Have you ever heard someone say that "they got the itis?" Well, it is a condition that is caused by eating too much. It causes you to be extremely full to the point of where you can barely move and you become extremely sleepy. This condition is somewhat like an epidemic that manifests generally on holidays and special occasions where food is of principal concern, Thanksgiving being the worst of them all. I say all of this in order to state that I was a victim of the itis this Thanksgiving and I have no regrets. If you cannot indulge yourself on Thanksgiving then when can you?
For a variety of reasons, I decided to spend Thanksgiving in Midland and eat dinner with the Johnson family that I have met since moving here. The family is a group of African-Americans that relocated here after Fred (the patriarch) took a job at Dow. Anyways, I went out to there house which is gorgeous but in the middle of nowhere. The food was delicious which was part of the reason why the itis got me. I just couldn't stop eating everything was equally delicious in its own right. For some that is called gluttony but for me it is a great Thanksgiving dinner.
While I was at the Johnson house battling back the itis, there was a Godfather marathon on AMC. If you know anything about the Godfather movies, you know that they are around 3 hours a piece so a marathon really can consist of Godfather and Godfather Part II. Which coincidentally is what AMC was showing. Due to this marathon, I woke up on Friday, went to Wal-Mart and purchased the Francis Ford-Coppola Restoration Editions of the Godfather Trilogy and I only paid $40. Following the purchase, I proceeded to watch parts 2 and 3. When I was watching them, I realized what makes them so great. It's not just the plot or the acting, it is the screenwriting. Mario Puzo finds a way, specifically in parts 1 and 2 to make every character who has dialogue significant to the progression of the movie. Have you ever watched a movie and wondered why that character or a set of scenes were included in the movie? In the Godfather, I never thought that. At the end of the movie, every character had done something significant to, in part 1, to help Michael Corleone become Don and, in part 2, keep the Corleone family together. Even the flashback to Vito Andolini's transformation into Don Vito Corleone was relevant to the current plot because it shows the importance of Clemenza's death. This is why the Godfather is so great excluding Part 3. If you don't believe me, you should watch them.
By the way, I also purchased the Special Edition DVD of 300 for $6 but I have yet to watch. Now I an off to watch the rest of Fantastic Four on F/X and look out of my balcony door at the developing blizzard.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Holiday Happenings and general Tom-Foolery
I was told last night that I need to post more frequently to appease the 1-3 people that actually read this blog. So for you who read this, I apologize.
Thinking over the past month since I have last posted, I guess a lot has been going on from trying to make holiday plans, getting notification of a friends wedding, my godbrother releasing his first single, the strengthening of the realization that I have to go back to school, and my swag coming back. I am going to try and string all of these together, if I can do it, I deserve some type of medal (if only blogger was like facebook). This is going to be a marathon post so get your popcorn ready!
I got the "Save-the-date" notice for Luke's wedding. For those who don't know who Luke is, he is my best friend from high school who is a Marine and is currently on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Anyways, I got the note on Saturday, Even though I have known the date and location of the wedding for almost six months, I was still sent a notice. The pleasantries of wedding proceedings are an interesting notion which I may tackle in a post as the wedding gets closer. As the "Co-Best Man." The notice along with other things going on (thanks Chris) got me thinking about the idea of managing friendships through transition. The one question that continues to come up is how do you merge your previous life to your current? I am still work on that one. I will keep you posted when i get some answers.
One effort to consolidate the lives is attaching to similarities in all situations. One thing I think that I am pretty good at is making friends quickly and being comfortable in most situations. However, Midland threw me off my game for a bit. I got here and the people were incredibly nice but I just wasn't making the right connections which came so easily to me in college. When I finally made a good friend, he moved away (sounds like a plot for a bad made for TV movie). I was really distraught. I began thinking, what has happened to me? Midland was changing me. I was no longer the relaxed, charismatic and mildly aloof gentleman that I have grown accustomed to being. In the past, when I have had serious problems, I dig down deep and do some serious introspection. During this time I thought of many things that could be wrong. Questions that ran through my head were, Is Midland changing me? Are the people here just fake? Do they not like black people? Or, Is it me? The hypothesis that I landed on was that it was me. The first piece of advice that is always given to someone entering into a new situation is to relax and be yourself. I have given this piece of advice countless times but in this situation, I forgot it. Sure enough, things began to click. the way I judge if a successful connection was made is if after you have met a person, they remember your name and want to talk to you again. I walked into Oscar's (local Midland Bar) and for the first time in Midland people recognized me (other than bartenders, I think I drink too much), I had good conversation (which in non-existent in most bars), and I left feeling good (not drunk). I feel confident in proclaiming that My Swag is b=Back! So, the moral of this story is to really be your self and rely on the lessons learned from your past experiences.
I attribute much of the development of my swag to my godbrother, Justin. He is about 4 years older than I am and I always looked to him for guidance growing up. Everyone has the person that they believe to be the epitome of cool, for me that was Justin. Well, he has been a professional singer since I was in middle school and now he has finally released his first solo single. For those interested, his website is http://justinclay.net/. I am proud of everything that he has done and this single is a monument to the achievement of dreams.
