Just another day...

...So wow! It has been really cold across the nation...even snowing in Florida and Alabama and 49 of the 50 states...amazing...we were thinking that maybe it was even going to snow here in San Diego...

...so I woke up on Monday and pulled on my parka and was going to fire up the snow blower...I mean after all, it was snowing just about everywhere according to the news...but there was no snow to be found!....Darn!...so I had to find something else to do...

......what? Al Gore is wrong? Nahhhhhh...that can't be!...What? Forget about global warming?...heart be still...oh how cool...get your theory wrong and then claim that it really isn't global warming...it is climate change...I like this kind of reasoning!...be wrong...really wrong...and then figure out a way to make that validate your argument in the first place...cool!...

...but anyway what to do on a holiday since I can't clean up the snow in the front yard...and it would annoy the South American parrots that just returned...so...

...let's take the boat out and look for some wildlife!...no, not that kind of wildlife!...but you know...seals...dolphins...and whales, oh my!...so we saddled up the Iron Horse with the girls and some other friends and headed out on a spectacular Monday morning...and went out about 5 miles off of Point Loma...and ran smack dab into the middle of a gray whale superhighway!...how fun!

...the first thing you see is the "blow" with the gray whales...and then they breach the surface and take a couple of breaths...but the really fun part is seeing their tails...and we saw quite a few of them...along with several other boats...and the picture below with the water running off the tail...was just really beautiful...

...so as this short week begins I have fond memories of a wonderful day with family and friends and God's incredible creation...so toss another log on the fire...if you aren't in Southern California...and have a great week!

...

Captain America or Maury the Nerd?

...So I was privileged to attend a luncheon at the San Diego Convention Center featuring the best and the brightest in military communication, command and control....with Vice Admiral Jack Dorsett, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations...and I heard the vision of the US Navy for the coming years....and the Admiral outlined something that they are calling "Information Dominance"...and let me tell you I was pretty impressed...

...it is real clear to me that the military is way ahead of the rest of us by decades...and ahead of Universities by probably a couple of centuries...but that is another story...and what they are going to do is merge the best and brightest skills, tools and techniques from the Geeks into the command and control mechanisms of the Navy...and it is going to rock the world...

...what are they up to and why should we care? ...because historically out of the military and space programs have we as regular 'Schmoes' later been the recipients of what they create...and for us in business let me just prophesy that what we are seeing is the end of the strategic plan as we know it...

...they are engaged in a new way of thinking and planning that the rest of us need to catch up to...and quick...and the demand for accurate and widely dispersed information is what is driving this...they see that the path ahead is dangerous and unknown and how they will navigate cannot be achieved by vast centralized top down strategic planning....

...what the Navy wants is that all platforms in the organization are "sensors" and each sensor has its own "roadmap" which are flexible and nimble and dynamic...these maps are then linked to all other stakeholders...and each sensor continually manages and maintains the information link throughout the organization...and that the sensors are allowed to be different from other sensors depending on context and opportunity and need...

...I have seen elements of this in the past in the business world known as "Strategy Maps" and "Balanced Scorecards" but this really is the best working model I have seen of a forward thinking planning structure that gets rids of much of what we have known as strategic planning for the past 25 years...

...I will be writing about this more in the future but let me just say that I was very impressed with the sense of purpose, clarity of thought and forward thinking that I see in the Navy...and we need to study and learn from them...

...this isn't your grandparent's Navy!

YEE-HAH!

...SO ARE WE ALL ENJOYING THE RIDE? WHAT? YOU WANNA GO FASTER? SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!!!!!!!!!...I have been watching things for a while and reading in some different areas....and while I want to poke fun at politicians and leaders...I have to say that there is some really serious $#^*?!@X+)! going on here!.....and it is really really really really really starting to concern me!....Really!!!!....

...Try wrapping your mind around this one...according to today's New York Times...that darn conservative rag and domain of the vast right wing conspiracy...said this (and I quote)..."But the long term budget outlook, according to the (Congressional Budget) office, is persistent high deficits that will accumulate to drive the debt ever upward, to the point that it could nearly equal the value of the nation's entire economic output by 2020"....

