It’s only Short-Term

It all started six weeks ago, the company I work for let go a few folks and one of my peers was asked to step in and do their jobs “Short-Term”, about 60 days. No problem, there were three that were asked to pick up his previous responsibilities. Ok, I was busy, but I could manage the new things without too much extra effort. I would go into work at 7am instead of 7:30 and should be ok.

Short Term: adjective
Intended, used, or present for a limited time: impermanent, interim, provisional, short-range, temporary.

About three weeks ago we were all called into the boss’s office and he informed us he was making some more adjustments and added a few more things to my list of responsibilities, “short term”. Wait, this time he wasn’t giving me just a few extras, he gave me a couple of major items and I told him there was no way I could do it all at this time. Too bad, it happened, but I did off load one minor time consuming task. I have been coming in before 7am and then working most evenings at home for at least an hour since that time and finally yesterday for the first time I thought I was making headway and getting things organized.

Short term gratification often rules in America. Corporations often meet their quarterly financial goals at the expense of the organization’s long term health. Fast food customers are aware of the long term implications of eating a steady diet of greasy food but are opting for short term gratification as well.

Then this morning, my boss walks into my office and closes the door behind him and informs me that they have terminated the employment of one of the guys and that “short term” we would have to take on more responsibility. In six weeks we have gone from a four person group to a two person group and of the two of us that are left I am the most senior with six months of employment with this company. I went from busy to swamped and now it will be crazy in the “short term”.

As managers, senior executives and CEOs all over have painfully discovered, if you don’t manage for the short term, you won’t be around for the long term. Companies who plan for their long-term goals will be along much longer than those who only think in short-term gratification.

The Brain Battles Between Short Term Emotions And Long Term Logic

Travel Made Interesting

This past weekend my husband and I traveled to the Phoenix area to visit our son and his family. I have traveled extensively for my jobs over the years and business travel is pretty mundane. When I travel with my husband it is a whole different story but I think this past weekend takes the cake.

My husband works for a meat whole seller and at one point our son worked for the same company. If you want to know anything about meats and the best cuts these two guys have a wealth of knowledge. My husband has been working with beef for over 35 years. As a gift to our son my husband bought him a Brandt Beef Boneless Rib Eye – not just one steak but the entire Rib Eye that weight about 12 pounds. To keep it fresh for the trip we froze it and then come Friday the day to travel it was wrapped in a towel and stuffed in a back pack as part of his carryon luggage. No this chunk of beef was cut into about 12 1”steaks when we got it to our son’s house for a BBQ on Saturday. Oh I wish I had been able to take a picture of the TSA agent that was looking at the x-ray when that backpack went through. He stopped looked and turned his head back and forth a couple of times and then called someone over and said I think we should do a bag check. He sat there looking at a huge chunk of raw meat in that x-ray image. “Bag Check”, “Whose bag is this?” and Kyle starts to explain that it is a rib eye roast. Sure enough they open the bag pull out this large piece of raw meat. Now the comments really start, “hey, what’s the address and what time is the BBQ?”, “maybe we should confiscate this,” said with a big smile. And the best one was the man running the x-ray, “I guess I need a piece of that to do a quality control check”. All the while this is going on we are actually running a little late and I’m trying not to miss our flight (it was my fault we were late).

So that was on the way down, on the way back he wore one of his PETA shirts. Now you might be asking yourself a guy in the meat industry wearing a PETA shirt, but let me explain. The front of the shirt say PETA in big bold letters, then below that is says, People Eating Tasty Animals. There were probably six different complete strangers that stopped him and told him they really liked the shirt or wanted to see what was on the back. He has two of these shirts the one he had on gave the definition of a vegetarian: someone who couldn’t ride, hunt or fish. It sure makes for some interesting looks whenever he wears one of them.

Travel can be mundane, but thank you dear for making this trip interesting.

Real Ingredients

Talk about a marketing ploy. I was sitting in front of the TV a few nights ago and a commercial came on for some salad dressing. The major tag line for the ad was “Real Ingredients”

So when they the advertisers say REAL what is it they are trying to tell us? That it isn’t made of ‘Fake’ stuff? What is really sad is that because it is advertised as Real many people will buy it.

