you for being the best of who we can be. Thank you for reinforcing my faith in you. Thank you.

what a time to live…..

2011-02-10T10:08:00.001-06:00

My dad turns 90 on Monday.

While time has robbed him of his sight and ability to move the way he once did, he’s as lucid as he was 50 years ago, and uses his voice in simple, direct conversation that leaves no doubt where he stands. That we could all live the life he has would be a gift beyond our wants.

So, that life, that 90 years; what a remarkable time to be alive. Born in 1921, he’s seen roads turn from dirt to pavement, the depression from a child’s eyes, World War II, Korea, the Cold War and the falling of the Berlin Wall.

He remembers Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and has opinions on each.

He’s seen a man on the moon, Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr., The Beatles, Radio, Television, Computers and the Internet.

He’s seen polio almost eradicated and AIDS. He’s seen x-rays used to size shoes and MRI’s to see inside you.

He’s lived through Albert Einstein and Madam Curie.

He went from the party line phone to the cell phone.

He went from aspirated engines that needed cranking to start to fuel injected engines that can be started from inside the house.

He went from son, to husband, to father, to grandfather. His hair went from black to gray to now almost white.

And, yet, when you talk to him, he says it’s a blur, that life moved so fast that he wonders where it went, like some time lapse photography.

In his lifetime, there has been more change in the world than happened in the entire time of man.

He knows his time is close to an end, but he lives everyday the best he can. There is one thing that hasn’t changed in my 53 years of being his son. I’m proud to call him my father, my dad.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Lombardi…..

2011-02-06T11:17:00.001-06:00

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious. – Vince Lombardi

Today, a trophy with that man’s name on it will be awarded to the winning team in the Super Bowl.

Lombardi was consumed with excellence. He was a contradiction, a man who went to mass daily, but was a vicious, tireless competitor, who mowed down anyone in his way.

He believed in preparation, preparing to execute, preparing to survive, preparing to win.

There are only a few who could endure Lombardi, but those who did were prepared, not only for football, but life. His passion, his zeal, his preparation penetrated anyone who came close.

I had a chance to talk with Willie Davis, the Hall of Fame defensive end and captain to Lombardi’s teams. He, along with almost anyone else related to the Packers, is grateful, almost reverent when talking of Lombardi. Like that great teacher, he was able to reveal the greatness in all of his players.

But, in greatness, there was a great price. Lombardi’s family suffered his highs and lows. They suffered in defeat and reveled in victory.

He alienated his children and destroyed his wife. He was incapable of separating his family from his work. His expectations were high in all areas, not just his football team. In his mind, excellence was excellence.

In spite of that, for just one minute of my life, I would like to feel the passion of that man, to know what his level of commitment really feels like. I’m sure it’s a scary place.

making sense of the Wynn…

2011-02-05T09:46:00.001-06:00

I stayed at the Wynn in Las Vegas last week.

For those of you who have not been to Las Vegas, the Wynn is the successor to the Bellagio, the next of the super luxury hotels. In fact, the place was so luxurious, so over the top, it made me feel uncomfortable.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a nice hotel. I like a good, clean room, a comfortable bed, a good TV, maybe a nice restaurant on site.

What I don’t want is somebody offering me the unattainable, something that is beyond my understanding or wants.

Gold plated faucets and TV’s in the bathroom and matching bathrobes are nice, but they scream “You’re not worthy!”

I really don’t want to think a yogurt parfait and orange juice at $17 is normal. I don’t want to think a $300 tab for a dinner for four is OK. I don’t want to lose the value of how hard it is to make money and how easy it is to spend it.

So, next time I go to Vegas, I won’t stay at the Wynn, not because it’s not nice, but because it’s too nice. Does that make any sense?

the game…

2011-02-04T09:20:00.001-06:00

I’ve loved football all of my life. As a little kid, I played football everyday. I played in high school, college, family reunions, Sundays. It’s been part of me for as long as I remember.

And, as long as I remember, I’ve been a fan of the Green Bay Packers. One of my first recollections is buying a gold helmet at a garage sale for a quarter and putting “15” on the back of it, just like the pros. That was Bart Starr’s number. I changed it later to “23” for Travis Williams.

Football, especially Packers fans, is not so much about the game as it is about the bonding experience between fathers and sons. It’s a language we all know. It’s time we spend together. It’s something deeper.

The Packers are an organization that reflects the community. We like to think of ourselves as underdogs, people from a disrespected lot, wearing cheeseheads, eating bratwursts, drinking beer and dancing the polka. Instead of being insulted, we’ve decided to embrace what others see as unseemly.
We’re just a little weird.

The Packers play in the smallest community in professional sports, with a whole bunch of trophies, many against those big city teams from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and such. If ever there were a David and Goliath, Green Bay played the role of David very well.

Now, I’m not a colors-wearing, shirt-off-in-the-cold, painted chest, drinking ‘til I can’t see kind of fan. I love the game because it’s sort of a chess match with speed and power.

Games are played by appointment. TV makes them bigger than life. Slow motion and close ups takes a game that is played in microseconds by unimaginably large human beings and turns it into a brutal ballet.

As we all sit on our sofas, we coach and cajole, lean and lurch, feel our hearts race and fall. It’s a game we feel.

Maybe I’m a Neanderthal. Maybe I would have watched chariot races or the lions in the Coliseum. But, there is something compelling about competition, about something that isn’t scripted, with real speed and danger lurking in the background.

So Sunday, I will be watching. Go Pack!

a wake up call…..

2011-02-03T19:45:00.001-06:00

I wrote this blog a little over a month ago, but never posted it.

In the late 1980’s, I had a mobile phone. It came with a case and kind of looked like a real phone with a real curly cue cord. It was heavy, sort of like carrying your lunch box with a few meals in it.

I didn’t know too many people who had one, but I found it to really help in business, so I reluctantly spent the $1100 for the phone, plus the nearly $1 a minute cost to have one. I kept the calls short, but over the course of an average month, I spent about $1000.

I was in a field where staying in touch was worth real money, so it was worth it to me. The value of the call was greater than the cost. It helped to make me money. To most, it was an unaffordable luxury. To me, it was a necessity.

Now, in 1989, if you would have gone to the public and said to them, we need $810 million to build cellular towers for these phones that cost lots of money, more money than most people could afford, would you have been in favor of it? To most, the answer would be no, because there wasn’t a clear need at the time, and it would only be for the very few.

We just said no to that type of investment in turning down high speed rail. We’ve got our eyes on the past, with cheap gas and cheap cars compared to the rest of the world. We are afraid to move forward because of current cost, not understanding the future cost of not reducing our national appetite for cheap gas.

The high speed rail project is not about the 70 or so miles from Milwaukee to Madison. It’s about connecting the country to a bigger system.

It’s about not building more runways at airports. It’s about not building more highways. It’s about saving fuel, which will become geometrically more expensive as more people from around the world have access to automobiles.

We benefited in the short term with cheap vehicles and fuel. Just like the credit bubble, our transportation bubble is the same. Too many people will not be able to afford the real cost of the automobile.

I’m writing this blog while I’m in China for business. I was reading the newspaper today with three different headlines that underscore how different the world is from 21 years ago.

The first headline was about how GE (yes, that GE), was investing $50 million in a Chinese company, not because they were cheaper, but because they had the advanced technology to develop high speed rail in the U.S. You see, China is the world leader in high speed rail, not the U.S.

The second headline was about how the Chinese had just developed the world’s fastest super computer, not Cray Research, and they were doing engineering projects that used to require days to compute in just hours.

The third headline noted how the Chinese were on track to sell over 17.5 million new cars this year, breaking all sales records. One dealership in Beijing sold 15,000 cars in one month. They are actually implementing measures to slow down sales so they can catch up with their infrastructure.

The Chinese do projects that are unfathomable. In one province where there are geological issues with earthquakes, they are moving nearly 3 million people to safer places over the next decade.

