HR Management

why is it that when we were young and we played a game, the rules generally told us what we could do... but for some reason, as we got older, the rules changed? suddenly, all the restrictions were brought to the forefront. we're informed of all the dont's, and it's assumed that everything left unsaid is the way the job gets done. doesn't it seem that things would be easier if we were just told what to do and how to do it? not only would job requirements and productivity seem much more clear cut, but perhaps it would also take the sting out of the "no's" that we seem to hear all the time. can we still put a positive spin on the game of life?

Persistence

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” -Jacob August Riis

i love this quote…not only because it’s written on the corridor leading to the spurs locker room in about 30 different languages, but because it’s such a true statement. you can look at something you’re working on and choose to see no results, or you can continue on with your work, knowing that all the time you’ve already put in will eventually reap a reward. how often do we forget that? we get so focused on wanting immediate results that we lose sight of the vision…of what the completed work will be. let persistence be your vision, your hammer to split your rock.

National Severance

sometimes even the good ones falter.

it's a sign of the times when even a well-run, well-respected organization has to downsize, make cutbacks, layoffs, closing, etc. news broke yesterday that starbucks is closing 600 of their stores nationwide. what does that say about the state of our economy? $4 gas has become the norm, kicking the $4 cup of coffee to the curb...something's gotta give.

600 stores, that's a lot of newly unemployed people. add them to all the laid off auto-workers, over 900 soon-to-be released american airlines fight attendants and countless home builders, realtors and mortgage brokers flooding the unemployment lines and monster.com websites... that's a lot of people looking for very few available jobs.

so, what does that mean for everyone else? perhaps we'll appreciate our jobs just a little bit more... or maybe we're excited because this may help curb senseless spending in our country... perhaps an increase in national credit card debt... a renewed look at the homeless situation in our nation, etc.

regardless of any other of your own personal concerns, it does leave many people wondering and thinking, "i hope my starbucks isn't on that list"!

Tiger Woods, Uniting The World?

i read a very interesting article today (although not very original...i read a simular article about a year ago with the same concept) about tiger woods, the most dominant pro golfer on tour, and arugbly the most dominant athlete in all of professional sports. tiger's fame and popularity has eclipsed practially everyone's expectations. (click here for the article)

here's an example: last month, when tiger and 'that other guy' were in an 18-hole playoff on a monday for the u.s. open, my sister and katy were texting me with updates every few minutes while i was at work! that's right; my sister and katy; 2 women who have never even played a single hole of golf, were watching the entire 18-hole playoff on the edge of their couch, informing me of every stroke gained or lossed, every painful grimace on tiger's face, every amazing shot executed and pretty much everything else in between. moral: tiger woods is the man!

anyway, back to the article... it's about how tiger should break away from the pga tour and start his own tour. think about it... what's not to love? practially every player on tour already likes the guy. after all, since his arrival, sponsorships, prize money and endoursments have skyrocketed...and you know even the mediocre players are feeling some of the ripple. plus, if he can take the game to a truly global market and make even more money, why not? he already has his name on practically everything else: video games, sports drinks, a building at the nike corporate campus in oregon, why not his own tour?!

the amazing thing is, he could probably pull this off. do you think derek jeter could start his own baseball league and have even moderate success? how about joe montana and football? not even michael jordan in his prime could have defected from the nba and tried to start his own league... it would have been career suicide (even more than playing AA baseball for the birmingham barons).

nothing seems to be impossible for tiger. after all, he hobbled around and won the u.s. open with a broken leg and a torn ligament in his left knee. impossible doesn't seem to even be in tiger's vocabulary.

31,536,000 Seconds

31,536,000 seconds... 525,600 minutes... 8,760 hours... 365 days... 52 weeks... 12 months... 1 year...

katy, thanks for the best year of my life! i just wanted you to know how much you mean to me and what the past year has meant. words can't describe how i feel when i look back on my life so far and where it has taken me. i thank God everyday that you saw something in me... some potential of what you wanted in a husband. thanks for the happiest, most enjoyable, challenging and rewarding year of my life. i can't wait to see what the future has in store for us... and i can't wait to live out the rest of my life with you by my side. you've been my rock when i needed it, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, a kiss to help me greet each morning and a smiling heart to help me leave each day behind. thanks for all that you do for me, to keep me happy, to encourage me, to be my biggest fan. i love you more than words can express!

31,536,001 seconds... 31,536,002 seconds... 31,536,003...





katy" i said,

"i think i'm gonna marry you."

and she said,

"are you asking me,

or are you telling me?"

"i'm asking you".

"well go ahead and ask me, then".

and so i did,

and she accepted,

and we went out into our days.




i won't break, i will wait, i won't hide, i will stay, i'll never run away

when i'm sick i will try, when you're you're scared i will smile, i'll never run away

i'll never run away


congratulations,

you've blown us all away

Forget the waiting,

no one needs those games

i'll celebrate it,

so simple and so plain

congratulations, now never run away.

