The Secret: Giving is for Winners

I am ready to positively conclude that the Law of Attraction, aka The Secret, works in my favor.

Some time over the past summer I got Brenda Byrne's book on CD.  The Secret is a strong proponent of the manifesting power of human thinking and the ability of human consciousness to reorder the universe.

That theme seemed consistent with the much older self improvement classic, Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill, and I had been a believer in that book's message for years.

There is no risk in believing in one's power to tap in to the universal abundance and then acting to receive what is sought. No risk at all.

 One of the keys to receiving is giving freely without expectation of a return.  This time of year is filled with reminders that we have much to give and that others need so much.

Coincidence or not I have had three recent incidents of universal generosity.  A month ago I was urged to purchase tickets to attend a fundraising gala in early December. I did it.  My wife and I attended together.  The theme of the party was a night on a riverboat. The ticket to the dinner included some play money to gamble.  One could purchase more play money or raffle tickets.  The play money could also be exchanged for raffle tickets.

I tried to spend my play money by gambling it away. I bet big with my fake money but I won! My first bet cleaned out all the chips from the domino wheel.  The dealer had to leave to get more. I told him not to bother as it was for charity.  I then converted all that I had to raffle tickets and bought some more. Of the dozen and a half, there were several raffle baskets I liked, including a skydiving jump, golf lessons, a flat screen tv and even some small Christmas trees festooned with gift cards.  My wife and I spread our tickets around.

There were a couple hundred attendees and probably thousands of tickets between the prize baskets.
As the night wore down my wife and I left.  While waiting for our car to be brought around, the raffle tickets were being drawn.  I was talking with some folks and my wife asked "did they just call our name?"  Sure enough they did. Then another prize. Then our name again, and AGAIN.  three prizes, the skydiving, golf lessons and a gift card tree.  Destiny wants me sporting.

Shortly after that explosion of abundance I gave some more money to some schools and other charities at church.   Then a case settled and was paid, quickly and fully.

I gave some money to the Salvation Army and then found money on the floor at a department store.  Nobody was around who it may have dropped from.  So I picked it up, thanked the universe and bought a gift for my son.

Then I bought some coffee for a lady whose hands were full. Within a week or so, another case settled quickly, easily and fully.  I gave some money to the Salvation Army again.  And today, a settlement award for (ironically) a class action in which I was a class member arrived without warning.  It was substantial for a consumer protection case.  I called the plaintiffs' counsel, expressed my gratitude and, you guessed it, gave some more to the Salvation Army.

Like Mr. Hill and the Secret teach, I have been saying out loud how grateful I am for all of my blessings and admitting a readiness to accept more.  I have given regularly and freely and have been richly rewarded.  If even a reformed grinch like me can be loved and rewarded by the universe, then anyone can.  Give and be grateful.  It seems that simple. Thank you.

Ignorance of the law(makers)

Has a group of people paid nearly $175,000 a year plus benefits ever been so consistently disappointing as the US Congress?  I imagine professional sports fans could be disappointed with their team for years (Cincinnati Bengals) and those guys make way more per year, but those players can't, no matter how bad they perform, cost you your job, your retirement or your peace of mind.

Today, October 16, 2013, to much media fanfare, the US Senate agreed to pay the bills it and the House of Representative had already incurred.  Before the bills get paid though, the House of Representatives, replete with the Burn The House Down Party, has to agree to the plan.  

A shutdown, slimdown, slowdown, downtown, clown around, vacation-because-they-get-back-pay- furlough did nothing positive for any American.  In this case, really, nothing.  It did not change US policy on any point.  It created no new rallying point for Americans.  It did nothing to engage Americans as a whole in a positive way.  It did allow for a lot of criticism and hate spewing back and forth.  The edge of default dance has weakened the credit of America to Americans and to foreign buyers of American debt.  Count on that.  Interest rates will rise and the Federal Reserve will be powerless to stop them.

The name calling and bashing of ideas on the news and the Internet, from both sides of the ACA/Obamacare crowd, have been frighteningly reminiscent of the vitriol that caused the US to have a civil war.  The north is again pitted against the south on many issues.  It's fitting that the first black president is under fire from a bunch of white, southern men, for advancing what he seems to believe is a right inherent in a civilized nation - decent, affordable health care for all.

One has to wonder though, if someone has not watched this drama unfold on TV or in the news, will they be affected by what happens on Capitol Hill?   I don't know.  It seems that for all the sturm and drang cranked out by the finance talking heads, the world would not stop if the Congress failed to agree on this point. 

My sense is that the sun would come up tomorrow no matter what happened today.  Tomorrow may be better or worse than today, but it's going to come.  I hope that come November 2014, a Wednesday dawns with 355 brand new congressmen and senators and leaves 66 senators quaking in their wingtips.

  

Government shutdown? No surprise.

Today, October 1, the US Government ran into a self inflicted partial shutdown.  People who had no ability to avoid it will be laid off without pay.  The men and women who could have reached agreement on a budget, imperfect as it was, but who failed, will still get their $174,000 per year.