So let’s look at a couple of definitions:
Real: true and actual; not imaginary, or alleged. Being no less than what is stated, genuine and authentic, not artificial.
Fake: not Real. One that is not authentic or genuine

We spend a life time trying to find what is real. Real happiness, real purpose, real love, but when we have to label something as Real, it makes we leery. The real needs no advertising and no marketing. When you experience the real, you will never be fooled again.

Cut-Throat Croquet

We just finished playing a fine game of croquet. We spent most of the game see how far out of bounds we could hit the person that was in the lead. The first game of the day was played with us all being nice but trying to win. Then the gloves came off so to speak. Once one of us got in the lead it was all about going after them to knock them back. We all laughed so hard and the game took a long time to finish since we really weren’t trying to go through the wickets any longer. There is just something about a friendly game that lets us go after each other.

My Lilac Bush: UPDATE

Here it is my little lilac bush in full bloom. It was about a year ago that I was given this bush by a very dear friend and I wrote about what it meant to me on my blog then.

I ran outside tonight when I got home from work and snapped this picture. I am planning on cutting all the flowers off on Friday morning and taking them to my mom. She loves fresh cut flowers and since I will be away this weekend and they would be wilted by the time I get back, I am going to let her enjoy them.

The Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup, notably the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America, was donated in 1892 by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and son of the Earl of Derby. He purchased the trophy for 10 Guineas ($50.00 at that time) to be presented to "the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada." The first team ever awarded the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amature Athletic Association in 1893.

Since 1910, when the National Hockey Association took possession of the Stanley Cup, the trophy has been symbolic of professional hockey supremacy. Beginning in 1926, only NHL teams have competed for this prized trophy.

Detroit vs. Pittsburgh

Game 1 — Saturday, May 24: Penguins at Red Wings, 8 p.m.

Game 2 — Monday, May 26: Penguins at Red Wings, 8 p.m.

Game 3 — Wednesday, May 28: Red Wings at Penguins, 8 p.m.

Game 4 — Saturday, May 31: Red Wings at Penguins, 8 p.m.

Game 5 — Monday, June 2: Penguins at Red Wings, 8 p.m., if necessary

Game 6 — Wednesday, June 4: Red Wings at Penguins, 8 p.m., if necessary

Game 7 — Saturday, June 7: Penguins at Red Wings, 8 p.m., if necessary

Designed to Perform

I had the opportunity to ride in a Jaguar for the first time last week. A Jaguar is one of the world best luxury cars. “The company’s vision is simple: to produce beautiful fast cars that are desired the world over.” I walk up to the car, put my brief case into the trunk and entered the door of this sleek black sedan. The seats are a soft leather and very comfortable. We buckle in and head off to our destination.

The ride was very uneventful and nothing worth really writing about because the ride was less than 5 miles long from one parking lot to the airport where I was dropped off curb side. No real opportunity to put the car through its paces, no opportunity to really ‘see what it was made for’. It did nothing more than any other car or even a minivan could do and with the same amount of fun and excitement.

As a manager of people that is one of the hardest things to do with the people that work for you is to put them in a position to do all that they were designed to do. To trust them with all that is within them and let them really put their skills through the paces. Sometimes until you turn someone loose you really don’t know what they are really capable of. Sometimes until you are put into a place where you are truly challenged you don’t know yourself what you are really capable of.

So don’t be a Jaguar that is only making airport runs, get out on the test track and see what you are made of. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

What Makes Me Unique?

As I wrote a few days ago, I recently read “The Last Lecture”, by Randy Pausch, I have been chewing and chewing on what was in that book. As I have tried to talk about it, I’m not sure it makes sense to anyone else. Maybe that is what makes me unique.

When we can relate to a topic, book or teaching we are apt to remember it longer. I will probably remember this book for some time to come. “What makes me unique”, was the question that Randy answered to prepare for the lecture. He said Cancer does not make him unique there are thousands of people around the world with cancer.