This is not meant to be an advertisement for China, but a wake up call to us. We need to do better. For some reason, we seem to have forgotten John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address that implored us “to not ask what our country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

We need our leaders to step up with hard things, not promises to give us stuff if we vote for them. We need to think in bigger terms, not always “my” pocketbook. We need to stop running our country like some sort of ATM.

a promise….

2011-02-02T19:52:00.001-06:00

Last week I went to a dinner with friends, acquaintances and new friends in the furniture and design fields.

We came from everywhere. We all came with different resumes. I wrote about this last week, but there is more that I wanted to convey. This is Las Vegas dinner blog, part two.

It’s interesting to me that people who’ve never met, can find something that ties them together. Or, maybe, that’s natural, to find something, to search, to find something similar, some common ground.

There is something to be shared in every life. Even though we came from different corners of the world, we are the same. Our similarities are greater than our differences. And on that, we were able to build our bonds.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that all of the time? So often, we focus on our differences. We find reasons to be angry, to sling arrows, to throw stones. We bisect and dissect. We split and chop.

We watch TV and see dysfunction. We see Jersey Shore. We see what’s going on in Egypt. We see anger.

I’ve always been in the business of bringing people together, making deals. Success has always been dependent on putting myself in the other person’s shoes and delivering on a promise to improve their situation, not my own. When I do that, my situation almost always improves.

I think the same is true in relationships. When you give, you receive even more. Somehow, being selfless becomes selfish. Asking for nothing delivers everything.

So that is my message. Be nice. Think about the other person. And by doing that, you will be happy. I promise.

snow day…..

2011-02-01T19:26:00.001-06:00

We’re having a huge snowstorm. Winds are wailing away at 30 miles per hour. Over 15 inches of snow is expected. Our offices are closed tomorrow. Snow day you say? No way.

Technology has made it so work can be done anywhere, anytime. Each of us has a notebook computer that can patch into the company’s computer. We all have cell phones with conference capability. All of our tools are with us everyday.

So, hooky is out of the question.

In fact, because there is no commute tomorrow, I would imagine productivity could and should go up.

Snow days used to be a found vacation day, a day to do nothing, a reward for surviving the winter. Today, the only difference is the drive, and the ability to work without taking a shower, although I think I’ll take one anyway.

Now we hope for power outages. Is there such a thing as a power outage day?

a practical thinker……

2011-01-30T10:11:00.001-06:00

I remember when I decided I was going to go to the University of Wisconsin. I was going to be a writer, a journalist, Dan Rather, William Sapphire. I was going to be a lawyer, a regular Efram Zimbalist Junior. I know he wasn’t a lawyer, but what a cool name if we was….

So, I did something called Integrated Liberal Studies, a two year program for really smart people in the humanities, smart beyond my belief. I never felt I belonged, but I loved it, and I grew.

But, there were all of these smart people, from great places all over the world. I’d never been on an airplane. How did I belong to this group? People always said they were impressed with me, but I never saw it.

While I was in school, I worked. I worked in a nursing home in recreational therapy. I worked mostly with old people, getting them out into to community, normalizing their lives. To me, it was a practical thing. These people had lives before they got into the home. Wouldn’t they want to do the things before they got themselves into that situation?

So, I took them to things they did, not things we thought they should do. I took people into bars, shot pool. We played cards, went to community festivals. People had actual conversations with “regular” people. We went to games. We went to church. I felt like my job was to extend their real lives while they were in the nursing home. And, it worked.

But, back to school. I transferred to the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, not because I didn’t love Madison. But, Whitewater had a good journalism school with this great class in advertising. So, I went. And, I did well and…..

While I was in Whitewater, and Madison, for that matter, I was in contact with a company regarding a job. I contacted them once a month for three years. I was offered a job after my junior year (less than 10 credits short of graduation, and all major work completed) for $42,000 a year (this was 1979, in the middle of our great malaise). I took it.

I took it for a lot of reasons. It secured my future when futures didn’t look so great. I took it because I grew up on a farm and really never had a lot. I took it because it validated me.

Do I regret it? Sometimes.

I’ve had a great career, and I’m a lifelong learner. Learning doesn’t stop because you’re not in a classroom. I decided I could learn. I could use my curiosity to my advantage, and I have.

But, I still have those feelings of inadequacy, especially when I’ve been around accomplished people, thinking maybe I could be accomplished, too.

And then it comes to me. I am accomplished.

I guess those feelings never completely go away.

This is a completely different blog than I intended to write.

a post worth reposting…..

2011-01-29T05:18:00.001-06:00

26 miles, 385 yards (written Oct. 31, 2009)

That's the distance my daughter, Cortney ran for the first time in her life last Sunday morning at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. Amazing!

It isn't so much the distance or the time or really any of that. It's about the distance she has traveled as a person, the dedication to reach this goal, the effort and now the joy. The bucket list has one less item.

I've written before about her, about how the walls around her are dismantled brick by brick, how they become victims of her tenacity, her diligence, her patience, and ultimately, her victory. She has the mentality of the tortoise in a world of hares.

I excused myself from a business dinner Sunday night in China for a much more important appointment, to track her progress on the internet through a series of checkpoints, watching her match identical times between the first 15 kilometers and the second 15 kilometers, mirroring the consistency of her life. Each time a new time came up I smiled the proudest smile a father could have from 8,000 miles away.

Cortney has never been about being the best, just the best she can be. And isn't that all a person can ask for? Way to go, Cortney!

something singular…..

2011-01-28T08:17:00.001-06:00

Have you ever been in a situation and wonder “How did I get here?” That was me on Wednesday.

I was at a dinner in Las Vegas with several people from a design competition, but ended up with a small group that included Shashi Caan, Angelo Surmelis, Susan Inglis, Ed Baran and myself.

Shashi Caan – SC Collective

Shashi’s orginally from India and now lives in New York. Angelo was born in Germany, but is really from Greece, and now lives in New York and Los Angeles. Susan is from North Carolina. Ed is from Philadelphia and now lives in Los Angeles. I’m originally from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and now live in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

Susan Inglis - Executive Director SFC

You can Google any of them and get pages and pages of the great work they’ve done, the national and international awards, or the shows they’ve done, or the important things they’ve achieved.

Angelo Surmelis –TV Design Guy

I feel like I might have “faked” my way into this situation, but I’m glad to have been there. I remember saying, more than once, after hearing the credentials of people in this party, “I grew up on a turkey farm.” Seriously, I did. I am self-taught in the world of practical thinking. I am not a designer.

Publicist Ed Baran with Cher

So, what did we talk about, all of these important people, all of these people who do important things?

Love.

Not design? Not how everyone is important? Not “Look at me”?

So, here we are, from everywhere and every walk of life, talking about something singular. Even though we are all different, we all came back to the one thing that impacts all of us.

It was a great night.

time for a diet….

2011-01-26T08:03:00.001-06:00

With four percent of the world’s population, Americans use 25 percent of the world’s oil. T. Boone Pickens was a guest on “Morning Joe” and brought out that statistic.

We need to go on an oil diet. We’re the fat man at the buffet table pushing everyone else out of the way so we can get more. When the food runs out, we’ve determined we want more.

We no longer control everything, and soon we could control little, unless we make a lifestyle change.

a time to work…..

2011-01-23T07:38:00.001-06:00

It looks like our economy is beginning to stabilize. Many companies that were bleeding red are now beginning to show profits.

But, most companies that down sized, or “right sized” as we now say, are not hiring, or hiring at much lower levels than anticipated. They found out they can work with fewer people, and they will.

So, this leaves us with a nine percent unemployment compensation problem. What value are we as a society getting from those payments? And, really, what are the recipients getting?

I believe it’s time we ask those receiving unemployment to work, not in a punitive, orange jumpsuit way, but in the skill sets that people can offer.

I think it would reasonable to have people look at jobs that need to be done and match up people for those needs. That’s how temp agencies work.

