Sur La Table

Downtown Naperville has almost everything you need in terms of stores, restaurants, and entertainment. Tonight it added something it hasn't had before - a local expert on kitchen housewares.

We were thrilled and delighted to arrive home from Mackey's volleyball game to find O playing the piano. We took a walk downtown to get some food, came home to eat it. Oliver then went to the cousins to visit while we were home taught. Then he cam home and chatted - scheduled to leave in the morning.

It doesn't get much better!

chatting up the product selection

Happy Birthday Dean

Where in the dictionary do find:
Exuberance?
Bursting with Joy?
Quivering with Excitement?
Sweet?

All are found with our favorite 3year old - under the name of Dean

American dervish

Coming of age books can be dicey. This was no different. I enjoyed the insights into Muslims, Pakistani and the first generation immigrant experience. I have a good friend at work who is Pakistani and described the book as close narrative of that first generation, and Muslim experience. And my conservative self could live without the coming of age sexually. Set in Milwaukee it exposes the tensions between Muslim - Jews -Muslims / Christians and even takes time to take a misinformed inaccurate shot at Mormons.

A review in the NYTimes encapsulates a quick insight that reaches far into the book - "But what distinguishes Mr. Akhtar’s novel is its generosity and its willingness to embrace the contradictions of its memorably idiosyncratic characters and the society they inhabit. .. Mr. Akhtar is particularly adept at depicting the tensions between Jews and Muslims in pre-Sept. 11 America, and he does not shy away from mocking the misogynistic or anti-Semitic beliefs among the more radical Muslim"

'It's not so much a book about being Muslim in America as it is a story about growing up and what it means to believe in God, understand the afterlife and also what it means to follow the practices of the faith into which you are born, either by following or rejecting the teaching(s) of your parents and one boy's journey through that.' At the end of the day a good , not a great book. A book worth reading late at night when you cant sleep; but not worth staying up late at night to read.

Passion

Passion.

Is needful?

Does it help or does it hinder.I pondered the subject of passion while I read this book by Ken Jennings. It is his passion. 'Maphead  gives equal time to that  downtrodden underclass: America's map nerds.' It wasn't until I was several chapters into the book that I came to the realization that the author was the game show wiz from jeopardy. I enjoy maps and have in fact read several other books on maps (

Maps That Made History: The Influential, the Eccentric and the Sublime by Lez Smart, 

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time ; and The Mapmakers; ) Ok, I realize that having read four books on the subject is probably three too many for most. One off shoot in Jennings book that I enjoyed was the digression on a corollary to maps - that of geocaching. Though I've only done it several times with groups of scouts - I've enjoyed the challenge of it. Which must be intriguing to those who have wandered a city with me, where i am definitely slow to orient myself to a map. - just ask Brigham of my navigation skills in Normandy. Back to the book-  Not a great read of a book, not incredibly well written- but I enjoyed it.

Now  to the original subject  - passion.Passion classically is a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, or thing. The M.A.P. Maker describes passion as - the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do.

Simply put, it's being who you are. When what you do is in alignment with who you are, you get energy from doing it. Wikipedia  describes it as: The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love – to a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion, a positive affinity or love, towards a subject. - It's like water flowing along its natural riverbed. It actually gains energy from the path it's taking (compare that to what most people experience in their work, which is more like trying to force it up and over a mountain). So how do you find your passion. One way is to do some reverse engineering to identify the underlying characteristics that tend to be in place when you're on fire; when your energy is building. Simply ask the question, “Will this bring me closer to alignment with what energizes me, or farther away?”

its interesting looking at college application process as one does with a high school senior. In recent times colleges looked for the well-balanced applicant whereas today they look for passion. That challenge might cause one to pre-maturely jump onto a false passion for sake of show.  

But the greatest  benefit of this new emphasis on passion is that it encourages students to find something that is truly theirs, to assert their identity and interests in a concrete way, to employ the discipline and to experience the challenges that come from the enthusiastic — indeed, passionate — engagement in an interest. Are all passions good - no. Is a passion essential - perhaps not. But the search for one, done right, can be a tremendous great trip and follows a map of discovery.

National Geographic Moment

They don't happen at the same frequency in Illinois as they did in Minnesota but they do happen. Today as I was working in the garden I saw a flash of a large bird swoop by, head high (not as close as the bats of Jersey but close enough), past me and go into the bushes behind me. Kept working, and didn't think much of it; until he came back, swooping even closer as he went up to the phone pole in the backyard between us and the neighbor.

He looks like a young red tail hawk or maybe a cooper's hawk.

He had grabbed a chipmunk and brought him up there to dine. A relatively neat eater he snapped and stretched his meal dropping very little. The only remains I could find on the driveway below him was an organ - heart or liver or stomach. The rest he either ate of took with him.

Love those national geographic moments.

A great day for a parade

Labor Day 

is made 

for parades

for family gatherings

for good food

for games

Need For Speed

NASCAR is among the nation's most popular spectator sports, attracting literally hundreds of thousand to events. Their surging trend has taken a dip lately due to the economy, gas prices, and the lack of larger than life action and characters driving.

I attended a vendor meeting in Raleigh North Carolina the heart of NASCAR country. Our first evening we had an event at the NASCAR hall of fame where Junior Johnson( famous nascar driving(who knew) and runner of moonshine)  spoke in his barely discernible English, he speaks this backwoods language that is just everything slurred together) about the old days of NASCAR ; juxtaposed by Rusty Wallace (another NASCAR hall of famer (watch his wow how did you walk away from that one crash)  who is more from the trained pr school.Interesting but not compelling. The southern food was tasty - gotta like barbecue.

The next day, after a variety of tech updates, primarily focused on ultra books - the latest in slim, light and powerful laptops and convertibles  we had the opportunity to go to the race track. WOW can't say I've ever been in a car going around 170 mph around a race track. It was crazy. A very physical experience as it torques you as you take the corners and gives you pause as you drive break neck into those same corners. Only went around the track a couple of times - but must admit it was cool. 

Afterward, a calmer activity as we became teams of pit crews changing a tire. My group could do it in 15.3 seconds, the winning was a bit quicker at 13.8 seconds.  A good lesson in problem solving and team work using cognitive building blocks.

* you experiment - practice - focus

* then benchmark

* try and fail

* adapt

* innovate

* execute

* have fun

In fact, it was one of the better team building activities that I have participated in and is  good learning for any projcet that requires a group effort 

Having problems with my photos - will add them later

National BIMF Day

Hopefully you have celebrated this day.
Even if you don't own The Vintage Green Shirt.
Which I don't but I celebrate the day

Back To School

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

And so for the last time I take a back to school photo as Mackey heads of to start her senior year today. My heart drove down the driveway and headed to naperville north this morning.

Bond-ed

The problem with living away from your family is not always being able to hang out with them. The Beauty of family is that when you re-join with them you can pick up right where you left off. We did that  a few weeks back with the Bonds-a great family. A few pictured here

Liz kenneth Kate

Tori  TJ  Liz  Kate

John TJ

including my favorite Bond of all