Dollar Bill

what do you remember about things when you first purchase them? the way it looks in your eyes? they way it feels in your hands? how about the way something brand new to you smells? that's an unusual trait, but sometimes i can think back on something and recall the exact way something smells... my first new car, our high school locker room, the first cd i purchased.

that's right, i can recall exact smell of the first cd i bought, sweet oblivion by screaming trees. i opened that plastic packaging in the fall on 1992, and the smell of the paper liner notes, plastic case and metallic disk instantly became a perminant fixure in my memory bank. see, it was more than just a new cd to me, it was a new era of enjoyment, purchased for a reasonable price at the now defunct smash hit music on san pedro. like i said, i remember weird things. i recall listening to that cd over and over again, and being amazed at the simplicity of being able to change tracks, rewind, fast foward, pause, stop, etc.

but more than that, it signified a death of an era also... see, i was a big fan of the 'mix tape'. only, back BCD (before cd's), i had to transfer music from one tape to another, or even worse, from the radio to tape. i had an entire desk drawer full of mix tapes that i had made, edited, labeled, etc. and with the horrible inaccuracies of tape and radio, there were always little portions of songs clipped off, dj's talking over the beginning or ends of songs, etc. suddenly, with the purchase of one cd, all the guess work was a thing of the past. now i knew exactly when to press play, pause, record, stop, etc. suddenly, i was a master!

by the way, that album is still one of my favorite cd's, so i'm glad i made a wise decision with my first purchase. there's one song in particular that i really enjoy over all the others, track 3, dollar bill. i don't know exactly what it is about this song, but it always seems to take me back to a simplier time, an easier time, a time when my biggest concern was "are there anymore blank tapes?"...





torn like an old dollar bill
girl let them say what they will
that no one should hurt you
and that's all i seem to do
that no one should desert you
and that's all i seem to do

a got to tell you, goodbye mama
we've taken this too far
been trying to tell you what's going on
trying to make it easy on you
trying to make it better
make it easier on you
it's all i came to do
it's all i came to do

now i'm down in the light
and i must be dreaming it
cause i see clearly, i see angels here
bringing something to me, mother mercy

i told a lie, i didn't mean it
goodbye mama, i've taken this too far
been gone a while
been gone a long way, oh yeah

i don't want to hurt you
it's all i seem to do
don't want to desert you
it's all i seem to do

i got to tell you, goodbye mama
i've taken this too far
been down a while
been down a long way
trying to make it easy on you
trying to make it better
make it easier on you
it's all i came to do
it's all i came to do
it's all i came to do
that's all...
been down a long
been down a long, long way

torn like an old dollar bill

Seven Spanish Angels

today...i cheated death.

let me explain.

several years back, i decided that i wanted the song Seven Spanish Angels by ray charles and willie nelson played at my funeral (whenever that may be), and i still feel the same way today. there's something about that song...the music, the voices, the words that all for some reason connect with me. call me old, or weird, or both...but the amazing voices of ray charles and willie nelson, coupled with a soulful melody on piano and lyrics that spark emotions of love and loss...what a combination! so, needles to say, that song will one day be played after i'm gone.

which was almost today.

see, i was driving by myself on i-10 this afternoon near leon springs. any of you who have been near there lately know that the driving conditions are not quite what you'd call "optimal". with construction seeming to be neverending and the amount of cars traveling on that 2-lane highway, i'm suprised more accidents don't occur.

anyway, i was driving, listening the new cd i had just purchased (pete yorn - nightcrawler)...but more that that, i was having a little time with God. see, several things happened today that really made me step back and think, collect my thoughts, assess situations, give thanks to God, wonder what all it meant and envision what's to come from it.

as i was traveling, thinking, thanking and praying along this 2-lane highway with temporary concrete barriers on each side of the road, a car proceeded to cut-off a semi-truck traveling in the lane next to me. in order for this semi-truck to miss the vehicle that had swerved in front of it, the semi-truck had to swerve into my lane. in "optimal" conditions on a normal highway, this would have presented me with a need to make a rather quick decision in order to avoid collision...but, given the fact that this was a construction area and there were concrete barriers on each side of the road, a "rather" instant decision would have been too late.

so, without even thinking, i hit the brakes and criss-crossed just inches behind the truck in order to avoid a potentially fatal mishap of my car; and more importantly, myself; becoming crushed between the concrete barrier and the semi. luckily, there were no vehicles immedately behind the truck...because, if there had been, i would have collided with them at a rather high rate of speed. now, i'm not amping up the story for dramatic effect, it really was a matter of an inch or two between collision and safety.

after brakes screached, horns blew and hearts dropped, everyone realized that travesty had been adverted and continued on to their destinations. i immediately took the next exit; which wasn't but a couple hundred yards ahead; pulled onto the grassy shoulder of the access road and tried to catch my breath.

and that's when i noticed it...

somehow, during the confusion and thoughtless reactions of the road, i had hit the mode button on my steering wheel while trying to escape the incident. the cd that i had just purchased minutes earlier was no longer playing. now, the radio was tuned to 107.9, a station i had never listened to in my life...and playing for me was Seven Spanish Angels by ray charles and willie nelson. i just sat there, listening in disbelief. only seconds after i had just nearly died, the song i have always wanted playing at my funeral was singing out to me. my immediate thought was, "am i dead?".

i gathered my emotions, check for cars and pulled back onto the road to head home. as i drove home, what had just occured made me step back and think, collect my thoughts, assess situations, give thanks to God, wonder what all it meant and envision what's to come from it... all over again...



(click here for a better video)

he looked down into her brown eyes,
said, " say a prayer for me."
she threw her arms around him,
whispered, "God will keep us free."
and they could hear the riders comin,
he said, "this is my last fight.
if they take me back to texas,
they won't take me back alive."

and there were seven spanish angels,
at the alter of the sun.
they were prayin' for the lovers,
in the valley of the gun.
and when the battle stopped,
and the smoke cleared.
there was thunder from the throne.
and seven spanish angels,
took another angel home.

she reached down and picked the gun up,
that lay smokin in his hand.
said, "Father please forgive me,
i can't make it without my man."
and she knew the gun was empty,
and she knew she couldn't win.
but her final prayer was answered,
when the rifles fired again.

and there were seven spanish angels,
at the alter of the sun.
they were prayin' for the lovers,
in the valley of the gun.
and when the battle stopped,
and the smoke cleared.
there was thunder from the throne.
and seven spanish angels,
took another angel home.