Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a great day! A day to be Thankful for all the blessings in our life. To think of those things that make our life Super-Fantastic. Today is a special day for me as well. November 27, 1993 I made the best decision of my life. On that day I said "I DO" to my lovely bride of 15 years today.

The journey has been filled with many great adventures. She has always been there by my side, supporting me through all my endeavors. She has built for us a loving family, a happy home and keeps smiling through all of lifes little challenges.

Today, I am thankful that I found my soul mate in February of 1990 and that everyday has been blessed with her in my life since.

Gas Pump of Life

We have a choice between positive energy and negative energy. Positive energy is high octane fuel for the ride of your life while negative energy causes sludge to accumulate in your energy pipeline.

With high gas prices, I know that we are all used to going to the pump with the cheapest gas. Yes we could splurge and buy a tank of high octane gas for our car, but we pull up and fill up with good old regular gasoline. Our car survives on regular gas, it gets us from point a to point b, right.

This may work well for my car, but when it comes to my attitude I have to believe that I am worth the very best octane I can buy. (With a diesel car I understand high fuel cost :) ) My attitude is like that Lexus my friend owns, it requires high octane fuel or you void the warranty. If we can fill our life with positive energy, we will achieve more. We will find the extra spark to tackle a tough problem or to push that last bit to achieve the goal we set.

Sometimes we may need to add a fuel additive to our tank to clean out old deposits, but from now on, I AM BUYING THE HIGH OCTANE FUEL FOR LIFE.

Quote - Taking Action

Every day you've got to get up and play hard.
Jeff Immeit - Ceo: General Motors

This is one of my favorite quotes and I have it posted here above my desk. If we wake up early every day ready to "play hard" to go our and "do our best" then we can accomplish anything that we want to achieve. I believe that it is up to me to get up and make things happens. I make the choice every day to get out of bed and make every day a super-fantastic day.

A weekend of smiles!

This has been a very nice weekend, full of smiles and happiness.

On Saturday, I got to great all the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts who had qualified as a "Popcorn All Star" in this year's Trail's End popcorn sale. We had a special incentive for every boy who sold to 25 customers. The boys got a free ticket to the Eastern Washington football game. In addition they also got a special " Popcorn All Star" hat with the EWU logo on it.

So on Saturday, I got to work with two other staff members and our trails end representative to pass out hats at the football game. We got to meet all the kids who were top sellers an talk to them about the popcorn sale, it was a great time.

Also on Saturday we had some good friends from our Soccer Team move in just down the street. Tammy and Jasmine helped them move, but because I was working the football game I was not able to help with the moving. I was able to come home and make some great chili and feed the whole crew as my contribution to the group. Everyone was tired and definitely did not want to cook after a day of moving, so I was very happy to help. You can check out the recipe for this great chili recipe at http://yackelsyummies.livejournal.com/

On Sunday, Jasmine and I decided to beat the weather and get the Christmas lights out on the front of the house. We like to put lights on all the leading edges of the house, but with our house design there is one area that you just have to get up on the roof to do. Inevitably it snows before I get out and get it done and then we have trouble getting them out safely. We added some new lights this year that led snowflakes. We think that they are going to look great.

We will wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving, but we are ready to start the holiday celebration.

The Dog Fight

I just started reading a book this evening called The Energy Bus, which you will soon see reviewed in full here. It is a great, fast read and is all about making life full of positive energy, aka being super-fantastic. I am just loving this book because it reinforces so much of what I believe and try to model in my life every day. It is recharging my batteries and reminding me that we each have the key to make decisions to make life Super-Fantastic.

A man goes to the village to visit the wise man and he says to the wise man. "I fell like ther are two dogs inside me. One dog is this positive, loving, kind and gentle dog and then I have this angy, mean-spirited, and negative dog and they fight all the time. I don't know which is going to win." the wise man thinks for a moment and he says, "I know which is going to win. The one you fee the most, so feed the positive dog."

This just reminds me that everyone has these two dogs and they are constantly in conflict. The way we chose to respond chooses which dog is going to win. If we think about the positive and develop a vision of where we want to go, the positive dog will win. Feed your Positive Dog a good meal every day.

Book Review - Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very thought provoking book, and has many great observations and predictions of where we will be going in the future. My biggest challenge with this book is that I was hoping for a little bit more of a road map of how to implement the theory into the work place.

After listening to the book for a while, I started to get some ideas of ways to build collaboration within my own work space, but now I need to search out and learn how to use some of these technologies. The part near the end of the book about older people just needing to get out and experiment with social networks, blogs, you tube, wikis and other collaborative spots on the web is where I am going to get started.

View all my reviews.

Peter Pan - Christian Youth Theater Spokane

We went to a production of Peter Pan this evening at the Bing Crosby theater in Spokane, WA. Jasmine sings in the Spokane Children's Choir with a young girl who got a roll in the play as one of the Lost Boys chorus.

I thought that the group did a great job with the production and they put together a very nice production. We had seen this show at the Coeur d'Alene summer theater just two years ago, and their production of it was amazing, so I was a little nervous that this one would be hard to sit through. It was not!

There was this one young man in the pirate chorus who could do the funniest things with his face. He was constantly doing something, but everything was appropriate with what was going on around him.

