Humility - May You Ever Be So Humble 22-Jan-2007

You win some and you lose some. Lessons I have learned through life is that you should never get too high or get too low. Take things in stride.

As a coach of 6th grade basketball, you go in knowing that you have as good a chance of winning the lottery as you do of winning all your games. You need to take something good out of each game, no matter the outcome, and determine the most important thing to teach your team before the next game. The most important thing not to do is dwell on the past. You knew coming in that you were not going to win every game, so don't be disappointed when you lose a game, whether it be my 1 point or 50 points. My team has not lost by 50 points, but we did get a lesson in humility when we lost by 25 and 37 points to the same team two days apart. We have also won games by double-digits. You never know if you are going to win or lose until you have played. Be graceful and greatful in both victories and losses.

Most things in life that you lose are not going to make that big of a difference tomorrow or next year. Loved ones are the obvious exception. So if you lose a game, have a bad day at work, or lose your favorite what-ever-it-is, life does go on. Try to learn a lesson from the experience and move on. If something goes great in your life, it is nice to share it with friends and family, but don't gloat - you never know when it could go away. It is always better to give than it is to receive as you get to make someone else happy.

Be humble in winning and losing. You don't know when one or the other is going to happen to you.

Daily Rigors - 18-Jan-2007

Every day is a new day, so don't drag the bad stuff from yesterday with you today. You have two choices; you can either choose to make it a good day or a bad day. I try to choose to make everyday a good day. Some days are tougher than others.

As I have become a more experienced person - sounds better than saying getting older - I read a lot more. Even 15 years ago I could not see myself saying that I read more stuff, much less doing it. The internet has defintely helped me on this task and people blogging has really helped.

Part of my daily ritual is to look for new posts on the blogs of a couple of co-workers - Brent Strange (http://qainsight.net/) and Scott Hansleman (http://www.hanselman.com/blog/).

In reading blogs, I have experienced stuff as simple as a defect in a stop light system when snow covers the streets to experiencing Africa and Egypt. Blogs can contain pictures, which is nice for instant gratification, but just the verbiage tells a story from the writer's perspective that you might have known before.

An email that I enjoy reading is Joke-of-the-Day from Rex Barker. What I really enjoy are the jokemaster's thoughts rather than the jokes themselves. They can make me smile, think, or re-think how good things actually are. If you get a chance, subscribe to joke-of-the-day.

Remember, if today is one of those days that the rigors are making it tough to choose to make it a good day try reading someone's blog - might I suggest Brent Strange's site again http://qainsight.net - it could change your perspective and put a smile on your face and make it a good day.

Today, choose to make it a good day. :-)

Snow Day - January 16, 2007

Holy Hillsboro Batman. It dropped about 4 inches of snow here in Hillsboro, Oregon. The real sad thing is the weather people of the greater Portland area said there would not be any accumulation the night before. If I was wong 25% of the time the weather people are wrong, I would not be employed. What a life. Baseball players and weather people can be wrong 2/3 of the time and still get paid the big bucks.

Today is Wednesday, January 17, 2007, and there is still snow on the ground. Snow is nice to see here because it does not come very often.