Raining Straight Down 2009/06/30
Posted by vsap in Poetry, Uncategorized.add a comment
Raining straight down,
looks like the wind has taken vacation and I learned in New York City
you don’t let the rain keep you in. Grab the umbrella, a ball cap,
or make a break for it who cares if you get wet, how much, for how long?
Raining straight down,
looks like semi-transparent curtains with the drippy humidity
that is fog hanging benignly between. The mail truck pulls around and
the motor breaks the silence which is not really silence,
just rain bouncing off gutters and draining.
Raining straight down, I feel like the forlorn kid wanting to play
but no one is outside and I feel forgotten in this place so I go.
Wandering up to the coffee shop or over to see how the park looks
newly painted, wet, and beckoning me to visit in my lonesome state.
Raining straight down, looks like the wind took a vacation.
Fix your gaze 2009/06/20
Posted by vsap in Blogroll, Financial Crisis, Uncategorized.add a comment
There are certain things that have changed since the “financial crisis” and presidential election: I am more discerning about my sources of information and the time I spend with them. Until mid-September 2008, I was largely indiscriminate about my information consumption. Get every bit from anywhere and worry about filtering it later, if then. But, like bad drugs or unhealthy food, there comes a time when the body and soul so rejects them, becomes “sick” due to them, that you either must cease or succumb. I decided to cease.
That doesn’t mean I took monastic vows or decided for an Amish lifestyle, but I decided to abstain in a way I never did before. Purely for self-preservation. You see, when you are in a sales career, a continuing diet of bad news, ingested without filter, is certain death. I decided against that. I chose to preserve my soul and body to fight the next day and the next. I knew I couldn’t manage that taking in an ever-increasing amount of depressing information. I had to re-focus. I did it like this:
I remembered the story of Peter believing so strongly that, having seen Christ walking on the water, he, too, could do it, and did. As long as his gaze was fixed on Christ, the roiling waters didn’t bother him. However, once his human condition over-took him, he began to sink. I decided I needed to fix my gaze on Christ, not the roiling waters, and rely on His strength and guidance…His “information”…and I would be alright. I would make it through the financial storm intact, even if roughed up a bit.
It has worked. I have lost some clients and gained new ones. My commissions are as good as last year and my sales are just a little under budget, but not nearly the horror stories I hear from colleagues and peer.
It’s not a matter of circumstances. It’s a matter of where you fix your gaze.
Random thoughts 2009/06/04
Posted by vsap in Blogroll, Uncategorized.Tags: Glenn Cook, Print as the new vinyl, Tom Glavine
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TOM GLAVINE
The Atlanta Braves released Tom Glavine yesterday. This will not make history. We will not need to organize a “tag day” to relieve the stress from this Hall of Fame pitchers’ financial burden. Yet, it is a career like any other.
Few of us reached or will reach 43 years old and say, “That’s it! I’ve accomplished everything possible. Cash in the chips!” Most of our careers don’t require the exact things a pro athletes’ lifestyle requires, so it is a bit foreign to us to hear that maybe someone should hang it up at what we might consider an early age. I suppose that’s what Glavine thinks. He’s not alone, of course. The “elder statesmen” in most sports don’t grow old gracefully and don’t know when to quit. The latter is an admirable attribute in the prime of the career but becomes more like a 90-year-olds’ dream of running a marathon — a wonderful sentiment but one that doesn’t merit serious consideration. Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards. Steve Carlton playing in the “Senior Baseball League”. Retired football players going to the WWE. The attention must be addictive. The spotlight, very cold when turned off or redirected to the next hero, must be an unforgiving darkness.
A final thought: the Atlanta Braves pitching staff of the 1990s was an awesome thing to behold: John Smoltz, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, and a cast of others who made the Braves the division and league winners they were. Maddox finally hung it up. Smoltz looks like he’ll be next. Tom Glavine, if he considers it at all, has to know this is good company to be in, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in walking away a winner. He can prove he can pitch for somebody this year, if he must. After that, join the rest of us mortals. It’s really not as bad as you might think.
PRINT AS THE “NEW VINYL”
From a report in FOLIO magazine today:
Glenn Cook, editor of American School Board Journal says print will eventually be “the new vinyl”. He said, “People still want long-form and crave full body, tactile print experience.”
Naturally, I’m jealous that I didn’t think of it first. But I will say I think print is already the new vinyl. In the recording industry chronology, vinyl gave way to tape which gave way to compact disc which has given way to MP3s and downloads requiring only a hard drive or thumb drive to reside upon…no “media” required.
But just as Blu-Ray and HD 1080p can deliver stunning video, it can take the edge or romance from the activity being captured. Sure, we like to see the athletes sweat during a game, but we don’t want to notice that actor was filmed in front of a green screen with the background filled in later. Print may seem very flat earth to Gen X-Y-Z, but it isn’t, as Cook points out. It is that long-form and full body which does one thing better than all the advanced forms of audio and video and dazzling Web 2.0 “apps”: it leaves you to your imagination. It has some fuzzy corners that you can fill in with your own thoughts and opinions.
Print is the new vinyl. It’s always there. It may fall out of fashion for a season, but it will ALWAYS be there.
Simple Remembrance 2009/05/26
Posted by vsap in Blogroll, US Politics, Uncategorized.Tags: Memorial Day
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My Dad served in WW2 as a medic. From Normandy, into Belgium and, ultimately, into Germany, he didn’t think of himself as a hero. The photos of the destruction, the people he and his Blackhawk 67th Field Hospital unit tried to help, and of the moments they could “mug” for the camera in rare times of relaxation, reveal much about the heroics of American soldiers.
He taught me there are humble heroes serving everyday in thousands of ways to protect the United States and its freedom. He was a hero to me for his service. He didn’t think of himself as a hero even though he volunteered. For him, it was the right thing to do.
I thank God for men and women who today believe it is the right thing to do.
Of Kiddieland and a closed coffee shop 2009/05/20
Posted by vsap in Blogroll, Uncategorized.Tags: amusement parks, Biggby's, Chain of Rocks Fun Fair, coffee shops, Kiddieland
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There are certain bits of news that don’t seem significant in and of themselves, but they speak of broader, unrelated issues.
A coffee shop closes.
This is not big news, not even abnormal news in an economic downturn. People reduce their spending on things like retail coffee, whether they are out of work or not, and a bit of convenience, habit, or tradition slips away. I received the notice today that our local Biggby’s had closed. The franchisees simply walked away from it. I had noticed that it was in a state of decline, not swept or refreshed like it used to be, and even when it was busy, there was not enough help to keep things moving. Then, the real regulars, the coffee lizards, and those who used the shop for business, stopped coming. And, now that I know for a fact that it is closed, I have to wonder if it was due to carelessness than “the economy”.
The Starbucks is not an option for me. Across the interstate, half the size of the Biggby’s, it’s just too much of a hassle plus no free wi-fi. Well, another franchisee can resurrect it or it may sit vacate for a time and become the next location for a cleaners (it has a drive up window) or nail salon. Can’t have too many of those, can we girls?
It’s just that we all like to have a favorite place outside our home. Frequently, it’s a local coffee shop where you can sit, read, daydream or run into neighbors and chat in a way that the usual hum of life does not allow.
Then I heard Kiddieland is closing. Again, not from “the economy” but due to a family unable to talk to each other except through attorneys. Kiddieland was, as it billed itself, the only amusement park made specifically for kids. No Simpson Rides or “Girls Gone Wild” Generation X-ers to spoil the fun of being a kid. We lived less than 4 miles from Kiddieland for ten years. My kids grew up with it. And the roller rink right next door to it. Sure, they can close the park but never take away the memories. When I was a kid, it was Chain of Rocks Amusement Park in north St. Louis. Very similar to Kiddieland but met its demise at the hands of changing neighborhood demographics in the 1970
s. So, Kiddieland has had a long run and it’s sad since it could have been longer. Kids don’t get tired of having kid stuff to do. Kiddieland gave them a “right-size” experience. Not the larger than life Disney or Universal stuff. Kid-sized kid stuff.
We will remember what other generations will miss.
So, does a coffee house closing in a small southern town and Kiddieland closing say anything about anything? Not to “the world” or nation, really, it’s much more personal than that. It’s a friend pried away by life—nobody’s fault, or so it seems—just the time and tide that sweeps us all in and out of certain places at certain times.
It’s not change you can believe in. It’s just change.
