Have You Seen Those Nuggets Lately ?!

I know, I know ... two basketball-related posts in a row.  I am running the risk of losing any non-sports followers from my blog.  I am sorry, but have you seriously seen the Denver Nuggets play basketball since the start of the year?!

I haven't always been a Nuggets fan.  Much like my now-beloved Broncos, I once actually despised the team.  The reasons back then could easily be attributed to lack of education or appreciation for the game.  Or it could be that the team sucked.  Regardless, I have been a proud Nuggets supporter for well over two decades now, which includes some pretty weak seasons.

But I have never been as big a fan of the team as I am this year (which built from my love for them last year, especially after the soon-to-be-recognized-as-the-best-trade-in-franchise-history departure of he-who-shall-not-be-named to the Knicks).

Why do I love this team so much?

Here are just a few reasons:

 - They all have strong talent and skills, but are not superstars.  This means they have confidence in themselves, but not over-confidence.

 - They play hard.  This means they hustle and dive and never give up.  I admire this from anyone who makes millions of dollars for what they do.

 - They are flashy and fun to watch, but not sloppy.  This means they play as a team and look for the crowd-pleasing dunks without forcing things.

 - They are young.  This means they have some room left to grow and improve, which should only enhance their trust in one another.  And trust wins games!

So keep on winning Nuggets.  It might be very unrealistic to hope for a Finals victory or appearance or conference finals appearance this year ... but the future is yours to dominate if you stay humble, work hard, and keep having fun while you play!

Song Of The Day:
In honor of the awesome players we (the Nuggets) got in that awesome trade last year, here is one of my favorite SpinDoctors' songs titled "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me?)"  It is perfect for this blog as it is in the form of a question, and it is truthful about the "replacements" we got in that deal.  Nice move(s) Denver front office staff!  Thank you!

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Ever Been "On Fi-i-i-ire" ?!

One of the downsides to my P90X workout commitment, has been that I had no extra energy to participate in pick-up basketball games during the week.  This caused two concerns: first, it made me sad (because I love basketball); and second, it ruined my reasonably accurate shooting stroke.

During the church basketball season, I could not make 3's to save my life!  My shots were always long (could I hope this was due to stronger arms?!) and just didn't feel right ... but I was only playing ball one time per week (pre-P90x I was playing 2-4 times a week).  This only exacerbated the first concern above (it made me more sad).

Then, last night, it was like a miracle unfolded!

I was en fuego from the start of the very first game!  It was honestly like the flaming basketball and crazy announcer and crown noise from the original NBA Jam video and arcade game.  Not only were my three's back, but I was making almost ridiculous shots look easy (I asked other players as the night wore on and they confirmed I wasn't just dreaming this amazing experience.  A few hard fouls made sure I was awake too!)

As I think back, I realize that I played 4 times last week, and had already played once this week ... so perhaps I just needed to get back into the swing of things.  I surely do not expect to stay that "hot" but as long as my shot isn't gone forever, as I feared it might have been, I am no longer sad at all!  :)

Song Of The Day:
Both the song title and artist name relate to today's post.  Tears For Fears was a quintessential 80's group, although their music was not often very sad.  Their song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is one of my Top 5 Favorite Songs of All Time, and it was on my mind last night as I ruled the court.  Good times!

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Ever Have An Excellent Adventure ?

About a week ago, I introduced my kids to the wonderful world of the 1980's through a very special and poignant film.  This masterpiece of a movie embodied all the hopes for a brighter future and all the pop culture phenomenon of that bodacious decade.  The film was definitely a hit, although there were several words and situations that required special explanation for my kids.  Heinous.  Tubular.  Non-triumphant.

So if you need a blast from the past, to a simpler if not stupider time (and yes I did just totally misappropriate those made-up words) ... may I recommend that you take your kids on an excellent adventure?  Perhaps you can even follow up with a bogus journey.  :)

Song Of The Day:
No matter how sarcastic the above post might be, the music from the movie was actually not bad at all.  Sure you probably cannot name one song from the soundtrack, but that is a real shame.  My favorite song from the movie is
"In Time" by Robbie Rob.  It is actually pretty excellent.

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Why Are We So Defensive ?

I've been thinking alot lately about reactions.  People react to so many different things in this world in so many different ways.  But a reaction that seems to be becoming more common is defensiveness.  Sometimes this is appropriate, but more often than not (at least in my unofficial survey over the last week), there is no need for any defensive response.

I believe we often mistake the intent behind another person's inquiry.  When we assume that they are seeking information as a means to be better than us or to judge us, then we are left with only two choices: take up the defense of ourselves, or be offended and begin judging the other person.  And neither of these lead to anything good.

Of course my solution is quite simple, and something I am already very fond of ...
ask more questions.  Clarify the true meaning of the words someone says to you.  Restate what they have said and what it makes you think they meant.  Confirm why they are asking that question.  The easiest way to avoid making incorrect assumptions is to dig a little deeper so everyone understands each other more fully.

I do believe media is playing a very large role in why we all seem much more quick to defense lately.  The prevalance of police dramas on TV is an easy quick example.  Another is the use of "sound bites" to take words out of context, which had a profound impact on recent political situations involving virtually every affiliated party.  Then there is the professional sports effect, wherein one single comment or misdeed is forever associated with a person.  Even if the situation is resolved and the accused party is found innocent, our society nowadays will forever more remember those people as the criminals they were proven NOT to be.

Be sure to think and act for yourself.  Rely on your inner voice, or a higher power (for those believers out there) rather than trusting limited information.  And ask questions!  Ask lots of questions!  And question the answers you receive, even if they are from "credible" sources.  And, in general, trust that most people around you are hoping to see you succeed rather than fail.  There is too much good in the world to allow those petty few who live by snap judgements, to keep you from whatever worthy goal you aspire to.

Song Of The Day:
Today's song is on the theme of misunderstanding the meaning of words.  Country music has hundreds of song titles that seem to suggest one kind of emotion or reaction, but as you listen to the actual words of the song you realize it means something totally different.  "(I Don't Love You) Anymore" by Travis Tritt, is an oldie (for me anyway) but a goodie.  Listen to the words are realize that this is, in fact, a very tender love song.

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Do You Need More Spoons ?

That was the question the very nice employee from Freddy's asked me, to which I replied "Yes, thank you again."

The rest of the story is historical in nature, but helps explain why her question was actually great customer service turning into an amazing customer experience.

After several hours of moving things out from my parent's house to our place (they have moved to AZ but still have lots of things they are "gifting" to myself and other family members), it was time to take a load of clothes and other assorted items to Goodwill.  On that trip, my dad and I realized we were ready for dinner, so we coordinated with our respective wives and then we eventually agreed to eat at Freddy's Steakburgers (a nice semi-fast-food restaurant just up the road from our house).

Our "party" had 12 people in it (of course 9 of those are just me, my wife, and our kids), so we had to pull four smaller tables together, which caused no small commotion in their mostly packed seating area.  In short order we downed our thin, delicious fries and tasty steakburgers and hot dogs, while the employees all worked together to clear our baskets, etc.  This is the norm at this place, which is why I really like eating there.  As we were wrapping up to the "chatting" portion of our experience, one employee came over with a large dessert (I don't know the name but it had peanut butter, chocolate, and bananas, in vanilla custard or ice cream).  She stated that they had made one of these for another customer who didn't end up wanting it.  She thought we could all enjoy a bite or two didn't want it to go to waste.  I am convinced that they actually made it for our group and concocted a story to be able to deliver it, but either way it was a very cool thing to do!

Kudos to you Freddy's for turning an already decent dining experience into a story I will tell everyone I know about for months to come.  You've made a fan for life (and I already liked you pretty well anyway!)

Song Of The Day:
It would be near blasphemy to have eaten at a place called Freddy's and not have the song of the day be something by Queen, whose lead singer was, of course, Freddy Mercury.  There are so many songs to choose from, but for this experience I went with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" for two reasons: first, I just LOVE the experience we had eating at Freddy's; and second, the style of the song is more 50's diner and that is a good approximation of the atmosphere and service I feel I get at Freddy's.

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Do You Prefer Feast Or Famine ?

Some days there is just not enough time to do it all.  On other days, there seems to be plenty of time with no real rush to get anything done.  There is never an absence of work (for me anyway) but there are some wide swings in the level of urgency regarding the work that I do.  Calls need to be reviewed, audited, analyzed, and sent for coaching.  Plans need to be made for future meetings (with my team, with various site committees, etc.).  Training needs to be completed.  And so on.

More often than not, these activities have a short turnaround time or deadline that creates a sense of urgency to completing the tasks.  I think of those as "feast" times, when there is so much to do that you have to work hard and smart to fit it all in.

But sometimes, nothing is really "due" for days or weeks.  There is a "famine" on urgent work, despite long "To Do" lists.  These times are nice periodically, especially at the end of a very LONG week filled with "feast" days.  But too many of them, or too many "famine" hours in one full day, can be more of a drain on me than the crazy-busy "feast" times.

I derive some of my energy from other people, but most comes from completing tasks and moving things forward.  I think that is why I secretly dread "famine" times.  Because at least when I am exhausted at the end of a "feast" day, I know it is because I urgently squeezed in so many tasks for that day - it was a good, productive, exhausting day.  But when I'm tired or worn out from a "famine" day, there is nothing to look back on and feel any real sense of pride about ... but I'm still exhausted!

Song Of The Day:
I absolutely love the original version of this song by Fun.  But when I heard this cover by Jake Coco, I fell in love with the song in a different way.  So when the feast is too heavy or the famine is slowly draining you, choose to "Carry On" and it will even out soon!

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What Do You Collect ?

As a child I remember being fascinated, at different times, with rocks, dinosaurs, He-Man or GI Joe action figures, coins, baseball cards, and hats (baseball style, not like "fashion" kinds).  At some point, each of those collections was either passed on to a neighbor or younger sibling, or were traded for a new collection or simply discarded when I realized I didn't like those things any longer.

But the urge to have a "collection" of things certainly didn't go away.  I'm betting you still collect things too.

Without even really intending to do so, my wife and I have begun to collect wind chimes.  Below are some pictures of our collection (so far), most of which have been gifted to us from our good friend Tony (who has had to travel lots for his occupation).









To be fair, some of these are not really wind chimes, but they are in that category because they are "hanging decorations" and I don't know what else to call them.  Our office in our home is filled with these and they really lend to the tropical island theme.  I look forward to adding more to our collection (we plan to buy one for each cruise or tropical vacation we take).

So what do you collect?  And why did you start collecting those?

Song Of The Day:
When I look at these wind chimes in our office, I am reminded of the carefree lifestyle that comes with tropical vacations.
The song "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" by Kenny Chesney just seems like a perfect fit.  The notes just drip off the guitar and KC's slow southern drawl just oozes relaxation.  Ahhhhh.

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