I’ve learned a lot from James Bach, but when I looked at his new blog , I couldn’t get past this sentence:
I had no idea Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, was such an interesting thinker.
Jack Welch!? Really?! Jack Welch is Satan in a suit . . .
Good News
My wife runs an insurance agency. She handles all the customer service calls herself and as a result, a) she gets to know her customers very well; and b) she hears a lot of bad news.
Today she sent me this email:
One of my best clients just passed away yesterday. He is 65 years old and had a heart attack. One of these days I’d like to hear good news sometimes.
You and Casey are my good news.
Probably I don’t say enough good things about her . . .
Clearly and Simply
Anyone who cannot speak clearly and simply should say nothing and continue to work until he can do so.
The Art of Ingenuity
Don’t expect big rewards. Don’t expect anyone to beat a path to your door to embrace your ideas. Don’t expect anyone to help or support you. Do it so you can look at yourself in the mirror every day with pride. That’s the biggest and best payoff.
Whatever your work, make it your art. All sorts of good things happen when you do.
How have you changed the way you perform your work in the last week?
Daily Twitter for 2009-03-18
Daily Twitter for 2009-03-17
- RT @BonnieLowe: Chris Brogan’s “If I Started Today” post about social media/networking: http://tinyurl.com/6o5lx3 #
- eating a green bagel. i m 1/2 irish myself frm okeefes & flynns on my moms side #
Shot the Monkey
Daily Twitter for 2009-03-16
- RT @presentationzen: So what is the good life anyway? http://snipurl.com/dx3od [Mark Albion’s animated movie – worth your 3 minutes] #
- John Wooden on failures and mistakes: http://tinyurl.com/d2keaf #
- Haiku on The Myth of Sisyphus: Master of his days / Could Sisyphus be happy? / Camus says he is. #
Unable to Make Anything Easier
Out of love for mankind, and out of despair at my embarrassing situation, seeing that I had accomplished nothing and was unable to make anything easier than it had already been made, and moved by a genuine interest in those who make everything easy, I conceived it as my task to create difficulties everywhere. . . .
Failures and Mistakes
I had mistakes, plenty, but I had no failures. We may not have won a championship every year. We may have lost games. But we had no failures. You never fail if you know in your heart that you did the best of which you are capable. I did my best. That is all I could do.
Haiku on The Myth of Sisyphus
Master of his days,
Could Sisyphus be happy?
Camus says he is.
I Got This Joke From Shaquille O’Neal
From THE_REAL_SHAQ:
A Rastaman walks n2 a bank & hands the teller a bag of weed. She says “Sir, what is this 4?” Da Rasta said, “Mi wan open a joint account!”
HW’s Parenting Pointers
Facebook exchange:
1st woman: Why does my 15-year-old son ALWAYS have to push his boundaries???
2nd woman: Same reason you and I did at 15 🙂
Yeah — bad parenting.
If you haven’t figured out what your kid is all about long before he turns 15, you’re both fucked.
Sorry, but I ain’t Doctor Fuckin’ Phil. I’m bringin’ it!
Hockey Haiku
Northwood wins 3-2
IHF Finals next week
May the best team win
Grammatically incorrect — “best” should be “better” — but it’s okay because I’ve got a poetic license!
It’s right here in my wallet . . .
Haiku
Outside my window
Somewhere in the big pine tree
A bird is singing.
New TGIF Policy in Effect
Effective immediately, I’m going to start de-friending everyone who sends a Facebook status update about how glad they are that it’s Friday, how glad they are that it’s Thursday because it’s almost Friday, how gloomy they are because it’s Monday, how they hate to be at work, blah blah blah et fucking cetera.
SHUT UP LOSERS! Stop wasting your life and mine with this nonsense!
Find an activity that you love and engage in it . . .
Sometimes I Am Too Fast
Just fired off a quick email reply: “oh good.” But mistyped it: “oh god.”
Oh the Vacuity!
One of my in-laws says to me, “I enjoy reading your Facebook updates.”
“Thanks,” I say. “I enjoy reading yours too. When I’m having trouble sleeping.”
Diversity
“Forty percent of the people at my school speak Korean,” my son says. “Or Chinese. I can’t tell the difference.”
Situational Avoidance
My son’s got a hockey game tonight. His mom is going to bring him to the game; I’m going to bring the hockey gear and meet them there.
There’s a risk when we do it that way that the boy gets there and isn’t able to play because I don’t show up with his equipment, but that’s never actually happened. In fact, I’m almost always there first.
In spite of that fact, he says to me this morning, “Get there early tonight so we don’t have a situation like last week.”
I say, “We didn’t have a ‘situation’ last week. I got there exactly the same time you did.”
“Just get there early,” he says.