I totally want one of these! It would be better on gas than my scooter plus I could ride it in the Winter and the rain. The U.S. Department of Transportation would classify this as a motorcycle. It is completely electric and can get up to 75 mph. I just need $36,000.00, plus shipping & handling.
Read more from Inhabitat.
I'm surprised that my memory works as well as it does, but apparently my disgust for reading as a child made a lasting impression. The night before I started kindergarten, I can recall sitting in my bed getting ready to go to sleep. My mother was tucking me in and I asked her to make sure I could say the alphabet without singing that song. I wanted to be a big kid and not have to rely on some annoying song to say my alphabet. I wanted to be smarter than any other kid in my class. It took me awhile to understand which letters I was actually singing during the elameno (L-M-N-O) part of the song.
Well, it turns out some snot nosed kid named William already knew how to read. Showoff! Teacher's pet! Ok, so I didn't know what a teacher's pet was at the time. I didn't think it was any stranger for a teacher to have dog since I had one. Anyway, I knew I didn't like the fact that William could read and I could not. The teacher started with teaching the alphabet using these cool inflatable characters with letters painted on them. It was a big deal if you were the student who got to hold it while the teacher explained the sound each letter made. Soon I was reading.
It didn't take me long to learn how and soon I was as good of a reader as William. However, it took even less time for me to discover that William could not run as fast, he was no good at dodge ball, and he couldn't even climb the pole on the playground. Who cares about reading when there are more important things to prove yourself on, right? At the age of 5, reading just wasn't as fun as playing Candyland with Grandma. So, what if William was a better reader? I didn't care anymore.
I'm not sure whatever happened to William, and he probably kept reading and has become a scholar, making millions. As for me, I doubt I could climb that pole anymore. At least I can still read. I do wonder what happened to him, because I should probably thank him for inspiring me to want to learn how to read.
Did you ever have a teacher conduct reading assignments out loud in class? This actually was good because class typically bored me and the opportunity of reading out loud in front of my peers was my moment to shine. I was a good reader, and a fast one too. I would pay attention up to the time that it was my turn to read and I enjoyed it, but once my turn was over, I checked out.
However, I remember the day in elementary school, when the teacher moved this boy to the seat in front of me. The reading order usually meant this kid would read just prior to me and he wasn't the best reader. In fact, he was horrible. He may have been dyslexic, I don't know. I would never wish a learning disability on anyone, but for his sake, I hope he had one. He really struggled and I felt really sorry for him but that didn't make up for the fact that his turn to read out loud was going to slow us down considerably. We all knew that if we didn't get this chapter read in the allotted amount of time we were going to miss part of recess or we would have to finish it for homework. It...........wa.......was.............to.........tor...........torture.
When it came time for me to read, I would fly through my paragraph and then try to read another one before the teacher could stop me, just so we could finish faster. So what if I was a bit arrogant about my ability to read faster than most of the other fourth graders? Believe me, they all appreciated it when we didn't lose time for recess.
Today was the big the day. I completed 13.1 miles of sweat and pain, as I ran all across Nashville for the Country Music Marathon. I'm not sure if I'll ever do it again, but I am glad that I experienced it and overall had a good time. Here are some of the things I'll remember.
Going all the way back to 2nd grade I can still recall having to read a certain amount of pages of a book each week. There was a cart full of books in the back of the classroom where everyone had to choose books to help them reach the total number of pages that were required. We were then suppose to take it home, read it, and have our parents sign a piece of paper saying we read what we said we read. It went fine the first few weeks.
I managed to pick out all of the short books with lots of pictures. I could typically finish the book on the bus ride home. Then a few weeks later, the only books that were left were ones that were longer and had fewer pictures. Not only did I not feel like reading them on the bus ride home, I certainly didn't want to read them at home with a basketball goal sitting just outside my window. Several times I tried to just hide in my room and play with toys until I thought enough time had passed where I could have finished with my assignment while thinking I might fool my parents. For some reason it never worked. Apparently they read the books before me and could quiz me later.
So, I would find some other kid in the room who had already read that book and quiz them on it before I took the book home. Then when I would get home and mom and dad would quiz me, I would try to string together answers based on my interview with my fellow classmate. I know what you are thinking...again...precious! It wasn't that I didn't know how to read, it's just that I didn't want to.
I haven't always enjoyed reading. It's not at all that I wasn't any good at it or that is was difficult. I just never found much of an interest in it, but to be fair to the subject, I never really gave it a chance. Growing up I was always more interested in toys, video games, and sports. Reading was a formality of life, something school made me do. I always thought if you could listen to it or watch it, then why read it? Reading just took to long and did I mention that it was boring?
I must have wore my mother's ears out as a child. During the summer we would have the same conversation everyday. "Mom, I'm bored! There's nothing on television and I'm bored with these toys. Let's go somewhere."
She knew how to shut me up in hurry by saying "Why don't you read a book?"
That would make me mad. In fact I got so frustrated with that answer I made up a song just to annoy her when she gave me that particular answer. I literally stood on the arm of the couch and sang as loud as I could, over and over. It had the same tune as some song we sung in Sunday school as kids.
"I'm b-o-r-e-d.I know what you are thinking...I was precious! Yeah right. Ironically, it did satisfy my boredom momentarily and eventually I would find something else to do. Still, I never could get into reading.
Yes, that's the word for me.
I'll stand on the couch and shout it out.
I'm B-O-R-E-D!"
I just completed Boom! 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors Off Business-As-Usual by Kevin and Jackie Frieberg. The Friebergs co-authored the international best seller NUTS! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. In the last 2 years, I can't count the number of references in books that I've seen about Southwest Airlines' way of doing business. The stories you hear really are remarkable. Anyway, back to Boom!. I had reservations at first because I wasn't sure I really wanted to read another business book right now, but with authors like Seth Godin and Marcus Buckingham giving it praise I decided to go ahead forge through. I'm glad I did.
I like it when a book slaps me in the face and that's what this one did. You see, working for Dave Ramsey is something special because the atmosphere is absolutely incredible. There's nothing "usual" about business here. It's nothing like a corporate environment. Having said that I didn't expect to get a whole lot out of this book but there were so many incredible take aways that can make my work experience go from great to greater. So, if I can say this about a book, working in a place that I love, then I imagine Boom! can do for you even more if you are somewhere you loathe.
Whether you are in a leadership position or at the bottom of the totem pole, the Friebergs have some great stuff to offer. This is one of the best reads so far this year.
If you want to learn more about the book and the authors, check out http://www.boombook.com/. In fact, while you are there, take the survey and see what kind of impact the Friebergs might have on you.
Put this one on your reading list!
I'm not sure who originally said it but I feel like I have heard the quote below from someone before. No matter, I'll just credit the people who shared it with me. I read it in the book Boom! 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors Off Business-As-Usual by Kevin and Jackie Frieberg (p.209).
"Right now someone somewhere
is training to kick your butt."
From what I understand, bloggers have a lot of impact these days on marketing and advertising. There rests a whole lot of power in a tiny little blog like mine. Whether you believe that or not it makes no difference to me. Still, in the event that it's true, I thought I would harness the power of Pet Peeving for good today.
Let me tell you about a site that I have been using for more than a year now, called Pandora. I love using this site more than my iTunes or traditional radio. Pandora allows you to create your own radio station based on a musician, group, or song. You choose one and Pandora will only play songs that are similar to the style you chose.
Here are a few of the advantages.
I see and hear a lot of stories of people who are living in what seems to them as a hopeless situation. People from all over the country tune in to listen to Dave Ramsey because they are looking for hope when it comes to their money situation. They want a way out of the mess they are in.
Whether the financial situation they are in is self imposed or a result of some awful catastrophe, there is nothing easy about their despair. I say all of this because I found a quote from Christopher Reeve (Superman) in his book Still Me. The book was written after his horse riding accident that severed his spine and left him paralyzed from his shoulders to his toes. Despite his situation, he and his wife Dana were still able to find hope and offer it to others. Here is what he had to say.
"When a catastrophe happens it's easy to feel so sorry for yourself that you can't even see anybody around you. But the way out is through your relationships. The way out of that misery or obsession is to focus more on what your little boy needs or what your teenagers need or what other people around you need. It's very hard to do, and often you have to force yourself. But that is the answer to the dilemma of being frozen - at least it's the answer I found."How would life be different for us all if we decided to focus on the well being of others, rather than throwing a pity party for ourselves?
If you remember the movie Forrest Gump, then you'll remember the scenes where one day he just started running from coast to coast. He ran and ran until one day he just decided to stop.