...If someone had tried to tell me that in 10 years our entire output would be matched by our debt I would have told them they were insane...really...that is how bizarre that statement would seem to me...but bizarre has become reality...and the Dems are poised to be thrown out of office faster than any party in history...the only way that they could have topped the GOP's incompetence was to spend us into oblivion....and to do it so fast that everyone would pay attention...I mean for heaven's sake they could have at least pretended to be prudent...but nope, just about every lobbying group, union, association and politically deft Senator or Congressman has been greased so Obama can hand Nancy her health care plan...

...a figure I read the other day said that with the typical Money Market rates right now....that our savings in those funds will take over 1,000 years to double...does that concern you?....and so how does our economic leadership respond?...by chiding the Bank CEO's...and threatening them with huge taxes....so what happens?...the markets tank and everyone loses another five percent in 72 hours...yeah, real smooth move...a fifth grader could have seen that one coming...

...what is happening is that our political leadership...OK the Dems leading the way but only because it is their turn to drive the convertible...and the GOP's have been just as bad so don't light up on me that I am some parrot for the right...is working overtime to turn us into a yellow or red part of the map...that is the brutal reality...would you like another image to consider?...try this one...

...yepper...that be good old Nero and Rome...if you think I am kidding I would just say you don't read history...

....So what to do?...just read blogs about it?...well I would observe that our forefathers had a revolution for a lot less...and that maybe you are just fine with destroying 200 + years of a grand history...but for me I am going to start pushing harder for clearer thinking minds from any possible political persuasion...and not get hung up on single items or issues...who can lead and not be bribed and not be gladhandlers...and I think that there is going to be a major political upheavel in 2010...across the country...unprecedented...

So here is my crystal ball advice I will offer to anyone who cares...



...I would counsel....NO I WOULD URGE!...

1) that if you have a job don't even think about leaving it now...

2) don't have over 35% exposure to US equities in your investments....

3) don't trust mutual funds and their advisors...

4) don't think that inflation is right around the corner...deflation is...

5) assume home prices are not going up anytime soon...

6)pay off any debt now that has interest over 7%....

7)have at least 1 year and preferably 2 years of liquidity...

8)any new expenditures you may want only do if you can pay cash...

9) develop a financial plan from a risk analyst and not just a broker...

10) consider additional quality education...formal, executive or program...

and finally...

I got a Kindle! I got a Kindle!

You know as a young pup I always wanted a special gift...watching it on the RCA on Saturday morning during Jonny Quest...was almost too much to bear as I dreamed of this plastic spring loaded very loud manifestation of American industrial might...
...There was a lot to like about Jonny Quest...heck Jonny had a cool dog...I mean, who wouldn't want to have a dog named "Bandit"...and a buddy named "Hadji"...shaping our little Ovaltine laced brains to look ahead to multi-culturalism...and his dad was a silver haired scientist Dr. Benton Quest with a personal bodyguard...WOW!...named Race Bannon...seriously...I still knew all of their names nearly 45 years later...although I can't remember what I had for dinner last night...

...anyway...so I asked Santa for a Kindle this year....since I didn't get it for my birthday...sniffle...but hidden in a big box with a couple of bricks and a ton of newspaper...sneaky ole Santa!....was a small brown cardboard box with this key to the knowledge of the world...or at least Amazon's version of the world...holding a Kindle!....how cool...

...for the sixteen of you in the world who have not heard of the Kindle...it is Amazon's E-Book...what's Amazon?...if I need to explain that you should probably stop reading now and return to your Guideposts and Readers Digest...anyway...the Kindle is an electronic book that downloads automatically books, mazagines, newspapers and other reading material to a very slender and lightweight device about the size of a small journal...

...now speaking as an aspiring bibliophile I initially was pretty skeptical of products such as the Kindle...as there really is nothing like the feel of a well worn leather bound volume in your hands...and I have frequently said that only two things tend to look better with age...leather and wood...and a vintage text is just beautiful and historic and exciting all at one moment...so you have to understand I tread towards the Kindle somewhat lightly...

...but a few months ago at my cousin Linda's house I picked up her Kindle sitting on the living room table...thinking it was some sort of a small logbook or journal...and was pleasantly surprised by its feel and possibilities...

...so I promptly downloaded several items and got cracking on this newfangled form of reading...the early verdict?...here are some observations...

*The wireless connection is amazing...easier to use than any cellphone or laptop...

*Trying out products for 2 weeks free or getting extended samples of book is brilliant...and a great marketing technique...

*Not being distracted by ads when reading a newspaper is wonderful...I had never thought about this until experiencing it...

*It is very simple to use and easy to read...even with old man eyes...and an old man brain...

*Navigating through the newspaper section is easier than I would have supposed...with a section guide that lays it out with the number of articles in a section...

*Reading in bed is as easy as reading a book...I would have thought there was a built in light but when I tried it a soft reading lamp worked just find...and when I fall asleep and it hits me in the face it doesn't hurt nearly as much as a book...

...so at this point I have to give it 4 stars...well done Amazon!...

....and what was the special gift of my youth?...that I never got?...

...maybe next year!

A Christmas Memory

OK it was 30 years ago today...exactly...December 25, 1979...and I was a long way from home...at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and not too far from Oman...

...it was dawn having stood another mid-watch...I try to now imagine working 8 hours on and hours off for 24/7 for a 7 month stretch again and it seems pretty impossible...but that is what we did...and I was tired as a dog and the radio traffic had fallen to near nothing because of the stateside holiday...while a small task force turned in a circle known as "Gonzo Station" for 92 days at sea...the USS Midway, USS San Jose, USS Jouett and USS Bainbridge as a I recall...I aboard the latter...you can probably figure out what I was doing there...

...what troubles me a bit is that few people seem to realize that a standing combat presence in the Mideast started in 1979...long before we ever heard of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney... but Idigress for that is not the Christmas tale...

...the mail service had long since fallen through with maybe 2 or more weeks since the blessed words "mail call" had rang throughout the steel home we had lived aboard for so long...and I was fairly bummed as the task force was scheduled to be in port the Phillipines long before Christmas...I and a bunch of my shipmates had booked flights stateside...as I recall the flight from Manila to Los Angeles was about $175 round trip...a princely sum...

...I had missed every Thanksgiving in my four years in the service...but had made Christmas several times...and was looking forward to the close of 1979 since it meant that I had but 7 months until discharge and my civilian life could resume...with plans to attend either UCSB or Fresno State...wasn't really sure at the time which but had applied to both...but Iran interrupted my holiday plans...never got my $175 bucks back either...

...after it sunk into us in early December that there was no way that another task force could be assembled to relive us for some months...and that all of the sugarplums that had been dancing in our heads had turned to powdered eggs and bug juice...morale was kind of low...and as I recall it was more of a result of not having any clue when we would ever come stateside again...more so than the fact of being stuck overseas...it was lack of leadership and indecision at the highest levels that bummed us out the most...

....so it was dawn over the Gulf...and I leaned against the bulkhead amidships...and for just a moment each morning the desert heat would break and you could feel a touch of cool...and so I recall that I had positioned myself near a vent that was blowing warm air from somewhere deep within the bowels of the ship...and with my fatigue from the night my body ached for rest...the caffeine from the tea I had drank a few hours before long since passing from my system...

...no other ships were in sight...or at least from my vantage...the Midway was probably just over the horizon ten or more miles out...and it was then that a solo helicopter flew nearby...in some kind of exercise or training...and I hope those guys weren't as tired as I was....but I thought it kind of peculiar this stray helo and no flight ops had been called....well go figure...the guys up in CIC knew what was going on...

