The Lathe of Heaven

“He had grown up in a country run by politicians who sent the pilots to man the bombers to kill the babies to make the world safe for children to grow up in.”

— The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)

Now some folks say its too big and uses too much gas
Some folks say its too old and that it goes too fast
But my love is bigger than a honda, its bigger than a subaru

–Pink Cadillac, Bruce Springsteen

Early Christmas gift

Just back from an all-too-short visit with my brother and his family. In a few days the family –all but new college freshman Ryan– heads home to Indonesia. Probably won’t see my brother again for almost four years.

We exchanged gifts and I maintained my position as the goofy uncle who comes through with cool gifts (or cash). My sister-in-law Tonya gave me this framed photo (of my brother and me). I don’t remember her taking the photo (during a visit this summer), but I love it.

blane_steveIt reminds me that money cannot purchase the best gifts. They require time and effort and love.

Lord knows there are no shortage of photos of smays.com. I’ve taken lots myself. But the the ones I like most have always been taken by someone else. And almost always without my knowledge.

Perhaps what I like about these images is they capture the me that isn’t “on,” mugging for the camera. Posing. No way to take such an honest photo of yourself.

Thank you, Tonya. I will treasure this gift.

David Weinberger to liberals: “Chill”

Dr. David Weinberger –co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto– advises liberals to chill out:

“I’m a liberal. Free the whales, tax the rich, I swear to you that not only do I drive a Prius, I turned in our Volvo for it. If you know any one of my political positions, you know them all. That’s how embarrassingly stereotyped I am. So pardon me if I take a moment to give some advice to my fellow liberals and progressives: Chill out, will you?”

If you read the full post at NPR.org you’ll understand why many of us are so high on BHO

Learfield Sports Roll Call

Our sports division does sales training conference calls every month and we record these and post them to a blog on our intranet. Sometimes these involve a single property but yesterday all 40+ offices around the country took part. As I listened to the roll-call as they were getting started I was struck by how much our company has grown in the 25 years since I started. Back then I think we worked with just three universities. Anyway, here’s a minute of the roll call.

AUDIO 1 min MP3