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Monday, June 9, 2008

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It started on a family vacation in Southern California. The kids were asking about earthquakes which were not a part of our regular growing up years in New Jersey. We started this whimsical little exercise where I would yell, "Earthquake drill!" Now, invariably our older son would run over to his older sister and he would hug her. I would ask innocently, "What are you doing?" to which he would reply, "Dad, you told us to hang on to something heavy!" Oooh, she wasn't, but I'll tell you, that boy was lucky he lived to have a sixth birthday! Actually, when things are shaking, it's really a pretty good idea - hang on to something heavy!

Friday, June 6, 2008

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What a deal I got on a masterpiece! I was in Paris, touring what is probably the world's most famous art museum - the Louvre, as they say. All day long I had been seeing these works by great artists like Michelangelo, and Rembrandt, and you know all the biggies! And then I rounded this one corner and I was in this room jammed with people. It was lit with special lighting, it was guarded by security guards. And when I finally got into that room, there she was, the one painting you've heard of if you've only heard of one painting. That's right, the Mona Lisa! There she was smiling at me in a painting that took up an entire wall. At the bottom was this signature - Leonardo da Vinci, the artist. Now, you can't buy the Mona Lisa, she's literally priceless. But I bought the Mona Lisa for .25 that day! Oh, yes I did. It's in a drawer at home. I could show it to you. Well, actually, it's a postcard of the Mona Lisa. What's the difference? Well, the postcard is a copy. It's cheap! The one in the museum is an original, signed by the artist - she's priceless.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

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I always thought they were buzzards - but a friend of mine who grew up with them circling overhead told me they're officially turkey vultures. Most of us think of them as nature's garbage collectors, but on our last vacation I developed an appreciation for their grace in flight. Watching them every day I saw them soaring in these graceful circles above me. And, amazingly, they almost never flapped their wings once they were airborne! They ride the warm air currents that rise from the earth as the days temperature gets warmer. They seem to just go where the thermals carry them. And I've got to tell you, it's beautiful.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

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My administrative assistant decided to bring her two young nephews into the office one lunch hour. She wanted them to meet the people she works with and vice versa. Daniel was probably about five, and I'm sure he left wondering who that weird guy is that his aunt works with. When I met Daniel he flashed a big smile that revealed some missing teeth. I asked him what happened and he said, "I lost those teeth." Now, I don't know what possesses me at times like that, but I told Daniel I was sorry he lost them and I wanted to help him find them, after which, I got down on the floor and proceeded to crawl around looking for them. Mercifully, he told me I didn't have to keep looking; Daniel said he didn't mind losing those teeth. He said, "I got permanent ones coming!"

Tuesday, June 2, 2008

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Of course you know McDonald's - the hamburger people? They have to some of the most brilliant marketers in history. They have advertised McDonald's as such a warm, friendly, fun place. I think every child in America wants to eat there! It seems that you're a lousy parent if you don't take them to Ronald's place - to get a Happy Meal - to pick up the toys or cups or whatever from the hottest new movie and to play under the Golden Arches. The other day I was in a McDonald's - just doing research, of course - and I saw another sign of their marketing genius. They wanted to get donations for their hospital where families of young cancer victims can stay. How did they get people to give? They made it fun! Near the counter, they stationed this brightly colored plastic container - it was funnel-shaped with a hole at the bottom and the money would go down into the bottom and into a bank. But if you threw a coin into it, it went into these wide spirals, around and around, down and down the funnel. It was really neat watching your donation spin, and spin its way to its destination - I mean, according to my research.

Monday, June 2, 2008

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Graduation day was a suspenseful day for our younger son. He wasn't totally sure what was going to be inside that diploma that the college President handed him. See, he had been informed several days before graduation that no one would know for sure that they were actually going to receive their diploma until they returned to their seat and looked inside the cover. The seniors didn't know their final grades, and if there were any unpaid fees they weren't going to know that either, until they opened their diploma cover and found a bill instead of a diploma.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

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Okay, let's do a little word association here. Persian - what do you think of? Ah - cat? You might have thought of cat. When I hear the word Persian, I think rug - which they don't make out of cats. I've never owned a Persian rug, and I probably never will, but I've sure seen them. And you know it's much more than a carpet, I mean, it's a work of art! Years ago Amy Carmichael wrote about the incredible process that produces these masterpieces. Try to picture this. She described two sets of workmen sitting on a bench on one side of the carpet which is hanging from a beam up above. The designer stands on the other side, he's holding a pattern in his hand and he directs the workers by calling across to them exactly what they're supposed to do next. It's like a chant actually. And then the workman chants back to the designer the word that he's heard; verifying the order. Then the workman cuts from whatever bobbin has been ordered, and he pushes that thread through the carpet warp and knots it. Now, all he can see is that one thread. He sees nothing of that pattern until the carpet's finished. That's all in the designers hands. But when he finally sees what all these commands and all these threads have made, wow!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

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Well, I guess most of us began our training for public speaking back in kindergarten or first grade. Remember when your teacher had you do that "show and tell" thing? You had to bring some object to school and tell about it or what it represented. I can remember this scramble around our house many mornings. Our children would remember, of course, with one foot out the door, "Oh man, I've got show and tell today!" So we'd race around the house trying to find something that they could show. You see, the teacher wasn't interested in a student just showing up with some story that day, you had to have something concrete. No "tell" was good enough to make it without being backed up by a "show."

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

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I usually ask for a window seat on an airplane. Usually aisle seats are more popular because you can stretch your legs a little more. Mine are so short they have plenty of room, no matter where I sit! And you can get up when you want to, and when you don't want to because the two guys on the inside want to get out. Actually, I always have so much to get done during the flight I like to just set up my little nest there by the window where I can work without getting up or passing food. Unfortunately, I'm so busy sometimes I miss those things worth looking at out my window, which is right there in front of me. I was flying recently with one of our team members and I was really missing the beautiful scenery of the Rocky Mountains below me; I didn't even think about them being there. Well, my colleague got my attention, not by reaching over and pointing and shouting, "Hey, look at those mountains, man!" No, he did it with a simple little observation. He said, "You know, mountains sure look a lot smaller from this perspective don't they?" I got the message.

Friday, May 23, 2008

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I hadn't been planning to watch anything on TV that night except the news, but I got hooked by a program that followed. It was a fascinating special on the Titanic, including an interview with one of the survivors. Now, she was just a little girl that awful night when the ship that they swore was unsinkable, went down in the icy waters of the Atlantic. Over 1,500 passengers died that night. The Titanic had been constructed with these water tight compartments in their hull that were supposed to contain any flooding. Well, she left England in April of 1912, traveling according to some, at speeds and at a time that the Titanic never should have been traveling - but remember, the Titanic was unsinkable, right? Until it hit that iceberg. Actually it only scraped the iceberg. Most passengers never even knew about it, but that simple scrape had left a deep hole in the hull below the water line. For a while no one knew how much danger they were in. But within a relatively short time, the unsinkable ship was gone. The man who had designed it, went down with the ship. This crusty old survivor summed up her lifetime reflections on the Titanic in a few haunting words. She just said, "It was a monument to human arrogance."

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