Congressional representatives and Senators are without risk. No skin in the game.  They redistribute other peoples money, not their own.

I trust that this shutdown, on the eve  of the US Government 's need to borrow more money to pay for its endless stream of spending, will cause more negotiation turmoil.

Every pundit and talking head rejects the possibility that the Congress would renege or be untimely in its duty to pay vendors and borrowers.  But those same experts predicted a fed taper that did not happen. They predicted that Congress would avoid a shutdown.

When everyone agrees, it really is a signal to take the other side of the argument.

There may be optimism for a quick solution, because the tea partiers failed to defund Obamacare with the budget.   People will hope that the TP will concede and be reasonable.  But why?  If they were acting on principle and got this far, why would they back off?  In for a penny in for a pound.  Principles aren't for sale.  Even Bloomberg agrees with me in an article posted after this post:  "Congress misses the short putt, and debt relief is much more difficult"

They will be cheered by their true believer constituents and will be rewarded with contributions.  They will be urged to keep up the pressure.  They can say we did not concede our demands and we won't.  Default or not we cannot accept universal health care for all Americans.

I believe that the US will fail to get a debt ceiling deal by Oct. 17.  I also believe that Obama will concede something big immediately after.  He will because he cannot have the US fail on his watch.

My bet is against the pundits and the consensus.  Interesting times indeed.

Going Dry

I gave up recreational alcohol on July 7, 2013.  Not a drop of wine, spirits or beer crossed my lips until August 17, 2013. 
My effort at abstinence was an attempt to evaluate alcohol's effect on my health, and to determine whether I actually had a dependency problem.  At 45, I had been having a drink or two a few days a week for decades.  Some days more, some less.  Some days not at all.  But when alcohol becomes part of a regular diet,  one might start to wonder.

I wondered.

It turns out that I am not an alcoholic and that I actually prefer an alcohol free body.  There are several reasons. 

First, the sleep quality of an alcohol free body.  I have always loved a nap and my brain is fairly abrupt when calling for sleep at the end of the day.  However, even on a regular diet of good food with regular, intense exercise, two to three glasses of wine between dinner and bedtime had an effect. I was always, always, getting up to use the head two hours after going to sleep. 

I told myself it was because I had been using my Ipad, or was watching TV before bed, or had just succumbed to the inevitable changes of a forty something man.  Nope.  It was the wine.

It turns out that being dry means sleeping deeply, soundly and without disturbance.  I highly recommend not drinking just for that pleasure.

The next good reason is a state of mental clarity.  I am simply clearer and calmer in all respects.  Maybe it's the lack of alcohol, maybe it's the improved sleep.  No matter, it is a notable benefit.

A third reason is more money in your pocket.  Three bottles of wine a week, or a fifth of Royal Crown 7 every two weeks, and the diet 7Up to go with it all added up.  It is a  notable amount.

A fourth reason is better body composition with less fat.  Alcohol has a proven health benefit, so I've read.  On the other hand, it is used by your body as energy before anything else is, so if you drink and dine or snack, then you are often left with a stomach full of otherwise useful food that is turned into fat cells because the sugar in your alcohol got burned first.

If you don't have alcohol in your system, then your body burns the real food you ate, and if you are otherwise eating well, that is the desirable outcome. 

That leads to the obvious fat loss that comes from cutting the three to six hundred daily calories in the alcohol consumed.

I was on vacation in Florida with some friends when I had a drink.  I was there for three days and had a total of five cocktails.  Here it is August 30 and I can say with certainty that I've had five drinks since July 7, and that I am much better for it.

Bottom line, if you can stop drinking regularly, you will be happy that you did. I am.

Too big to ride a roller coaster

I was at King's Island amusement park near Cincinnati, Ohio, last night.  It was the park's last regular season night.  I took my son and daughter for an hour to catch two rides:  Diamondback and The Beast.

The park was not busy an hour before closing so we almost walked up to the gate on DBack.  Waiting in line for the front row we had some time to observe.  As we got to the point where we were one ride away, a staffer came up to the guys just in front of us.  He asked if they would mind too much if they took the next car as there was a special rider circumstance.  The guys were fine.  They would get a ride in a minute. 

What was a special rider circumstance?  At that point, the car was loaded but for the front seats.  Two men, one older, likely a father son duo, were approaching from the exit side of the car.  A second staffer joined the first at the front of the car.  Both the staffers together weighed less than one of the big guys. 

The fleshy fellas, both in shorts and giant, sleeveless T-shirts, squeezed into the bucket seats. The two staffers then proceeded to try to get the lap bars to lock down on them.  Diamondback has only what appears to be a handlebar on a stalk that comes toward you and settles between your legs.  The handles go across your thighs and there are additional grips on top for the faint hearted. 

When you get into the car the stalk comes back and clicks into place.  It was not to be on these two big boys.  The Kings Island staffers were discrete and diligent, but they were no match, short of sitting on the safety bar, to overcome the sheer piles of soft flesh that must have been resting across the thighs of big daddy and son.  It was not for a lack of trying. 