He prepared for this lecture by going through all the pictures he had and put them in a PowerPoint presentation. It was at that point in the book that he had me. I do the very same thing. For every blog post I do I have to find a picture to go with it. When I write a paper or article for work, I create it in PowerPoint as a presentation first and then write the ‘script’ that goes with it, the words come after I see the pictures. I thought I was unique in that.

Then he writes about the day sitting in the doctor’s office when he gets the news that he has cancer. That is a moment that even though I was in shock, I remember the room. Not the words of the doctor, but the picture of a woman in a pink dress with black shoe and a black belt. I thought I was unique in that.

He is a man that has gotten into trouble because he takes things literally, when he talks you need to take it at face value and not read anything into it. He means what he says and only what he says. I have had to learn to be careful and vague. I am not unique in that.

That is what stuck me most about ready this book, how so much like him I am. And yet, I am very different and unique in other ways, but it truly was a blessing to know that I wasn’t weird.

The Last Lecture

I flew home from Costa Mesa this evening; I arrived at the airport and got through security about 20 minutes before the plane was to board. As usual I head to Hudson’s to check out the New Arrival and top selling books. I have a book with me that I am reading, but I always look to see what’s new. One caught my attention tonight, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, so I bought it.

As I stood by the gate waiting to board the plane I started to read. I finished it as we taxied to the gate at SeaTac. This small book, only 206 pages, holds so much wisdom and insight. I could relate to this author on so many levels, I just couldn’t put it down. I had heard about this guy but never really paid much attention.

The book is full of so many profound one liners I could probably list over a dozen of not here, but I will leave that for those of you that want to read the book, but this one is one that so good I just can’t resist; “Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

I will be processing this book and possibly reading it again for the next few days but for tonight I will just say it is a must read.

Scanning the Abnormal

Today I had an MRI on my knee. I tweaked it a few weeks back and after the most frustrating experience ever with my new insurance company I am finally getting it looked at by a specialist. I met with the doctor last Friday and he wanted to have an MRI done to see if there was any damage.

An MRI is basically a big Magnet and as the magnetic field is energized the atoms in the body react. A trained person can make out what is normal and what is abnormal by the images that are left. Normal tissue looks one way and abnormal tissue reflects the atoms in a different way. In my case they are trying to see if there is a tear in the tissue of the knee. I found it quite amusing today when the technician looked at the digital image of my knee and said, “There is a lot of inflammation in there”. I said, “I told you my knee was sore”. I have a really high pain thresh-hold so what I live with is more than most people can stand, but that is not the point of this post.

Normal verse Abnormal, both are made of atoms, both are in the same body, but they both react differently to the same situation. We our life as normal as possible, reacting to situations the way we are suppose to , but what happens when there is a slight abnormality in us and we react to common situations in abnormal ways? We over-react, we are too sensitive, or we fly off the handle during times that are normal. It is due to the slight tears in our character that can be caused by circumstances and pain. These tears are not visible and are not dealt with until we submit to a scan by a trained eye. It is only then when the tear is correctly diagnosed that we can receive the correct treatment and be made normal again. Allow your character to be scanned and you will be our running and jumping like a child again soon.

An Adventure Waiting to Happen

Sometimes I think my life is just an adventure waiting to happen. Tonight was just another example, a simple trip home from work turns into a 2 hour trip through the country side.

It starts when I get involved in what I am doing at work, I finally look up and it is 4:30pm, right in the middle of rush hour traffic. I usually leave at 3pm on Fridays because I drive up to my mom’s and pick up her laundry to do it for her. Anyways back to the adventure.

Next I am leaving the parking lot and my cell phone rings it is my sister, I am talking away to her, just distracted enough that I miss my exit to go to my mom’s and I am headed in the wrong direction for at least 20 miles before I realize it. Oh well I decided I will just get her laundry in the morning since I will be going to see her anyways.

Going along and I get to Novelty Hill where traffic is really backed up. I decide to make use of the time and call a friend to chit chat. I finally get to the bottom of the hill and the road that I need to go on is closed due to an accident. OH NO, I have no idea where I am going now. I am headed in the opposite direction I want to go and really don’t know how to get to where I want to be. I call my husband and after a discussion he figures out where I am and tells me how to get home.

