The End of August

So here we are about to finish up another month of 2005. August has been a significant month in my life for many years, starting with the fact that it's the one I was born in. My birthday was August 25, the day after my most recent entry here, the one titled "Wiped Out." I'm feeling a bit more energetic, and over my cold, so I figure this is a good time for me to spend a few minutes summarizing the past few weeks and reflecting on where we go from here.

I turned 44 with this recent birthday, fwiw. Nothing particularly significant about it except that I'm truly and indisputably in my mid-40's.


The women in my life - Julie, Mom, Alyssa and Grandma, out for a birthday dinner.

I got some nice gifts - my wife bought me a DVD from the Criterion Collection. I showed her the Criterion DVDs currently in my collection and told her to pick out any title that I don't already have that she'd feel like giving me and I would be sure to like it. So she selected a new release, just came out this month, one I've never heard of before but I really do like it, a lot! It's called "The Flowers of St. Francis" (in English) but the Italian actually translates "Francis, God's Jester" or something like that. The film was made in 1950 by Roberto Rossellini, and Federico Fellini was a co-writer for the script. That's a pretty impressive pedigree, so I was delighted to pop it in the player and check it out.



The movie is more a series of vignettes depicting Francis and the monks who follow him. It's actually quite humorous, though understated - a nice companion piece in atmosphere to Bergman's "Seventh Seal," though more comical in tone. I posted my first comment to the IMDB after watching the film and seeing what a few others had to say about it.

My kids got me a gift card to Barnes & Noble, which I used to get a couple more DVDs. "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (I love Wes Anderson films) and "Familiar to Millions," a concert DVD of Oasis filmed at Wembley Stadium back in 2000. I debated between these discs and "The Battle of Algiers" which is a very different alternative to what I chose, but which I would be interested in viewing at least sometime soon.

My other relatives got me cash and Best Buy gift cards, which I used to buy a DVD burner for my computer. I do not plan to get into any kind of movie-copying scammery, but I need a new DVD drive and I figured why not get one that I can use to create back-up discs and multimedia presentations that I can view on TV. I do not intend to get into DVD-copying scammery, just to be clear. I got a good deal on one (only about $70 after a mail-in rebate) which leaves me some extra cash which I'm setting aside for other purchases later.

Here are some other things that happened recently:

Derek started school - our last high schooler. We have had a tradition of taking pictures of our kids standing on our front porch on the first day of school ever since Alyssa started kindergarten. Now Derek is the last one left. So we forced him to stand there by himself while we took his picture yesterday. He forced a smile and was relieved when we put the cameras away and left him alone.



This blog completed its third year of continuous operation. I feel good about that. When I surf the random "Next Blog" box at the upper right corner, I don't see all that many blogs that go back very far. Probably a lot of people who blog regularly know enough about it to have their own cool domain or at least find a hipper indie hosting site than blogger.com, but I'm not bothered by that. I just like having these past three years fairly well documented, since I'm not much of one for pen and paper journaling like I used to be in years past.

The street I live on is no longer a cul-de-sac. It was up until a few weeks ago. But a housing development has filled in what used to be a nice open space, not a park, not a vacant lot, not a native prairie pasture. Just a big grassy expanse lined on either side by big stately old trees. Now they are all gone, and split-level clone houses are popping up in rows. We had to endure a summer of earth moving vehicles rumbling up and down our street, a lot of dust kicked up which made car-washing kind of pointless, deep holes and trenches dug into my front yard which led to the replacement of our sidewalk and the strip of grass that leads to the curb. At least the fire hydrant which sat right in front of my house has moved down far enough for us to have a legal parking spot. But the neighborhood has changed irreversibly and not for the better in any way.

Mostly though, the end of August means that summer is once again over, and it's time to get more focused and productive about work and all that stuff. Not that I can say I was all that complacent about my job(s) over the past few months, but vacations are pretty much done for most of us and with kids back in school, it just feels like the pace of life picks up and people are more into getting things done, at least until we approach the winter holidays. I like the autumn. It's arrival doesn't fil me with the same kind of melancholy that I used to feel when summers were more about hanging loose and sitting outdoors doing nothing in particular. I don't spend nearly as much time in that aimless state as I used to. That's probably not such a good thing, but I'm not going to complain about it, because that would make no sense, would it? It's best to find whatever degree of contentment and satisfaction that one's current situation can provide, even if one has this gnawing sense that some kind of improvements are called for.

