There is a parable told about a pencil maker who took each pencil aside just before putting it "finished" into a box. He would tell the pencil, "There are five things you need to know before I send you out into the world to be the best you can be."
"First, you will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to work with others.
Second, you will need to experience some sharpening from time to time, but it will make you better.
Third, you can correct a mistake by changing it.
Fourth, the most important part of you will always be what's inside.
Last, on every surface you cover, you must leave your mark."
The pencil understood, promised to remember, and went into the box.
Now change places with the pencil.
From Touchdown: Achieving Your Greatness on the Playing Field of Business (and Life); Financial Times Press; July 2009.
Jun 13, 2009
Life Lessons from a Pencil
There is a parable told about a pencil maker who took each pencil aside just before putting it "finished" into a box. He would tell the pencil, "There are five things you need to know before I send you out into the world to be the best you can be."
"First, you will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to work with others.
Second, you will need to experience some sharpening from time to time, but it will make you better.
Third, you can correct a mistake by changing it.
Fourth, the most important part of you will always be what's inside.
Last, on every surface you cover, you must leave your mark."
The pencil understood, promised to remember, and went into the box.
Now change places with the pencil.
From Touchdown: Achieving Your Greatness on the Playing Field of Business (and Life); Financial Times Press; July 2009.
Jun 12, 2009
Moving into the 21st Century
I've whined about explained my computer troubles over the past two months, and probably shouted from the rooftop mentioned that I finally gave in to the frustration and went out and bought myself a new computer. A Hewlett Packard -- which has been my computer of choice for as long as I've been buying computer (15 years!) -- purchased at Amazon. It's fast, it's got a ton of options (video game excellerator, sumthin' sumthing gigga somethin', media sumthin sumthin and more).
But - here's the kicker - it's wireless. WIRE-LESS as in Yippy Skippy I am no longer chained to my desk 8 and 10 hours a day!!! Look! (holding up computer) No wires to the modem! No plug! I'm sitting out on my deck, sipping a cup of coffee, listening to the birds chirp as I type. How cool is that? I don't even need to have a mouse because it has this thingie here (pointing) that is every bit as easy to use as a mouse, but it's not one of those itty bitty buttons that I've never mastered on my husband's laptop. It's like a "pad" instead of a mouse button.
I've whined boasted mentioned that I've been spending a lot of hours working on my other blog, Quilting on a Budget. With my old computer, that meant I was pretty much tied to the desk in my office. No more! I take my computer outside when Brayden is riding his bike! I put my laptop on the kitchen counter while I'm cleaning the kitchen so I can watch NASCAR races live and not miss anything! I bring my laptop into the family room and work while Jeff is watching TV. And it just occurred to me yesterday that I can even bring the computer into my quilt room and pull up patterns on the screen, rather than printing them all out!
How did I live without this?? Honestly, I feel like I've moved myself into the... ummm... twenty-first century with this computer. There are far more expensive computers out there, but I am as happy as anything with the one I bought for under $600. Online reviews call it an entry-level computer, but considering how much I surf the 'net, watch YouTube videos, play around with graphics and photos, I just can't imagine what the $2400 computers have that this one doesn't.
So if you happen to be still chained to your desk with a desktop computer - come have a cup o' tea with me in the 21st century! Oh wait, it's starting to rain, so we might just have to move our laptops into the kitchen.
Jun 10, 2009
Spread the love...
Jun 9, 2009
Make this clock stop - please!
When my son and daughter were small (just 21 months apart, so they were pretty much babies and toddlers at the same time), time did NOT go by quickly. They were in diapers forever. They spoke baby talk and then toddler chitter chatter forever. When you're a mom to little ones, it can feel like one day is a week long, one month a year long.
Not so when you're a grandmother.
Mr. B is changing, and changing fast. You almost can't see the "baby" in his face anymore -- you now see a little boy. (Ha! It makes me tear up to look at this picture! Silly Umma.) This photo was taken about two weeks ago, PRE summer haircut!
And here's Mr. B yesterday (POST summer haircut - I had them leave the curls on top!). By the way, he's sitting in front of a cat-themed wallhanging and pillow that had just arrived in the mail from Robert Kaufmann fabrics. How cute is that? Apparently this very wallhanging and pillow were in an issue of Fons & Porter's quilting magazine last year.
Mr. B's interests are also changing. Although he still loves playing with his cars, he is now all about being outside and riding his bike (yesterday I caught him riding down the driveway with his feet up on the handlebars! yikes! Should I put the local ER's on alert?), playing any kind of sports - golf, soccer, baseball.
He is still showing a real interest in playing the guitar. Yesterday he sang Jeff and I the alphabet song while accompanying himself on the guitar. Uncle Jeff, we need you!
Conversations with Mr. B have totally changed as well.
Yesterday I picked him up at his house and gave him the GPS to tell me how to get back to my house (just for because it was fun and we've been talking and learning about maps lately, so it was good practice for him), and the GPS took us on a different road than the one we normally go on. When we finally got back to the main road we both knew, an excited voice from the car seat in the back pipes up and says, "Boy, Umma, I never been on THAT road before. Have you? When we got to that stop sign I said WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ROAD! because I've never been on THAT road before, have you?" LOL
And his sense of humor is maturing rapidly. At a yard sale last week I picked up a very cute wooden wheelbarrow that's only about 7 inches long x 3 inches high. I had it on the kitchen table when Mr. B was here yesterday, and he spotted it right away. "What's this, Umma?" Before I could answer he said, "It's a wheelbarrow?" I said yes, and then I said, straight-faced, that it was Joey's (the killer cat) wheelbarrow. Brayden thought that was SO funny, and then added, "But he can't use it yet because he can't find one of his work gloves." LOL
Oh no - they're not going to make me do yard work again, are they?
And here's Mr. B yesterday (POST summer haircut - I had them leave the curls on top!). By the way, he's sitting in front of a cat-themed wallhanging and pillow that had just arrived in the mail from Robert Kaufmann fabrics. How cute is that? Apparently this very wallhanging and pillow were in an issue of Fons & Porter's quilting magazine last year.
Mr. B's interests are also changing. Although he still loves playing with his cars, he is now all about being outside and riding his bike (yesterday I caught him riding down the driveway with his feet up on the handlebars! yikes! Should I put the local ER's on alert?), playing any kind of sports - golf, soccer, baseball.
He is still showing a real interest in playing the guitar. Yesterday he sang Jeff and I the alphabet song while accompanying himself on the guitar. Uncle Jeff, we need you!
Conversations with Mr. B have totally changed as well.
Yesterday I picked him up at his house and gave him the GPS to tell me how to get back to my house (just for because it was fun and we've been talking and learning about maps lately, so it was good practice for him), and the GPS took us on a different road than the one we normally go on. When we finally got back to the main road we both knew, an excited voice from the car seat in the back pipes up and says, "Boy, Umma, I never been on THAT road before. Have you? When we got to that stop sign I said WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ROAD! because I've never been on THAT road before, have you?" LOL
And his sense of humor is maturing rapidly. At a yard sale last week I picked up a very cute wooden wheelbarrow that's only about 7 inches long x 3 inches high. I had it on the kitchen table when Mr. B was here yesterday, and he spotted it right away. "What's this, Umma?" Before I could answer he said, "It's a wheelbarrow?" I said yes, and then I said, straight-faced, that it was Joey's (the killer cat) wheelbarrow. Brayden thought that was SO funny, and then added, "But he can't use it yet because he can't find one of his work gloves." LOL
Oh no - they're not going to make me do yard work again, are they?
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