In preparation for the Country Music Marathon (I'm doing the 1/2) I set out this afternoon to see if I could do somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-11 miles. I made it 9.2 when my wife and son pulled up in the mini-van to see how I was doing. I figured I had done pretty good and my feet were really sore from the new shoes I bought this morning, so I decided to jump in and forget the last mile or two. So, it probably wasn't the best idea to get up to 5 miles about a month ago, and then stop running until today. Oh well.
I realize it might occur to you that I am not dedicated to this whole running thing. Well, I'm not. My legs and feet are complaining tonight and they are telling me that we are not running next weekend. I'm sure they'll get over their whining sometime mid-week.
So like Forrest Gump, this Forrest has decided to stop running too. I'll stop just after I cross the finish line right behind thousands of other people on Saturday.
Happy jogging (someone should be happy about all of this)!
Last night I wrapped up Seth Godin's latest book Meatball Sundae. Overall, I liked what he had to say and enjoyed it, but by the end I still felt like something was lacking.
Godin said in the introduction that you could read the executive summary and pretty much get the gist of the book. He was right. That's not to say the book wasn't worth reading, but the summary is a good place for a quick review.
The main theme of the book is about how traditional marketing (old) is increasingly losing ground from new marketing. Web 2.0 has completely changed the dynamics when it comes to making your company a big deal. No longer is it feasible to try and hitch your wagon to a star. Big media is no longer the major player in marketing and advertising, the consumers are. Anyway, Godin shares 14 different trends for new marketing. If your in marketing and advertising and you are not familiar with all of these trends, you might want to get a copy and brush up on the internet.
Have you read Meatball Sundae? What did you think?
Today is the last day for Leigh, one of our temps at the office. We'll miss all of her humor but other things in life have taken her fancy. Take care Leigh.
While we're on the subject of goodbyes, here is a British short film by Robbie Williams entitled "Goodbye to the Normals".
The last day of my three day tour at home with my son is here. You guessed it - it's nap time and I am trying to get in a post. Today we've done a few guy things. We started the morning off by heading to downtown Franklin and getting us a drink at Starbuck's (coffee for me and milk for the boy). We then walked down main street to check out the toy store but it wasn't opened yet so we smudged up the window with our finger prints growling at the huge stuffed bear on display. I gotta say, downtown Franklin is something special.
We then walked back over to the dealership where we left our van so they could reprogram the computer. Cars and computers...not a good match. We then came back home where we did a little more work to the van. We added some flames down the side and set it up on some over-sized mud tires. This voyager is pimpin' now. The neighbors will be jealous.
After that we cranked out my son's Jeep Wrangler that we picked up this weekend at the neighborhood yard sale and tried driving it down the side walk. That Power Wheel can't stand a chance against the mailbox, but it sure can handle the boxwoods we planted last Summer.
We've been asked to fix supper tonight, so when nap is over, we're gonna fire up the grill and clean it out. Then we'll go kill us a chicken and prepare our feast. We'll probably paint our faces with mud, go bare foot, and use spears. My son will have to do all the killin' since he is the only one with a legal TN hunting license. I'm just ramblin' now. Can you tell? We decided not to have fish tonight in honor of "Jonah".
As I mentioned yesterday, I am on a three day tour of keeping our 23 month old. My wife had been telling me about a new problem that we are going to have to deal with, but I didn't realize how bad it was until this morning.
You see, yesterday we decided to go over to the mall. Cole likes the mall. He like the playground, the escalators and especially the big elevator with the glass window. He loves to push the buttons. So, we went and spent some time there yesterday and he ran up one end and down the other.
What's the problem? Well, as we were leaving the Barnes & Noble this morning I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground. His answer to everything is "yes" when asked a question. It's never "no". However, this morning, he anwered "Mall".
I say, "How 'bout we go to the park instead?
"Mall"
"But it's nice outside bud. Don't you want to go to the playground?"
"Mall"
"Well, sorry. We're going to the park."
"Mall, mall, mall, mall....."
I guess it's not that big of a deal except for the fact that I work for Dave Ramsey and "mall" is one of those 4-letter words. Fortunately, our son loves beans and rice so maybe there is hope.
Nap time!
I have no idea how long I have to make this post. I must type quickly. There will also be no time to proof read, not that I do it very well anyways. I am home for a few days with the pleasure of keeping my son while my wife takes care of some other business. This is day 1 of 3. We had a great morning but I have to tell you that there really isn't anything more glorious than a 1 year old laying down for a nap!
I was talking with a friend at our congregation yesterday, and he mentioned how precious nap time was to him and his wife. In fact, he's the one that gave me the title of this post.
Honestly, I'm just not sure what to do with this time. Should I take a nap? I always like a good nap. Obviously I am blogging, checking email, catching up on the world, but what should I do after this? I have projects, could help with laundry, read, watch television...watching television...no I hate Soaps - I could go on and on. I'm afraid by the time I decide what to do, nap time will be over and an opportunity lost!
I know...just do something...time is short. I'm off but bless you if you are a stay-at-home mom.
This weekend I picked up a copy of Seth Godin's latest book Meatball Sundae. I started reading throught the first few pages prior to the table of contents and saw the following.
You can read this book in ten minutes. Or you can take two hours or even a few days. Up to you. If you want to know what it's about, just read the executive summary. If you want the high points, jump from one boxed item to another. Or, if you want to dive in deep, grab a pen, scribble in the margins, and start right here.
Before I get started, you might like to refresh your memory about the last time WSMV ticked me off and as a result I watch that station as little as possible. I also attempt to avoid any advertisers who advertise with them.
Tonight was the first night for NBC's The Office since the whole writer's strike debacle. I was enjoying the new episode when all of the sudden with three mintues remaining....maybe even only 10 seconds, they cut to their little weather boy to tell us about storms in west TN. I don't know how the show ended. Maybe I did see the end but the point is I don't know, because some program director forgot to remind the weather boy to tell us what exactly we are missing or what we aren't missing.
Then the little weather boy keeps saying, "let's just take one more look at yada yada, and we'll return to our regular programing." Well one more look must have meant 6 more looks because we didn't get back to our regular programming until well after Scrubs had started.
Had they waited 3 minutes or maybe even 5 seconds, all of this anger would be unnecessary.
As for those who live in Paris, TN and Henry County, I sincerely hope all of you are okay. I don't mean to take away from the station wanting to keep you safe, but they have other methods of informing you about a situation for a few minutes and since there was no actual tornado spotted, it was not that pressing.
WSMV...unbelievable.
[See comments below for an update to this issue.]
Perhaps I should have waited to talk about this on Monday, but there's no time like the present. A few weeks ago, life coach, author, and radio show host, Dan Miller came to speak at one of our devotionals. He left us all with a copy of his latest book No More Mondays as a gift.
As I read through his first book, 48 Days to the Work You Love, I had a hard time getting into it. It suspect it was largely due to the fact that I really liked my job and I was not into reading as much. Well, this time around was completely different. I loved the book. I took a lot of great quotes and examples from every chapter. Just being in the book made me feel confident about chasing one of the dreams I've had for the past few years.
Here are a few excerpts that I was glad to find. Enjoy the book and keep reading.
People often ask me how I find time to read as much as I do. (I read at least one new book a week.) The answer is that I'm afraid not to...
...The marketing guru Dan Kennedy says he's observed that people with tiny bank accounts tend to have no libraries, but they usually have big TVs.
A Stanford University study has indicated that if you read thirty to sixty minutes each day in your field of interest, in four to five years you will be a national authority.
All leaders are readers.- No More Mondays , p198.
The next time you are using public WiFi with your own computer, you could make something like the image below your desktop background. It looks like you have several programs open and the little note may cause someone who is hacking your computer to think twice about hanging around. I don't know if it would work, but I thought it was a funny idea.
John F. Kennedy was once quoted with saying "When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity." I don't know much about the Chinese language, in fact I hardly know anything at all. So, I took a little time to look into it a little more and found something interesting. I discovered that even though you might try to make this inspiring and convince yourself that a crisis is a good thing because there is opportunity to be had, you need to keep looking just a little further.
"Crisis" is in fact made up of the two words that are literally, danger (wei) + opportunity (ji). However, here is what I found that was interesting. The word above is still "crisis" in Chinese. There is nothing good about a crisis. Even though symbolically, there may be opportunity in the face of danger, it is still a crisis. If you want to make Kennedy's quote a little more applicable, you need to understand that the Chinese have another word. If in fact you want to turn a crisis into an opportunity you must go from "wei ji" to "zhuan ji". Zhuan (turn into) and ji (opportunity) literally means "turn into opportunity". That is how an opportunity can arise out of a crisis. It requires a little change.
Take a look at the Chinese symbols here. You can also read more about how these Chinese characters have been taken away from their meaning here.
This weekend I started reading No More Mondays by Dan Miller and came across this story about Jim Carrey. Here's the brief version.
[Jim Carrey] wrote himself a check for $20 million and kept it in his wallet until he earned that amount for The Cable Guy (1996). - IMDB.
"Aim for an eagle, bag a pheasant, and you won't eat crow."
I got a funny email yesterday. I thought I would share it.
President Felipe Calderon of Mexico has announced that Mexico will not participate in the Beijing Summer Olympics.Ok... on a more serious note but still on the lighter side, I ran across the following video on Dan Miller's blog. The video just goes to show you that blue collar jobs aren't the only ones being farmed out to other countries.
He stated:
"Casi cada uno que puede funcionar, saltar, o la nadada ha salido ya del pais."
Translation:
"Pretty much everyone who can run, jump, or swim has already left the country."
Thanks to Andy Andrew's and Thomas Nelson Publishers, I was able to read Andy's latest book Mastering the Seven Decisions, which is on sale now but won't be shipped until April 15, 2008. This book is a follow up to The Traveler's Gift.
You certainly don't have to read The Traveler's Gift before Mastering the Seven Decisions, but they cover the same subjects in two completely different ways. His first book is simply a fable that's a light read and very enjoyable. It's about a man who meets seven different people from the past and future and gives him some guiding principles. This latest book takes his first one a step further.
Mastering the Seven Decisions takes a hands on approach with application. Throughout each chapter, Andy gives you several questions to help you apply each "decision" he discusses. There's a good bit of repetition from the first book, but to be honest it didn't really bother me. The stories Andy uses to make his point are fun to read. This book was a nice refresher. It reminded me to check my compass when it comes to personal growth.
In a lot of reading that I've done over the past two years, I've come across a lot ideas and suggested practices on improving your life. A lot of them are things you could do everyday that will help you improve your productivity, meet your goals, and simply make you an all around better person. Even while reading all of that, this morning it occurred to me that I have one to share from a personal observation.
My mother had a routine everyday when she got home from work. Looking back, I realized that I may be the only person who knew what it was and until this morning never really thought about the impact of her routine. Here's what she did.
Following work, she would arrive home around 5:15 in the afternoon. After talking with me for a few minutes, she would make her way upstairs to change clothes and come back down with her walking shoes and a pair of socks. She always did this because loved to see how excited our dog Freckles would get when she saw the walking shoes. Freckles loved walks and couldn't wait to get into some trouble as the two of them made several trips up our half-mile driveway.
Mom would then sit at the end of the couch next to the end table that was home to our little blue telephone. I remember that phone, because it had three buttons for Fire, Police, and Ambulance. I had programmed all of those buttons to be speed dials for my 3 best friends. Anyway, she would pull out the phone book from underneath the phone, look up a number and begin to dial. When the caller picked up she would say "Hey this is Carol. I just wanted to see how things were going."
She would then just sit and mostly listen for the next 5 minutes with the occasional "uh huh", "oh no", or "I'm sorry to hear that". While she listened she laced up her shoes and was ready to take a walk. Once the other person was finished talking, she would end the call with something like, "I'm sure something will work out soon" as if she had already silently prayed for them on the phone while they were talking. She'd hang up the phone and then take a walk with Freckles.
I suppose a lot of people just like having someone to listen and she created that opportunity everyday at 5:30. I think that's just one reason so many people liked her.
With a name like Pet Peeving, you should be able to find a list of pet peeves somewhere, right? This page will be dedicated to listing them as I find them. Some of them are mine, many of them belong to others. If you have some to add to the list, just comment and I will add them. Keep in mind, that I will only add pet peeves as opposed to general dissatisfaction with something particular. You may want to take a look at the definition of a pet peeve if you don't understand.
My intentions for starting this list is to provide some laughter rather than create anxiety or frustration. Enjoy!
Smart cars are new to the US. Dealerships began opening at the beginning of the year. I think the cars are pretty neat so about 8 months ago I registered to win a Smart car online - here. Guess what? I won! I just found out this morning. Below is a picture of what they look like. I should receive mine towards the end of May - just in time for the summer gas prices.
