Just some random thoughts today.
$ 4.00 a gallon gas… is it painful yet? It will be for us this summer as we make choices to not go visit our son and his wife in Seattle, our daughter in Southern California or not be able to go to Iowa to watch our other son compete in the NCAA track championships. I’m not quite ready to ride my bike to work but I will carefully consider when and if I can drive to Logan to conduct business with my pal Jeena. We do have the money to travel – it becomes a matter of practicality and perhaps our money would be better spent on adding to our food storage before prices sky rocket even more. I want to make sure I have my fav foods while the government collapses.
If our citizenry had a better understanding on the power and control of the Federal reserve, they might be interested to learn about inflation and deflation. But I don’t have the desire in this forum to blather about on political or economical conspiracy theories…My advice is to do your own research, go buy some flour, sugar, koolaid, candy bars and peanut butter for your years supply. And fly your flag!
Bobby is still nationally ranked in the polevault – which is just super cool and how grateful I am to be able to sit in the stands and yell good things to him… go bobbbeeeee ! When your life has meaning and purpose, who cares about the gas prices… I would ride my bike instead of driving a car everyday ( except on snowing-cold below 40 degree days) if it meant my kids could live their dreams, flying over bars, going on missions, getting married having kids, loving each other, having BBQ’s – oh wait they do get to live their dreams – and I can still drive my car. Isn’t America great ( even though corruption is rampant and Rev Wright is a maxo-whacko we should all be concerned about )!
I tried to be a “daymaker” today … I thought to myself last night that I would start this Monday off right with an attitude of making someone’s day today., you know “serve and prosper.”
Ya, I was in a good mood, I had energy and it was a beautiful sunny start – OK I thought , I can do this so off to work I went with a smile and a big gulp. I didn’t let it bother me that Geoff left his corn flakes cereal bowl in the sink over the weekend and so the leftover flakes were petrified in the drain. I was OK with Trent missing his appointment with the web guy because he was talking on instant messenger with his “undocumented” girlfriend from Panama and lost track of time. I spent time with the Paul, the new sales person teaching him about the new e-learning system – which is a challenge because he doesn’t even understand cell phones…and as 10:00 rolled around, I’m thinking still , this is going to be a good day!
Then the Internet went down, because the tech guy un-routed the router and couldn’t figure out how to re-rout to hook us all back up… Chaos was almost instant with the complaints from everyone in the office ! ” I can’t work without my email ” I can’t find phone numbers without the web ” I can’t talk to my girlfriend on IM ” and on and on. What happened to calling on the phone? It was an instant paralysis -wow, withdrawal from technology dependence. Distracted, I got stuck on a phone call with a guy named Frank who was trying to get us to buy “printer warehouse supplies” – I kept telling him that we didn’t need organic degreaser for the press or 24 pairs of construction gloves… that we didn’t actually print ANYTHING ( we don’t have a press or a warehouse) ! But he kept offering me a BYU basketball t- shirt and I was curious as to how he was going to get one for me since he worked in New Jersey so I just kept talking and listening and then he wanted me to meet him for lunch when he came to “town” you know he doesn’t meet very many purchasing agents ( I’m not the purchasing agent) that are females and so he wanted to make sure I was “treated right” so we could meet for a few drinks at the best “eatery” in town… he obviously doesn’t know Provo ! ( I don’t go for drinks…unless its at Wills pit stop for a coke )
I said ” Frank, I’m going to make your day” He asked me ” what is your position there, are you the purchasing agent? ” I said, “No Frank, I am the ‘daymaker’ and today I am going to send you a Personal Excellence to share with your sales team… at no cost. You don’t have to buy one thing, you don’t have to sell me anything or take me for drinks… I’m going to make your day. YOU tell your supervisor I said you were the best salesman I have ever encountered on the phone and you almost had me, but since we don’t use forklifts or web press’s, I couldn’t buy anything from you!”
Frank was silent for a few seconds, replied with an “OK” and a thanks- he got off the phone. Then the Internet was back on and I didn’t have to play receptionist anymore. Did I make Franks day, I don’t know but it was nice to just be nice.
“Every Man is a King ” book by Orison Swett Marsden, written over 100 years ago said this:
” A serene mind can accomplish infinitely more that the disturbed and discordant.”
Look, even when life is just going it’s way without incident or adversity, we still can get all gafoobeled over how our day goes. I wasn’t bothered by Franks sales call, or all the other things that happened because I had already decided to be OK with the day.
My son Andrew and his new wife went off for the summer to Seattle yesterday, and of course experienced car trouble. But even as he described how slowly they had to drive and how they had to pull over and wait for the “vapor lock” to go away, he expressed joy and excitement over the opportunity to be on this journey. It was beautiful in the mountains, the rain was fantastic, the trees were so green, the drive was good… the Taco Bell was open, the motel was affordable and he wasn’t worried about his truck…
There will always be twists and turns, even in the most ordinary of days, things will happen when you least expect it… so just be optimistic about yourself and become a “daymaker” !
