It's Thanksgiving people....

After what seemed to be the fastest summer I have ever lived through, we find ourselves here, in November, just a couple weeks before Thanksgiving.  The problem...someone forgot about Thanksgiving and skipped from Halloween to Christmas...let me explain (as I always do). 

I think it was August (even before Halloween or Labor Day for that matter!) that I first caught a glimpse of Christmas trees, I think it was Hobby Lobby.  I've known over the past 20 years or so, that retailers tend to push Christmas on us earlier and earlier, but is it just me or does this year seem far worse?  I remember back in the day when school started in the Fall and it seemed like forever until Halloween.  After Halloween, Thanksgiving was a far off thought on the horizon, and well Christmas ...we had months to go, it seemed.  Thanksgiving did finally role around and THEN, and only then did any talk of Christmas begin.  I remember spending the afternoon of Thanksgiving, after the table had been cleared, with the Wish Books spread out on the table, where I would diligently turn page by page, making my list of wanted items.  I would always include the item number, page number and of course color (if that were an option), I would leave no doubt as to what it was I would be expecting to see under that tree come Christmas morning.  The tree didn't go up until well into December and then came the annual viewing of claymation Christmas specials.  I don't think there were any of those sappy Hallmark Channel Holiday movies!  Here is my opinion....The Holidays were much more special then, because they were something that you looked forward to and you enjoyed during that time.  Nowadays we (I) grow weary of it being 24/7 beginning November 1 (yes, we have already endured an entire weekend of Hallmark Holiday movies), and by the time the day actually rolls around...you're over it.  December 26, we're ripping down the trees and moving on.  So, here is my challenge to everyone.  Anticipate Thanksgiving, savor the turkey and all the fixings, then on November 25, go full throttle into Christmas...that gives you 30 days of Christmas and that my friends is plenty of Christmas.  I do understand that if you're knitting Christmas sweaters for your entire family, you may need to think about Christmas before November 25, so get busy.

It's Growing Season...

Spring is quickly becoming summer and with it the earth comes alive.  I planted a garden this year, for the first time in many.  This is the first summer I've been in a house with a yard for over 4 years and I'm so excited about eating some of the tomatoes from my very own garden.  I've been thinking a lot about growing.  Not so much about plants in the garden, but growing as a person.  I think I used to think that as we become adults, we "arrive" at some place and there we live happily ever after, knowing all we need to know to live out a happy life.  At some point, that changed for me.  I don't remember exactly when, but at that point in my life I realized that this life is a classroom.  That in every aspect of life, there is a lesson to be learned, every experience, every encounter, every day offers some thing to take away, something that feeds us and helps us to grow.  One of the things that we tend to forget, is the idea that perhaps only the good things that happen to us help us to grow.  It's not always good, but it is an opportunity to learn and grow nonetheless.  What struck me the this week was not so much the idea of growing, but the notion of what to do when you stop growing?  Think about it like this.  Are you in a situation, be it a career, a friendship, a relationship where you have grown all you can?  Is there anything else for you to learn that will make you a better person, the person you are meant to be?  This week it hit me while I was on the treadmill...when you stop growing, it's time to move on....it's the sign, it's the realization you need to make yourself better.  I challenge myself to be someone who continually grows, in hopes of becoming all that I am possible of being.  I challenge all of you to do the same.

Well done Oprah....well done....