It was a painful moment for the duo.  It had to be horrible.  It had to be just as painful for the thirty or forty people watching.  In the thirty seconds or so that it went on, it was silent in the waiting area.  No laughing, none of the usual nervous chatter.  We all just watched, agog at the scene.  In the end, the staffers could not make the safety bars secure.  Not even one little click. 

The big guys had to leave the way they came, but bearing a mental and emotional scar, I'm sure.   It was haunting and daunting and hopefully illuminating to them.  I hope that they see that horrible moment as a turning point and change their lives, or at least their eating habits.

If they get their acts together, then next year they can ride.  I hope they make it a goal and do it.     

Getting Away

Finding time for a vacation when you are self employed is difficult.  Sure there is "flexibility" in your day to day schedule, but carving out a week or more seems impossible. 

It isn't.  Almost nothing in business can't wait a week or so.  The practice of law or the operation of a small business isn't like emergency medicine.  Sure, somebody might need a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the use of a parking lot or some such, or an inventory shipment may show up unexpectedly, but even those items can probably wait a few days.  

The day before you go away is always far busier than you intended.  No matter how much you tried to get all your loose ends tied in the week leading up to that last day of work, you inevitably have more to do than you wanted.  Filing, phone calls, checks, last minute court filings.  They all HAVE to be done that day, even though those very same action items have been languishing under your time sheets for weeks.  Can't they wait until you get back?  Don't be silly. 

In the course of clearing my desk of documents to be filed by my assistant during my absence, I located items that should have been dealt with much earlier.  So what did I do?  I did them.  Right then and there.  Treating each new find like a new project.  I let them control me even though they got in the way of my other, more current projects and needs.

This "shiny object" approach to getting ready to go was satisfying, but ultimately inefficient.  It is a far better practice, I would imagine, to treat every day as if you were leaving the next day for a week away.  That would assure that filing would be prepared, calls would be made and returned, checks would be cut and invoices would be sent.  I'm going to employ that mindset when I get back and see how it goes.  With any luck, my desk will continue to look like it does now:  a piece of polished wooden furniture, and not an oversized pile of manila folders, three hole binders and assorted 3M Post it Notes.  

I do need this vacation, I just wish I didn't have to earn it so hard. 

What I know now.

My last post was about my realization that my life was at half time and that I now knew the things I wish I'd have known when I was 23.

Upon further reflection I thought a list of those lessons would be helpful.

The most important lesson, which is applicable to business and professional life alike is that I am worthy of respect, if not affection.  I have nothing to fear if I am not liked.   I don't like everyone and they are as unharmed by my lack of affection for them as I am of theirs for me. 

Next on the list of lessons is that time is fleeting but that patience is rewarded.  One must act with conviction, but be prepared to wait for results.  It is often not clear what the consequences of our actions will be, but if you believe you are right, then you should act.

Consistency and diligence beat flashes of brilliance.  Some of the brightest students in law school were unable to pass the bar exam.  They could bring it to an essay exam for a class, and get As, but they could not maintain their focus and concentration at the big moments in July and February.  Better to be regularly competent than only infrequently extraordinary. (See, Thomas Edison).



The front line of any organization is what gets work done.  If you want to assure failure and rejection, then treat the waitresses, clerks, cashiers and janitors with disdain and disrespect.  Almost everyone has to start somewhere.  Some people start and stay lower on the "ladder."  But they are mothers, fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters.  They are important in their own way in their own world.  Almost everyone is doing the best that they can.  Understand and respect them and thank them for their efforts. 

Tip generously when it's deserved.  Tip generously in advance to guarantee great service. 

Show up and act like you belong where you are.  If you believe, then other people are inclined to believe it too. If you believe that you can do anything and be anywhere you want, then you can be.  It may be that simple.

There is a virtually infinite amount of money circulating the planet. 

You can have as much as you want, but you have to make an effort to get it.  It will not automatically flow to you.  Trillions are flowing all of the time.  You only need a small part of that flow to be wildly rich.  If I knew exactly how to do it, then I'd be rich too.  I'm still working on the mechanics.

Go big.  You can spend an hour digging a ditch, or selling industrial supplies, or learning how to finance a rental property with no money down.  The hour digging a ditch pays quickly but only a little bit.  The closed sale, or the refinanced rental may take a little longer to actually happen, but the payoff is far greater.  Put your time into high return efforts and act on them, consistently.

Be courageous.  Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen.  Or remind yourself of the worst thing facing you a month, or six months, or even a year ago and recognize that you made it.  It passed.  Be bold.  It pays off.

On that note, I am off to work.  I have to litigate, settle and ideate for a while.  Check out my website, www.langendorflaw.com. 

I do know now what I wish I'd known then!

I was just finishing a post about my pending birthday, exploring whether life could still be all that I had hoped. (I know, Boo Hoo).  I saved the draft, then fumbled some keys, only to see the entire post disappear.  All that I had thought about and written was deleted in a couple of misplaced key strokes.   Good riddance.