And, if we ask people receiving unemployment to report for work 20 hours per week, there’s plenty of time to look for real work. It may also be incentive to get a job.

I believe working has its own rewards. There’s a lethargy about not working. People lose their edge. They lose their dignity.

We’re constantly being told there aren’t funds for fundamental services, yet we pay people to not work. It doesn’t make sense to me.

a glimpse of Cologne (Germany)….

2011-01-21T10:18:00.001-06:00

So you don’t like dead animal heads hanging from your wall.

a simple, round sheet of metal turns into a beautiful table. No tools, just cut and bend.

Who says blinds have to be boring?

these simple pieces turn into….

Walk this way….

We’ve seen this before, just not like this….

and PERFECTION…

I’ll show more later. But, I want to enjoy this first.

tone deaf….

2011-01-15T12:40:00.001-06:00

After the tragic slayings of Tucson last week, former presidential candidate and Governor Sarah Palin was vilified as one of the culprits in creating the environment in which this event could happen. Some people even said it was her fault.

While not a Sarah Palin fan, I felt the criticism went over the top, although the gun sight imagery was unfortunate at best and reckless at worst. Her approach of lock ‘n load is not that of a leader, but a cheerleader.

But, with all of that said, she didn’t pull the trigger, nor could she imagine what all of this meant. She doesn’t have the imagination or the leadership skills to look down the road, to see her message in all of the ways it could be sliced and diced. She’s an instant pep rally, but no leader.

Right after the shootings, she chose the right tone, the right message on her website. She was gracious. She seemed empathetic.

But, she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t leave it alone. She didn’t have the discipline to just shut up.

She had to make herself the center. She had to make herself the victim, even using the words “blood libel”. She’s just tone deaf.

an adventure…..

2011-01-15T10:05:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow, I head to the furniture fair in Cologne, Germany. I haven’t been there for a few years. I only go for a couple of days, but get a tremendous amount of information.

As I began to plan this show, it was apparent it was going to cost my left arm and other parts. I really wanted to keep the cost in just dollars and cents, something that made sense to me.

So, I started looking into transportation options, so I could fly into another airport, and then take the train. Europe is flush with high speed trains. I figured that out and made it so I could get to Cologne at a reasonable price, but the hotels were outrageous ($300-$500 a night), at least for me. I wasn’t going to pay that, but I wanted to go to the show.

So, I thought maybe I could stay in another city and just take the train. I was able to find a hotel in Brussels, which is a 90 minute train trip to Cologne. The hotel is a block from the train station in Brussels and the train station in Cologne is just a short walk from the show. Since I was only going to the show for two days, not a big deal.

So, why do I go through all of this stuff?

Because the Europeans are the best at making stuff that is multi-functional. They think differently than we do. And, it is important, at least to me, to have different perspectives when designing new products.

They also have the best student design show in the world. Cool doesn’t begin to describe what I get to see. The last show, I saw a lampshade that opened and closed like a window shade, changing the light in the room from reading to ambient. Simple idea. Simple product. Great idea.

So, I leave with an open mind, small notebook, camera, and comfortable shoes. I hope it’s great. Pictures will be forthcoming.

another idea on guns….

2011-01-14T12:50:00.001-06:00

Gun control. This is a topic that makes everyone crazy.

I live in an area where people use guns to hunt. It’s a tradition that’s gone on for years. And, it’s a tradition that will continue.

Generally, people who hunt are law abiding folks who shoot one, or a couple of rounds at a time. I don’t know of any hunters who go into the woods with a semi-automatic weapon and start blasting away. And, I don’t want to take their right to hunt away.

Some people want guns around to protect themselves and their property. That is a perfectly legitimate reason to own a gun. Constitutional constructionists always use the second amendment as the basis to own and carry firearms.

But, there is an argument out there that doesn’t make sense to me, and that is the “guns don’t kill people, people do” argument. But, I’ll even let that one go.

Here’s my idea. Tax the crap out of semi-automatic and automatic weapons. Tax them as personal property at a rate that would cost more than a house. Tax the magazines they come in. Tax the bullets that can be shot through them. Tax the business that sells them so they can’t afford to sell them. Put tariffs on the imports that make them impossible to sell. Tax, tax, tax.

That’s how we caught Al Capone.

the right touch…..

2011-01-13T08:17:00.001-06:00

President Barack Obama delivered an incredibly healing message for the nation last night.

In something that seemed more pep rally than memorial service, grieving parents, friends and siblings were forced to watch as dignitary after dignitary delivered their own message on what happened last Saturday in Tucson. It was sort of a “Field of Dreams” for political speakers. If you have it, they will speak.

There were two messages that resonated with me. One was from Daniel Hernandez, the intern who attended to Representative Gabrielle Giffords. He spoke of not being a hero, that other people deserved that label. He spoke without notes, eloquently and selflessly. It was refreshing to see. I felt so proud of him.

The other was from President Obama.

Coming to the dais after speech after speech, catcalls and shrieks coming from the rafters, the tone of the pep rally turned into the appropriate event.

With echoes of Ronald Reagan speaking after the Challenger crash, Obama set out to heal all those hurting. He spoke in terms of first names and nicknames, personalizing all of them, referring to them as our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers.

He spoke of the dead and their fullness of their lives, their hopes and dreams, and their commitment to each other.

He spoke of the everyday heroes who acted selflessly during the chaos of the moment, those who stepped up when others were going down, those who ran in when others were running away.

He spoke of healing and hearing each other, empathy for others thoughts and ideas.

Finally, he spoke of us living up to the dreams and expectations of nine year-old Christina Greene. With cameras focused on Christina’s parents, some good could come out of these tragic events.

The meaning of Christina’s life and death became magnified to something real, something significant, showing how a nine year-old held answers to problems that most adults couldn’t seem to fathom.

With the news of Gabrielle Giffords opening her eyes just moments before, Obama sought to have us not only open our eyes, but our hearts and minds and souls to the things that bring us together, instead of what tears us apart.

I was in tears.

Thank you Mr. President. Well done.

somebody….

2011-01-12T03:48:00.001-06:00

There’s an empty chair at Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson today. It’s the seat of nine year-old Christina Greene. What a tragedy.

I always think of the “what ifs” when I hear of a bright, young person dying before their time. I always wonder about the unrealized potential concealed in that person, the enduring gift inside that package.

I don’t just think about little Christina, but I think of it when somebody dies in a car accident. I think about it when somebody dies in war. I think about it when somebody overdoses on drugs. I think about it when somebody dies of cancer. I think about it when I hear of an abortion.

Somebody cured polio. Somebody founded Microsoft. Somebody painted the Mona Lisa. Somebody wrote the Declaration of Independence. Somebody stood up to Hitler.

Did one of these somebody’s have the cure for cancer? Did one of these somebody’s have the answer for global warming? Did one of these somebody’s have the answer for renewable energy? Did one of these somebody’s have the answer for conflict around the world?

What greatness did we lose?

We’ll never know.

What we do know is that somebody, in this case, decided to take all of this one person’s hopes and dreams and potential away.

What a waste.

just like them….

2011-01-09T05:50:00.001-06:00

I just read a post from a blogger friend that disturbed me. It was about the shootings in Arizona yesterday that left six dead and many others wounded. I also posted about this yesterday.

The foundation of the blog is the vitriolic nature of reporting and people who capitalize on division. People were blamed and names were named: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck.

Let it be said, I have no time for any of these people. They are transparent prostitutes for people’s minds and money. They don’t represent me. They like to blame others for our woes. They wrap themselves in the flag and offer judgment on what is “right” for America.

But, I’m not about to blame them for what happened yesterday. I can’t go that far. It would give them too much credit.

Yes, we are a divided country, but because we’ve allowed it to become that way. The networks report the way they do because we buy more soap when they act this way. We buy more bubblegum at the checkout when we see the rags talking about who’s sleeping with whom. Even NPR stepped across the line, reporting the death of a lawmaker without proper confirmation, hurrying to conclusion before the story was even completed. This is all reckless.

