Have you guys seen the new show "Who do you think you are"? I have to admit I watched the first episode just because it featured Sarah Jessica Parker. I LOVE HER! It turns out this is really a great show. In that first episode Sarah's family was traced back as far as the 1600's and it turns out she had family that was accused of witchery back in the Salem Witch Trials. This weeks episode featured Lisa Kudrow. It was a really moving episode because she had family that died during the holocaust. Just hearing how they were treated and eventually murdered was horrific.
I've spent the last few days on geni.com & ancestry.com researching my family history.
So far I haven't uncovered a lot BUT I did find out I have a great uncle who died in WWI. He hadreceived two medals of honor before dying in battle over in Italy. I found out he is actually
buried there because they didn't return the bodies then like they do now. I've also made it
back as far as my great, great, great grandparents on my mom's side. I haven't found much on my dad's side yet but I just found out my aunt has a lot of that info so I plan on meeting with
her soon. Have any of you guys researched your family tree? any advice?
Bob Out
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
What Freaks Us Out
I suppose that's a really good question. I mean, we are all different, so we can't just assume what freaks one person out freaks the next person out as well.
However, there are some pretty common fears that 'freak people out'.
Heights, for example. You go on vacation. Want to go to the top of the Sears Tower? No thank you. Want to go on this roller coaster with me? Yeah right. (You know, excluding the fear of roller coasters.) I'm taking a trip to Europe. Want to come with me? Do you mean that I have to fly?
Or there's spiders. Or anything that has more than four legs and doesn't bark or meow. Quite possibly snakes. Or mice. Clump those out into one giant cluster of things that can make some people take a step back.
What about water? I've known a couple people who are afraid to go in a pool unless they can stand on the bottom. Ocean? Probably not. Boat? Yeah, there's no point in even mentioning it. It'll be a no.
There are just certain things that freak people out. And there's nothing wrong with it because most people have that one odd thing that just tends to make them cringe. (And no, I'm not talking about nails on a chalkboard).
So what freaks you out?
However, there are some pretty common fears that 'freak people out'.
Heights, for example. You go on vacation. Want to go to the top of the Sears Tower? No thank you. Want to go on this roller coaster with me? Yeah right. (You know, excluding the fear of roller coasters.) I'm taking a trip to Europe. Want to come with me? Do you mean that I have to fly?
Or there's spiders. Or anything that has more than four legs and doesn't bark or meow. Quite possibly snakes. Or mice. Clump those out into one giant cluster of things that can make some people take a step back.
What about water? I've known a couple people who are afraid to go in a pool unless they can stand on the bottom. Ocean? Probably not. Boat? Yeah, there's no point in even mentioning it. It'll be a no.
There are just certain things that freak people out. And there's nothing wrong with it because most people have that one odd thing that just tends to make them cringe. (And no, I'm not talking about nails on a chalkboard).
So what freaks you out?
Dream Job
"The future is a place that is created first in the mind and will, next in activity. It is a place we are creating: its paths not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination." John Schaar
It is a lot easier to make this list than I thought it would be..
I am an innovative thought leader who identifies and delivers globally recognized, award winning results via strategic project and portfolio investment, technology, and carefully orchestrated organizational change management. I rely on a relentless customer focus, bridging the gap be-tween architecture, artistry, and results oriented actions. People focus, process excellence, and diversity of perspective are my leadership key performance indicators.
Specialties:
People Focus
It is a lot easier to make this list than I thought it would be..
- Opportunity to learn continually.
- Opportunity to contribute significantly.
- Opportunity to influence and lead a diverse group of leaders.
- Opportunity to change the world. One email, one customer, one meeting at a time.
- Bridging the gap between business, technology, and music.
- Opportunity to earn my rewards and accept my failures honestly.
- Limited travel demand to allow for my continued committment to family, ministry, and community.
- Software development...Business development...
- Higher Education, Music business schools.
- Senior Leadership in small to mid sized corporation
- Writer, Teacher, Coach, Speaker...
I am seeking an executive position within a leadership team which values entrepreneurial spirit and technology enabled business models.