Maybe it was the Universe telling me that my post was worthless.  I've heard that "everything happens for a reason."  Who hasn't?  The message I take from that spontaneous deletion is that  worrying about what you hope will happen is worth far less than making something happen. 

A guy my age (45) ought to live to his mid 80s.  That being the case, I will essentially relive my life over again.  But this time with a head start!  No more bellyaching about my age, that's for sure.  The age is an asset.

You know how people say, when they are talking about their youth, "If I'd have known then what I know now, I'd have...?"  By one's mid forties, they do know what they wished they'd have known when they were younger.  With that perspective it makes sense to take action to make your life all that it could have been had you been so aware twenty years ago. 

What a revelation!  At that age adults are blessed with wisdom, education, some net worth and connections.  All that we wished we had when we were in our 20s. There is no reason why a wise forty-something can't navigate their future to great success.  Colonel Sanders didn't start franchising his restaurants until he was in his 60s.  I have time. 

Maybe if we look at our mid 40s as half time, we can regroup, touch up the plan, and make it a great second half.  That's what I'm going to do.  I hope you do too.

Retirement planning fear.

While volunteering at a church festival this weekend I fell into conversation with a couple of forty something electricians.  Both worked for different companies. One was content to keep working and not worry too much about the future.  He will never be able to stop working.  The other was weighing what to do with his investments now, in the face of the current economic climate. 

In addition to his wages, he owns a commercial building that generates revenue.  However, that building recently needed a new roof.  The day after the roof was installed, two roof top air conditioners were vandalized.  When it rains it pours!  True, insurance covered the a/c units, but the roof was several thousand dollars out of pocket.  "My wife is mad about the expense.  It was a big hit.  Is it worth the cost?" The answer had to be yes. 

Even if the return over the cost of loan servicing and maintenance was a mere 1 or 2%, it was still better money than he would get on savings.  Plus, his building was under his control, as were the rents and the tenants.  It's not like he had his money in a stock market that rewards "investors" for holding shares when economic news is bad, and punishes them when the news is good.  "All hail the Fed for juicing the stock market" is not a wise investment strategy.  It is doomed.

I explained my understanding of two opposing economic theorists:  the deflationists, who see demographic trends and dormant, unused Fed asset purchase cash sitting in banks causing prices and pricing power for companies to go down, i.e., to deflate; and the inflationists who see "stimulus" leading to the inevitable rejection of paper money leading to a flaming global spending spree making assets skyrocket in the value reflected by that value shedding currency, leading to hyperinflation and finally some new currency.  "Well, thanks for the lesson, professor, but what do you do?"  

There is little choice.  You can only invest in what you believe is true.  So you have to bet on the theory you see as most likely, then put most of your eggs in that basket.  With the remaining eggs, you hedge by betting on the other side.  If you are right, then your hedge goes down a little, and you don't gain as much overall.  If you are wrong, then you don't lose everything.  It's really the best anyone (other than Goldman Sachs) can do.

I am in the deflation camp.  The demographics of the US and the other old, debt burdened economies of Europe point to a slow down in spending and speculative investing that will not stop for another decade or so. 

As others have said, and as I have repeated at different times, the U.S.'s economic future is written plainly in the past fifteen years of Japanese history.   I think my electrician friend is still scared, but he's thinking better on the subject.  So am I.  


  

Honey Boo Boo makes the point

Everyday society may have reached the tipping point.  Careful observation reveals that young women and girls (and the occasional pregnant looking man) have determined that leaving the house in cropped tops revealing two inch rolled belts of dimply fat is an acceptable look.  Personal pride has been dissolved by a generation of self esteem building and copious amounts of Mountain Dew.

If  the health and fitness industry is such a behemoth and Americans idolize the slim and beautiful, how can every fair, festival and crowd be stuffed with so many porcine pedestrians?   Fitness is a business, but its product has failed, in a big way.  Maybe it's my location in southwest Ohio.  The demographics and the pervasive poverty likely have an impact on self image.    In  New York, Chicago, LA, or any European city there is a notable absence of this phenomenon. So maybe it is about the location.

On the other hand, this depressing effect may be the result of these typically young women growing up being told that fat is fine.  That there is nothing wrong with their blatantly awful food choices.  That its okay to be "curvy".  Ma'am, Beyonce is curvy.  Stretch marked sausage belts are not.

Look at Honey Boo Boo, the obese five year old with the grossly outsized mother.  This TLC Channel darling  started out as a beauty contestant (??) featured on Toddlers and Tiaras. That show is populated by mothers who AS A RULE are outsized and unstable and who spend thousands of dollars hauling their reluctant little dress up dolls (daughters) to popularity contests.   These women and their daughters have made many viewers relate. "If they are on TV then it's okay to be big and...unique."

Honey Boo Boo's show just proves the (subtitled) point.  American culture has nosedived into a supersized order of fries and a milkshake.  But that's okay. We're just big boned.

History rhymes. Can you hear it?