The news commentary shows all are run by political hacks, and I include Rush and Sarah and Glenn with Rachel and Keith. They all have agendas that should cause us to pause.

And, because one, or some, might espouse my political views, doesn’t make them speak for me. There isn’t one more noble than the other.

There has to be room for other ideas, other thoughts. The I’m right, and because of that, you’re wrong mentality has to go away. We cannot be at war with each other over ideas. We have to be bigger than that.

I can’t get into the mind of a kid who decided to load up his automatic weapon and start spraying death and pain around like it was some sort of movie.

Maybe he saw it in a movie. Maybe this was this person’s one shot at becoming famous, or infamous, or relevant, or remembered. Maybe he was tired of being nothing, and in others’ pain he could become somebody.

I don’t know. I’m numb.

No, I can’t even blame this on Rush and Sarah and Glenn. As much as I want to, it would make me just like them.

If we’re going to point fingers, let’s do it to the mirror, with each of us taking our measure of responsibility. Only then, will we be able to sort this out.

a step back….

2011-01-08T13:47:00.001-06:00

Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot and critically wounded this morning at an event at a Tucson, Arizona Safeway. Reports vary, but at least six people died, and more are injured.

There will be all kinds of speculation as to why this happened. But, one thing is for sure, the caustic nature of our political process, the 24/7 nature of reporting, and the hard edge of opinion makers make our way of government almost impossible.

There is no room for nuance. While the people inside the game know how it’s played, it’s the people on Main Street who watch in horror, without clear understanding of what’s going on.

When the red light on the TV camera goes on, the politician is an actor playing a role, sometimes slamming the opponent in public, but winking and nodding at the same time, and having a drink with that same opponent later in the day.

Most don’t understand the public versus private nature of the people who make laws. Most don’t understand that in many cases, the lawmaker postures and positions to prove a point. Most don’t understand that most lawmakers are like you and me.

In a time when unemployment is at an all time high. And, when, for many, the future looks bleak, all of this is personal, and events like what happened today occur.

It’s time we take a step back.

under God…..

2011-01-06T10:12:00.001-06:00

This post makes me a little nervous, but I think I’ll write it anyway.

In 1892, a Baptist minister named Francis Bellamy devised the “Pledge of Allegiance”.

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Over the next 50 years, the Pledge was changed to ultimately become the one that was recognized as the official pledge of our flag in 1942.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In 1948, “under God” was inserted in the Pledge as part of a Lincoln’s birthday celebration to commemorate the words being part of the Gettysburg address. This was done independently of the government during a Daughters of the American Revolution event.

In the ensuing six years, pressure was brought to bear to put “under God” into the Pledge until it was ultimately recognized in 1954.

Remembering the 1950’s, it was also the time of Senator Joe McCarthy and the communist witch hunts, the Cold War, bomb shelters, and the middle of the Korean conflict (never a declared war), and just after a great victory in World War II.

Putting “under God” into the Pledge was meant to let every country on earth know that the United States of America is under God, while they were not. We were the exclusive sponsors of God. In short, putting “under God” into the pledge was our way of “strutting our stuff”, using God as our “mascot”.

While I understand our forefathers, or at least most of our forefathers, arrived on our shores as a result of religious persecution, we never seem to recognize the real natives were never included in that conversation. We never to seem to recognize there are others with other beliefs, or none whatsoever.

We are all citizens of the Republic. We are all taxed the same, whether we believe or not. We are all expected to follow the rules of the land, whether we believe or not.

It makes me nervous when our government is involved in religion. It makes me nervous when religion becomes official. These are exactly the reasons why the Puritans came over in the first place.

There are examples all over history when the government hijacks God making the head of state also the head of a religion. Religion is a private relationship between God and the person, not the government and God.

I have no problem with the Pledge of Allegiance having the words “under God” in it. I do have a problem with the United States Government recognizing it as the official pledge. And, it makes me very nervous when our government, or a school, or a courthouse, or any public land or event, mandates its inclusion.

confusing foreign policy….

2011-01-02T14:26:00.001-06:00

I heard a couple of numbers that astounded me the other day. One was 3000. That is the number of 2010 drug fatalities in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso.

The other numbers were $40 billion and $150 billion. Those are the wholesale and retail numbers of the drugs passing from Mexico into the United States. $40 billion represents almost 5% of Mexico’s gross domestic product, greater than the impact of Wal-Mart on the US GDP.

Government statistics in Mexico also show over 22,000 drug related slayings over the past three years.

According to The Huffington Post, we’re spending $3.6 billion per month in Afghanistan for war that seems to be getting muddier and muddier as we go along. I’m not sure what the end game is, but we’re there spending and spending in lives and money.

While that is going on, we’re hell bent on building a fence to keep out the Mexican bad guys, the runners who look to escape poverty in their homeland. Otherwise, it seems like we’re hands off.

It seems odd to me that we are embroiled in conflicts around the globe when the greatest risk to our society lies south of our border.

Sometimes, our foreign policy confuses me. Shouldn’t we be fighting the enemies who immediately impact us? How are the drug cartels different than the Taliban?

5 words…

2011-01-02T12:37:00.001-06:00

I love sports. I love how it gives us hope. I love how it makes us cheer. I love how it makes us think. I love how it unites us.

For those who never played sports, it’s tough to understand the concept of running until you throw up. It’s tough to understand the brutality. It’s tough to understand why people would do things to their bodies that will always hurt.

Sports, for many, is the great divide. It’s the place where learning occurs. It’s the place where what you do affects more than you. It affects the person next to you. It’s a place where your success or failure has real impact.

For those who never played, it’s easy to think that sports is unimportant, that nothing is really gained or lost on the athletic field.

I was a very good student, a straight “A” achiever in the classroom. But, no teacher ever made me lead like the athletic field. No class ever made me accountable to the person next to me. No school ever demanded the excellence of the athletic field. Nobody ever made me commit the way my team did. And, no teacher ever asked me to trust the person next to me for my success.

Leadership. Accountability. Excellence. Commitment. Trust.

an odd life…

2010-12-30T10:51:00.001-06:00

I slept until 8:30 this morning. That never happens.

My day usually begins around 4:30. I turn on MSNBC for “Way Too Early” and “Morning Joe”. I usually go over emails that came in overnight, try to answer them, and get adjusted to the day. I’m not a snooze alarm person. When I’m awake, I’m awake.

Because most of our work is done in China, I can still get things done in real time, not the next day. They’re 13 or 14 hours ahead of us, depending on standard or daylight time. It sounds crazy, but we can save a ton of time just communicating on the same day. So, I check in with them.

Then, depending on whether I’m traveling or not, I either take a shower and get out the door between 6:30 and 7:00, or I just keep working until I run out of immediate things to do. Some days, that goes until 10:00 or later.

If I’m traveling, I put in some earbuds and start making calls, starting at about 7:30 on the east coast, and I make calls westward as the time goes on. I usually get to the office by 9:00.

So, for those of you who wonder what I’m doing, and why I have so much information; this is why.

What an odd way to work and live.

going up?…….

2010-12-29T05:50:00.001-06:00

On the topic of gas at $3.10, we are currently at historically high prices for this time of year. While speculators might be involved, and demand in the U.S. is down, worldwide demand for oil is at an all time high and there really is no end in sight.

Many of you know I travel to China on a frequent basis. Demand for raw materials, including oil, is growing exponentially in China. For calendar year 2010, they will sell 17.5 million new cars, up from around 15 million last year. Bill Starke would like to know that one dealership in Beijing sold 15,000 cars in November. In fact, the Chinese government is now placing higher tariffs on new vehicles to slow down sales.

As emerging markets continue to mature, more and more pressure will be put on commodities, including oil. The middle classes of China and India are now both larger than that of the U.S. The sheer numbers involved in Asia are stunning.