I am an innovative thought leader who identifies and delivers globally recognized, award winning results via strategic project and portfolio investment, technology, and carefully orchestrated organizational change management. I rely on a relentless customer focus, bridging the gap be-tween architecture, artistry, and results oriented actions. People focus, process excellence, and diversity of perspective are my leadership key performance indicators.
Specialties:
People Focus
- Intrinsic motivation 2.0 (Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose)
- Coaching, Talent man-agement, Succession planning
- Outsourcing and strate-gic supplier manage-ment
Process Excellence
- Project and Portfolio Management using both Agile and Waterfall de-livery.
- Service oriented busi-ness domain architec-ture
- Organizational change management (ADKAR)
Diversity of Perspective
- IT and organizational strategy development, socialization, and im-plementation
- Proactive risk based scenario delivery models
- Technology as a toolset for delivering business results, customer en-gagement, and associ-ate development.
Technology
- ERP Human resources management systems (Peoplesoft HRMS)
- Social networking sys-tems: (Por-tals/Collaboration/Wikis) – BEA Weblogic portal, Atlassian Confluence,
- VoIP, Telephony, Video on Demand, Video Conferencing
Learn more about Jeff here: http://web.me.com/jeffp
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Give and Take.
Robin Hood was on shaky ground my friends. A childhood hero, champion of the downtrodden and oppressed.. In order to give, you must first have something to give, and you must acquire that from somewhere... how you acquire that resource is key...
The government can't give anything to the people without first taking from them. The only revenue stream which a government has is its power to tax(take) from the people. Whenever the government gives out more it must take more. Since the government does not produce anything it is by definition a "looter" as Ayn Rand details in Atlas Shrugged.
A good friend wrote yesterday this powerful quote:
"The size of the government correlates directly with the complacency of the church, not the institutionalized church but rather me and you." Melanie Yenovkian
I am not crazy. I recognize that we need protections, and regulations to protect. When we become complacent and "forget" our obligation of brotherhood to our neighbors and family.. When we try to outsource benevolence.. We enter into a death spiral. In the past half century, we the people have attempted to pay into a pool of social justice rather than take on the individual burden of helping those most directly in front of us. We have tried to rely on the government and our churches to "do the work" of charity. We have stopped providing on our own.. because the "collective" can do so much more.. This is what I was taught. Only by pooling our resources can we make a difference. I posit that it is not true my friends.
The critical flaw is exposed to the light when you ask someone to provide for others who cannot even provide for themselves. We all know that this cannot work in the end.
Remember my friends. Whenever you take from the government, you should be bound by honor and duty to give back far more than you have received. The responsibility for taking from one to give to another is fraught with peril and laced with corruption. The ends cannot justify the means, when the means were derived from the ends... If the looter is both the taker and the giver.. the source of the benevolence/resource must be somewhere else..
We as a people watched as Bernie Madoff took from some and gave to others.. We reviled and ridiculed him.. We labeled his actions, stealing, a ponzi scheme.. a travesty of justice.. Would it have been okay if Bernie had simply given all of his vast wealth to the poor and done the world a service? What if he had stolen from the rich and given to the poor?
The government can't give anything to the people without first taking from them. The only revenue stream which a government has is its power to tax(take) from the people. Whenever the government gives out more it must take more. Since the government does not produce anything it is by definition a "looter" as Ayn Rand details in Atlas Shrugged.
A good friend wrote yesterday this powerful quote:
"The size of the government correlates directly with the complacency of the church, not the institutionalized church but rather me and you." Melanie Yenovkian
I am not crazy. I recognize that we need protections, and regulations to protect. When we become complacent and "forget" our obligation of brotherhood to our neighbors and family.. When we try to outsource benevolence.. We enter into a death spiral. In the past half century, we the people have attempted to pay into a pool of social justice rather than take on the individual burden of helping those most directly in front of us. We have tried to rely on the government and our churches to "do the work" of charity. We have stopped providing on our own.. because the "collective" can do so much more.. This is what I was taught. Only by pooling our resources can we make a difference. I posit that it is not true my friends.
The critical flaw is exposed to the light when you ask someone to provide for others who cannot even provide for themselves. We all know that this cannot work in the end.
Remember my friends. Whenever you take from the government, you should be bound by honor and duty to give back far more than you have received. The responsibility for taking from one to give to another is fraught with peril and laced with corruption. The ends cannot justify the means, when the means were derived from the ends... If the looter is both the taker and the giver.. the source of the benevolence/resource must be somewhere else..
We as a people watched as Bernie Madoff took from some and gave to others.. We reviled and ridiculed him.. We labeled his actions, stealing, a ponzi scheme.. a travesty of justice.. Would it have been okay if Bernie had simply given all of his vast wealth to the poor and done the world a service? What if he had stolen from the rich and given to the poor?
Daily Thoughts 3/23/2010
Imaginary Picture of Aristophanes who was bald, 1896 Daily Thoughts 3/23/2010
I am going to read How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most by Marietta McCarty. It caught my attention when I was going through the new books. It also has some very nice reviews. It is a book of practical philosophy, or philosophy put into every day use.
I read some more of Alberto Manguel A Reader on Reading. Each chapter is a separate essay on reading. In one of the essays he describes a variation on Borges infinite library. It is a single volume with infinitely thin pages which comprise all knowledge. Alberto Manguel makes the observation that is very similar to an ebook. I thought this was interesting.
Rock and a hard place.. Rights & Freedom
As luck would have it, I am actually sick and at home resting for the day where the new health care bill will be signed into law. The irony is overwhelming. I am torn on this one in so many ways. I am pleased to see a society trying to do good for its people, but I am ashamed of our methods and the outcome. I don't believe that society can fix itself. I believe that we must individually choose to help one another from the bottom up. This great society can not be legislated top down. We do need healthcare reform, but right now, that is not what is killing the patient. The out of control spending is #1 on the triage list as I score it and it began with the spending habits and entitlements expectations of each of us.. individually...
The United States of America is spending its way into oblivion.. and that's a fact jack. I know because I did it too. I overspent, relied on credit(money that I didn't have), and hope for a future that was unlikely to ever materialize. I was only able to go to college due to a collosal debt load and the charity and benevolence of several wonderful patrons of the arts. My family has paid a steep price for all of that debt, and I am only coming out of the woods now after years of hard work, and discipline. Through all of those years, I have made it a core tenet of my existence to give back to those around me and I always will. As a citizen that is my right. It can not and should not be forced upon me by an out of control gov't bureaucracy. That just doesn't feel right.
The concept of "out of the woods" only means that I like everyone else is back on an even playing field. I have to earn the right to have things. I might hope for charity and sacrifice from others but I can never, ever, plan for it or expect it. I recognize the hard place that we are all in because I have seen it. The difference in my mind is that I never expected others to fix it for me. I never expected to take from others to raise myself up. I was indeed blessed and continue to be blessed by the charity of others and I am thankful, but something is perverted in my analysis if that charity comes from the gov't.
That is the crux of my problem with our current plans. The media calls it "redistribution".. I call it a culture of handouts and entitlements. I too am appalled at the costs of healthcare and the families who are forced into bankruptcy because of the "system". I believe in helping others, in a society where we choose to help one another, and where we have freedoms to do so.. I fear that we are not getting that.
FDR wasn't wrong when he proposed his Economic Bill of Rights. Those principles are sound..but they must be earned by individuals, not granted by a gov't which simply does not have that power to grant. The role of our government should be to protect, not provide. Thus we enter this nexus between a rock and a hard place. A country divides itself fighting about differences as we always have.. instead of seeking agreement.
I cannot grant to you a right which I do not have the right to grant. That is the fact here. The gov't can't grant the people a job, or healthcare because it simply cannot afford it. Only people can choose to sacrifice for others, granting them a "right" to their earnings. The government can't do it, the church can't do it... We have been trying this for years, upon years, upon years, and all we know is that it does not work. In the end, the solution is not law and mandate, but choice and freedom coupled with love and charity.
===========================
Second Bill of Rights (FDR's Economic bill of rights)
The United States of America is spending its way into oblivion.. and that's a fact jack. I know because I did it too. I overspent, relied on credit(money that I didn't have), and hope for a future that was unlikely to ever materialize. I was only able to go to college due to a collosal debt load and the charity and benevolence of several wonderful patrons of the arts. My family has paid a steep price for all of that debt, and I am only coming out of the woods now after years of hard work, and discipline. Through all of those years, I have made it a core tenet of my existence to give back to those around me and I always will. As a citizen that is my right. It can not and should not be forced upon me by an out of control gov't bureaucracy. That just doesn't feel right.
The concept of "out of the woods" only means that I like everyone else is back on an even playing field. I have to earn the right to have things. I might hope for charity and sacrifice from others but I can never, ever, plan for it or expect it. I recognize the hard place that we are all in because I have seen it. The difference in my mind is that I never expected others to fix it for me. I never expected to take from others to raise myself up. I was indeed blessed and continue to be blessed by the charity of others and I am thankful, but something is perverted in my analysis if that charity comes from the gov't.
That is the crux of my problem with our current plans. The media calls it "redistribution".. I call it a culture of handouts and entitlements. I too am appalled at the costs of healthcare and the families who are forced into bankruptcy because of the "system". I believe in helping others, in a society where we choose to help one another, and where we have freedoms to do so.. I fear that we are not getting that.
FDR wasn't wrong when he proposed his Economic Bill of Rights. Those principles are sound..but they must be earned by individuals, not granted by a gov't which simply does not have that power to grant. The role of our government should be to protect, not provide. Thus we enter this nexus between a rock and a hard place. A country divides itself fighting about differences as we always have.. instead of seeking agreement.
I cannot grant to you a right which I do not have the right to grant. That is the fact here. The gov't can't grant the people a job, or healthcare because it simply cannot afford it. Only people can choose to sacrifice for others, granting them a "right" to their earnings. The government can't do it, the church can't do it... We have been trying this for years, upon years, upon years, and all we know is that it does not work. In the end, the solution is not law and mandate, but choice and freedom coupled with love and charity.
===========================
Second Bill of Rights (FDR's Economic bill of rights)
- The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
- The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
- The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
- The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
- The right of every family to a decent home;
- The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
- The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
- The right to a good education.
Total Toilet Freedom
This week's theme ... you knew there was a theme on this blog, right? ... anyway, this week's theme is ...
(drum roll)
Here goes ...
It's "What Freaks Us Out."
When I read the theme, one thing came immediately to mind, followed by a number of other things, then some ESPN leakage and other stuff. But I decided to stick with my first impulse.
So what freaks me out?
In a word ... Women.
Yep, the so-called 'weaker sex.'
Yeah, right, weaker.
I have two daughters and my wife of almost a quarter century, and I'm bigger than them. I'm stronger. I out stink them. Heck, I'm a black belt. I shouldn't be afraid of them.
Okay, so explain to me why on a recent trip, when I stayed in a hotel by myself ... five hundred miles away from my wife and kids ... why ...
... I still couldn't leave the toilet seat up.
I mean,here's my taste of freedom. My chance to boldly leave the toilet bowl exposed and uncovered. Heck, there was no reason I'd even feel required to flush the thing.
Total Toilet Freedom!
But I couldn't do it.
Yeah, women, they freak me out.
Norm
http://www.normcowie.com
(author of the young adult humor vampire book, Fang Face - now available for just three bucks on ebook)
(drum roll)
Here goes ...
It's "What Freaks Us Out."
When I read the theme, one thing came immediately to mind, followed by a number of other things, then some ESPN leakage and other stuff. But I decided to stick with my first impulse.
So what freaks me out?
In a word ... Women.
Yep, the so-called 'weaker sex.'
Yeah, right, weaker.
I have two daughters and my wife of almost a quarter century, and I'm bigger than them. I'm stronger. I out stink them. Heck, I'm a black belt. I shouldn't be afraid of them.
Okay, so explain to me why on a recent trip, when I stayed in a hotel by myself ... five hundred miles away from my wife and kids ... why ...
... I still couldn't leave the toilet seat up.
I mean,here's my taste of freedom. My chance to boldly leave the toilet bowl exposed and uncovered. Heck, there was no reason I'd even feel required to flush the thing.
Total Toilet Freedom!
But I couldn't do it.
Yeah, women, they freak me out.
Norm
http://www.normcowie.com
(author of the young adult humor vampire book, Fang Face - now available for just three bucks on ebook)
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