40pluscareerguru: Is this 1937 or 1929?  This is an insightful comparison of the events and outcomes of the past to the events of the day.  I don't agree with the author's solution, but he does put current events in context.

Twitter is for crazy people too. Sadly.

Today I got a follow notice in my Twitter account.  I usually check the profiles of people who will be following me.  I want to follow them back to build my tribe, but I don't want to follow or be followed by people who will only bring me down.  I checked the profile of this young lady.  She has a face shot and the wallpaper is her, I presume, looking jubilant in a bikini.  Attractive.

Her profile said that if you aren't living on the edge, then you are taking up too much space.  It also said that there was a fine line between social media and wasting your life.  It ended with a one word sentence:  Conservative. 

 Given some of the people I follow (Ricky Gervais, Ellen DeGeneres and John Stewart) and the interests I have, and my background, this tweeter did not seem like a good fit for me.  Her most recent tweets were sardonic criticisms of Anthony Wiener and his escapades.  He probably deserves it, but nobody is perfect.  But such vitriol from this Anne Coulter wannabe. It was too much.  I sent her a message telling her that while I thought A. Wiener would like her picture, I thought she would be wasting her life following me.  It was a minor play on her tweets and her profile.

She sprung back on me like a cornered badger. Four quick tweets.

She accused me of overcompensating for something, alleged that I had a talent for playing the bongos (is this bad?), suggested I used pot, and then said I had both a "well justified inferiority complex" and an inflated ego.  She finished by telling me that the village called and it wanted its idiot back.  I responded to that one only with "okay, I'll tell them you're ready."  No more insults.

That tirade was not unpredictable.  In fact, it seemed likely considering her existing tweets.  I am so sad that she then unfollowed me and went back to beating up on Carlos Danger. 

Had we been in the same room, would she have gone off like that?  No.  Probably not.  More likely II could have said the same thing, and she'd still be hoping that I would hire her as a secretary, despite her obvious flaws.  Twitter is wide open. Anybody can join.  Anybody.   You can't choose who follows you, but you might want to be choosy about who you follow back. Life is too short for crazy people.

Perspective from a heart.

I was married in a big fat Greek wedding.  As in the eponymous movie I was not a Greek groom.  My wife's immigrant and first generation American family was large and close knit.  Lots of cousins, theas (aunts) and theos, but, oddly, no pets.  Most owned or worked in restaurants or were lawyers,  teachers or business owners. Really a great, fun loving but hard working group.

Now the Greek Orthodox marriage ceremony calls for "koumbara" or spiritual sponsors. They are usually close friends or relatives of the bride and groom and they have a part in the ceremony.   Our koumbara were a first cousin and his wife.  They are a joyous couple, bubbly, outgoing and very fun to be around. 

We have been married for nearly fifteen years now.  Our koumbara baptized my first born and she is blessed with these finest of Godparents.  Recently though some clouds have darkened the horizon.  The husband in that sponsor couple was recently stricken by a viral infection of unknown origin and fearsome effect.  It caused him multiple short hospital stays  and several weeks off work.  It has been an intense and clear reminder that circumstances can change in a heartbeat.  Between hospital stays, he recently made his way out to a hot air balloon festival where we chatted.  It was good to see him not in hospital bed.  He was looking much better.

A couple days later I was feeling very pressured.  I was hating the practice of law and feeling the tension caused by several unresolved cases.  If asked to describe my state of mind in one word, I'd have said depressed.  I called a friend from law school who practices nearby.  I wanted him to talk me off the ledge of chucking it all.  Turned out he was feeling the same as I!  Some help.  We laughed and commiserated for a full hour, half that time was while I was with my wife during a lunch break at Subway. She was eating, Facebooking and listening approvingly while I took some friend therapy.

My afternoon improved steadily with my mood.  By dinner time all seemed well. Then I got the news that my beloved koumbaro was back in the hospital with a nagging fever.  I wished I could talk him better, but that kind of therapy isn't what he needed.  My little meltdown, settled with the words of a kind friend, seemed frivolous in this perspective.

Health is precious and irritatingly fragile.  Did you know the flu killed millions of Americans in an epidemic in the early 1900s?  Millions!  The flu!  You just don't know.  Friendships are also tenuous over time and distance.  The good news is that they can last and grow forever with just a little care and feeding.  Sadly though, they can disappear with inattention.  Best to spend a moment or two, now and then, keeping real friendships, not virtual friendships, but real, "hey let's get a cup  of coffee" friendships, alive and well.

We need our friends and we need our health.  They are intertwined.  I am grateful for the reminders and the lessons, and praying for the health of my koumba.  Get well soon. (P.S. Since I first wrote this piece, my koumbaro is out of the hospital and improving nicely.)

Don't say No. Say YES!

I always start with No.  In response to my children, my spouse, others asking for money or time, No. No. No.  I regret now my rejection of an opportunity to host a fund raising party for President Obama when he was just Senator Obama.  If I had said yes back then, my effort would likely have been paying dividends now.  No is a curse.