The Oprah Show came to an end this week.  25 years.  I remember when she started...I was 4 I think.  I would race home early from preschool and plant myself in front of the tv set and listen to everything she had to say.   Okay, okay, I wasn't really 4...I was 7.  Anyway, although I wasn't an avid, everyday viewer, I watched her enough to learn some valuable lessons.  Lessons that I try to remind myself everyday.  I have spoke of one of these in a previous post.  I'm not exactly sure if it was her or Dr. Phil, but the advice was..."when someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE them."  That little piece of advice helps me daily in how I interact with everyone I encounter.  You might not know them right off, but eventually everyone shows you who they are, and you should take them for who they are.  Don't expect something different or be surprised when they act the way they do.  From her early "O" Magazine days, I remember a quote, that sticks with me.  "Stand in your own space, and know that you are there."  It's kind of powerful when you think about it.  Acknowledge everything around you, take in everything.  Recognize the things that you love and appreciate them, take responsibility for your life, your "space" and make it what you want.  Now, the other two lessons have come in later years.  When you start to examine your life and ask yourself if it really is everything you want it to be, you can't rely on luck.  I remember Oprah saying there is no such thing as luck.  We always think that someone is lucky, or they caught a lucky break.  In actuality, they were just prepared.  Oprah's advice.....Luck is really only preparedness meeting opportunity.  I've tried to think of the times in my life when I felt like I had hit a string of luck.  I'm not sure I can say that I felt like I was prepared and I seized an opportunity, but I definitely look at it more closely now.  I try to always be prepared (like they boy scout I was) and continually keep my eyes open for the opportunity to arrive.  That's not to say I just sit around waiting for opportunities, I search them out as well, knowing I'm prepared.  We can't argue with Oprah's success, it speaks for itself.   Being happy in our careers is part of what makes us successful people.  So many people are miserable in their jobs, and it carries over into their personal lives.  So take a look at your job, your career, your chosen profession and ask yourself this....would I still do my job, if I didn't get paid for it?  I know that's a silly question, because of course we all need money to put a roof over our head and pay our bills, but is that the only reason for doing what your doing?  Is it something you are passionate about or is it just a job?  "You know you are on the road to success, if you would do your job and not get paid for it."  Success is about the work, the passion, never about the money.  So I've asked myself that question...I know without even having to think (of course I'm not going to tell you that here, but if you know me, you know the answer).  So, we bid Oprah goodbye, at least for now, I know she'll be back soon enough.  So, let's all get about the business of making our own lives better, just like Oprah taught us for 25 years.

The men's room is a filthy place....

I travel a lot for work, I think over the past few years, we have established that.  I would like to talk for a few minutes today about a disturbing phenomenon (really not a phenomenon, it's probably happened for centuries, I just noticed it as a disturbing trend).  As part of my travel adventures I spend a lot of time in airports.  Now as it is a rule of mine to avoid public restrooms at all costs, there are those times when it just can't be prevented. 
So, innocently enough I make my way in to the cess pool that is most men's rooms (ladies, I'm giving you some insight, although I'm sure you know that men and their bodily functions can be extremely disgusting).  I try not to make eye contact with anyone and go get my business taken care of .  As I make my way in there are things I notice....WHO in their right mind would put there bag down on the floor of a men's room?  Have you not seen the studies of how far stuff flies when flushing?  I try to follow the "take a deep breath, flush and run" method.  But now, let me get to the root of my observation.....there is a demographic of men (I won't say the age range) who must have learned to pee at a different school....here is how it goes down.....
Guy walks up to the urinal, bends at the waist slightly while he unbuttons, (this creates a good 2 feet space from the urinal ....Really Mr,?  Don't flatter yourself)....then stands at the urinal and places one or both hands on the wall over the urinal like he is about to be frisked by the cops.  Do I need to get into what is wrong with this picture?  First, we have already discussed the filthy factor of the men's room, so I am led to this conclusion....these guys feel as if the force  that is about to flow from within them is going to be so great that they need to steady themselves as to not be blown back across the room by the shear force, and risking any sort of various diseases from the dirty walls is worth the risk.  I for one am seeing the benefits of a catheter....

Taylor Swift got me started....

Taylor Swift got me started, and it's been swirling around in my mind here and there ever since.  Yesterday a friend of mine posted a facebook comment dealing with the same thing and I knew I had to blog.....

