Singer Boy

What the picture doesn't show.

This is a regional state girls softball championship for our part of Illinois.
The girls are standing at attention facing the flag listening to the national anthem being sung.
The soloist is standing in the press box, up and behind home base, at the microphone.
The beautiful notes, unfortunately not captured by me, are being sung by Parker.

Well done Parker!

Self reliance works better in groups.

Often I read Brigham's blog and find motivation to listen to a song, watch a video or movie and often read a book. This morning I dropped by the library and picked up three short stories by Tolstoy: Where Love is, There God is Also, The Three Hermits, and What Men Live By.

Tolstoy is a rich and rewarding read whether it is his novels, or his short stories that illuminate a christian weakness that many a christian do not practice what they preach. These three stories stir the soul and prick the conscience and cause one to reflect and ask do I truly love my neighbor ( in the broad biblical sense of neighbor) and do I truly commune with God.

The first story is the most retold and familiar, though Tolstoy is not always attributed as the author, the third Brigham reviewed, so a few thoughts on the middle of the three - the hermits. Two thoughts actually. First that it is true that God honors the heart yielded to Him , not mere ritual and thus sanctifies the yielded heart regardless of circumstances or outward appearances. And secondly, it is far too easy, and might I say frequent, to judge another's religious habits from the outside and prescribe from that outsider's point of view, a solution even though it is not our stewardship to intercede or preach or correct; and oft times is misguided.

Recommended reading for a quick lift.

24/6 or 24/7

God created the world in 6 days and then he rested from all his labors.

God revealed the Ten Commandments commanding mankind to labor six days and rest from their labors on the seventh.

God has been declared the God of the Sabbath.

And so the question arises does God work all the time, is He on call 24/7?

If He is, is He violating the Sabbath. Wouldn’t it be natural for him to be 24/6 since he set precedent by resting the seventh day of creation; and the Sabbath appears to be an eternal law reinforced in each dispensation? If He were working only 24/6 who works the Sunday shift? Does the Godhead work a 4/10 schedule in rotation?

So the question arose in my pondering and I asked a friend her thoughts on the subject? She very quickly replied that it was a moot issue given that even if God didn’t work 24/7 He has called Stake Presidents who do and as such God had Sunday coverage...( no difficulty in discerning what calling her husband has)

Her response though rendered almost glibly did redirect my thinking. For the Lord questioned “is it lawful that man should do good on the Sabbath?” and proclaimed “This is my work and my glory to bring to past the immortality and eternal life of man”. Work is work but glory might cover the seventh day – that which glorifies god are those things which reflect and bring firth His love, His glory is keeping the Sabbath day holy by only doing those things which glorify and bring one closer to God on the Sabbath. If an activity takes away from the Spirit of Gad it would be in violation of that day. God as Heavenly Father would not lose His Father title and responsibilities on the Sabbath no more than I would not respond to my own children’s call of Dad, father on any day of the week. A father is a 24/7 gig.

So

God would answer a prayer on the Sabbath.

God would perform a miracle on the Sabbath.

God would intercede as needed on the Sabbath.

God would do those things that would bring His children closer to Him on His day.

The Tradition Continues to the Next Generation

sunday at the park

Favorite Girls

wisconsin.

Home of cheese, cheeseheads, packer fans, and baby eden; but also the home of many a circus and circus act. After last season when Lake Denton dried up, the Tommy Bartlet show has added some circus acts. The water ski part of the show is still my favorite , though they did not have the water skiing squirrel from my youth. The kids truly enjoyed a couple of the circus acts.

I also enjoyed that it was free as part of the volley ball tournament. Fun to have a long weekend family outing, it has been awhile.

Philogagging

I love having the library so close that it is easy to regularly visit.This week's book is Plato & A Platypus Walk Into A Bar.


A relatively short booked based in Philogagging, a crash course in philosophy explained via jokes; some bad, some insightful all lively and engaging in thought.


The first chapter discusses teleology whether things have an inner meaning and an essence which they are destined to pursue. The best joke in the section cast a light on how Rindy will be as a grandmother.


Mrs Goldstein was walking down the street with her two grand children. A friend stops to ask how old they were. She replied: " The doctor is five and the lawyer is seven".


The essence of teleology revealed.

Schmoop

Schmoop

a new to me education portal that was a referred to me through slideshare and iconculture in the same week, so i checked it out. it brought me back fondly to EdView days.

While Shmoop may sound like the title of a ’60s doo-wop song, it’s actually a wry interactive study-aid website to help high school and elementary students learn. The website provides a snarky take on history, literature and poetry with study questions, trivia and hyperlinks to other multimedia online content (Shmoop.com 4.22.09).

Go check it out and return and report - choose a favorite piece of literature to review.