My reflexive negativity reminds me strongly of Jim Carrey's character in the movie  "Yes Man."   In that story, he finds that saying no leads to a small and limited  life.  He goes to a seminar that urges attendees to always say "Yes" and his life turns around.  There are some (Midnight run? Yes!) hilarious, negative effects to always saying yes, and the movie goes very far, having him respond positively to even bulletin board want ads, but you get the gist. He finds adventure, closer friendships and yes, he falls in love (with Zooey Deschanel).  All of this because he turned positive toward life's abundant opportunities.  It is one of my favorite movies and a go-to refresher when I'm feeling down. 

Even though I start with no, I usually change my mind and say yes, but that negative first response still makes its way to my lips too often.  It tends to make those around me give up on my participation before even asking for it and it weakens the impact of an immediate yes.  No is an easy way out of making an effort.  It leaves one safe and secure in their status quo.  It has zero potential to produce positive results.   I almost always regret saying no.

No is risk averse, true, and it is easier.  But it returns almost nothing.  Nothing but the same old, same old.  That's safe and comfortable, but not too adventurous nor likely to lead to bigger things. 

Maybe when someone says no to me in the future, I will consider a way to make saying yes more comfortable for them.  This should be the plan in place even before asking.  I know that I say no a lot, but I am sure trying to make it YES a lot more often.  Maybe if I had said yes to the fundraiser request seven years ago, I'd be saying yes to invitations to dine at the White House.  Maybe.  But I can be sure that saying "No" got me absolutely nothing.

Skipping Church

My wife and children are Greek Orthodox Christians.  I just drive them to church, pay the fair share and volunteer at the annual Greek Festivals.  Other than my secular duties, I have no skin in that game.  I am pretty sure that every religion sprung from a myth about a story rooted in the identical, sole kernel of truth, so I'm not going to sweat the dogma.

As I look around my congregation I see many who seem to share my views.  We show up for the same mass every week, dutifully send the kids to Sunday school and take turns staffing the gyro line at the annual food festival.

At this church, God takes the summer off. He comes back after the festival, a week after Labor Day.  I like His accommodating schedule.  I skipped church today.  I promised to work a little extra at the gyro line.  Easy penance.  I am grateful for the day off and for the time making gyros though. Amen.

Equality for all at the airport

While planning an upcoming family trip to none other than steamy Universal Studios in Florida, I am caused to think of the impending airport gate waiting time.  If there is a better place to observe people and behavior, I don't know where it is.

It used to be that air travel was considered special.  But that was a long time ago.  Well before my time.  While I do recall smoking and non smoking sections on airplanes, I do not recall people dressing up to fly.

Air travelers are no longer a special group.  Instead, we are all just scrutinized and dehumanized sheeple shuffling to our gates after saying goodbye to our non traveling loved ones at the first security hurdle.  If you don't have a boarding pass, then you get no further than the ticketing desks (at American airports that I have been in.) 

I have been through security at a Midwestern airport a couple of times in the past few years.  Each time I have refused to raise my hands and be irradiated by a guy posted behind a lead wall.  I always go rogue and ask for the Fourth Amendment violation treatment.  Every time, the same white haired, handlebar mustached gentleman with gentle hands explores for... Heck I don't know what he expects to find.  When I show up with my wife and my two kids, he must be expecting at least a Lego figure, but he hasn't found anything yet.  He smiles when he does his work on me because each time I go through I hum God Bless America while he probes my pant cuffs, crotch and belt line.  He always smiles and asks if I have any questions.  I always ask if he is aware that my Constitutional rights are being violated.  He always says "no they aren't.  Have a good trip."  We part ways satisfied that we did what we could.

After the security performance, it's the quick trip to the gate.  You don't want to be late, even when you are early, so you go fast.  We almost all do.  Look around.  People in airports rarely saunter.  When you are trying to get from gate to gate at a large airport, it does not matter who you are or what you do, or what your problems are at home .  The crowds won't part for you because you are rich, or if you are in a hurry.  People hurrying to their gates see you as just an obstacle in their path, as much as they appear to be one in yours.  It is best to understand that nobody is personally trying to make your trip difficult (except for United's very efficient customer antagonists, they really are trying to make your trip a nightmare).  Deepak Chopra says that you should try to remember that people are doing the best that they can with their own level of consciousness.  I try to keep that in mind.

Once there, sitting in a gate area reveals people for what they are.  Which is to say essentially the same as everyone else. They are tired grandmothers, lawyers and salesmen, families, all speaking innumerable languages, dressed in various garb, often munching on  overpriced airport food ($12.00 for a turkey sandwich on wheat?!) while staring into glowing screens of various sizes, interrupting their digital diversions only to case a suspicious glare aimed at the potential luggage thief sitting in an armed vinyl chair two rows over.  (Armed chairs!  Why?)  This observation describes what any  traveler will see when they look at any other travelers.  Travel, especially air travel, shows that no matter what language we speak, or where we came from or where we are going, that the journey and life itself is mostly the same for all of us. 

