I’ve been writing off and on for most of my life, although most written works were short. In college, I had to take an English literature class, which further ignited my sense of wonder in writing. I started to toy around with the idea, but nothing ever amounted to it. Several more years passed when…
A Life of Excellence, part 2
Living a life of excellence means making the right choices, which are not always obvious from the start. It takes diligence to observe, process, and finally decide on what to do. Even then the choices we make are not always right. When wrong choices are made, it means taking appropriate action to get back on…
A Life of Excellence, part 1
When I was growing up, I spent considerable time around my great-grandmother. One thing about having a perfect house is that no such thing exists. However, many people do what they can to get it as close to perfect as possible. For her, it was about creating an atmosphere of excellence, the type of home…
Self-Confidence
What is self-confidence? I started out with this topic and after thinking about it for a minute, I was ready to quit. I do have confidence in many areas, but I have never written about this particular subject, which explains my lack of confidence to start. Whenever we do not know how to do something,…
When All Day Goes Wrong
While driving down the road close to my house, I reached for my pocket and noticed my wallet was missing. Luckily, I was only a short distance from home, so I quickly turned around to go back and get it. Since wasting time is a one of my pet peeves, something as simple as forgetting…
Perfection Can Wait
Here are two important things to remember about perfection. One is that it costs something to gain it. Another is that waiting until the perfect plan is achieved before ever starting has kept many from accomplishing their goals. Trust when I say that I am a details guy! As both an engineer and a writer,…
Teepee Gone Wild, part 2
The extent of the three boys’ learning about Native American Indians did not stop with the unfortunate teepee event. It was still deemed necessary to further investigate the Indians’ way of living. In school they were also taught about the types of living for Indians, such as farming, hunting, and gathering. There were no white-…
Low Pay – Sign me Up!
Years ago, a man came into my classroom and spoke about an internship the local city was offering. He warned us that the pay wasn’t much, but it gave valuable experience. When he announced what the pay was, most of the students wrinkled their noses and chose not to pursue it. Even though it didn’t…
Carry All That?
When I was a teenager, my father regularly took my brother and I hunting in the fall. My brother was really into it. I, on the other hand, was in it for the trip. We even had a best friend that tagged along with us on occasion. One time when we were all together, my…
Best Effort
I chose the image for this posting for a solid reason. If you were to ask me to guard this goal, I would gladly tell you that I will try to. The man in the picture is not trying, he is guarding it. The man is fully committed because he has lunged his body in…