I've Made Little Progress in Some Areas

I sometimes use this blog as an outlet for thinking about how much I've changed as a result of being married. I ponder everything from how my bathroom is now filled with a bunch of objects I never knew I needed, to what it means to move cross country in scholarly pursuits while balancing being married to a woman who has her own very important career interests.

As fun as it is to talk about transformation, it's also useful to step back and realize areas in which I've made no progress in. Take for example social cooth and preparation at holiday potluck dinners. I vividly recall attending my first holiday party with a white elephant gift exchange when I went to college in 1999 -- I had to stop at the store to buy cookies and what would turn out to be a terrible gift (I believe it was some sort of candle in a glass minutes before the party. Although no one ever said it, I know the cookies were terrible and the person who got stuck with my gift disliked it as well. Flash forward some ten years to a holiday gift exchange potluck I had today, and it is like time has stood still for me. I had to stop at the store to buy a pie because I don't know how to bake anything tasty (and not to mention I would have to cook in a commercial oven that looks intimidating), and I bought what I thought was a great "white elephant" gift (it was a do-it yourself lead detector kit with a note on it that said "have a SAFE holiday). Others had equally tacky gifts, but for the most part they were quite useful. (I would argue that mine was quite useful, too, but in a sort of way that anti-venom is useful to someone who lives in the north.) So, suffice it to say that I have made little progress in the way that I prepare for and engage in holiday functions.

Perhaps some day I will have a real kitchen, a couple of good recipes for tasty potluck food, an ability to discern what would be an appropriate gift. Until then, I will show up with store bought bakery goods and do it yourself lead tests. Or, in the case of the holiday party I have to attend for Erica's work on Thursday, it's store bought salad and a "grow your own bonsai tree" kit. Yikes.

Applebees - The Great Purgatory of Food

As a nice celebration for the end of the semester, our class went to Applebees for appetizers and drinks. It was an incredibly fun time to hang out with everyone in class, including our professor; one in which is especially exciting because we rarely get to hang out as a large group outside of the classroom. The night was fun, but I came to two incredible realizations (at least in my mind) about Applebees.

The first is that Applebees has no discernable image. They've done a lot to shift their image away from the down home, come-on-down-to-the-neighborhood-grill, support-the-local-team atmosphere, but it really lacks an overall image now. It's sort of reminiscent of K-Mart trying to get away from the sell-a-bunch-of-crap-on-bluelight-special image -- successful in getting away from an image, but incredibly unsuccessful in finding a new one. Applebees and K-Mart are in a brand identity crisis of sorts, I think. One needn't look any further than the three pictures located adjacent to the restroom at our local Applebees to see what I mean. Hanging side-by-side are pictures of Enrique Iglesias, a picture of the 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers, and a construction sign.

Second, Applebees is what I like to call the great purgatory of food. Not good, not bad. Not spicy, not bland. Not quick, not slow. Not friendly, not rude. It just sort of "is." I've never had a bad meal from there, but I've never had a particularly good meal from there either. Even the people they hire there, they aren't bland, nor eccentric. It's quite a revelation, I think.

What's your local Applebees like? The same?

Leading with an Open Heart

I read a leadership article a while back that had such a profound effect on how I understand leadership that I see examples of tenets of the article on an almost daily basis. It's called "Leading with an Open Heart," and speaks eloquently about the difficulty we have in our society to forefront the convictions we have in our hearts when practicing leadership. The authors say that, "But to stay alive in our spirit, in our heart, requires the courage to keep our heart open; it requires what Roman Catholics call a sacred heart or what in the Jewish tradition is called an open heart. We can talk about the practical reasons why it's important to keep an open heart -- and there are practical reasons -- but chiefly it is important for your own spirit and identity."

With so much controversy surrounding our world, it's hard to see much evidence of leading with an open heart in our society, especially exemplary examples. But here is one I came across today, and if ever there was an example of someone leading with an open heart in a very public way, this is it:



It's hard not to feel his struggles and convictions when you watch this. Imagine pouring yourself out to a news crew, to face the almost certain risk of losing so many friends, colleagues, and family members' support. Makes me think how much better off we'd all be if everyone practiced leading with such an open heart.

Ravenchase

Last month, Erica and I participated in a "Ravenchase Adventure," which is really just a scavenger hunt for adults who enjoy using their minds. It's sort of like National Treasure meets Amazing Race (you'd love it Julie!) A private company sets up a Ravenchase course, and participants have to solve a series of clues that lead them to different destinations that lead to more clues. Once all of the clues are solved, there is a mega-clue of sorts that directs teams to a local bar (also known as the finish line) to meet up with other teams. It was an excellent time for many reasons. We were able to meet a number of new people, we got to explore downtown DC like we never had before, and we were challenged mentally (which is always fun for folks like us!). Even being novices, we managed to take third place, finishing in just under four hours.