Interestingly enough, significant efforts to find alternatives for oil are not happening in the "developed" United States, but in the emerging China, with over $1 trillion earmarked for renewable energy research and development. Silicon Valley companies are now partnering with Chinese counterparts instead of the U.S. government, or U.S. investors because they are not only willing, but demanding new energy solutions.

While $3.10 seems expensive, it is only the tip of the iceberg. The price will only go higher.

cheetos…

2010-12-26T09:40:00.001-06:00

Uff Da!

Remember that?

Or, Yada-Yada-Yada?

I don’t believe I ever used those words, at least in serious conversation. Mrs. Kohls would have killed me.

For some reason, I’ve always felt that these kinds of words or phrases undermine the English language, that they are words of the moment, unimportant, simple, sometimes even ignorant.

Am I being a prude? Maybe. But, the language, to me, is this incredible buffet of precise thoughts, an opportunity to not only convey meaning, but feeling.

I think of words being filet mignon, catfish, risotto, baguettes, champagne, beer, a complex mixture of tastes and textures. English can be a wonderfully elegant, acerbic, direct, complex, simple language.

The available words in our dictionary seem limitless, yet we choose to use the Cheetos of the English language. Uff Da!

a small world….

2010-12-26T08:43:00.001-06:00

I remember as a kid, my dad used to tell me that if I dug deep enough, I could reach China.

Growing up in Jefferson County, where a trip to Madison was cause for us to check the oil and make sure the tires were good, things have changed a lot for me over the years.

My first trip on an airplane happened as a result of a job. I went to Knoxville, Tennessee to go to work with The Berkline Corporation. Never did I think it would lead to this.

Today, I travel at the drop of a pin. Last week, I booked travel to Brussels, Belgium to attend a trade fair in Cologne, Germany, about 120 miles away. A grand adventure? No, a three day business trip.

Stay in Cologne? Not for me. I’ll take high speed rail from Brussels to Cologne and be dropped off walking distance from the fair. Are you kidding me? And, I’ll be in Las Vegas three days after I get back.

I left Shanghai (the one in China) about 10 days ago at 5:00 p.m. one afternoon and arrived in Chicago at 4:00 p.m. the same day. I got home earlier than I left? Yup! If I kept flying, I could have a “Back to the Future” experience.

After I got back from China, I flew to Roanoke, Virginia to visit my daughter and watch a football game. A day later, I shipped off to Salt Lake City, Utah for business….for a day.

In 1900, a trip to Chicago from Fort Atkinson was probably more difficult and exotic than the trip to Shanghai today.

As I do all of this travel, it’s very clear to me that the world is a single place. It’s not such a big place anymore. We are all people of the planet, not from one country or another. Countries are just addresses.

All of this travel shows me that people from everywhere have wants and needs. Everyone has hopes and dreams. I feel a lot less them and they and a lot more we and us. We’re all pretty much the same.

I hope, as we move forward, we begin to realize this, and we have to find a way to get along. We have to learn how to play nice with each other. It’s necessary for the survival of the planet.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”

a new day…..

2010-12-26T07:04:00.001-06:00

Earlier this year, something happened that I never thought could happen. People from another country bought more new cars than the people from the United States. And, this year, that number will grow some more. And, next year, it will grow some more. China.

China just passed Japan as the second largest economy in the world. A year earlier, they passed Germany. Their growth is in double digits. They will pass us in less than 20 years. And with that growth, they will need resources.

A couple of years ago, we saw what it was like to have gas prices above $4 a gallon. We haven’t begun to see where these prices will go, but I will guarantee you that the $4 number will be a bargain.

We are entering a new time, a time when the United States no longer controls the flow of all resources. That mantle is being passed to China. They have an economy that demands commodities at any cost. They are beginning to control the mines in Africa for copper. They are making deals with rogue countries for oil. They have something we all need, excess cash, over a $1 trillion a year. They don’t pay interest, they receive it.

While we are spend our time fiddling like Nero, they are planning. They aren’t devious. They just have a lot of people to feed. They are doing what any responsible society does, take care of their own.

And, next door, India has a billion more with the same agenda.

So, today, we have decisions to make. Do we continue operating like nothing is changing? Do we continue not to heed the warning signals that oil, no matter how plentiful, will have to be shared with countries with bigger appetites than ours? Do we not understand that conserving oil, or not getting more efficient with our resources is a national security risk?

Drill baby, drill is not an answer. It’s a punch line. And, it’s not funny. It’s a new day.

O Holy Night…..

2010-12-24T09:33:00.001-06:00

In the late 70’s, I used to go with friends to the Fireside Restaurant with friends and my eventual wife, Carol. They had a place called the East Room, and then moved the entertainment to a new place called the Showplace Lounge. There was always a group who liked to dance and just hang out.

One of the reasons we liked going there was a combo consisting of Jerry and Rick Bisbee. Rick could play the keyboards like nobody’s business and Jerry could sing. Oh, could he sing!

We got to be good friends with both of them. I’d see Jerry at lunch and we’d each have a sandwich, talk a little business and go back to work. He was upbeat, always positive. I’d probably see him twice a week.

Rick and I played tennis together. We also coached a baseball team, went to concerts, double dated, and just became good friends. Rick sang at our wedding in 1980. I’ve lost track of Rick. The last I heard he was playing in Las Vegas. I don’t know where.

The reason I bring all of this up, and why I’m writing this is because I just saw Josh Groban’s rendition of “O Holy Night” on the internet. It’s beautiful.

But, more beautiful to me was going to midnight mass and hearing Jerry sing it. I wish I could share it with you. I wish you could hear what I heard.

Jerry died about 20 years ago from a neurological disease. His widow, Michelle still lives in the area. Every time I see her, I think of him, and I think of those midnight masses.

Christmas lost some luster for me since then. The beauty of a single voice, dominant, yet gentle, filling a church, lifting the souls of many from a single note is something I still think about today.

Merry Christmas Michelle. Merry Christmas Rick. Merry Christmas Jerry.

hair today, gone tomorrow….

2010-12-22T11:37:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with my son Alex for a talk.

He’s 21, and he’s losing his hair. It really bothers him. And, it bothers me because it bothers him. He’s bought Rogaine to try and slow down it’s advance, or decline, depending on how you look at it. He cuts it in different ways to hide its effects. And, he looks at me and thinks about the eventual outcome. He’s made being bald his enemy.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want an enemy I’m going to have to face the rest of my life.

God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

And, this is the discussion we had. I asked him to think about what’s important, I mean really important. Does hair really fall into that category?

I asked him to accept this part of him and to start challenging himself in areas with better probable outcomes.

I know it bothers him; I get that. I went through it myself. But, for me it was easy. I was able to accept this and make it part of what makes me who I am.

I asked him to fight the battles he can win. I asked him to not only accept, but embrace those things he cannot change, like his loss of hair. I told him, if he could, he would be happier.

And really, that is what this was all about.

the best gift….

2010-12-22T07:41:00.001-06:00

I arrived at the Salt Lake City airport very late last night. I was in town for meetings with Overstock.com, our online retail partner.

When I reached the security area, I was struck by all of the people, whole families, holding signs scribbled with messages of homecoming, smiling, hugging, crying, loving each other as passengers filed into baggage claim. It wasn’t a few, but many, and it was touching.

This is a time when many can’t come home. They are scattered about the globe fighting our fights, defending our way of life, and separated from the ones they love. They also deserve these signs, these hugs and smiles and tears.

As we celebrate the holiday season, keep a good thought for those fighting for you.

And, as Christmas time arrives, remember to hug those close to you. Remember to say you love them. There isn’t a better gift than that.

survival…..

2010-12-22T07:40:00.001-06:00

No great civilization has ever survived it's own prosperity" . ... destructive to the humans: Success, plenty, comfort and ever-increasing leisure. No dynamic people has ever survived these dangers."

I didn’t think up this quote. But, I think it applies to our society now, more than ever before.

As a society, we feel we are entitled to more, more than any people, more than any civilization in history. And, when we got more, we wanted even more than that. We are used to it.