On Taylor's new album, she sings a song called "Enchanted", where she sings about being enchanted to meet someone.  It just struck me that I don't think I have ever been enchanted to meet anyone.  Being the holiday season, you hear words like enchanted or magical  being tossed around a lot.  I wonder if instances like that really exist?  As a child, I have no doubt that things could be magical.  It's the process of discovery and learning that make things "magical".  So my friend, Betty posted a comment about missing the way this time of year made you feel when you were a kid, and I decided that we, as adults, don't feel that way anymore because we don't let ourselves feel that way.  At some point in time we became adults, bogged down in the obligations that the holiday season might bring.  No longer can we just count the days with anticipation, thinking that the big day will never arrive.  Now we count them down, so they can finally be over and we can rest, or we count down the days because we feel like we need to take advantage of every available second to get all the "responsible" things done.  So many people I know think about decorating and shopping and baking as a horrible chore that has to be done...it's only that way because they let it be.  Anything can be enjoyable, if you look at it differently.  I'll admit, I am a cynical adult, but somewhere deep inside me is that person, that kid, who sees the magic in things unknown.  I remember the first time I went to New York City at Christmas, I remember rounding the corner and seeing the tree in Rockefeller Plaza...it  was  magical.  It was something that was new to me, something bigger than my everyday life...is that what made it magical?  I'm going to New York tomorrow morning, and I know that rounding the corner again, it will be just as magical this time as the first time, and I think it's because as I've grown into a cynical adult, I have learned and witnessed how quickly life passes.  With that I have managed to learn to just stop, if only for a minute, and take in everything around me, enjoying the moment for what it is, not what it could be, or what I think it should be.  Maybe if we all learn to "take in "life, we can experience "magic" in our everyday life, just like a kid, and maybe, just maybe if we can become that person who loves life someone might actually be enchanted to meet us.  Happy Holidays!

changes....

I reminded today of how life changes, how we become the people we are.  One night about 3 years ago, shortly after I moved to Denver, I found my self in the flow of traffic during evening rush hour...gripping the steering wheel and trying to remain in my lane and look for something, anything that I recognized to get me back to my new home.  I made it.  Today, I got in the jeep and headed back to that very spot to the weekly farmer's market, changing lanes, making turns like I knew exactly where I was going...and I did know.  Growing up for most of my early childhood in a town that only had one stoplight, which only operated when the volunteer fire department got dispatched, to mastering 2 lane interstates, I never thought I would find myself maneuvering through 4 lanes of traffic with the confidence of a NASCAR driver.  It's sort of a metaphor for life.  Life is about getting on an unfamiliar road, driving straight into the unknown, but knowing that there are all sorts of landmarks along the way that remind you where you are, and where you're going.
I think what I realized is that I get tired of the same path, there are millions of other roads, there is even the ability to make your own new path.  I'm working on it.  Stay tuned.

I'm really not a hater....

I sometimes think that I'm an grumpy old man trapped in what is becoming a slightly middle aged body.  I hate to complain about the same things all the time, but I pray that my constant begging will allow people to wake up and hear what I'm saying.  The summer travel season is in full swing and to those of us who live in hotels for the most part, I'd like to mention a few matters of what I would refer to as common sense, but again, I've been wrong before.

Parents...the tiny breakfast room in most hotels is not the time to let your children "test their independence".  This is not the time to let them make their own waffle or pour their own milk.  It's one of those "get in and get out" situations, fast like a well oiled machine. 

There is never an appropriate time to wear patterned flannel pants anywhere in public, unless your 3 years old, and then most of the general public will overlook it.  This is a big one for me people, unless we stop it, it could become the norm and I will be forced to stay locked up in my apartment like Sigourney Weaver in Copy Cat.  I know when you're putting those pants on that you think they will make you look "perky and cute"...not the case.  I had the misfortune last week of driving down a street, in the evening no less, to see a rather large girl wearing plaid flannel pants and a t shirt at least 2 sizes too big....I'm sure she thought "perky and cute" when she picked out that ensemble.  "Lazy and ridiculous"  those are the 2 words that came to mind for me.  I just want people to take a little pride in themselves, and please for the love of God don't throw the old "maybe that's all they can afford" story at me...there is no excuse. 
Back to the hotel...don't wear those pants to the breakfast room...nothing makes me lose my appetite for a cold hard boiled egg and orange juice that gets thicker the closer you get to the bottom of the glass faster, than an extra large "hello kitty" staring me in the face.

Just one more quick reminder...hotel walls are not soundproof...in fact in a lot of cases, they are probably thinner than the walls in your house...keep that in mind...I'm just sayin.

Safe travels!