(I look humongous in this picture, btw. I assure you it's just the camera angle.)

I think the folks over at Ravenchase are on to something. It's an excellent team builder for students and corporate events alike. It sure beats doing a ropes course!

Sometimes One Letter Can Change the Meaning of a Whole Lot

I've taken a small hiatus from the blogosphere since I'm knee-deep in papers, research, and things of the like. However, in parceling through some literature, I found an interesting statement with a small typo in it that I found quite funny. It comes from a group of prestigious faculty, scholars, and college presidents, and is intended to be a call for increased civic learning and social responsibility among colleges and universities. Here it is:

“We have a fundamental task to renew our role as agents of our democracy. This task is both urgent and long-term… We share a special concern about the disengagement of college students from democratic participation… This country cannot afford to education a generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit society or how to influence democratic decision making. We must teach the skills and values of democracy, creating innumerable opportunities for out students to practice and reap the results of the real, hard work of citizenship."

I've bolded the typo, which is quite funny, I think. I wonder if anyone has caught this? What a radically different read this statement would be if it were truly talking about "out" students (i.e., students who have come "out" as being gay, lesbian, queer, or bisexual) rather than "our" students.

Amazing how one letter in a sea of words can change the meaning drastically, huh?

Things I Don't Want to Hear Today

It's been 20 months. Some days it feels like 20 years. But the presidential election cycle as we know it will come to a close today. It's been as intense as it has been inane. As inspiring as it has been idiotic. We've seen accusations, lies, distortions, and smears like we've never seen before. Obama has become too black and too white before our very own eyes. In these same 20 months, McCain has miraculously been a maverick and a Bush stalwart at the same time. Palin has been a boost and a burden. Biden has been an asset and a liablity.

We've heard about Bittergate, Palin's clothes, "that one," McCain's cries for a football-like season of townhalls, SNLs resurgence to the American consciousness, Bill Ayers, 3am phone calls, terrorist fist jabs, and the importance of flag pins.

All of these things have brought to the fore of American's consciousness things that many Americans would rather not face the reality of: sexism, overt racism, covert racism, ageism, prevalent segregation, black liberation theology, ignorance, fear, white privilege, and double standards. For most Americans, unfortunately, these issues will just be written off as the craziness of election cycles. For others, though, who feel these issues every day, they'll go back to trying to live life in the face of these realities. But for a while, though, we were talking about these things at our dinner tables. We were talking about them in our classrooms. With our friends. With our loved ones. And that, I think, is one of the best things about election season.

So with all of that being said in the last twenty months, here are some things I hope I don't hear today:

(10) Sean Hannity's voice.

(9) Any commentator or pundit make a distinction between "working class Americans" and "African Americans" as if the two are mutually exclusive.

(8) Talk about how people weren't allowed to vote because of problems at the polls. (Seriously, how hard is it to fix this? Didn't we experience this four years ago?)

(7) That John King is having technical difficulties with his magic map.

(6) Any talk about "Reagan Democrats." Seriously. There's no such thing. It's something drummed up by the GOP that everyone has bought into. What the hell is a Reagan Democrat? I'd rather have 10 magical unicorns.

(5) "This might not be resolved until tomorrow morning when most Americans are at work."

(4) "This might not get resolved until it hits the courts."

(3) Reports of how people got tired of standing in line for hours to vote and just left.

(2) That Wolf Blitzer is tired. I want a good 7 hours of straight Wolf Blitzer tomorrow night. No breaks.

(1) That John McCain, and Sarah Palin, are your new president and vice president respectively.

Sometimes Your Inventions Come True

I've long since had a wonderful idea for a product. Odds are good, in fact, that if I know you personally, I've told you about my idea. It would be a software program component that would scan the body of all emails for variations of the word "attachment" (i.e., attached, attach, attaching) and prompt you after you hit the send button if it doesn't recognize an attached file. This would catch all of the emails that say have a file attached but do not, only to be followed up by an obligatory "Whoops! Forgot the attachment" email. Well, Jonathan K has beat me to it (not as if I was really pursuing it).

This is an option you can enable in gmail:

Forgotten Attachment Detector
by Jonathan K

Prevents you from accidentally sending messages without the relevant attachments. Prompts you if you mention attaching a file, but forgot to do so.



Fair enough. You may have won this one, Jonathan K, but I'll get the last laugh when my "corporate doodles" book gets published.