Teen Buzz

so how youthful is your hearing.Word is that shop keepers in the UK are using this as white noise to keep the pest kids away. Old folk can't hear it. Can You?

Click here:

Negotiate

Today i attended a negotiation course by Notre Dame. Like most skills there is great benefit it having them refreshed and updated. Additionally they reinforced the importance of preparation and confidence.

The following story was shared in terms of understanding the other party with whom you negotiate, i had heard it before but sill chuckled.

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather off the California coast for several days. As night fell, the captain noticed the patchy fog and decided to remain on the bridge.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light. Bearing on the starboard bow".
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain asked.
The lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant the battleship was on a collision course with the other ship.
The captain called to the signalman, "Signal that ship. You are on a collision course. Advise you alter course 20 degrees."
Back came the answering signal, "Advisable that you change course 20 degrees."
The captain said, "Send another message. I am a senior captain. Change course 20 degrees."
"I am a seaman second class," came the reply, "Change your course at once."
The officer was furious. He spat out, "We are a battleship squadron. Change your course 20 degrees."
The flashing light replied, "I am a lighthouse."
The squadron changed course.

Mother of the Year

I nominated Rindy early in the process, was delighted when she made the semi-finals, and thrilled when she won. Could not be prouder and in candor agree with their assessment, (though perhaps I should have nominated my Mom - who is great in her own as well). But the kids got behind this idea and so we pushed her through and SHE WON !!!

Please enjoy the news release attached - click here.

Some of my favs photo below

KFC Promise Broken

Is it worse to make a promise and break it or never to have made one at all?

I receive an email from my niece of KFCs free grilled chicken offer via Oprah, thought it was interesting but not compelling because after all it was KFC chicken, it is by definition not healthy for you regardless of how tasty the greasy skin might be. Then a woman at work forwarded the offer to me and I reconsidered, reconsidered enough that I down-loaded the coupon but took no action. Subsequently one of my friends at work and I were going to gout for a quick lunch, he commented that he had gone to KFC and had the new sandwich and it was well worth the trip, I followed up with the woman who had used the coupon and she too sang the sandwiches praises – both having used the coupon. Well it turns out they closed the KFC nearest me in Naperville and so the trip wasn’t to be. But wait, Saturday arrives and Mackey has a volleyball tournament in a different part of Naperville, there is a two- hour break around dinner time so I decide to try and find one on Hwy 59 4408 E New York St (which I think technically is Aurora)

I go to KFC with my coupon and the kid at the counter says NO DEAL they will not honor the coupon, then says I can get a rain check if I provide them my mailing address, name, and the original coup; I protest this truly is the ONLY reason I have come and made the effort . They didn’t have heavy traffic in the store – two or three groups was all, and their racks were full of chicken in that already cooked KFC manner. I get the manager Ezequiel Diaz who says he is helpless, he only does what the store tells him to do – no empowerment - no customer advocacy – no treat me like an individual

So back to the question. The preliminary objective of “Unthink” the KFC brand was met. The people I know who were able to taste the new product enjoyed it, the viral effect was phenomenal; however it was ill-conceived. Literally one needs to count one’s chickens before hatching such a scheme. An understanding and preparation to deal with success beyond your imagination needs to be addressed. Social media creates a life of its own and either ignoring it, or not preparing for it and be equally fatal. Store managers and the front lines need training and tools and the ability to react agilely to circumstances.

Don’t ask me me to 'unthink' and then break your promise, I won’t be back.


http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Shopping/Others/100520090805_kfc-oprah_promotion_backfires.html


http://www.buzzfeed.com/eliot/oprahs-kfc-disaster-26q

FaceBook Photos

So Facebook continues to rise in its populartiy and utility. As a social media it becomes increasingly relevant as a tool to reach customrs for a brand and enter into dialogue with cusomters and prospects. As such, OfficeMax is extending the [IN]PLACE System organization concepts to the social media sphere with Free applicationsFriends [IN]PLACE [apps.facebook.com/friendsinplace]Photos [IN]PLACE [apps.facebook.com/photosinplace] that help organize friends and photos for easy access and sharing. Check it out.

Touched By The Temple

The concept is true whether in Plymouth, Medicine Lake, or Naperville; we imported the tradition and had a great first year turn out of around 120. Started with the youth at 6:30am then, a kick-off at the Arlington Chapel,where the youth with a hand-full of adults had activities and took care of the infant & primary age children, while adults attended the temple, followed by reconvening for a photo op (my cell phone wasn't the main camera - just had to capture the moment.)

Reinforced my gratitude for the concepts of Wards, Ward Families, Families, Temples, Peace, The Spirit, and Eternity.

Eternity just isn’t long enough

The Eyes
The Feel
The Touch
The Laugh
The Courage
The Love

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY