Memorial Day 2008

What a day to remember. A complete gathering of the clan at the house. As always, it was a great day and the weather was awesome. It was 84 degrees air temp and by about 3PM it was 81 degrees in the pool!

It don't get no better than this.

We spent the entire day enjoying each other's company and eating. And eating and drinking and watching the grand kids as they enjoyed the sun. The day was a great prelude to the summer ahead.

Nicole really documented the weekend in her blog, so I recommend checking it out.

From my standpoint--the pool was warm and crystal clear so it was the center of the fun. The Orioles beat the Yankees in baseball and everyone at the picnic had a real great time.

Chris cooked her heart out with salads and fixings--and one really super coffee cake she made me for breakfast.

Jax was wide awake for part of the afternoon looking all around and really becoming part of the family. Jeremy was fixated on getting Ben--the Keeshond, into the pool and finally did get him in. Shortly thereafter I noticed a fine layer of dog hair on the surface of the water. I was reminded of Megan, our departed golden, who we used to shave for summer so she could swim in the pool without depositing a layer of fur across the water.

Families are great. They keep us in touch with each other and help us to learn to appreciate each other. Patrick and Tina were there too--earlier in the day we helped them get a dresser and delivered it to College Park, and they were fully part of the action.

Well, it is safe to say--on to summer!

Truck Update - Delivery at last!

For those of you following the saga of the 2000 GMC Sonoma--I have good news to report. I actually received the truck on Thursday and had a chance to rummage through the parts they took off it. Now, with new tires and shocks (still to come) it will be an almost new truck. With 113,000 miles on it.

But, having the truck back was good, too. We already used it to move furniture. All of those things that we need a truck for and which have been on hold can now be done. I think we already have it scheduled for a trip to Ithaca in June to haul some heavy equipment around and do some work at Mom and Dad's hacienda.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Went to see this movie this weekend, which is opening weekend. The movie grossed $101 million, but really it isn't a great movie. I expect the take to dwindle next week.

The movie had the great Indiana Jones lines and action. The action though is not non-stop and there were a couple points where I actually looked at my watch. The old characters are back and the film does a nice job of catching us up. Some of the relationships are trite and very predictable.

The ending of the movie is weak. It could have been a lot better.

Here is what Roger Ebert wrote: ""Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Say it aloud. The very title causes the pulse to quicken, if you, like me, are a lover of pulp fiction. What I want is goofy action--lots of it. I want man-eating ants, swordfights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, subterranean caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers. And throw in lots of monkeys."

Rating: OK entertainment. Go see it because everyone else is. If you loved the earlier movies, this will be enjoyable. If you never saw the earlier movies, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. Rating the three blockbusters of the month? Best: Iron Man, Next best: Narnia, and the bottom: Indiana Jones.

My Truck--the story continues

Guess what? No truck.

I am told at least the engine is installed and running. It was out for a road test yesterday. So, hopefully we are getting close to having a truck.

This has been especially painful. My engine broke down on April 29th. Twenty-four long days ago. That seems a bit long to me to get a repair done--but the almost two weeks that the insurance company took to process and accept the claim, then the almost week it took to ship the engine really added a lot to the timeline.

I was supposed to have an emissions inspection done by May 21st--fortunately, I remembered and had the State of Maryland grant an extension. It is hard to get an inspection done when there is no truck to take to the inspection station. Ugh!

But I am told that today will be the day--barring any other unforseen problems. At the end of it all I think the truck will be better than it was when I got it to replace my other truck.

The Continuing Saga of my Truck

So--it has been a week! Do I have my truck? No. Do I think I will ever see my truck again--even with a new engine? Yeah--but it sure has been painful and required a lot of follow-up to pull it off. I thought I was getting it back on Monday. Then it was yesterday. Now, supposedly, I will see my truck today.

It is not that I mind driving, Kitty, my Jaguar. But, it is not an everyday car and I really need to do some work on the air handling system. I have hot air when its hot out and cold air when its cold. Hmmmmm. I will say the air conditioning works great with the sun roof open and the windows down, although I can't carry on a conversation on my cell phone because of the wind.

Well--good things come to those who wait--but this is getting a bit extreme. That written, I now know when I will be replacing my truck--May 2009 as my graduation gift to myself for Patrick finally getting out of college.

It should be a great day.

Managing a Leader's Time

Time. It seems that leaders never have enough time to get everything done that needs to get done. There is always something more to do, something new to check, some outstanding item to correct. It's kind of like the mule in the picture--a bit too much in the cart to handle. We wind up in a situation wondering who is in control--the leader or the tasks? As in the picture, if we allow ourselves to become saturated and over tasked--no one is going anywhere and that especially includes our team.

What to do?

Recognize that many our nature says we want to do it all. We want to have our hands in every aspect of what's happening and be fully engaged. Then, once we recognize that our tendency is to do it all, begin to develop an action plan to back it down a bit. Remove some of the bundles from the cart and put them in someone else's cart.

In church this past Sunday, we read a story about a famous leader, Moses, who had a similar problem. He wanted to do it all. And he was trying to do it all. He actually thought he was supposed to do it all and he was becoming ineffective at leading because he had not learned the magic of delegating.

You should read the story in Exodus 18, but I'll provide some of the important aspects. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, came for a visit after Moses had led the people out of Egypt. In Exodus 18:13-16, Jethro observes what Moses is doing--judging the people and solving disputes. People are standing around and there is a lot of nothing getting done while Moses is diluting his ability to lead the people and be their representative before God. I love what Jethro says in verse 17: "What you are doing is not good!" Basically, Jethro pointed out that Moses was killing himself being involved in the small stuff. Sometimes it takes an outsider to slap us with the obvious.

Jethro reminds Moses what his role is to be--that of representative of the people before God, not solver of petty disputes. Moses has himself tied into a role that he need not do. Jethro advises Moses to appoint others to solve the disputes to free him up to have the relationship with God for the good of the people. And a funny thing happened, Moses listened to Jethro (even though he was his father-in-law!).

Leaders--listen to Jethro. What is the most important thing that you do and that only you can do? What are you doing that someone else is capable of doing or even more capable than you of doing? Give it to them. Use your team. Don't kill yourself by being so involved in minutiae. Focus on the big stuff and off load what you can onto others. They will appreciate being involved and if you match individual capabilities with tasks, the job will likely be done better than you were doing it.

Effectively using your team members is a ciritcal aspect of team success. Effectively using your personal resources is critical to your survival and happiness. You can't do it all and more importantly, you shouldn't do it all--so why try. Use your team. That's why leading is a team sport!