...and then across the 1MC...throughout the ship...the order was shouted out to prepare to receive a helicopter...which for us was not really to land a helo but rather to be able to exchange supplies or passengers...which I had done multiple times to visit other ships to repair equipment for them...dangling over the sea at 25 knots...oh the things when we are young...a shot of adrenaline hit my heart and I returned to the radio shack to see what was going on...and what idiot called for a transfer on Christmas morning...

...I discovered that what was occuring was bundles of mail...boxes stuffed in canvas bags...letters long overdue from parents, spouses and sweethearts...await us...and the chopper dropped a large cargo net of mail on our aft flight deck...and soon cleared the ship and sped away back to the Midway...

...and in an hour or so shouts were erupting around the ship...from men in their khaki shorts and skivies in various states of dress...most not shaven just yet...the rules being somewhat relaxed in the tropics and gulf back then....

...and a sack of mail was delivered to the shack and a box awaited me...from my girlfriend of four years...a young lady at Westmont named Ruth...

...as far as trees go it was not much...a small plastic tree with some simple ornaments...and a "Care Package" to boot....and me and my buddies set it up atop a small table near the desk...and it cheered our hearts as we read letters, enjoyed some cookies and pretended even for a few moments that all was good in the world...

....now I know in the whole scheme of things that this is not a particularly profound moment...in the league of the prodigal son, a miraculous healing or appearance of an angel on Christmas day...but for me it was pretty special that the folks back home really did care...and that the unknown mail clerks and storekeepers and pilots had worked hard to make our ship a bit more cheery that day...before we returned to another 60 days at sea...before finally seeing land again...

...but I vowed then to not take Christmas for granted...and I have tried not to...and enjoy the family and friends that have been built up over the years...

...so I ask today that you appreciate those near you and give thanks for them...and to ask that you say a prayer for those in harms way...men and women we will never know but who sacrifice so we can have this time together...

...and my Christmas wish is that we appreciate one another...and pray and ask for peace in the world...life is not perfect but it is the only one we have.

Merry Christmas

here is the ship song that sent us on our way many a time...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvqB_go0ZIk

Reflections and a Prayer

A cold day today...having traveled north away from San Diego for the holidays...and of course the meetings that go with a complicated life...but actually left early to attend a funeral yesterday...

...What can one say when you attend a memorial service for a beautiful, bright, witty and outstanding young woman?...words seem to fail us in such moments...although her brother, a young man I have known and admired for many years...spoke with a poignant embrace of his sister and spark of hope in the midst of tears...leaving me at one moment in tears and the next with a smile...may all people have a sibling, friend or colleague who shares in such a way of their own passing some day...

....It brought back many memories...too many actually...because I think that I have attended 16 funerals of family members since my high school years...including my brother, father, all of my uncles, cousins, and of course my grandparents...and those who know me and my past recall Bill and Dave as well...brothers in arms...and while I cannot call them I can recall them...still...and miss them...reflections...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE9TNG8IQNI

...For me one of the most difficult parts of staying while others go is forgetting their voice, smell, laugh and tone...I cannot now recall my brother's and father's voice...I try but can't...it has passed me and is now lost...nor do I even think I would recognize it if I heard a recording of it...and perhaps to do so would rob me of something...teasing me of what cannot be and the replaying would be a disappointment....



...I recall my grandfather's peculiar smell...of woodworking...Prince Albert tobacco...a well worn shirt kept too long from soap...whiskers...the unusual and unique combination of things that are in some sense as much of one's being as their DNA...and when I cleaned out his woodshop 20 some years ago I sat alone and wondered of his life...and had regret that while he had lived a long life that there was so much I did not know...of him and his own hopes and dreams and aspirations...of the victories and the losses...and some years later when I went to the grave in Hayward of his young daughter...the sister of my father...who had died so long ago...I wondered how he had felt that day...and how long the pain stayed...and when the smell of young Lucille too faded...away and lost forever...


...so I suppose that just a few days before Christmas I am struck with the loss of this young woman all the more...trying to make sense of non-sense...and I know that somehow I must make peace with this event...between God and I and all the rest...as I have had to do too many times before...and wonder if I am and have been a good husband, father, person and friend...and know that I have not...