So, when it comes time to pay for all of this stuff, we use our credit card, because, even though we don’t have the money, we are entitled to it. It’s our birthright.

It seems we elect our leaders because they offer to give us stuff, without any idea of how to pay for it. It doesn’t matter if you’re Republican, Democrat, or some other affiliation, our leaders have turned into sellers of magic elixirs, promising to cure all of our ailments. We want. They pander to our wants.

John F. Kennedy’s plea to “ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, wouldn’t get him third place in an Iowa primary, but it might be the message necessary for today.

We’ve lived a fairytale existence on the backs of our children. The credit card is at its limit and it’s time to pay up.

Are we up to the challenge?

fathers and daughters….

2010-12-19T14:44:00.001-06:00

I went to a football game yesterday in Salem, Virginia. My daughter, Cortney, who lives near Washington, D.C., drove nearly four hours to see me before the game.

We spent most of the day just talking, riding around, eating, just hanging out. We were just together.

I’ll visit her periodically when I’m on the east coast on business, or sometimes without business attached. She comes home a few times a year. But, in most of those cases, there’s always other people around. This was just her and me.

She’s all grown up now. She has her own life. She has her own dreams. She’s on her own.

But, none of that changes the fact that she’s my daughter. The fact she drove four hours to see me makes me proud, humbled, and incredibly emotional. I’ll never forget it.

the truth is…..

2010-12-18T05:17:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I saw where a Bernie Madoff investor agreed to return $7.2 billion of the money paid to her as part of the Ponzi scheme Madoff employed over the past two decades.

While this scam has been described as a $65 billion ripoff, the actual amount invested was closer to $20 billion, with nearly half of the original investments being recovered to date. The other $45 billion were the fictitious gains as part of the scheme.

Along with the reporting of the $65 billion, there were also reports that returns were astronomically high, implying that investors should have known something was up. So, why do the news media continue to call the scheme $65 billion if they think the number is a lie?

The $65 billion was and is a lie. But, that number is way more sexy than $20 billion, as if $20 billion isn’t enough to have a big story.

It seems as though the standard for reporting comes from The National Enquirer with big pictures and partial truths. It seems as though we need to make the story fit the headline, not the other way around.

Another example of this would be the $785 billion bailout of financial institutions, as if the money is gone. It’s not. These were loans, with interest. And, we will recover all but $25 billion, a big number, but a small price to pay compared to the potential cost to the economy. We never heard that reported.

Our news media are always holding everyone’s feet to the fire, except their own. The truth is Madoff took in $20 billion. The truth is investors will recover at least $10 billion. The truth is Madoff funded his lifestyle with other peoples money, but not $65 billion. The truth is Bernie Madoff is in jail for the rest of his life, not 165 years. The truth is the bailout will cost us $25 billion, and probably less, not $785 billion. The truth is hard to find in the news.

a necessary trip….

2010-12-17T07:09:00.001-06:00

I’m headed to Salem, Virginia to watch a football game. Really, I am.

I’m going by myself. But, my daughter, Cortney, who lives in the Washington D.C. area, will be coming by to visit with me. This wasn’t planned, but it certainly is a bonus, a big bonus.

A while ago, I decided I was going to do things. My life has revolved around work for such a long time and things were passing me by, mostly without me. I was a spectator on the outer edges, a voyeur to life. That isn’t going to happen anymore.

So, why this football game? I don’t know. It’s the national championship of two small college football teams, teams very few people know. I think that’s part of the appeal to me, going to an event that feels personal, not dominated by outside forces to make it an “event”, sort of “hometownish”.

I like football, not in a rah-rah, loudmouth way. I don’t drink. I don’t wear the jerseys. I don’t paint my face. Hell, I don’t even cheer. I just watch and think about the game. I like the drama, the strategy, the chess part. I guess I just like to figure out stuff.

And, while I’m watching a game, I’m not thinking about how to fit a sofa in a box, or fabric content, or why something is or isn’t selling. I’m just a guy sitting out there in a cold place, in Michelin man clothing, solitary in my thoughts. That feels good to me.

So, I’m going to board a plane, fly 700 miles and watch a football game. For some, that sounds foolhardy. For me, it’s necessary.

a balancing act…..

2010-12-16T04:34:00.001-06:00

Over the past few decades, America has seen it’s trade deficit and tax revenue shortfall expand exponentially. In short, we are addicted to low cost goods and oil, and don’t have the money to pay for necessary social programs, roads, wars, education, and medical treatment.

We need to understand that all goods imported into this country have a social cost, like goods that are made here. Goods made in the U.S. are subject to taxes, work rules, environmental rules, and so on. Eventually, all goods need to be disposed of, or cleaned up, often at public cost.

Imported goods don’t pay for education, medical insurance, social security, roads, wars, environmental clean up, and so on.

We need to have tariffs that reflect that cost. Maybe a formula would be to look at our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), our total cost of government (COG), divide the GDP/COG and come up with a percentage. Simply stated, if the GDP is $14 trillion and the COG $1.4 trillion, the tariff on imported goods would be 10% across the board. Imported oil would have this tariff added to the already imposed state and federal taxes.

Approximately $2 trillion worth of goods are imported into our country on an annual basis, meaning the social cost would be $200 billion, no small piece of change.

An additional benefit would be to balance the playing field between domestic and imported goods by balancing the cost of doing business. I don’t blame businesses going to where they can be most efficient and competitive; that is their job. If the U.S. is the most competitive place to manufacture, producers will make their products here.

Yes, imported goods would go up in price, and almost everything we buy has some import element to it. But, if we’re looking at a “flat” world, our policies need to reflect the real cost of doing business, no matter where products are manufactured.

new stuff….

2010-12-05T21:40:00.001-06:00

Well, it’s time for another trip to China. For me, this is my Christmas morning, my chance to develop new ideas and products to bring to market. I really like the idea of doing things that have never been done before.

This trip, we’re going to be working on some ideas to make our products extend their function and value. I’m not going to expose more than that. But, suffice it to say, I love multiple function products, and this will build on that.

And, I love the idea of having people “get” what we’re doing.

As I look at the marketplace, we live differently than we did even 10 years ago. We, as manufacturers, need to take into consideration how people live.

If you look at a sofa, it’s pretty much the same as it was over 100 years ago. In that time, we’ve developed the automobile, telephone, radio, television, computer, microwave, air conditioning, the remote control, cell phone, almost every item we use today.

So, it would only make sense to make products that reflect where we are as a society. We’ll see where this goes.

it’s personal….

2010-12-05T07:50:00.001-06:00

Bob Woodward was a panelist the other day on “Morning Joe”, the MSNBC political show. He was asked about what was wrong with the Obama administration.

He proceeded to talk about how he had seen the play “Lombardi” the other night. He said there is no “Lombardi” in the Obama administration.

Lombardi was tough, a taskmaster who thought of excuses as character flaws. He saw failure as unacceptable. He believed in keeping things simple, but executing to perfection. He believed in personal commitment, a 100% effort. Anything less was failure.

He said Lombardi made things personal. He made blocking and tackling and running the ball and passing and catching personal. He made it about you and your responsibility. It wasn’t your play that let the team down. It was you.

I thought about that for a while. What did Woodward mean? I mean, I like President Obama. He says the right things. I know he’s trying the best he can. He’s careful with his words so he doesn’t offend.

This is what bothers me. He doesn’t get dirty. He won’t commit. He won’t confront the bully on the block. He doesn’t have that “thing” that makes you want to play for him. I couldn’t see him being a coach of a football team. I couldn’t see him on the battlefield. He plays it safe.

He reminds me of the guy who brings the acoustic guitar to a party, the person the girls feel all warm and fuzzy about. He’s the seashells and balloons guy Al McGuire used to talk about.

Hope and Change will only come with personal commitment, a willingness to put one’s soul on the line, a willingness to make it about him, a willingness to lose everything over something he believes. It must be personal.

You don’t broker that.

It’s hard to explain. It’s a gut feeling.

am I needed?…..

2010-12-03T20:59:00.001-06:00

I’m 53 today. It’s my birthday.

I say this not to get birthday wishes, although they are nice. I say this to tell about how I normally think about birthdays and their importance to me.

I use a birthday to take inventory of myself, sort of how other people use New Years Day. Am I happy? Am I relevant? Am I needed?

Those are the things that matter to me today. Happiness is coming much more easily than it ever has. I think getting older, you learn not to sweat the small stuff. The truth is easier to tell because it is what it is. You worry about what’s really important, friends, family and health.

Relevance used to mean the size of my house, the car I drove, the size of my paycheck and my stature in the community. Today, it means that I really must contribute to make things better. I can be relevant by just holding a door, or helping someone to a car, or just being there at the right time. Being relevant is not having more, but giving more.

Needed. This is where I struggle. It’s hard to know if you’re needed or wanted. For me, because most of my time is spent away, most people have figured out how to live life without me.

So, that becomes something that I need to work on. I want people to count on me. I want them to think of me as the first call, not the insurance call if all else fails. It stings a little when somebody needs help and they don’t think of me.

I never knew that about myself until this particular birthday.

So, there you have it, my inventory of 53 years.

a friend lost….

2010-12-03T11:54:00.001-06:00

My dad lost a friend today. He never met him in person. But, he was there by his side for 162 games a year. He’s Ron Santo, broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs.

Santo died of cancer, but that wasn’t his only health issue. Complications from diabetes took both his legs. He fought his disease and never complained. He went to work everyday, even when he didn’t feel well. He was one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever seen. I never met him, either. But, I knew him. I did.

Dad has two radios, one tuned to the Brewers games and the other to the Cubs. He just loved when Santo would groan over a misplayed ball, or a strike out. He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, he put it on yours. He made you care. My dad wasn’t a Cubs fan, but he loved Santo. That’s why he listened.

There’s a special place for people like Ron Santo. For 70 years, he gave all he had. He loved people. He loved life. But, most of all, he love the Cubs. We will miss him.

another failure….

2010-12-03T09:49:00.001-06:00

Our house is too big. We’ve lost our job. We’ve borrowed all we can against everything we own. We’ve borrowed against the 401K. We’ve put a second on the house. We’ve run up our credit cards. Now it’s time to sell the furniture. Eventually, we’ll end up with a big house we don’t own, no furniture and no future. And, we’ve made promises to everyone with no way to pay.

It might be time to get a smaller house. But, we’ve always had a big house. We deserve a big house. It doesn’t matter that we can’t afford it. And, what will the servants do?

It’s time to think of our government as a house that is too big with too many servants. It’s too cumbersome. It has ceased to serve us. Instead, we have to work to serve it.

The government has the ability to make change. In fact, they showed General Motors how to do it. They just don’t want to do it themselves.

Today, the debt commission report headed by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson failed to get enough votes to proceed to action by Congress. This sort of failure is not acceptable. We have to do better.

helpless…..

2010-12-02T09:57:00.001-06:00

It seems like I’ve been writing a lot about life and death lately. I’m going to do it again…sorry.

My dad had an “episode” over the weekend. I got a call from my mother asking me to come out. She thought Dad had a stroke. He couldn’t stand up, but seemed fine otherwise.

When I got there, my mother was confused, something I’d never seen before. She was trying to hold it together, and she was trying to help, but the obvious was staring at her. And, she was trying to stare it back.

My dad was coherent and had strength in both hands and could do some basic things. I asked Mom if Dad would ride in an ambulance. The answer was clear, “absolutely not”.

So, I proceeded to bear hug carry him to my car. He wasn’t afraid. He was more upset that he had become a “nuisance”, something he could never foresee himself becoming. I told him it was time he accepted help, the help he’s been giving us all of these years.

I got him to the emergency room and they began to do tests. It wasn’t a stroke, but just a matter of being dehydrated and an infection. He was going to be fine.

What I didn’t expect were the overwhelming emotions that came over me when I left the hospital. I was paralyzed.

I’d never felt so helpless. While the outcome was good, the feelings of helplessness were real.

In my world, you fix things when they’re broken. You work harder. You think harder. But, you fix them. This was one thing I couldn’t fix.

a vision to the future….

2010-12-02T09:03:00.001-06:00

What is the unique selling or product proposition? That is the question I ask myself before we get involved in any project or product we expect to advance.

What does that mean?

It means we need to be unique, a leader in some facet of the process. It could be price. It could be design. It could be comfort. It could be anything. But, it has to be something.

That is a question I find myself asking about our country on the world’s stage.

The Germans have figured out their unique selling proposition. It is precision. In many cases, they are not selling products based on price. On the contrary, their products are some of the most expensive in the world. In most cases, they make the machines that make other things. They have to be precise and of very high quality.

The Chinese have figured out their unique selling proposition. It is price. Because of their surplus of cheap labor and low cost structure, they are able to successfully compete on the world’s stage by offering products people can afford.

The Japanese have figured out reliability and value. They make products that are consistently good at prices most people can afford. They are not the cheapest, nor the most expensive, but they give value.

This leads me to the American unique selling proposition. Over the past century, ours has been innovation, seeing the future and making products that fit future demand, creating markets where none existed, creating products we never knew we needed. It is our vision that has created our unique selling proposition.

There seems to be a shift going on in the balance of these unique qualities. The Chinese have figured out that they cannot continue to be the leader only in price. It is fundamental in their future.

In the world of energy, they have figured out they cannot be a slave to foreign energy. So, they have embarked on an ambitious plan to be the leader in renewable, green energy, the holy grail of commerce in the world. And, they are funding it at a level never seen before, over one trillion dollars.

If they are successful, they will become the visionary, the leader of future thought. Since their government model doesn’t leave room for the spotted owl or the lawsuit, they will move very efficiently.

And, if China is the visionary, the leader, the innovator, what do we have to offer?

the truth about war…..

2010-12-01T00:46:00.001-06:00

I spent two hours last night watching “Restrepo”, a real life war movie/documentary placed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.

Everything in the movie is real, the life, the death, the fighting, the fear, the laughter and the tears. It is uplifting and devastating at the same time.

To see a real person killed in action, not by something blowing up, but by getting hit by a silent bullet, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, buddies around inconsolable, weeping, crying out, wanting anything but what is in front of them. It is more than anyone should bear.

This movie doesn’t judge. It reveals. It shows you that war isn’t a video game. It shows you that war is day to day. It shows you the camaraderie of fellow soldiers. It shows you the bond of brothers in action.

These people are young. They are not monsters. They are our sons, fighting a fight that isn’t of their making, but doing their best nonetheless.

“Restrepo” is worth seeing.

it goes on…..

2010-11-12T05:10:00.001-06:00

I can see it in their faces every time I visit. When will it be their time? When will one of them die or become disabled? When will their lives change forever, and not for good?

The events of this week, and really, the last few years, underscore how cruel it can be for those given the gift of a long life. My parents have been given that gift.

Attending funeral after funeral and hearing about friend after friend being incapacitated by something out of their control can weigh heavily on ones mind. They talk about “good” deaths and “bad” deaths, hoping for the first and dreading the other.

I’m sure they feel like one of them may be the next ping pong ball to drop, with fewer in the basket to choose from each day. It’s inevitable, sort of like God’s lottery tapping anyone of age and telling them their life is over.

Conversations in my life tend to focus on my kids or work. My parents conversations sometimes tend to focus on who died, who used to be there, who will be next.

Luckily my folks have the stock market and sports and family, something to do everyday. And, they have each other.

Mom and Dad are invested in the market. They follow it like anyone would follow a football game. There are winners and losers. There’s something to track, something to do. My mother knows more about football than I do, and I think I know a little.

They do the best they can. They are optimistic. They stay active. They work at being relevant. They’re good at it.

But, this week was different. Like a child in the middle of the night, I could sense the fear, the not knowing, the being out of control, the loss of someone like them who was relevant, the stranding of another without her partner, the change of life, forever.

honor our heroes….

2010-11-10T10:03:00.001-06:00

Nothing in my life will ever measure up to the sacrifice of Sgt. Neil Duncan.

I met Neil at a conference at Overstock.com last March. In speaking with him, you’d never know he gave up two legs, and years of his life in rehabilitation as a result of his defense of this country. He moves briskly. His halting walk tells something of his tale, but not nearly all of it.

He doesn’t want to thought of as handicapped. He won’t park in those special spaces. He refuses to give up on being normal. He won’t give in. He climbs mountains and runs marathons on prosthetic legs.

Neil is anything but normal. He is more. He refuses to be the victim. He will be the victor. Take a look at his video at Overstock.com.

http://www.overstock.com/woundedwarriorproject

After that meeting, our company, Handy Living made a decision to support the Wounded Warriors Project. It was really no decision at all. It was our duty.

We may all have differing opinions on war and its cost. But, we cannot do anything but support our veterans.

On this Veterans Day, take a moment to reflect on how these heroes have made our lives possible.

Thank you.

a good man….

2010-11-09T20:24:00.001-06:00

“Hello Thomas!”

That was the greeting I got every time my Uncle Marvin would see me. My Aunt Ruth would say “There’s Thomas Charles Erdman,” and then would go on to tell the story of how I would call myself Thomas Charles Erdman to anyone who cared, really anyone at all who would listen.

Uncle Marvin suffered a devastating stroke last night.

I’m not sure how to describe a man as good as Uncle Marvin, and the impact he’s had on our family.

Acting as sort of the family historians, Uncle Marvin and Aunt Ruth would get the family together at reunions, organize games, make sure there were eggs and spoons for the egg race, or bags for the three legged race. And, there were always prizes.

Our last reunion was last year, the one he and Aunt Ruth said would be our last. We didn’t know how prophetic that statement would be. The above picture is my niece Mariah with Uncle Marvin from the reunion.

There was always laughter when they were around and they gave great parties. They had a pool table in their basement. And, they lived near a ball field. There was always a softball game or pool game played.

Uncle Marvin was always positive, always encouraging, always interested. He never made you feel small. Even as a child, he treated me with the respect you would expect to treat an adult. He never talked down to me.

Uncle Marvin and Aunt Ruth spent winters with my folks in Lake Havasu, Arizona. They were always there for my folks. They’ve been friends and relatives for nearly 60 years.

It doesn’t look good for Uncle Marvin. We will pray for you.

role models…

2010-11-07T01:12:00.001-05:00

I visit my folks at least once a week. They’re in their upper 80’s now, with my dad being 89 and my mom a month away from 87.

They’re pretty remarkable people, mentally very sharp. I can have more pointed, nuanced discussions with them than most people I’m around. We talk a lot of politics. We talk about the Catholic Church and its problems. We talk about abortion. We talk about my work. We talk about everything.

My mom always has root beer. I love root beer, and she knows it. Normally, she has some diet form of whatever’s on sale. But, last week, she bought something special, IBC. She said she wanted to make sure I’d come visit. It was a bribe.

She just got a cat. His name is Thomas (after me). My dad doesn’t like cats, at least not that he’ll admit to, and for sure, not in the house. She’s been sneaking him in a little bit at a time. Pretty soon, I’m guessing he’ll be a full time resident.

Thomas trolls the neighborhood at night. I’m wondering if my mom thinks I do the same thing.

Dad’s almost blind. He can see light and dark, mostly shadows. He’s fought cancer a few times. And, we’ve almost lost him once or twice.

The other week, my mom asked if I could give her a ride to the body shop to pick up her car. She got rear-ended by somebody while she was pulling into her driveway. It wasn’t serious.

Since my dad can’t see, I told him that the damage to the front of mom’s car wasn’t too bad, and that the body shop did a nice job. He was in on the joke in a second and started teasing my mom about old people driving and having their drivers licenses taken away. He said he was going to have to start driving her around for her safety.

He doesn’t like it when you talk about how well he’s handling things, and his positive outlook on things, like he’s Nelson Mandela or something. He asks, “What choice do I have? These are the facts and there really isn’t an option.”

He chooses to be happy. They choose to be happy. The only option, in their minds, is to make the best of it. Live the life that’s been dealt at the best of your ability.

A lot of people say that in words. They do it in deeds.

not so smart….

2010-11-07T01:00:00.000-05:00

I pay for HBO for one show, Bill Maher’s Real Time. It’s appointment TV for me.

Maher is whip smart. He is quick with the acerbic quip, the remark that makes you recoil, a little snarky and not so cute. He’s also liberal with a capital L, small L, sideways L, and upside down L. He doesn’t pretend to be objective.

He’s not afraid to bring on opposing viewpoints, people who are smart, people who are willing to put themselves out there. With a panel of three people from all walks of life, his lively panel discussions often get a little raucous and a more than a little blue. Sailors would feel very comfortable at this table.

Last night, Maher had Bill O’Reilly as a guest, yes, that Bill O’Reilly. Determined not to be the lamb led to slaughter, O’Reilly stood up and made Maher look intolerant. While Maher was offering cynical comments, O’Reilly offered legitimate (I’m not kidding) comment on several topics. I was stunned at the effectiveness of O’Reilly and how small Maher looked.

I don’t know if this is how Maher intended this to look. In the past, there has always been room for other perspectives and intelligent discussion. He seems to have lost that ability.

I think he should relook at this show and see how he can get his “mojo” back. I felt like I was watching Keith Olbermann. He’s better than that.

lessons learned…..

2010-11-06T06:10:00.001-05:00

I’m 52.

I remember how my parents have always said how life races by. I think I first heard it when I was 16. I think my dad had a sore shoulder that day. He was 52 when he said it. He’s 89 now.

A lot has happened since that day I first heard my dad say that. And, of course, I really didn’t understand what he was saying. I was in high school, needing a bridle to hold me back from getting into whatever life I was going to live. I was too involved in me to really think about old people stuff.

For some reason, I recently started to think about how those thirty something years have past, what I’ve done and what I didn’t do. I think it might have something to do with seeing people my age looking old, or sometimes dying.

It’s taken me this long to figure out a few things. The biggest is that I’m just renting my space here on earth. You can’t really own anything. So, to make that the emphasis of your life is really fruitless. Your life is a collection of experiences and relationships, not a collection of things.

Eventually, somebody’s going to have to go through all of that stuff and decide how to distribute or dispose of it. They’re not going to sit there and think what a wonderful guy I was because I had so much, but what I was doing with all of that crap.

Another thing I’ve learned, albeit with a much greater struggle, is that people are going to see things in a different way than I do. And, that no matter how wrong I think another person is, I won’t be able to change their mind if they don’t want it changed. This past election cycle only reinforced that.

I’ve set my path on doing things and seeing things and experiencing things. I’m trying to learn and understand as much as I can.

Professionally, I’ve spent the last five years rethinking how furniture is made, and designing ideas and products that haven’t been done that way before, not Nobel Prize winning stuff, but personally satisfying.

I’m no longer looking to be important, or be the big guy with the big car and the big house and have my picture taken. I’ve had all of those things. And, you know what? I’m still 52. I still only wear one pair of pants at a time. And, a fish fry is still my favorite meal.

Really, my value is my contribution to the people around me. My value is the ability to help others in whatever way that is.

So, as I sit here thinking about all of this, I’ve decided my life really should be measured like they measure hockey players, get a plus when you’re on the ice while your team scores, and get a minus when the other team scores, pretty simple.

Those scoring methods were instituted to give credit to all of those who help the team, not just the goal scorers, but the ones who do the dirty work of playing defense and passing, the ones the fans don’t recognize, but the ones who make it possible to win.

Maybe the next thing is learning how to skate.