Pictures from home

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Regular readers will know that I grew up in Kennett, Missouri, and lived there until 1984. A great place to be from, if you catch my drift. The landscape is so flat you can see the curve of the earth. And the crop chemicals made for spectacular sunsets. But I never thought of the area as beautiful… until I stumbled across some photos by mshhoward. It appears he has enhanced the images a bit but I could be wrong on that. Doesn’t matter. They’re really striking.

I’ve emailed asking for an interview to find out more about the photographer and his work. Watch this space.

Keith Sampson’s 20th Learfield anniversary

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Friend and co-worker Keith Sampson is celebrating (woot! woot!) his 20th year with Learfield so we took him out to lunch today. Keith is a senior producer for our sports division and only the good lord knows how many college broadcasts he’s midwifed.

I met Keith when he was program director at the radio station in Clinton, MO. I was doing affiliate relations for our news network. When they needed someone to ride herd on our growing number of sports broadcasts, I suggested they talk to Keith and he got the job. (For what it’s worth, my record in this regard ain’t that good)

While 20 years is a good run (and Keith isn’t done), we had some veterans at the table. Charlie and I are coming up on 25 years; Roger with 26 or 27; and Clarice has been with our company for 31 years.

It would be nice to think some of the young pups working for us can have that kind of staying power, but it feels a little like a Frank Capra movie, when I see it in print. And all over the country there are folks who, like us, have worked half a lifetime at one company and… poof!… it’s over.

Author’s message: enjoy what you do. Every day if you can.

Fez of Hope

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Barb and I bought some souvenirs from street vendors while attending the inauguration. I kept thinking, “What I really want is an Obama fez,” not that I expected to find one.

This weekend I reached out to the Fezmonger himself and asked if he had considered making a commemorative fez. He politely explained that he had, but decided it would be exploitative. Besides, every Fez-o-rama fez is an original design.

Before giving up, I suggested I could make a contribution to his favorite charity.  As luck would have it, March is when the Fezmonger participates in the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon to raise money for the City of Hope.

So for a contribution of $250 to a very worthy cause, I am the proud recipient of the very first Fez of Hope. (see photo). I like that Jason’s (treatment of the) design is bigger than the man. His design is more about what our new president represents.

Tom Peters: This is not a recession

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“Don’t think of our current economic crisis as a recession. Instead, think of it as a recalibration. Everything is different now. If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to “hunker down” and wait for the economy to cycle back.”

“One thing I’m convinced of is that the world I am working in today is different from any world I have ever done business in. The world has been reset. We can no longer look at the “LY” column on reports to use last year as a benchmark for what will happen this year.”

108 Sun Salutations

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Surya Namaskar, the Sun Salutation, is a series of 12 (yoga) postures performed in a single, graceful flow. Each movement is coordinated with the breath. Inhale as you extend or stretch, and exhale as you fold or contract. The Sun Salutation builds strength and increases flexibility.

On Saturday, the Mid-Missouri Show-Me Yoga Center holds a semi-annual event during which we attempt to complete this series of postures 108 times. I’ve never done more than 5 or 10 so this should be interesting.

One of the instructors has asked me to bring a video camera to capture some of this so, between working the camera and doing the postures, it’s likely I won’t get my 108 this time but I’ll be ready in 6 months.

UPDATE: Thanks to Matt for point us to this info on the significance of “108”:

Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.

“If we don’t teach our children about Barney Fife and Jack Tripper, who will?”

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“Every day, 350,00 babies are born at risk of not knowing that Bob Barker was the host of The Price is Right. Pop Literate is dedicated to doing something about that.

This is a place for you to find parenting tools you need to turn out healthy, well-adjusted children. Children who won’t be shunned by their peers because they believe David Copperfield is only a Charles Dickens character.”

The blog died long ago, alas. A good idea.

“A prideful Luddite is the worst kind”

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Tony Messenger (@tonymess) tweets us to this lament by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan who confesses to being “proud of knowing nothing about the Internet.”

“But all around me the Others, with their secret knowledge, are gaining power. I got another e-mail today about optimizing search engines. Also, a note that an editor will be helping us refine our blogging, social networking and sub-channel pages.

Like a student who feels an increasing sense of panic as he hears the teacher talk in gibberish about an upcoming test, I realize that none of the terms mean anything to me.”

I know quite a few people who share Mr. McClellan’s views/pain. Most seem to resent being expected to know how to use the Internet and computers and such. I’m grateful I’m not in a position of “forcing” anyone to learn these skills and happy that I am able to help those who want to.

Inauguration pix

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I’m not having any luck uploading inauguration photos to flickr. Think there might be thousands of folks trying to do the same thing all at once? I’ll get ours posted eventually but here are a few to tide you over. Starting with Barb in front of the Capitol on Sunday…
Barb in front of Capitol…and this lovely shot of smays.com in the wee hours of Tuesday.Waiting in line in the cold and darkAnd, finally, one of my favorites. Barb asked this Marine soldier if she could take his photo and he graciously said yes. At the last minute she ordered me to get in the picture. I can’t remember why I grabbed his arm and we’ll never know what he thought about it.Barack Obama Inauguration