...and I simply wish that I could somehow develop an appreciation and awareness that I lack....and yearn for but know that this side of eternity it will elude me...

...yet still I have hope...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zvKXaOVASs

Spending Green to Go Green to Bleed Red

Now I really have nothing against Elmo...although my youth preceded the rise of Sesame Street...I was kind of more of a Superman and Prince Valiant kind of a kid...although later I did think Veronica was hot when Archie hit the 1960's...yikes...but that is not the point of my attempt at generally speaking today...I want to talk about the Point Loma Nazarene University "Grass Vote"......No! Not that kind of grass!...silly people...no, the kind of grass you sit on...spread a picnic...relax...take a nap...enjoy its smell and the ambience and cool it provides...and that at my esteemed campus there is a debate and vote to remove more than thirty areas of lawn...replace it with "native" landscaping...kind of like "Phoenix at the Point"...

...You think I make this stuff up? Check out http://www.pointloma.edu/PhysicalPlant/Sustainability/The_Grass_Vote.htm



...To be fair the advocates of removing the lawns at PLNU may not necessarily be thinking such luscious alternatives such as cactus...yucca...and puncture vines...but "native" certainly doesn't mean the standard of beauty that we have become accustomed to in modern landscaping...which has taken over 100 years at PLNU to develop... I but for your reference I have placed the picture above and below as examples of San Diego area native landscape...

...."But the earth is dying and the penguins are drowning and we have no water and the farmers have pillaged the land and Uncle Albert has got it right and who will save Willy and I must do something and we have to save the earth and...and...and...and..."

News flash! Willy died!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJFYwRtrH4

...Hold on while I wash my face after getting ill...

...So anyway... this got me thinking as I studied the Grass Vote at PLNU...and trying to examine the considerations of this issue...you know...that little process we used to call "analysis" of any particular topic...which has now been superceded by passionate cries of..."WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!!"...and shrill voices that have grabbed the microphones...or websites... are persuading our everyone...including our college students...that nearly everything is worth "kicking to the curb" in the name of sustainability, natural and renewable...something CS Lewis called "chronological snobbery"...worth the read if you are interested...

...but so sorry I have this little problem...I am afflicted with something called "common sense"...and also a desire for analysis before making important decisions...so I wrote a note to the person in charge of the "Grass Vote" at PLNU for clarification...so I will post below the questions I raised...

1) What, if any, is the potential impact on recruiting and admissions? As a parent prior to coming to PLNU as a faculty member, I know that the visual appearance of PLNU is a significant factor for many applicants. While some applicants may find dry-scape/native preferable, I would think a majority would prefer the campus as is.

2) What is the economic value in water savings to the campus? Was this quantified in any way or only that it will “save water?”

3) Is there any potential impact on our staff members in grounds keeping? If we reduce maintenance of lawn areas does this mean we are reducing staff? Have they been consulted? It seems to me that we have at least the potential to remove some of the hardest working and lowest paid staff members at PLNU.

4) What is the potential impact on student employment? I know that some students work at PLNU in grounds keeping over the summer to earn tuition. Has this been considered?

5) Are there other alternatives to native? For instance, I am currently considering new forms of artificial turf. This has been used extensively at military installations in the Point Loma area and new versions of this product are far superior to older versions. Certainly in some areas (shaded, rooted, marginal drainage, etc.) alternative turf may be superior to what we have.

6) What is the current effort at PLNU to reclaim water? Could water reclamation be a potential solution?

7) Is there any capacity at PLNU in the current budget situation to even consider alterations to the landscape? When faculty and staff wages are frozen is there potential backlash to such initiatives?


..So I guess my point is that I am asking for people to think before you tear up lawn...remove sprinkler systems...lay off workers...change PLNU forever...just think before you jump off a cliff, OK? ...Let's at least talk through all the issues before action...

...And the cool thing is that I have received a response on my questions! Tune in for coming posts!



...THINK!