Wiped Out

OK, it has been a good long while since I added anything to this blog. A lot has happened over the past 10 days or so, but it would distract me too much to try and recount it all here. Let me just sum it up by saying, I'm tired! I would even say I'm bushed, but that would probably be taken as a political jab, so I'll forego that expression. Kinda...

Anyway, I got therouh a stretch last week at work that was very heavily loaded in both of the jobs I do. Going into the week, I knew I was in for a grind because I had somehow allowed myself to be scheduled to present four different trainings over the course of three days. One in Handle With Care (that involves teaching physical restraint techniques), a Life Space Crisis Intervention class (verbally interacting with kids in acting-out crises), Behavior Management (basic orientation training in how to understand the goals of client misbehavior and how we can respond to them therapeutically rather than punitively) and Avoiding Power Struggles (which balances self-awareness with a deeper understanding of the "power and control needs" that we all have and that our residents strive to satisfy in various aggravating ways.)

All in all, 12 hours of classroom time in a week where I had to present or facilitate various groups. I know that teachers do this all the time, so I'm not asking for pity or anything, but one must also understand that my other job, the home supervisor gig, is not all that easy either, and often presents an enormously complex mental and even physical workload as I try to stay on top of the myriad issues and developments that take place in a home of 12-13 emotionally impaired teenage girls and the valiant, courageous but occasionally overwhelmed staff who work most closely with them.

The happenings at the Delta Home, the program I supervise, have been pretty dramatic and demanding over the past few weeks. Without divulging lots of details, here are some of the issues on my mind even when I'm not at work:

1. Employee turnover - one of our excellent Shift Supervisors is resigning effective this week as she prioritizes personal and family needs over her work at Wedgwood. Also, one of our therapists has turned in her resignation as she ponders other career options - two significant changes in our team leadership. Filling these positions, and the domino effect that comes with internal promotions, will be a big topic in the weeks ahead.

2. Acting-out girls - Oh my, we've had our hands full. We had a short-term client who was outrageously provocative with her comments and insults, despite a young age and small stature. She was bold and rude enough to bellow racial insults at her peers and we had to physically prevent girls from attacking her on several occasions. She's been transferred to a different program now (planfully) but that really stirred up the strife in the house and set a very argumentative tone that has been slow to subside.

3. We had a girl run away earlier this week. We've had way too many girls elope from the program in different circumstances this year, probably the worst year I've ever been through in that department. There's a chance she'll be back though. But we've already lost five (maybe more?) to AWOL this year - not acceptable, and likely to get our home unwanted attention (gulp.)

4. I'm having to deal with some questions about our Hour Bank which is in the red (basically, I'm paying out more hours for staffing than I'm budgetted.) Much of this is due to summer being vacation season and us needing additional coverage when school is out, but still. Our numbers don't look good, and other homes are not as deep in the hole as we are. The AWOLs lowered our census and cost us hours, so one problem compounds another. (There's other stuff going on at work too, but I am concerned that I may break confidentiality if I go on too much longer on that topic, so I'm gonna move on...)

5. I have three kids right on the verge of starting their college classes. Alyssa moved into her dorm at GVSU today and she has her groove pretty well set so that's no problem. And she earned enough money over the summer to knock a couple grand off her student loans. That's good! Curt moves to Spring Arbor University on Labor Day, and we're still hammering out the details of his financing, but I think our plans are pretty close to being final. Getting a call-back from people in their Financial Aid department has been incredibly frustrating, the most protracted game of phone tag I've been involved with in a long time. Really, it's almost comical how long it's taken, but I'm not complaining. And then there's Brandon, who is going t0 live at home and do a year at Community College. Turns out that he's in good shape from the money angle - his grants and scholarships completely cover everything, so he (and we) get a full year of no college loans to deal with. Nice deal!

