Leadership and Community

We have to strike the right balance between being in touch, and being in control. The irony is, the more in control we are, the more out of touch we become.

A. G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble

Efficiency and Importance

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Peter F. Drucker

Thank You

Thank you, Lord, for the rain on Saturday. It was just what we needed.

(Having a garden to care for gives you a different perspective on some things.)

Bliss

Bliss is...

...when you stare at your 5-page paper at 2:30 a.m. in the morning, and it's still barely 4 pages ...

...and then you realize you're still in 11 point font size.

Hallelujah, I'm going to bed!

Daydreaming

Horst Heldt is putting on a big press conference today. Demba Ba is not going to be the replacement for Mario Gomez. However, since he can't possibly stay at Hoffenheim after what's he pulled off, we did snap him up for the $3 million he's worth, and he won't get a cent more than in Hoffenheim, so he learns his lesson.

The real replacement for Mario Gomez is Klaas Jan Huntelaar. After Real Madrid bought Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, there's no room for him there to play Champions League, so Stuttgart was just the right fit. Together with Cacau or Ba, he'll make a great offense.

Just as the presentation is about to wind down, Heldt announces he's got another player hired, and they might just as well show him now. He scoots an extra chair in, somewhere in the middle, and ought walks Rafael van der Vaart. With Kaka in Madrid now, he wasn't going to play any more than last year, and he wants to go to the world cup, too.

Coach Babbel turns to Horst Heldt, saying "How are we going to pay for all of this?" The manager replies, "I suppose you can say a team is expected to do well when a potential sponsor will buy out an existing one." He proceeds to reveal, "there's a guy from the Mannheim area that has been able to start a pretty successful company..."

Ba: "You have got to be kidding me!"
Heldt: "...together with someone from Bad Cannstatt, and so I'm proud to reveal our new lead sponsor: Mercedes-Benz."

Huntelaar and van der Vaart take off their blazers revealing the new jersey. No, there's no more ugly brown version of it available.

The presentation ends with "Ein Stern, der ueber Stuttgart steht..."

Cashier Faints at Sight of Visa Signature Card

My friendly neighborhood global bank sent me another credit card upgrade the other day. Sometime in January, if I recall, to be precise (I'm sure I just forgot to activate it all along). But wait, it's not just any new credit card. It's a Visa Signature card. It even has a shiny new number, breaking all of the web sites where I had entered my old credit card number (such as certain monthly payments...). Yet, who would be displeased when the new card offers so many tremendous benefits? It is "perfect for value-conscious, financially responsible Customers like yourself" (I'd buy that one from just about anyone but the company who sends me my credit card statement each month).

Surely enough, I immediately started to "experience an unparalleled level of service," as promised. For instance, when I walked into Wal-mart, even before I had bought a thing, there was a friendly old man at the entrance who greeted me very kindly. He even gave my children yellow stickers - two apiece. Do you get that with the credit card you carry?

Also, this is not one of those credit cards you would only use when you don't have any cash with you. BofA declared that they "fully expect [me] to make [my] new card [my] card of choice for everything - from everyday purchases to travel around the globe." I no longer have to put any green down at McDonald's. Now I can charge everything! I want to see those paupers with their dinky wannabe credit cards do that! And I get to travel around the globe, too. Do I get to take the wife and the kids?

But wait, there's more. This card will cause people to treat you with the "respect offered by a superior credit card product." You can see me walk taller already. The other day, I was buying this really expensive jewelry for my wife, and the cashier looked at me with that look of, "can you really afford that?" Then, I pulled out the new Signature Visa, kind of like Jerry Seinfeld in those commericals with the gas pump, when he fills it up to exactly $10.00, and then adds just a little bit extra because he doesn't need an exact amount with his fancy plastic. Anyhow, I slowly eased it out of my wallet (I ought to get a better, newer wallet for it). The poor cashier took one look at it before she sank to the floor. Just amazing.

Oh, the joy of respect wherever you go. No, you can't have one. It's very special, not for just anyone. We are an elite circle. Now please excuse me, I need to update my Amazon payment methods.

_________
BTW, Ly, I'm sorry - the part about the jewelry was a factual inaccuracy.

Greetings from Galveston

We spent a few wonderful days at the Escapes! to the Gulf at Galveston. The place was superb, and we had an awesome time.

The hotel was right next to the beach. Contrary to most hotels, the Escapes! is a mile or two outside town, and instead of Seawall Boulevard (4 lanes) separating you from the beach, there's nothing between you and the shore.

Just a nice wooden walkway from the hotel right to the sand. The shore is very flat, so that you can go out into the water for quite a while, even with small children. The kids were a little skeptical, but we did get them jumping in the waves eventually. They busily collected shells, too.



With boatloads of sand, we were able to build several large sand castles, and enjoyed ourselves to our heart's content. Ch declared that she wanted to stay in the sand, and not go home.

The kids (just the kids? Nah!) loved the pool. It was beautifully clean and had a corner that was shallow enough for the toddlers, as well as a ledge where they could walk around the edge of the pool by themselves. There was also a whirlpool jaccuzi for Papi.

The apartment was really nice as well. Here's the bedroom Ly and I slept in.

People had asked us, "is your hotel still being repaired from Hurricane Ike?" Not the Escapes! There were a few places that could still use some repair, though. Note the pier in the distance below the tall building. Most of it is missing.

Here's a fully furnished apartment right by the beach. Maybe next time.

Wichita Mountains Unedited

PhotoShop will only be in the mail tomorrow, so I have to post this one unedited. I like it too well to wait any longer, though.

On Our Knees

There was a significant line in a dramatic presentation we had at church last Sunday. I remember it like this:

American Christians would rather live standing that die kneeling.

That would be our problem.

I'm assuming that the idea behind the quote is supposed to be that we don't just give ourselves up and submit to another power (in this case, the entire Bristish fleet). Before I get back to those two alternatives, let's consider the words die and kneel.

Die

• I have been crucified with Christ. Gal. 2:20
• If anyone would come after me, let him [...] take up his cross. Matt. 16:24
• "We will abandon it all for the Sake of the Call." (SCC)
  

Kneel

• So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him... Matt. 18:26
• The twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne... Rev. 4:10
• I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it... Mark 11:20
• You do not have, because you do not ask. James 4:2
  

I believe that the statement above is a statement of pride and self-reliance. I do not believe that the alternative is one of subjugation (and what I'm about to say is more general in nature, and not intended to be an answer to defending a country). Our problem as Christians is that we are too often characterized by our desire for comfort, entertainment, and riches, gained by our selfish efforts, and not primarily by being people on our knees, unable to help ourselves, but imploring our Father who alone is able, too rarely a people ready to die, giving up our priorities for his purposes.

Addendum: For those of my readers who will feel that this is an attack on their patriotism, the sacrifice at Fort McHenry, or the "Star Spangled Banner" itself: what if the answer of the lawyer had been, "we believe that what you're about to do is a great injustice, and we pray that God will help us to not be overcome, despite the size of your navy?" Same patriotism, different attitude?

Fasst

I'm done. I'm done. I am brilliant. I was fasst.

La, after finishing first eating her breakfast cereal.

Time

Someone asked me about something at church last night, "...when you have some time." (I don't recall who or what.)

Well, it's not looking too good for this life... . Maybe next life?

Change

People are not afraid of change. They fear the unknown.

Dick Brown, chairman and CEO of EDS