Mother's Day Recap

Mom came out to Green Bay for the weekend, and we were able to celebrate Mother's Day with her.  Activities included golf (she shot 97 with two 8s, whereas I shot 92), Mrs. YDP's birthday dinner, Mother's Day brunch, and other activities.  

I am so fortunate to have had, and to continue to have this amazing woman in my life.  Thank you, Mom, for all that you do, and for the person that you are.  I love you so. 

Rush, the Left, and Islam

I don't care what you think of Rush Limbaugh. You need to listen to this point.

Saturday Song Share: Coldplay - Amsterdam

In honor of her birthday, here's one from my wife's favorite bands:

Happy Birthday, Mrs. YDP

Today marks the birthday of my lovely wife.

In the past year she's defeated cancer, and has taken on my job loss with confidence and grace.  She's far better than I deserve.

While we wait for our lives to turn in a new direction, and as a lot of things remain up in the air, I want to wish her the happiest of birthdays.  I know that a year from now, things will be lots, lots better.

Really Looking at the Sky

I spent a lot time alone out of doors last weekend, and as such was afforded the time to look at the sky.  Not just gaze it, or glance at it and move on, but really focus on it.  The resulting interaction spawned some insights, from the nature of how clouds build and dissipate to the amount of flight traffic in this seemingly remote locale.  It also took me back to time as a child, where lying on the grass and pondering the sky and all that it held was a viable use of time.

What struck me in all of this was how much I noticed by just taking the time and merely looking up.  While I looked at the sky every day, I saw very, very little.  However, by taking time and not just looking, but noticing, I was presented with a wealth of insight.  Insight that was always readily available to me, if I had just bothered to take the time.

In our organizations, we're surrounded by the familiar - the same people, projects, processes, and performance.  But in that organizational "sky" is a lot of really good and really insightful information.  It could come in the form of a teammate's communication style, or the insight provided by a customer's complaint, or in the way meetings start, or in a million other things.  

But insights are all around us, just as the sky is.

We just need to take some time every once and a while and really look.  What's out there for us to know might surprise us.

Apologies for Updates

To my loyal readers,

I apologize for the lack of updates in the past couple of days.  Things have been hot and heaving regarding my job search, and in between preparing for interviews, travelling to and from interviews, and the interviews themselves, there has been scant time to write.  Likewise, I've been doing some consulting work four hours away a couple of times per week, and in between the work there and the driving back and forth, it has been hectic.

Yeah, I've got a lot of excuses - whatever.  You don't stop here to read excuses, and I don't like writing about them.  Hence, I'll be more diligent on a go forward basis in terms of carving out time and putting my spin on things, as always.

Thanks for sticking with me.  You guys are the best.

YDP

Saturday Song Share: U2 - Every Breaking Wave

Nearly 40 years later, and this band is still damned relevant:

Black Lives Matter, Part 2

In yesterday's StarTribune, a study was published which showed infant death rates in Minnesota by maternal ethnicity.  Here are the amount of infant deaths per 1,000 live births for the period 2006 - 2010:

• Asian - 9.1
• Hispanic 4.9
• White 4.3
• Native American 9.1
• Total 5.1
• Black 9.8

Black babies die at two times the rate of all other babies born in Minnesota.  Two times.  Yet, despite this fact, and despite these preventable deaths, there will be no rallies, no protests, and no hastags.

Black lives matter, huh?  Prove it.