So try to enjoy the trip, even the wait, and take solace in the fact that you have a great deal in common with every single person you see going from gate to gate, literally and figuratively. Talk to someone sitting nearby.  Trust me, they will know what you are talking about when you ask "Can you believe how much they get for a sandwich here?"
   
 

No inflation in creativity

As I consider tossing another thought salad for the Internet to consume, I have to wonder, in a world where anyone can publish their writing for all to see, instantly, why isn't writing itself devalued?

In the words of Economics there should be content hyperinflation.  Every newly published article, opinion or blog post should devalue every existing publication.  But somehow it doesn't work that way.   But for blatant plagiarism, every single written utterance is a new addition to the universe.  Every new writing imbues copyright on its author, and for good reason.

Every work of authorship, no matter the quality, is a new addition to our collective perception.  If it is powerful and insightful, then it might motivate.  If it is poor and uninformative, then it may turn us to consider other thoughts.  A mediocre blog may do nothing more than satisfy a need for diversion from something more intense.

The act of creating has value too.  Every effort instructs in some way.  One can only learn so much without doing.  As James Altucher points out in his book "Choose Yourself"creativity is like a muscle that needs exercise.  And once it's toned, it produces some amazing results.  Give it a go.  Add something to the world.

Dog days of July

Like parents of generations before me I cracked under the relentless pressure from my children.  Yes, a dog.  We adopted Alli from a shelter. She was a puppy in a small litter of four.  She might me be a lab mix.  There are so many dogs and cats needing homes.  It made no sense to buy a pure bred dog for $500 or so.  Better to take advantage of the successful genes manifested in our coffee and cream colored mutt.  There is enough love in a family to extend to a dog.  Even Maria is happy when the dog is around.  Her adoption has also led to an increase in the local economy. Dog food, flea collar, bowls, pillow, etcetera.   It's  a win for everyone nearby.  I hope she inspires me to create a marketable item for the pet accessory industry.  Ah, dreams.

Death by student loan debt

In a recent Twitter discussion I found myself explaining to a fellow that banks, lenders and schools take no risk when lending extraordinary amounts of money to students with no hope of repayment.  The other fellow was of the mind that no debt should be dischargeable.  That seemed harsh.  The Constitution makes provision for bankruptcy.  Why? Because even in the late 1700s Americans believed in second chances.

A student loan debt is almost never dischargeable under current bankruptcy statutes.  A public company that makes a product that kills people can escape liability for ruined lives and families.  A financial firm can lose billions in pension funds stripping security and dignity from desperate retires, and it can escape liability.  An 18 19 20 year old kid decides art history is the degree he needs, his parents think (wrongly) that a college degree is a guarantee, and all of a sudden, the financial aid office is helping the kid obligate himself to borrow and pay 30k in tuition - per year.  Four years later, with living expenses, books and transportation, the debt is 200k.  He can't escape. He will be hounded  for life.  There are social security recipients suffering student loan garnishment.  No joke.

The likelihood of paying that amount back while trying to live, have a family and just pay bills is minimal.  If a lender were not guaranteed to be repaid by the government, then it would not lend freely to a person who was going to buy a degree that had limited return potential.

If lenders were more reluctant to lend, because they had to actually manage a risk of non-payment, then schools would have to lower their program prices to the point that their cost matched their value.  When there is no risk of loss to the school or the bank, then the sinister incentives to urge debt on students looms large.

There is no moral obligation to provide a college education to every person.  It's okay if some kids don't get to go to college.  They will be okay.  Better for sure if they don't start life as debt slaves.

Fourth of July

Here we are on the cusp of a grand anniversary.   238 years ago the terrorist revolutionaries we call the Founding Fathers, acting under threat of death by the British Royal government , said Enough.  In 1776 there was a war on US soil for the future of the American idea.  While we have seen amazing technological strides, the government created by the Founding Fathers via The Constitution has reverted to an overreaching, overspending blob of greed, corruption and self preservation.

This is hardly the worst we've had it.  In "Team of Rivals", the excellent Lincoln biography, the viciousness of politics and self interest of men (and women) in power is laid bare.  People in power are interested almost singularly in remaining in power and in enforcing their will on others.

The cruelty of slavery was ignored by southerners whose livelihood was dependent on dehumanizing for economic gain.  Northerners were talking about the immorality of slavery but were probably more concerned with their cost of "free" labor.  Who knows or considers these times now?  Sadly, it appears that many Americans do not.  I am disappointed to no end by the video link here.

Americans fail history

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

AT&T Privacy policy.

What a sad joke AT&T is.  Their written,  electronic, and spoken communication always refers to you as a valued customer. Even when they are telling you that none of your information is confidential as between you and the company.  I just got an email update of the AT&T privacy policy. I actually read it.  More accurately it should be called the AT&T Involuntary Dissemination Policy.

There is essentially zero privacy online.  AT&T knows which websites you visit while on their network, what services you use, who you call, who you text and who texts you.  Then it shares that information with a crowd of recipients.  Maybe a crowd is an overstatement on my part, but the language of the Involuntary Dissemination Policy seems able to encompass just about any company or government entity as a potential recipient of information about you.

Big Brother regulates AT&T and other carriers.  Big Brother can be renamed "Simon" as in Simon says...

I sent my kids away today. To sleep away camp.  Parental guidance ended when they stepped on the bus that would take them and the children of friends, acquaintances and strangers six hours north.  For a week.  No phones or iPods. No modern instruments of filial security.  Just some chaperones and the grace of God. They are eleven and thirteen.  Together that adds up to 24.  Even if that number could be imputed to their maturity, it would still be dubious.

Don't be afraid.  Welcome the uncertainty. Make friends. Have fun.  All the expected platitudes from a positive parent.  Masking of course the countervailing, long developed wisdom: be wary, limit your risks, avoid strangers, don't do anything dangerous.   Is it any wonder camp is stressful - for parents?

There are no rogues

GANG OF THIEVES

The actions of the US Government against the interests of American citizens are unsupportable, unconstitutional and fly in the face of liberty and self governance.  Sadly, most Americans will not take the necessary action to remove the government by voting out every single representative and every single senator as soon as practicable (Sweep it clean in 2014).  In large part Americans think Congress is a vile snake pit, filled with corrupt thieves and ne'er do wells.  However, those same Americans think THEIR representative is not so tainted.  To the contrary, each congressman is an integral cell in the cancerous mass occupying the Capitol.   Each congressman acts as a part of the collective whole while guarding his self interest in reelection and the accumulation of wealth and power.  Each is part and parcel to taking taxpayer money, borrowing more, and then paying themselves lavishly while redirecting our money to their projects, whether  war, welfare or waste.  Each congressman is both a part, and a reflection, of the whole institution. 

ACTING ALONE?

American citizens, when adopting the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, did not agree to cede to the federal government, or any government, the right to invade their private conversations - digital or otherwise.  The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution put our objection in writing.  They did that because they were sick of the searches by the British government.  They had experience in oppression and wanted no truck with it.

True, citizens can and do provide personal information to corporations and businesses.  They usually do it VOLUNTARILY.   There is a supposed benefit to being known as a customer, or as a friend to an organization.  There is no benefit to being observed by a faceless, all powerful, government.  At any time, your calls, searches, purchases or interests may be subject to review by an entity that may classify you, in secret, and without appeal, as a terrorist or "enemy combatant."  Big Brother rules.

The people who work for federal agencies and for contractors to the federal government are not acting alone or without direction.  When they invade your privacy and track you, they are not being rogues.  They are doing exactly what the organization in its institutional group-think wants its members to do.  To suggest in a press conference that an actual Fourth Amendment violating collection of a free American's correspondence was the action of a "rogue employee" is a farce.  It is akin to calling a finger on one's hand a rogue when the owner of the hand is observed picking his nose with that finger. 

Take the JP Morgan trader who put 4 billion dollars at risk and lost.  The London Whale was called a rogue trader, acting without authorization.  Ridiculous.  He was a manifestation of the organization's highest desires.  He was bred and built by JP Morgan to do what he did.  Had he been successful, he would be hailed by the company for making it money, which is what that company does.  The Whale was harpooned merely because his public display of corporate interests went awry. 

When a TSA agent violates an invalid, a shapely woman, or a child, in the name of "security", that agent is not being a rogue, or a bad apple.  They are manifesting the interests of their overreaching and overzealous agency's interests and philosophy.  Agencies and corporations and governments act through their employees.  Like a person's thoughts are transmitted by their voices or actions, see Republican Rep. King accusing Latino immigrants of hauling drugs so is the government's revolting abuse of power displayed by the actions of government employees.  There are no rogues.

WHAT TO DO

There may be little choice at this time but to revoke the consent of the people to be governed. It is the choice of a free people to accept or reject the actions of an elected government.  We can opt out of the poisonous web of seniority and nepotism and financial cronyism that we have, sadly, allowed.  It is possible with a clear and absolute rejection of the status quo.  How? It will take a concerted display of confident courage at election time.   No incumbent can be allowed to return to office.  Not your representative and not mine.  Every seat must be refreshed with clear thinking and unfettered citizens.  We can not get our country right by returning those who got us so far wrong.  We can not select career politicians to represent us.  They are unable to represent any interests but their own.  A career, by definition, is a selfish pursuit.  We must seek out and elect reluctant servants.  Individuals who have no interest but to return to the vision of a free and prosperous America.  We can not afford to return to office the takers of corporate or private donations, who are clearly bound and beholden like slaves to their deep pocketed patrons.

Plan now for the effort to undo what has been done.  Plan to vote for someone other than who currently occupies a taxpayer funded leather chair in Washington.  Your representative is included.  They must go.  Pursue a leader who does not seek your favor or pander to your self interest.  Find a representative without party support and support them. 

To be free from a foul government is our choice as Americans.  We must turn out the louts and their networks to be free again.   Plan for it and make it so.