6. Speaking of Brandon, he just bought my Intrepid from me yesterday for $1. Yeah, the same car that broke down last January for you veteran readers of this blog. My Taurus is running great and I'm enjoying it a lot, but sadly I have a dent in the rear passenger door where my daughter absent-mindedly kicked it trying to get one of our cats to come out from beneath it. Grrr...

7. There's a host of domestic chores and miscellaneous matters that I'd just as soon not have to deal with and won't describe here but which do add significantly to my mental fatigue.

8. And to top it all off, I have a cold! I had to call in sick yesterday because of some irritating sneezy coughy sore throaty thing that overtook me on Monday night. Just when I was feeling a palpable sense of relief after having gotten through a hectic week and weekend, I had to come down with this condition, which is still lingering and slowing me down somewhat.

But somehow or another, I found the energy to write up this long entry. Well, it's long enough, so I'm going to leave it at that. No links or pics, just text. What I've been up to, at least part of it.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Yesterday was my twin sons' birthday, but they and their younger brother were out of town on a back-packing trip with a group from church. So it was just Julie, Alyssa and me at home for the weekend.

For some months now, Julie and Alyssa have been interested in attending a tea ceremony held on the second Saturday of each month at the Japanese Cultural Center over in Saginaw, a couple hours drive to the west of Grand Rapids. With the boys gone, this was the perfect occasion to go check out this ritual, so we got up early, did the boys' paper routes, and got on our way.

Even though I like to consider myself fairly well-informed when it comes to cross-cultural matters, I really never knew all that much about the significance of a Japanese tea ceremony. I don't know that I'm sufficiently filled in on the matter now, but I do have a better idea of the intention of all that ritual, namely, to serve a form of communal meditation that weaves esthetics, hospitality and mindfulness into an elegant and seemingly simple elaboration on the uniqueness of a moment of encounter between two people.

If you are interested in getting more background knowledge on the tea ceremony, I respectfully encourage you to click the Wikipedia article on the Japanese tea ceremony, or perhaps this one if you are so intrigued that you decide you'd like to purchase some quality teaware after reading about it.


This is the exterior of the tea house. It was built in 1985 and opened in 1986, so the center will be holding 20th anniversary events next year. We will probably go back for another visit in 2006.


Even though we were allowed to take pictures, I didn't like interrupting the solemnity of the moment with my flash. Plus I wanted to see what was going on. But I did manage to get this one shot of the two women as they conducted the ceremony.



Afterwards, we were served some of the surprisingly thick and bitter (in a good way) green tea. I'm sure that using a camera after being served the tea is not the best etiquette, but here you go anyway. I promise not to do it again.



Here are some photos of the interior of the teahouse. The building was constructed according to strict Japanese traditions. No nails, all fitted joint work. Finest materials, flawless woodwork, no paint, measured to precise perfection. Very impressive. A serene, peaceful environment, to say the least.


Long, hand-woven cedar strips are used for the ceiling. The overhead lamp is made of paper and bamboo strips.


A beautiful painting on fabric.


The interior of the tearoom. Everything you see is there for a reason (even though I don't know what those reasons are!)




(thinking to myself) "It would be cool to have one of these shacks in my backyard..."

After the ceremony, we strolled around the garden for a bit.

Hiroshima Bombing Memorial Event

Yesterday I joined a gathering of some of my peace friends from IGE at John Ball Park, where we took some time to reflect on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This observance has taken place for the past eighteen years here in Grand Rapids, at the same location. I have a few pictures that I'll share to give you a sense of what we did.

We met in a pavilion next to a pond. It's not very far from the entrance to the zoo, which was the subject of a blog entry I made awhile back. Ilene Van Bruggen shared some relics from her collection of banners made in 1985, part of a "peace ribbon" that was put together for the 40th anniversary of the Bomb. That was back when the USA had a more visible and active anti-nuclear movement than the cause is able to muster these days. That ribbon, when all the pieces were attached, stretched to 15 miles long!



Here are a few close-ups of banners that caught my eye.











I'll be the first to say that these banners and the other messages of the day sound more than a little plaintive, idealistic and maybe even naive. But that's what I like about them - their straightforward simplicity serve to remind me just how screwed up the status quo really is, when we can make rational-sounding arguments for continuing to produce and potentially use weapons that can result in unimaginably horrific destruction and catastrophe on a global scale. We need a strong jolt of sanity to snap ourselves out of the grievous delusions that we too often allow ourselves to operate under. Yes, I'm talking to you, governing officials and military strategists!



We shared a potluck dinner, which was just a nice thing to do on a beautiful summer's evening, and listened to a short program featuring a few speakers who spoke of matters both current and historical that I won't recap here. Afterward, we made some lanterns out of plywood, skewering sticks, crepe paper and votive candles.





Then we floated them on the pond in a quiet and reflective gesture of sorrow and sympathy for the victims of the atomic bombs.









All in all, a very modest and simple tribute, but we did stop to remember and make our statement for the other visitors in the park to consider. As the sun went down, we watched the lanterns silently cast their glow on the tranquil waters.






Here's the banner that we made that night. The Peace Ribbon is not finished being made just yet!



Finally, a parting thought for you to ponder...

Follow-through

It's a few days later than promised, but I've finished my "Get Motivated Seminar" entry. You can either scroll down or just follow this link to read it. Or not.

Bruce Springsteen: The Concessioner's Tale

Well I just got back from watching a substantial portion of the Bruce Springsteen show here in Grand Rapids tonight. I was quite impressed and even a bit surprised at just how versatile and gifted he is as a musician. I have always associated him more with his voice and overall charisma, not his instrumental prowess. But the man can play!



Here's the short story. There's a reason they call Springsteen "The Boss." Actually, several reasons. He's the generational successor to Frank Sinatra who was known as "The Chairman of the Board," another New Jersey native who has turned his musical passion into an authoritative presence that basically lords over all would be rivals, at least when it comes to performing on their respective turfs.

Bruce exercised his "boss-ness" tonight by imposing some conditions on the audience and the rest of us who happened to be present in the arena. First, no snack or beverage sales were allowed past ten-minutes-til-showtime. So we basically had about an hours worth of sales tonight, which basically meant we earned crap for our marching band, grossing a little over $1500 in sales on a night when at least twice that and probably more was easily within our grasp. Second, no one would be allowed to return to their seats if they left the arena for any reason until he got to a break between songs. Plus all the other conditions about no cell phones, recording devices, cameras, etc. allowed in the arena. Implied within these rules, which were posted clearly at every entrance into the seating area, was that audience members were expected to sit tight and shut up (except for cheering at the appropriate moments) lest they boorishly break the spell that The Boss intended to cast over the six thousand or so people assembled in front of the stage.

I had the pleasure upon arrival at the arena of getting to watch and hear Springsteen tuning up his voice in rehearsal. I heard him singing "Tunnel of Love," which was also his opening number for the concert proper, running through the verses several times and going over the little yodeling part at the end as if it were a warm-up exercise of sorts. I peeked behind the unattended black curtain and saw him sitting absolutely alone in the arena, in the dark, with the video monitors and stage lights in effect. It was remarkable and a bit goosebump-inducing for a moment, seeing him apparently without a single visible person in attendance anywhere I could see (though there probably were a few hidden somewhere in the shadows, like myself, having a quick-though-distant 1:1 moment with this Icon Of Our Generation.

One of our co-workers who got there a bit earlier than I did was fortunate enough to meet him and get his autograph on her concession-worker's cap when she saw him outside of the arena greeting a few fans in the afternoon daylight (about three hours before showtime.) So she has a very cool memento that we are trying to have her auction off on E-Bay as a fund raiser for our school marching band. (Just kidding, of course!)

Anyway, the audience began trickling in about an hour or so before showtime and I had my customary fun interacting with the customers. We warned most of the folks there that they would have to load up on snacks, beers, whatever in a short amount of time. I also asked some of the fans what they thought of seeing Bruce live, if they'd seen him before. I shared my own recollections of seeing him in San Francisco back on the 80-81 tour he did supporting "Darkness On The Edge Of Town," which is probably my favorite Springsteen album of them all for reasons I can't clearly articulate at the moment. I spoke with a woman who saw him on that same tour, wearing a shirt she bought at that concert (quite worn and faded by now.) One guy sported big aviator shades, a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off and jeans, a red bandana around his head and another one hanging out his back pocket - a great "Born In The U.S.A." flashback, exactly the effect he was striving for. I told him to be careful or Bruce might ask him to get up on stage for "Dancing In The Dark" which he said he was ready to deal with if the situation arose!

Around 7:50 pm the event staff proved that they were dead serious about following their directions, pulling the grating down over our window while we still had some people pondering their choices outside our concession stand. So that was that. We went into clean-up mode before Springsteen had even stepped on to the stage.

So it was nice to get all the work out of the way so quickly, before we had even made that big a mess. It also gave us plenty of time to hang out in the corridor to listen to the music, crystal clear and amplified just right for our enjoyment.

But it got better. An unnamed acquaintance who works at the arena happened to be on duty tonight and gave Julie and I entrance into a pair of box seats, so we took advantage of the opportunity to watch the master in performance for seven or eight numbers. We saw him perform "One Step Up," "Maria's Bed," "Racing In The Street," "Nothing Man," "The Rising," "Further On Up The Road," "Sherry Darling," and "Jesus Was An Only Son." There may have been one or two more that we saw, but we left before he was finished, feeling like maybe we shouldn't fully exploit the favor. And to be honest, I was conceding with my wife, who was happy enough to get home earlier than we had expected to, even though she enjoyed Bruce for the most part (though not the naughty story-line to "Maria's Bed"...) I would like to have stayed to the end and heard whatever litany of stone cold classics he chose to play out. I don't know what he has in store on this tour, if he's doing the same set each night or mixing it up and pulling all sorts of obscurities out of his bag as the mood hits him. So did he do acoustic versions of "Badlands," "Born To Run," "Born In The U.S.A.,"Glory Days," "Prove It All Night," or any number of larger-than-life tracks I could list here? I will have to read tomorrow's review in the Grand Rapids Press.

But what I did see and hear was pretty incredible. I'm not sure how many performers could pull off what he did, which is to fill an arena with a huge, powerful presence with just his voice and one instrument (guitar or keyboard, interchangeably) and include a lot of variety, making each song a unique moment, even a special event, for those tuned in to what he was doing on stage.

I figured that I'd be impressed, especially after reading Julie Bogart's near-transcendent review of his show in Cincinnatti a couple of nights ago. But the bottom line is that he surpassed my expectations, even though I only saw the middle third (or less!) of the overall concert he put on. His voice, so familiar and easily identifiable, is even more impressive when you hear him live and unadorned by a large accompanying band. Bruce Springsteen is a great soul - one wonders how he got that way?!? I've not delved into his oeuvre all that deeply or gotten to know about his personal life. But I'll bet I'm about to find out more - I know myself well enough to recognize the patterns that these things take! (Translation: a period of Bruce-obsession is about to engulf my leisure time listening and reading for awhile!)

OK, it's bedtime. I'll finish up my Motivational Seminar entry tomorrow, if you are reading along!

Get Motivated Seminar

I spent the day at the Van Andel Arena, courtesy of my employer, attending a day-long event, the Get Motivated Business Seminar. I went partly to observe the spectacle, partly to hear some famous speakers, and partly to get some good ideas about self-improvement, financial management and personal organization. I figured I could use some good tips in each of those areas.

Now that I've been home for a few hours and had some time to process it all, I'm thinking that my life hasn't really been changed. But I suppose it still depends on what I do with the information presented to me today.

The stature of the featured speakers was considerable. The morning began with Tom Izzo, popular head coach of the Michigan State Spartans mens' basketball team. He was pretty laid back and low key, not too slick or gimmicky in his approach and I liked that style, especially in retrospect after getting my fill of smooth-talkers and glib quippers.

Speaking of which, the king of them all, Zig Ziglar, was the second main speaker. He's a sprightly old gent, a man of the South, who roamed the stage and leaned into his oratory like a revival preacher, which is pretty much what he is, though with a bouyant positive thinking message in place of the old hellfire and brimstone. His talk had a few good points but I was left a bit cold by the quaintness and patrician air of his message.

After Ziglar spoke, Phil Town came up to plug a stock market investment program (class/DVDs/access to web-based "power tools" for analyzing stock market trends) that was marked down "just for us" from $6000 to a mere $995 if we chose to sign up today, just line up at the tables out in the corridor after he leaves the stage. A lot of people seemed interested in getting up to 97% return on their investments by following this winning formula!

A lunch break followed, and we were first welcomed back and warmed up by a couple of Christian rappers who I suppose did a passable imitation of hip-hop, old-skool style. The white rapper looked a little bit like Eminem, and the black DJ could handle the turntables well enough. But it was a bit cowardly of them to rely on the Ice Ice Baby hook to get the crowd up and moving. Not that I'm expecting some kind of crunked-up Lil' Jon style throwdown, or even Public Enemy-style bombast. Just a little too M.O.R. and predictable to earn my respect.

Then we got to hear George Ross, Donald Trump's executive assistant on "The Apprentice." He offered some shrewd advice on the art of negotiation. 1) Get organized. 2) Take advantage of human weakness. 3) Cultivate an aura of legitimacy. 4) Everybody likes a freebie. 5) Prepare for negotiation, don't just wing it like most people do.

He also told a funny story about the difference between an optimist and a pessimist.

This guy has twin sons - one is always looking at things from the worst possible angle, seeing problems where none exist, while the other never seems to be bothered or dejected by anything that happens, no matter how tough, miserable or inconvenient. So the father decides that for their tenth birthdays, he will give each of them a gift that will help to give them a more balanced, realistic perspective on things.

For the pessimistic son, he buys the coolest, shiniest, most decked out bicycle he can find - it's got all the features! For the optimist, he decides that he's just going to fill his bedroom with a big stinking truckload of horse manure.

So the boys get home from school to discover their birthday presents. The boy who got the bike immediately runs up to his dad, complaining. "How could you give me this present? I just know that the first time I go out for a ride I'm going to crash it and ruin the paint job, bend up the handle-bars and get a flat tire. And if I take it to school, there will be ten bullies waiting to beat me up and steal the bike. This has to be the worst birthday present a kid ever got!"

The dad walks away shaking his head and muttering to himself, wondering what will ever change his pessimistic son's outlook on life. So he decides to go check on the other boy. He opens his son's door and sees the kid eagerly clawing through the pile of manure with his bare hands, tossing it in the air behind him.

The dad asks, "what's going on here?" The boy turns around with an eager, excited grin and says, "Thanks, Dad! With all this horseshit, I just know there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

That, ladies and gentlemen, is probably the most memorable anecdote of the day that I heard spoken from the stage, as I finish this entry a few days later.

So to sum up George Ross, he seemed to me to be pretty authentic, a man of accomplishment in life who at an advanced age (somewhere in his 70's) suddenly finds himself a nationally-recognized celebrity. Good for him.

After that, Peter Lowe spoke. (Interestingly, I am unable to find any kind of an official PL website. Why is that? You'd think he'd have some kind of a big flashy presence on the net. But here's a link that explains his background and approach.) He's the guy who puts these seminars together, a tall skinny red-headed fellow with big eyes. Basically his message was a Christian testimonial that most resembled an altar call even though he didn't actually ask for people to come forward to the stage. But he did lead the congregation, er, I mean audience, through a modified sinner's prayer, inviting Jesus to be lord of their lives, and offered a CD to anyone who wanted one if they would just speak to the people staffing the tables in the outer corridor. I was honestly quite surprised at how explicitly churchy this part of the seminar felt and wonder if its really wise or legitimate to synthesize the gospel with the "get rich quick" aspects of the day's events. To me, it seems like Peter Lowe's approach achieves a too-easy harmony between the way of Jesus and big, flashy American-style capitalism that was so proudly celebrated by the organizers. At the same time, Lowe is hardly unique in taking this approach, for what it's worth.

Following Peter Lowe, we had to endure a presentation on how to invest in real estate, buy houses with no money down, turn them around quickly and pocket $20-30K profits or more with each transaction. Upcoming classes are scheduled that will get you started for a negligible $99 registration fee...

Then it was time for the final run of celebrities. First we had Jerry Lewis, who did a credible job rolling off strings of one-liners, telling misty-eyed stories about Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. Every so often a video reel would play on the overhead monitors, recapping highlights from his movie and TV career. It was amusing and interesting to see a veteran old-school comic working the arena crowd. Not that his humor was particularly edgy or innovative, but you can tell, he's a seasoned pro who knew how to handle feedback from the audience. (Though I have my suspicions that he may have had a plant or two in the crowd, since some of the whoops and hollers that provided good set-ups for a gag came from the same part of the arena a few times.) There wasn't anything I can remember that was all that inspiring or motivational about his talk other than the fact that he's 78 years old and still seems pretty sprightly for getting up there in years. But it was a good change of pace.

Then we got to listen to Suze Orman.



Now I've known about her for years, seen her face on books and TV lots of times, heard her referred to as a woman who knows her stuff when it comes to finances, but I've never really given her much direct attention. My earliest impression of her was that she came up as kind of a "New Age" or even Buddhist financial advisor, as compared to someone like Larry Burkett or Ron Blue who come from the evangelical Christian fold and weave a lot of biblical terminology into their advice. My hunch is that she has taken a more generically spiritual approach as her popularity has increased and she wants to remain as accessible as possible to the marketplace of potential consumers of her products.

Having said that though, I appreciated what she had to say. Her basic point is that how we manage our money is a highly accurate indicator of where we are at as people, in our inner lives. Basically, her talk was light on specifics of where to invest, how to set up a budget, how to prioritize - it was more a straight-talk to each of us as individuals to get our act together, to take honest stock of ourselves and if we that we are operating under any kind of a delusional or addictive state of mind, to do something serious and soon to remedy the situation. She also enunciated some "laws of life" that confirmed my New Age-y impressions of where she's coming from. An example: "May every thought you think be as if it were written in fire and etched in the sky for all the world to see, for so it is!" Hmmm, yeah right. I mean, it's a good corrective action principle for self-management, but if that's truly the case, then I suppose there's too much fire-writing going on all around us for most people to take much notice or decipher the clues. Because a lot of us are carrying and keeping secrets! (When googling for a link, I saw in the Wikipedia entry that Suze is recognized as "a Zen master," so my hunch is correct!)

Finally, the big headliner strolled out on stage, to thunderous applause, streamers, confetti and pyrotechnics - America's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani!



Yes, it was him, the man himself, who took his pivotal role in dealing with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and parlayed it into a high-profile presence in American culture and perhaps politics. His theme was leadership, and even though I'm not an ideological ally of the Mayor, I will give him credit for being an interesting speaker. The buzz afterwards among some in attendance was that he wasn't quite as dynamic as they were hoping or expecting he would be, but I think it works better for him to come across as a modest but decisive guy who knows what he's about and doesn't have to bowl you over with a rehearsed and overly polished delivery.

His basic points about leadership read more like common-sense.

Know what you believe and trust that confidence in those beliefs will attract followers.

Be optimistic and take a problem-solving approach.

Be courageous - deal with your fears, keep them in perspective and make the right decisions.

Be prepared - envision all the different scenarios and develop a response. Using the 9/11 example, even though the public services had never made contingency plans for what happened, they had prepared to deal with separate components of the disaster, and this preparation gave them the jump-start needed to deal with the unanticipated.

Emphasize teamwork - know your teams weaknesses and balance them with strengths.

Communicate honestly and directly to your people.

Above all, care about those you are leading.

Pretty brilliant stuff, eh?

After Giuliani had finished talking, Tamara Lowe, the MC, Peter's wife, came back out on stage for the wrap-up and exclaimed, "I think that man would make a great President!" Which tied the whole thing together for me. I had wondered how these appearances by Giuliani might tie into his sniffing out the prospects for a presidential campaign in 2008, and the answer to my question presented itself right there. I don't think Ms. Lowe's comment was simply a spontaneous expression or a thought that just occurred to her that she wanted to share with the 14,000 people or so, plus several hundred others watching on closed-circuit TV who had tickets but couldn't get in because they had oversold the event!

And just mere seconds after laying this thought on all of us, Tamara said she hoped we all had a good time, God bless us, have a great day and goodbye. So that was that.

If you want to read a rather funny account of a similar seminar that took place eight years ago, here's an old Dave Barry column that I found. And remember - don't just Get Motivated - Stay That Way! (I just came up with that...)