Making Your Mark

This evening I took my lovely bride to a college theater production. It's been sometime since we ventured to a theater arts production. We once had season tickets, an outgrowth of my bride's experience in college as a theater major. Kids helped to refocus our finances in other areas, and season tickets were some of the collateral damage. As we took our seats, we looked up to see an old professor of mine with his wife. Now this specific professor is famously known around campus for his effort to know each of his students by name. For 15 weeks each semester he crawls the aisles of his four classes to greet each student by name.

As we conversed prior to the opening curtain, I offered that I used to be one of his students. At this point the professor seemed a bit embarrassed that he didn't remember me. The reality is that I've been out of college for eleven years, following the completion of my master's degree. I also only had one graduate course with this professor, so I didn't really expect him to recall my name.

On the drive home, my wife and I commented on how embarrassed the older professor appeared to be. I added that I didn't really think he'd remember, because I never went out of my way to be memorable. Then I recalled a conversation with one of my old bosses, which he declared that I needed to toot my own horn from time to time. In many ways the evening's encounter highlighted the fact that in certain circumstances I tend to blend into the crowd. This defense mechanism could be construed as a weakness. There are times when being a face in the crowd is acceptable, but at other times there exist a need to be noticed. The difficulty as I see it is determine when to do either.

Birthdays aren't ordinary days

It has been my experience that at some point in my adult years, birthdays loose their significance. Whether this is by design because we don't relish the thought of growing older or it's a factor of inconvenience given the breath of busyness that we are involved with, birthdays just don't seem to be as big a deal as they were when we were kids.

Or at least that was what I thought. Thankfully my children haven't surrendered to this notion. Last week I celebrated a birthday. The night before my six year old approached me with the information that tomorrow would be my birthday. I responded that this was true, but that it would be just an ordinary day. Apparently this was a challenge for my children, and one that I am thankful they took on. The morning of my birthday, my wife rolled over at 7am to wake me up, but cautioned that I was to remain in bed because my children had something special for me. Fifteen minutes later, I was greeted with a tray of waffles, coffee, and blackberrys. It was most unexpected, first that my children were up that early and secondly because I'm not normally a breakfast eater. So with tray in hand, all three of my children accompanied by my bride climbed into bed to observe me partake into this birthday breakfast. As they watched wide eyed, I consumed the entire breakfast.

For lunch, I was called home again to a special birthday luncheon with the family. My wife pulled out all the stops preparing a special entree, and for desert the children had assisted in making some yummy cup cakes. Not to be out done, there were candles on most of the cup cakes. I had a hint that something was up when my eight year old made the comment that she hoped I could blow out the candles. So you guessed it, after the traditional birthday song, I attempted to blow out the candles only to have them re-ignite. All three of my children were beside themselves with laughter, although I think the two year old was just mimicking his older sisters.

That evening we had a church event, but my children continued to tell everyone they saw that it was my birthday. Several people inquired my age, at which I responded, "I younger than I look, but older than I feel." Such a vague response didn't pacify some and my children were glad to provide the requested information.

To say the least the day was not ordinary by any stretch of the imagination. All thanks you my children who firmly believe that birthdays are special. Honestly I agree with them, but too often the demands of job, chores, and a litany of other items seem to usurp the priority of celebrating my own birthday. To my kids I am thankful that they saw fit to provide me with a reality check.

Will the iPhone generate sales for other PDA-Phones?

So today is the day. Folks have been talking about it for months. The manufacturer has been teasing us for longer with glimpses, snippets, an promises. But today at 6pm local time the world will no longer have to wait with baited anticipation for Apple's iPhone. Or will they?

Industry analysts are skeptical about supplies, the exclusive contract Apple has with AT&T as the preferred wireless service provider, as well as just the iPhone itself. Of course curiosity and techno fanatics will consumer hundreds of thousands of these devices, but my question is whether the iPhone will fuel a resurgence of the PDA-Phone combo devices?

In the last year we have seen several manufacturers begin pumping PDA-Phone devices into the market. Motorola, Samsung, Treo, even the huge business PDA player RIM has introduce some snazzy Blackberry additions prior to Apple's big release. Is all this activity a beacon to a new PDA-Phone age, or simply each manufactures' attempt to generate some sales in the wake of Apple's big splash.

Personally, I believe Blackberry sales will increase through the third quarter of 2007. Whether it's because folks aren't happy that the iPhone isn't available, doesn't work as promised, or simply because current blackberry users are willing to upgrade their devices to compete with the "cool" factor that the iPhone is obviously generating. I believe the same will be true for Treo sales as well, for similar reasons.

So while all the current blackberry, treo, and blackjack users out there are comparing the feature sets and battery life cycles; we should be celebrating the iPhone's release. Again I believe that the whole PDA-Phone market will benefit from the iPhone's introduction. This also means that I will benefit, since I've been a PDA-Phone user for several years now.

Where am I?

Have you ever had one of those instances, whether it be an evening, day, week, or month; which you look up and realize that despite all the activities you have been engaged in little progress has been made. It's that realization that despite being able to cross off one item on the ole "to do" list that an additional four items have been added. It's the overwhelming feeling that you are treading water, or worse yet no matter how much exertion you continue to sink. I'm sitting in my office and on either side of me are reams of "to be filled" papers, and some of which I don't even remember placing there. You want to take a breather and tackle things linearly, but neither time nor energies are available to be dedicated to task of catching up. So you continue forward, hoping and wishing for an opportunity to simply catch up. If time does present itself, you are faced with the choice of taking said time to clear the clutter, or do something for yourself. If you clear the clutter, well then you haven't really taken a break, rested, or relaxed. However if you take time for yourself, sure there is a fleeting period of rest, but then you return to the clutter and to do list that never seems to reduce in volume. It's a catch 22.

Blink & You'll Miss It

In retrospect, this past week has been a blur. I have traveled almost 4,000 miles this past week, have spent at least over an hour in at least three states, and only spent a total of 12 hours in the office this week. Looking back it just feels like the week has breezed by.

My week started at 4:30am on Monday with an arrival at the local airport to begin a west coast journey to attend a meeting that was scheduled to begin at 9am Pacific time. Since I can't catch a direct flight, I'm forced to connect in Dallas. There's a whole story related to why I'd subject myself to an early flight out, but this opportunity allowed me to fly first class from Dallas to the west coast in the company of other high rollers like Michael Irvin. Unfortunately the early time tabled was conducive for me to catch a hour of sleep in my first class recliner, so I didn't really even get a chance to fully appreciate the luxuries afford me. Monday evening found me at a beach side seafood restaurant in Malibu dining on Chilean Sea bass. Tuesday found me again traversing the country returning home with a diversion to Oklahoma City because of weather in Dallas. For the hour and half we spent on the tarmac in OKC, I passed the time listening to the young lady next to me fretting about her ability to make it home to Alabama. So to assist I pulled out the treo and navigated the airlines website checking on flights in an effort to comfort this young lady. Upon arriving in Dallas, I watched two other flights scheduled after mine, leave for home. I did get home after 10pm that night exhausted and curious if my trip scheduled next month will allow me to get into Chicago in time to make the first pitch at Wrigley Field (I arrive in Chicago at 10:30am and the game starts at 1:20pm). Wednesday saw a normal day at the office, normal given the fact that I've been absent for the two previous days. Thursday I spent the morning in the office, and the afternoon driving to Dallas. This drive was prolonged by an hour because of construction that diverted (see a theme developing?) east bound traffic to the frontage road and a extreme backup of vehicles. Friday I spent the day in a workshop visiting with other educational technology professionals. Saturday I returned home, so that the rental car could be checked in by 1pm.

I'm not sure how people do this business travel. One of the guys I met out at the west coast on Monday, was also in attendance at the workshop in Dallas on Friday. I know for a fact that he was in Arizona on Tuesday, and who knows where else Wednesday and Thursday. At one point the wife and I decided that if I ever changed careers, I would be allowed to travel one week a month if the job required. After a week like this, I'm not convinced that I'd want to pursue opportunities that required this.

Thankfully I'm home for a couple of weeks before I jet off again. Of course the next time I fly the friendly skies, it's for a guys weekend away that includes the mentioned Cubs day game.

Losing it all

For the last couple of months, the wife and I have been attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our local church. For the entire span of our marriage we've been in debt, and despite all the good intentions and plans that I may have conjured, we continue this pattern of money mismanagement. So we now sit at the foot of a man who has been on top of the mountain, only to loose it all, and then by the grace of God has been able to re-establish his footing.

Having read the stories about Mr. Ramsey, and having listen to several of his radio shows and read through a couple of his books, I find his advice and story encouraging. Despite the dire straits that I may be walking upon, I find courage that change can happen, and that with some honesty, communications, and grace that I too can enjoy the opportunities presented to my family.

Over the last couple of years I have spent several nights obsessing over the bills that have stacked up against us. I have questioned my ability to provide for my family, and more than several occasions I have lost total confidence in myself and my abilities as a father and husband. Not all dire situations affect me in the manner in which money issues affect me. Job challenges that maybe wrought with unattainable objectives typically drive me to find the critical path to overcome the hurdles. Attacks on me or even the illusion that I may have done something to wrong others, typically drive me to re-examine my own actions and decipher how I need to be more sensitive to how my actions or words evoke others to respond. However money simply takes the wind out of me, and I want to just curl up into the fetal position.

So my wife returned from her ever so exasperating trip to the west coast with stories of a presentation by Phil Vischer, the creator of the VeggieTales. The short version of Phil's plight in the world of Christian animation is that he created VeggieTales and it exceeded all expectations he had regarding it's popularity. As the mania grew, so did his aspirations of what VeggieTales and the Big Idea brand could become. So a series of events came to pass that saw Phil leverage the company, relationships, and himself to the point that ultimately left the company in bankruptcy and he lost his dream, passion, and more than ten years of his life's work. I'm sure I may have over stated the impact here, but the point is simply he overextended the dream to share with the world a message and talent that God had given him. After all this ordeal, he continues lending his voice for the characters he created, helps write scripts, and relishes the exposure that VeggieTales has received since it started airing on NBC on Saturday mornings. Obviously there are some unique and God opened doors in his story, but reading through some of the accounts of the rocky history, I get the sense that in the midst of the storm his confidence, ambition, and very self worth was shaken. And yet, bitterness couldn't be a descriptor of his attitude. He still has a hand, although intentionally limited and guarded, in the developments of the vegetable gang. The language he uses implies peace as he describes the fact that many of the individuals that helped propel VeggieTales success in the early days, who later were laid off, are once again pouring the energies into the developing story line of Bob, Larry, Pa Grape, Archibald, etc.

The silver lining that I take from both Phil and Dave, is that in spite of ourselves, God can work in us. In spite of our own failings, and the pain that it can (and will) cause, peace can be felt. I find it encouraging that although I'm confident that neither Phil or Dave would wish anyone to follow in their footsteps, the fact remains that their path isn't completely bleak. Even as they might have walked in the valley of darkness, they feared no evil, confident that the Lord was present. Sometimes presence is all we need. Sometimes, in absence of miracles, in the absence of words, the knowledge that we are not alone is what sustains us. There are and will be days that when our own short sightedness will get the best of us. There are and will be days when we are allowed to fall flat on our faces. These days don't necessarily represent God's absence, more times than not I believe these represent our own absence from God. I typically find that it is on these occasions when I fell God's presence more than ever. It is on these occasions when my own voice or others I have gathered around me aren't drowning out God's wisdom and counsel. The challenge of course it not to only be listening when I'm flat on my face or in dire straits. He's always present, his Spirit is always offering counsel. May I listen now. May I be conscious of his strength in my weakness, and his words in my silence.

Inconvenience

In an age where one can transverse the country in a matter of hours rather than days, I would say that we frequently forget the complex maze of dependencies that provide this feat of convenience. It is only when this delicate balance of dependencies is interrupted that the cord of convenience begins to quickly unravel.

I've only had brief experiences of this scene we can glibly label "inconvenience". I've sat in a plane on the tarmac in Austin, Texas for several hours, while our flight between Los Angeles and Dallas was waiting out thunderstorms at our destination. I've driven a rental car the thousand miles along Interstate 20 after mine and all flights were canceled following the events we know as September 11.

All these events were bothersome in many ways, but these few occurrences were manageable because I was the one sitting, waiting, negotiating, and simply passing the time. This weekend my bride counted on the convenience to deliver her to a west coast destination where she was scheduled for several days of renewal and retooling associated with her vocation. Her trip was interrupted almost immediately with an hour delay from her port of embankment. What transpired the the convening 36 hours has been nothing less that inconvenience. A frantic race through the DFW airport to catch a connecting flight that made it as far as the runway and back in a mere three hours and half hours. Constant jocking for spots on alternative flights with every other passenger that was scheduled to depart the airport on that Saturday afternoon and night. Continuous visits to the ticket counter, very hour on the hour to check available flights and standby listings, an additional two hour wait to see if the luggage would make the next flight, a hotel room that was given away for reasons that escaped the not-so-courteous attendant at the front desk, and finally 24 hours of activities never to be recaptured-monetarily and in mind share.

It may make for a good story in hind-sight, but as a husband who's tasked with the unattainable goal of fixing little girl''s hair, I find it difficult not to be able to lend a hand of comfort or resolution. I listen attentively, text feverishly, and even parlay this unraveling account to friends in such a passive way, that I find myself wishing to change places. I don't think the end results would be any different were me rather than her, but at least she would be insulated from the frustration that brings about tears and I wouldn't feel so helpless knowing that not only can't I reach out in comfort, but I can't actually reach out in vindication.

Such an episode makes one pause to consider future travel plans, even those arranged to bring loved ones home. The silver lining, if I can reach beyond the constraints of a self-imposed realist view point, is that despite the inconveniences, my beautiful bride is safe. Appropriate decisions were made following certain risk assessments, and for that I can not nor will I fault anyone. So I fall asleep knowing that despite well articulated business plans hinged on the benefit of convenience, like all other elements of our world Murphy's law is in play making note that things can and will disrupt the best plans available.