If you live in Spokane there are still three more productions this weekend. Life is Super-Fantastic when you can go to youth theater to this quality right here in Spokane

Book Review - The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family

The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable About Restoring Sanity To The Most Important Organization In Your Life by Patrick Lencioni

rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought that this was an excellent book on how to strengthen your family and business with a similar type approach. As business leaders we need to strengthen our families as well to be able to reach our full potential. This book does a great job of taking a business consulting approach and applying it to ones family.

Most interesting to me from this book is the discussion of core values. I have fallen into the trap of having a long list of "Core Values". I like the way Lencioni describes values into 4 categories of values.

I also like the concept of the Rallying Cry, and can think back to times when I have provided a clear singular goal to a team and that was the focus. Our best results were in times like these. Along with this I appreciate the recognition of Defining Objectives and Standard Objectives under the Rallying Cry.

Great book, I highly recommend it. It is a very quick read.


View all my reviews.

A Superfantastic Moment - My New Drivers Liscence

Well I had to go and get a new drivers license yesterday. There is not much that is great about the drivers license office, in fact I could share many of my rants about that place, but there was something that made be extremely happy. The man behind the counter checked my vision, still not problem without any glasses, that is pretty great. He then reviewed "my stats" hazel eyes, 5' 11" , brown hair (another pretty good thing that it is not gray) but then he got to weight.

This is where the super fantastic part comes in. I actually got to give him a lower weight, without fibbing than I had on my drivers license from 5 years ago. I believe that the average American gains somewhere between 1.5 and 2 pounds a year as they get older. I could have gone up as much as 10 pounds.

So I was pretty stoked and thought to myself that " Life is Super-Fantastic".

Quotes

You can have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them.
But when you've robbed a man of everything , he's no longer in your power.

The Hamburger: A History

The Hamburger: A History by Josh Ozersky

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well this was a good history of how the fast food hamburger evolved in America. I thought that the information was helpful, but I felt like the author tried to write at a higher writing level than is necessary when you are writing about a patty of meat. This book has spurred an interest to read more about some of these business and cultural developments.


View all my reviews.

My Blogs - Join in on the topics that interest you!

I have started a couple of blogs to provide in depth information about particular topics that are of great interest to me. Take time to visit these other blogs to see more details about what I am working on and learning. Remember that "Life is Good" and that today is the next day or the rest of your life.

A Cut Above - Woodworking
This blog is an depth look at my woodworking hobby. I like to make wood art called Intarsia. I also like to make furniture and many different gift items. I really enjoy the time I spend in my shop and want to share that with others.

Peak Achievement Today
This blog is a journal of my reading and thoughts about achieving your greatest potential in life. This is an ongoing process for me, and I have been reading and studying many personal growth topics since I started working.

Yackel's Yummies
This is my online recipe and cooking blog. All recipes posted here are tested by me and have my seal of approval. If you like cooking you should visit Yackel's Yummies.

Vocabulary Builidng

I was reading a book last night by Josh Ozercky called "The Hamburger". The book is a history of the fast food hamburger in America. Now who would think that a book on the history of the fast food hamburger would have vocabulary words that one would not know. Well in my reading I started writing down the words that I rarely or have never used and clarified there definition using Wikidictionary as my source. Here are the findings.

shibboleth (plural shibboleths)

1. A slogan, jargon word, or catchphrase closely associated with a particular group and not used very much, or at all, outside of it. Can also apply to ideas, customs, and uses of language.
2. A common or longstanding belief or custom associated with a particular group; truism, platitude

   It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.

3. A common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.

stricture (plural strictures)

1. (usually in plural) A rule restricting behaviour or action.

   For them, parity is less an ultimate goal than a transitory and permissive springboard for testing Western resolve and pursuing whatever additional accretions of strategic power the strictures of SALT and American tolerance will allow.

2. A sternly critical remark or review.

to hew (third-person singular simple present hews, present participle hewing, simple past hewed or rarely hew, past participle hewed or hewn)

1. (transitive) To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down.
2. (transitive) To shape; to form.

bourgeois (comparative more bourgeois, superlative most bourgeois)

1. Of or related to the middle class, especially its attitudes and conventions.
2. Belonging to the middle class.
3. Conventional, conservative and materialistic.

   bourgeois opinion

4. (political, leftist terminology) Of, or related to capitalist exploitation of the working class.

Halloween was great!

I just love Halloween here in our neighborhood. Trick or Treating is the best experience ever here. It starts with having just wonderful neighbors, who all know the kids and are genuinely happy to see and talk to the kids. The parents are all out on the street with their kids, and many of them are dressed up in costume. In our group of 5 kids, we had three adults and we were all dressed up for the night

The kids are great as well. We do not get those teenagers who just put on a mask and call it good, or try to convince you that the skateboarder dude is anything different than their everyday wear. I saw some very creative outfits. One of the neatest groups I saw was a group of 7 boys and girls that had decided to all do the Wizard of Oz theme. They had all the characters including the wicked witch and the good ferrie.

The big bonus this year is that we finally had a warm Halloween. The temperature was just fabulous and the kids did not have to have layers of jackets on messing up their costumes.

Welcome

This blog is designed to be my site to share the random thoughts and experiences that fill my mind. Those that know me know that I have many hobbies and interests. Growing up in the Boy Scout program, I learned to experience the world and to become knowledgeable in a large number of topics. This habit has continued throughout my life.

Those that know me also know that I am always filled with an opinion. I also want to use this platform to share my review of those things I enjoy in life. I hope that my entries here will create some discussion and will let others know about the great things I find in life.