Paul Merrill
My friend Dave is shown with his last-born son Liam. What a blessing he has been to their family. And this picture shows how a newborn baby can be truly cute!
I would go into more details on why Liam is a tale of grace, but I respect others’ privacy. (I am baiting Dave by asking him to blog again… ever so discretely.)
As most of you know, I love noticing details.
Occasionally that pays off.
Apple’s Keynote (a wonderful alternative to Powerpoint) is demonstrated by Apple with these lovely examples. Problem? Neither of these photos is anything like Denver at all. Top? English countryside. Bottom? Deep south, USA.
No awards this time. Oh well. At least now you know that Apple’s Keynote project manager has no geographic sense. Maybe they work him or her so hard that they never get to travel. Time for a vacation, I’d say!
Since it’s April Fool’s Day, if this were a joke, I’d tell you. But it’s such a minor thing that it would have made a very poor joke.
Happy April Fool’s Day, whether you live in Deep-South-Denver or England-Denver.
I love how a great combination of words occasionally comes up with the anti-spam-bot “enter words here” widget.
So we went to Texas last week for our kids’ spring break. As we do every time (except one – for my mom’s memorial service), we make the trek via minivan. We have driven enough times that it’s not hard. The kids actually enjoy it. And I love the peaceful time behind the wheel while everyone’s asleep.
As with any journey, there must be stops for tending to those human needs. Truck stops are our pause of choice, as they usually have pretty clean restrooms. And I always enjoy seeing what trinkets they have – that I won’t buy.
Finally, those of you eagle eyes out there may have noticed that one of the fake photos in the western skull picture frames is upside down. (Ten points!)
One of the things I will miss about winter is cold water. In Denver during the winter, water comes out of our taps at just above freezing. I love that for drinking – but not for our water heating bill.
I love the word “ephemera” – it means quickly gone – like vapor.
DHL used to deliver packages within the USA. (This waybill was from those days.) Now they only deliver from the US to other parts of the world (and from other countries to other countries). They wisely decided that it was best to leave the internal US market to the US Postal Service, UPS and FedEx. It does not work for there to be too many players in one market.
Takeaway: How can you reinvest your energy to an area where you can be more effective?
…Why people throw things out the window of their car. That is a mentality I just cannot get a grasp of.
I remember a friend in Texas who grew up in New York state. He married a woman from “the Valley” of Texas – way south. Whenever he visited her family, he was amazed at how many people there threw their trash out the windows of their moving cars (or trucks, as the case might have been).
Their marriage did not last. I don’t think their differences in trash placement was the reason.
Anyhow, I am the opposite of a trash-thrower. I actually pick it up. If it’s recyclable, I’ll do that. (My immediate family usually nods and smiles. And I try to not pick up any if we are in the company of others we know.)
Finally, my little tale of redeeming some of the bad effects of trash… when I was in Kenya, I created photographic art out of the rubbish I found on beaches & along the sides of the road. Here are a few examples.
So my kids have this thing about leaving the lid off the toothpaste. Whenever I go in the bathroom we share, I see the lid missing. I get mad. I raise my voice.
Heather, being the balancing agent she is in my life, reminded me that I was making a big deal out of something small. I agreed.
How important is it if the toothpaste dries out? Not very. Is it worth paying three times more for toothpaste that has a magic lidless dispenser? No. Should I fight my kids over something so small? No.
Takeaway: Focus on what’s important today. (Reminder to self.)
So I was sitting in a l-o-n-g awards ceremony in fancy hotel’s oversized meeting hall. Bored.
I looked up.
What did I see? Panels shaped like coffins hanging from the ceiling. What did Heather see? Connectors for Hot Wheels track.
Takeaway: How can you look at things differently today? And it might be good to ask someone else for their perspective on your situation or problem.
