In the Heat of Battle

Sports, it seems, can be a reflection of the warrior spirit that hides inside of us. Like anything, each person is gifted with different portion of warrior spirit--some are blessed with an almost self-destructive portion of warrior spirit.

RGIII on Sunday January 6, 2012

I was moved on Sunday during the Washington Redskins game. As he was laying on the turf after his already damaged knee which had hobbled him for much of the game, I saw that warrior spirit in their quarterback--RGIII. And it may not be a good thing.

The warrior spirit, unchecked, can cause rational people to make irrational and ill-advised choices. The ability to decide to take a path to self-destruction, while sometimes viewed as heroic, can also extract a high toll upon self and those in the vicinity.

While he was clearly heroic on Sunday in trying to lead his team to victory in the face of every increasingly over whelming odds, the decision to remain in the game and face a potentially career ending injury probably was not the right decision. Unlike warfare where there may not be a tomorrow or a next year, in sports next season holds the promise of even greater achievements--if able to participate.

But, in the hear of battle those decisions are not so clear. The harsh morning light of the day after, though, provides the illumination to evaluate decisions.

Leaders need to be sensitive to heat of battle decision making and keep the strategic objective in sight. Needlessly throwing human or fiscal capital into a losing position may have greater a negative impact on the organization than just accepting the position at hand.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - Tuesday January 8, 2012

1. Off to a not so good start for the new year--totally missed writing Monday Musings yesterday. I guess I'm not musing too much this year, yet.

2. Walking outside yesterday at 5:30 PM, I was amazed that it was not totally dark. Yay, the dark times are beginning to pass. All of the celebrating did its job. Go druids, go!

3. Taxes--I have a feeling we haven't seen the last tax increase this year.

4. Who else, like me, realizes that the 2 percent increase in the Social Security withholding (OASDI) this year is a tax increase? They keep trying to sell it as the expiration of a tax decrease--but that still makes it a tax increase, right?

5. I noticed that the socialist government in France was trying to tax individuals who make a million Euro or more at a 75 percent tax rate. That is going to really spur economic recovery.

6. Are you worried about the trillion dollar coin concept? Read about it here. It is not a good idea.

7. How about the national championship game. I really thought Notre Dame was going to play a better game. But all we are left with is a rousing chorus of roll tide roll!

8. The NHL is back! I can't believe it took so long to get back onto the ice.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Snow Remains

As I was walking up the driveway to get the newspaper yesterday morning, I noticed a remnant of snow from the storms we had just after Christmas. A small, unassuming pile has lasted over a week to remind me that it is winter and with just a little bit of unluckiness--we could have had lot more of it.

Thankfully, it is just a small pile.

But it remains there.

Right off the drive next to the fence.

I hope it goes away soon before the weather can add to it. I think between yesterday's mild temperatures and today's--it will surely be gone by tonight.

Time will tell.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

On into the Rest of the Year

The final decorations of Christmas have been returned to their storage containers where they will remain until after Thanksgiving 2013.

My, how quickly the season came and went--but I've written that before.

Today, it is onto football, playoffs, and enormous amounts of foot to celebrate the start of the rest of the year!

It is really exciting for the region that both teams are hosting playoff games on the same day. I'm not sure anything else is getting done anywhere around here today.

Hopefully, the football playoffs will not end the same way the baseball playoffs did with both teams losing in the first round! That was a real bummer.

But--here is a thought, I don't think the both of the regions baseball and football teams have ever made the playoffs during the same year!

That, as they say, is really exciting for a region where cellar dwelling has been perfected.

Focus on the positives--we are there. The outcome matters but not as much as just getting there. There are 20 other teams in the NFL whose seasons ended last year--and we are at least playing on and at home!

Go Ravens and Go Redskins (Fight for ole DC even though you play in Maryland)

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

First Basketball Game

Ethan's first game. Rolling along for another season. Going to be fun.

First Saturday

Believe it or not, the first Saturday of 2013 has arrived and after the frenzy of the holiday season I would say it is a welcomed arrival except that this day and this weekend promise to be as busy and harried as the season just completed.

The phrase that comes to mind is kick the tires and light the fires!

The last remnants of the holidays will likely be purged from the house--two Christmas trees need to be deconstructed and stored until later this year when they can reappear to assist in celebrating the demise of 2013. And then all of the remaining decorations need to be packed away and the house returned to its eleven-months-of-the-year condition.

Putting the period on the end of the seasonal decorations is somewhat sad. It causes me to reflect on how long we anticipate the season and then it seems to rocket by and we are thrust back into the routine of life. Anticipation gives way to celebration and then into a New Year and reestablishing the routine again.

Is it possible to change the routine?

I think my feeble attempt to encourage growth and change from the season is in my resolutions. I set one for myself and that was to be more sensitive of the blessings in my life--every day. Specifically, I resolved to recount at least three blessings in my life before I went to sleep at the end of every day. People who know me realize that I tend to group things into threes--hence, three blessings to find and consider.

Now four days complete into the New Year, I can report that I am running at an about 50 percent success rate. I am too tired some nights to remember anything before I my head hits the pillow.

But I think about the blessings in the morning--so maybe I need to tweak my resolution.

As for today's agenda? De-Christmasifying the house, attending a grandson's first basketball game of the season, Church in the afternoon, and squeezing in two NFL playoff games.

The blessings in these endeavors--I am not alone, my parents are still visiting and I can enjoy these activities with them, God has given me the means and the health to enjoy life and my family.

Definitely a good way to start the first weekend of the year.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Walter's Art Museum: Part Deux

I played hooky from work yesterday afternoon and took my parents to visit the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Syria: The Night Watch
Brighton Riviere 

It was my second visit in a few months and it was every bit as enjoyable as my first.

I am really happy that such a world class art collection is available right here in Baltimore--and that I don't have to sojourn to D.C. every time I need an art fix.

One painting caught my imagination, Syria: The Night Watch by Brighton Riviere. I could not help but consider the current unrest and atrocities happening in that country and look at the lions in the painting patrolling the streets looking for people to devour. There was something very eerie about the painting and the reports in the news this week that 60,000 people have died in the civil war happening in Syria.

The Ideal City

I did, finally, get to view The Ideal City, which was traveling the last time I was there. I find this painting fascinating and extremely out of style for the period of paintings in which it is displayed. This is one of those very special enigmatic paintings.

It was a great afternoon and I will be visiting again, soon!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Talking Down from the Cliff--Well Almost

Congress and the President managed to avert disaster, barely.

But they did it! And the markets responded yesterday with the DOW raising over 300 points!  Yay, somebody made money, I just wish it were me.

I was happy to see that a compromise for the good of the Republic was reached before deadline put everything that had been achieved during the past over 200 years at risk of collapsing.

Am I happy with the final deal? No. But, that is a good thing I think. Everyone seems equally unhappy and that means that some form of middle ground was reached. Is the spending being cut enough? Probably not. Are taxes going up enough? Thankfully, no.

Are we going to be printing a lot more money? Probably yes.

I have been doing research on the numbers of people who do not pay income taxes. Too many. Most for very good reasons. But, it seems to me that if everyone is not invested in the country, then those who are not invested have a skewed sense of reality.

I believe it is time for a major tax overhaul and first and foremost we need to get rid of the personal income tax,

Yes, I just wrote that.

I noted that I am taxed twice on my income. First when I earn it and second when I spend it. That makes no sense and is really double dipping. We need a single fair tax--that would be some form of consumption tax on goods and services which everyone pays the same percent, but those who can afford to buy more--will therefore rightly pay more in taxes.

I looked at my pay statement. I am taxed by a thousand cuts it seems.

There is the Federal withholding and the State withholding. Then there is separate FICA and Medicare. In some places, thankfully not where I live, yet, there is also a locality tax. And then sales tax--in Maryland it is 6% on some things and 9% on others. How insane is that?

The governments have made it hard to determine the true tax rate being paid. A single consumption tax--call it VAT (value added tax or sales tax on steroids) and having it in one place and paid at one time would be considerably fairer. Everyone buying goods and services would be paying the tax.

That seems fairer than what we are doing now.

Thank you Congress and the President for forestalling the fiscal cliff--now get together and let's see some true tax and spending reform!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Cardinal in the Snow

During the snow storm the other day, a solitary cardinal perched himself on the tree outside my window and became a subject for numerous pictures.

I like to believe that  deep inside me there is an Ansel Adams like vision of the world waiting to be unleashed.

Probably not.

It is just, after all, a bird in a tree. How many birds have been imaged in trees.

But the white snow blanketing the back ground really set him off as he sat there seemingly unconcerned with the snow. Of course, the bird feeder was only a few feet away from the tree in which he was perched.

For me? It was too cold and snowy. I would prefer living somewhere that people have to travel to see snow and not have it just fall on them at the worst possible time.

But, this image is a good way to start off the new year.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

2013 Arrives with a Whimper

Happy New Year!

As the morning dawned on the new year, I looked out of my window to see the world much as I left it last evening when I charged off to a New Year's Eve party.

I had a marvelous time welcoming in the new year with friends and watching, for the first time, the ball drop in New York City without Dick Clark.

In the news department, many of our elected representatives were busy at work into and through the dawning of the New Year. Just before midnight, it appeared that the country was spared the scourge of falling off the fiscal cliff. But, as I read the news this morning it is hard to tell where we are in relationship to the fiscal cliff. The Senate and the President are clapping themselves on the back and declaring success while the House of Representatives still has to weigh in. A definite wild card in the process.

Chaos could still reign.

So we drove off the cliff but there may be a trampoline at the bottom kind of like a Road Runner cartoon.

Resolutions for the New Year?

I resolve that I am going to appreciate the blessings in my life more. Instead of focusing on the I wants, I am going to appreciate the thank you because I have. Every day!

Vacation Plans?

I guess the page is kind of blank right now, I haven't thought about going anywhere yet. Well, except to Sarasota during March for Spring Training. Then maybe Florida in July. And a cruise would be nice . .

A New Year with so many opportunities--Bring it on!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD