Recently my daughters gave me a MP3 player for Father's Day. Yes. It is one of the inner secrets of The Observer that although the podcasts of The Observer are downloadable as well as the audio from meetings, I have been stuck with sitting by the computer and listening rather than biking, running or other pleasurable pursuits and enjoying the audio.
After unpacking the MP3 player I asked the youngest to explain SLOWLY how to download some stuff from the special hard drive that holds audio from yesteryear. I watched her closely, mindful of the value of all the audio as posterity was depending on me to preserve it.
Imagine my surprise when in listening to it that she had mixed it so I could listen to Tom Petty and then Bill Connors, and then Roy Orbison and then school board meetings. What an eclectic mix.
One of the first tracks that came on right after "Billy the Kid" was a track on "Let's Suspend the Rules."
This was a very famous meeting at Evansville City Council---it was the second Council meeting of our new Mayor. There had been some mixup in the selection process of committee assignments and it was necessary to "Suspend the Rules" to correct it.
Right after this, Bill Connors had reflected that with respect to "collector streets" we seemed to have these rules on the books but alas, they had never been followed. He ended his reflection by asking; "Do we really mean it?"
Alas, this meeting was one that I was still learning the ropes on recording so it is real faint. However-----the question is very relevant:
Do we really mean it. About the rules. Are we a people that just suspend them when it gets inconvenient?
How lucky I am that I get to have the question asked of me every day or so, right after Tom Petty and the Heartbrakers.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Fortune Cookie Corner: "Welcom Failure; Failure is the Breakfast of Champions"-----a True Story
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Chinese Fortune Cookie Corner: "Welcome Failure: Failure is the Breakfast of Champions"---a true story
Yesterday I had to take my youngest to Janesville for a driver education road lesson. Before the lesson, we had a little time together for her to shop and then to share a bit of Chinese at the Food Court.
I have a habit of opening the fortune cookie first--- before the meal. The Fortune Cookie read: " Welcome Failure: Failure is the Breakfast of Champions."
I have mentioned in an earlier post, that over thirty years ago, right after a fortune cookie that read, "Not Now, but Soon," I had received a layoff from an employer. Ever since, I have paid strict attention to those fortune cookies. That being said, I wish they were more precise. The vagueness in unnerving.
Relax. The driving lesson went fine.
I think the Chinese were directing the fortune cookie towards those who did not know that the world of school and life are different. Nobody gets 99.992% success all the time and still ranks at the median of the class.
Most folks are blessed with enough failures so they have a balanced view of their strengths and weaknesses. Or at least the whims of the world.
After reflection, I feel pretty confident that I have had enough failures thank you. I do not need any more.
Then again, maybe the Chinese fortune cookie WAS talking about that planning commission meeting last week---what a devastating failure in the unanimous defeat of the efforts of the community of the 4th Ward to prevent the bar on Exchange Street. Was that what the cookie was talking about? We will never know for sure.
The Observer still recommends that this specific fortune cookie be eliminated from the mix till it can be more specific. I hope the Chinese Observer is taking notes.
Chinese Fortune Cookie Corner: "Welcome Failure: Failure is the Breakfast of Champions"---a true story
Yesterday I had to take my youngest to Janesville for a driver education road lesson. Before the lesson, we had a little time together for her to shop and then to share a bit of Chinese at the Food Court.
I have a habit of opening the fortune cookie first--- before the meal. The Fortune Cookie read: " Welcome Failure: Failure is the Breakfast of Champions."
I have mentioned in an earlier post, that over thirty years ago, right after a fortune cookie that read, "Not Now, but Soon," I had received a layoff from an employer. Ever since, I have paid strict attention to those fortune cookies. That being said, I wish they were more precise. The vagueness in unnerving.
Relax. The driving lesson went fine.
I think the Chinese were directing the fortune cookie towards those who did not know that the world of school and life are different. Nobody gets 99.992% success all the time and still ranks at the median of the class.
Most folks are blessed with enough failures so they have a balanced view of their strengths and weaknesses. Or at least the whims of the world.
After reflection, I feel pretty confident that I have had enough failures thank you. I do not need any more.
Then again, maybe the Chinese fortune cookie WAS talking about that planning commission meeting last week---what a devastating failure in the unanimous defeat of the efforts of the community of the 4th Ward to prevent the bar on Exchange Street. Was that what the cookie was talking about? We will never know for sure.
The Observer still recommends that this specific fortune cookie be eliminated from the mix till it can be more specific. I hope the Chinese Observer is taking notes.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
"Getting Out and ....Staying Out of Debt"---the last book of Don Sheehan
Friday, June 23, 2006
"Getting Out and Staying Out of Debt"---the last book of Don Sheehan
I have written in the past of Don Sheehan, the Dale Carnegie salesman---a world champion award winner. His first two books were "Shut Up and Sell," and "The Price Book." Few know of the last book.
In two short years, I had participated in most all the seminars that Don offered. For the record, my wife, Sue, even attended sales training. Don told me he was working on his third book, "Getting and Staying out of Debt." It was a "tell all" book, and I looked forwarded to seeing it in print.
Then the call. He had a heart attack on a flight from New York. In a day he was gone.
I called his widow a month later and asked whether I could see the manuscript of his book, "Getting and Staying Out of Debt." She said I was welcome to review it.
In the book, Don told the nitty gritty of his days in the sales business, and the world wide travel, the huge audiences booked at large well known hotels. The fame.
Then he told the truth. About the debt. About the overspending that almost ended his career in sales. One day came the light----He and his wife talked it over and changed the way they did---well everything.
The truth as he told it in the book was that "overspending" was the death of salesmen. The death of marriages. The death of families and dreams. At the very pinnacle of success the biggest salesmen were losing everything.
He told the story about the "mortgage burning party" that he invited all the relatives and friends to, where he burned the mortage to their home in Richfield, Mn. And, he encouraged everyone to celebrate paying the individual debt off. And making it a family tradition. He also asked us to invite him to our own party.
So. The last book was the one I had wished I had read sooner. The one book most never read. And the best.
Posted by Evansville Observer at 1:05 PM
"Getting Out and Staying Out of Debt"---the last book of Don Sheehan
I have written in the past of Don Sheehan, the Dale Carnegie salesman---a world champion award winner. His first two books were "Shut Up and Sell," and "The Price Book." Few know of the last book.
In two short years, I had participated in most all the seminars that Don offered. For the record, my wife, Sue, even attended sales training. Don told me he was working on his third book, "Getting and Staying out of Debt." It was a "tell all" book, and I looked forwarded to seeing it in print.
Then the call. He had a heart attack on a flight from New York. In a day he was gone.
I called his widow a month later and asked whether I could see the manuscript of his book, "Getting and Staying Out of Debt." She said I was welcome to review it.
In the book, Don told the nitty gritty of his days in the sales business, and the world wide travel, the huge audiences booked at large well known hotels. The fame.
Then he told the truth. About the debt. About the overspending that almost ended his career in sales. One day came the light----He and his wife talked it over and changed the way they did---well everything.
The truth as he told it in the book was that "overspending" was the death of salesmen. The death of marriages. The death of families and dreams. At the very pinnacle of success the biggest salesmen were losing everything.
He told the story about the "mortgage burning party" that he invited all the relatives and friends to, where he burned the mortage to their home in Richfield, Mn. And, he encouraged everyone to celebrate paying the individual debt off. And making it a family tradition. He also asked us to invite him to our own party.
So. The last book was the one I had wished I had read sooner. The one book most never read. And the best.
Posted by Evansville Observer at 1:05 PM
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