Traffic is so back up that I’m out on a road that runs through the middle of a very large horse ranch. I’m sitting there enjoying the nice sunny day, the view of the horses out in the pastures and all of a sudden the dashboard starts pinging. Now what? I check all the gauges and sure enough the engine is overheating. No where to pull off, no where to go. OH No….. I turn on the fan full blast and nothing happens. I call Kyle and he says to turn the heater on full blast. And thank you Lord the temperature gauges starts to fall. Now granted it is about 85 degrees in the van with the windows open, but because we weren’t moving the air was not moving either. Finally I get to the main road and I am moving enough that the temperature gauge is back to normal, I can turn off the heat and enjoy the rest of the ride home.

Another day another adventure, maybe I should change the title of my blog?

What I Want to Hear I Cannot

Sitting here on the airplane returning from and I am watching the movie, The Bucket List. It is a movie that I was interested in but I didn’t see it in the theaters when it was playing so I was really looking forward to watching it. Too bad they are having issues with the sound and a part of the plane, the part I am sitting in, cannot get the audio portion of the movie. So I sit and watch the picture, picking up a few words via lip reading and wonder what is actually being said.

There are the normal back ground noises of the plane, the din of the engines, the voice of the lady a few rows up that has had one too many Bourbons and Coke, the rustle of an empty potato chip bag behind me but the movie is silent. What I want to hear I cannot. I watch as the two characters, men that are on the verge of death, try and do all the things on the list they had made. Without the sound the movie is just not as interesting.

Every day we are bombarded with sound, the sound of the wind in the trees, the sound of the cars on the freeway, the sound of our favorite music coming from our iPod, sounds of life. But are we really connected to the sound that really matters, are we able to hear what we truly want to hear. Do we hear that we are loved? Do we hear that we are doing what we truly enjoy; do we hear the laughter that is inside of each of us when we let the worries go? What I want to hear I cannot. What I long to hear is sometimes blocked by uncontrollable circumstances.

Just because I cannot hear it for now does not mean that the movie wasn’t playing, that the dialog wasn’t happening. The voice of God is always there, it is just whether or not we are hearing it.

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?

Evian water 9 oz $1.49..$21.19 per gallon! $21.19 for WATER and the buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

The Original Me

I made a comment on my Twitter tonight about Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. None of that Kraft Easy Mac for me, it just tastes funny, I want the original. Don’t even try the different shaped noodles either, one time Kyle brought home some Sponge Bob Mac and Cheese, I tried one box and ended up not eating it. The rest of the boxes went to the Girl Scouts food drive.

Kyle bought this beautiful watch in Mexico, it is his Rolexo, no that isn’t a typo; he bought a copy of a Rolex watch. It still runs real good but one of the things we have learned is that when we buy something in Mexico it isn’t a real bargain if it is a copy.

How often do we try and ‘improve’ upon the original or to make a copy of an original. How often do we do that to ourselves? God created us in His own image. We were fearfully and wonderfully made and yet we spend hours and hours, a whole boat load of money and much gnashing of teeth to try and look or be like someone else. God made each one of us unique, each one of us is an original and that is what we need to celebrate our uniqueness in the Lord. We need to see ourselves as He sees us, The Original Me.

True Sportsmanship

I started to write this blog about how even in the face of a total blowout both the Detroit and the Colorado hockey teams played the game with intensity right up to the end. One of the broadcasters commented, “if this was a boxing match, it would have been called”.

But as I was searching for a headline grabber or something to go with the blog I came across this story on USA Today. This picture shows two players from one team carrying member of the opposing team. As you read the story you see that even though the one girl had hit a home run, she would only be credited with a single because she couldn’t run all the bases after being injured as she rounded 1st base. These other two girls proceeded to carry her around the bases to complete the home run.

Here are a few points that I find amazing:
1- That they thought to do it? I don’t know that if I had been on the field I would have even known enough to ask if it was legal.
2- They have been accused of not being team players because they gave the other team an advantage.

These girls stepped in and did what was right and that is what the most important point is. We need to celebrate all the things that are done right in this world and just quit complaining about what is wrong.