(only two more topics to go, don't give up)
Justin's accomplishment along with awareness of what it takes to succeed in the corporate world has only solidified my resolve to go to a top 30 MBA school (I am considering the Ivies as my top choices). I am also pretty certain that I do not want to get an MBA specializing in Supply Chain. The concepts of supply chain seem intuitive and and the skills that you gain from studying other subjects can be applied to developing Supply Chain solutions. Last week, a young (35) Dow employee told us about his experiences and how going to Harvard Business School really helped to develop his career and to really understand who he was professionally and how that relates to his personal world view. I think insight like that, is something that i can gain while working but can gain more rapidly from a full-time top tier MBA program. I have some time before I need to make the decision of where but I do know that in 5 five years I will be enrolled at a school somewhere.
The answer to the question of why do I want to be successful is answered simply saying because my mom said so. My mother did not lay down the plan for my life explicitly but I know I try to do my best because I am representative of her and for that matter, my entire family and anyone that chose to support me. Holidays are very special to me for that reason. The holiday that really means the most to me is Easter. My senior year of high school, I was celebrating Easter with a lot of family friends that we went to church with. Myself, Greg, Little Brian, and Mr. Henry were on the basketball court following dinner. While we were playing, Mr. Henry collapsed face first while trying to defend Greg from driving the lane. At first, we thought that he was joking and then we realized that he wasn't moving. It was the one time that I didn't have my cell phone with me and for that reason I will never be without someone wit ha phone handy. So I sent Greg running to get the adults from the house. Meanwhile a young woman was walking buy and she let us use her cell phone to call 9-1-1. After it was all said and done, Mr. Henry was pronounced dead at the scene from a hereditary heart condition that has caused deaths in the same way for many years. The one thing I really remember from the funeral was that Mrs. Henry came up to the three of us and told us not to blame ourselves and that she was glad that we were there to be with her husband in his last moments and she told us that we were blessed and destined for great things. From then on, everything I do is never for me, it is for those who support and believe in me. Holidays are a time when I renew my focus on those individuals.
This holiday season will be a little tough. It is the first thanksgiving where I won't be spending it will my parents. I am very thankful however that there are people in Midland looking out for me and really becoming my surrogate family and inviting me to events like watching Barack Obama speeches, celebrating birthdays, and thanksgiving dinner. As it is right now, my Christmas/new years plans are up in the air. I will probably fly home for Christmas and then for new year's I hope to be in Dayton. I just have to find a place to sleep for the weekend.
Now that I have spent nearly two hours writing this post, I am going back to work.
Thinking over the past month since I have last posted, I guess a lot has been going on from trying to make holiday plans, getting notification of a friends wedding, my godbrother releasing his first single, the strengthening of the realization that I have to go back to school, and my swag coming back. I am going to try and string all of these together, if I can do it, I deserve some type of medal (if only blogger was like facebook). This is going to be a marathon post so get your popcorn ready!
I got the "Save-the-date" notice for Luke's wedding. For those who don't know who Luke is, he is my best friend from high school who is a Marine and is currently on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Anyways, I got the note on Saturday, Even though I have known the date and location of the wedding for almost six months, I was still sent a notice. The pleasantries of wedding proceedings are an interesting notion which I may tackle in a post as the wedding gets closer. As the "Co-Best Man." The notice along with other things going on (thanks Chris) got me thinking about the idea of managing friendships through transition. The one question that continues to come up is how do you merge your previous life to your current? I am still work on that one. I will keep you posted when i get some answers.
One effort to consolidate the lives is attaching to similarities in all situations. One thing I think that I am pretty good at is making friends quickly and being comfortable in most situations. However, Midland threw me off my game for a bit. I got here and the people were incredibly nice but I just wasn't making the right connections which came so easily to me in college. When I finally made a good friend, he moved away (sounds like a plot for a bad made for TV movie). I was really distraught. I began thinking, what has happened to me? Midland was changing me. I was no longer the relaxed, charismatic and mildly aloof gentleman that I have grown accustomed to being. In the past, when I have had serious problems, I dig down deep and do some serious introspection. During this time I thought of many things that could be wrong. Questions that ran through my head were, Is Midland changing me? Are the people here just fake? Do they not like black people? Or, Is it me? The hypothesis that I landed on was that it was me. The first piece of advice that is always given to someone entering into a new situation is to relax and be yourself. I have given this piece of advice countless times but in this situation, I forgot it. Sure enough, things began to click. the way I judge if a successful connection was made is if after you have met a person, they remember your name and want to talk to you again. I walked into Oscar's (local Midland Bar) and for the first time in Midland people recognized me (other than bartenders, I think I drink too much), I had good conversation (which in non-existent in most bars), and I left feeling good (not drunk). I feel confident in proclaiming that My Swag is b=Back! So, the moral of this story is to really be your self and rely on the lessons learned from your past experiences.
I attribute much of the development of my swag to my godbrother, Justin. He is about 4 years older than I am and I always looked to him for guidance growing up. Everyone has the person that they believe to be the epitome of cool, for me that was Justin. Well, he has been a professional singer since I was in middle school and now he has finally released his first solo single. For those interested, his website is http://justinclay.net/. I am proud of everything that he has done and this single is a monument to the achievement of dreams.
(only two more topics to go, don't give up)
Justin's accomplishment along with awareness of what it takes to succeed in the corporate world has only solidified my resolve to go to a top 30 MBA school (I am considering the Ivies as my top choices). I am also pretty certain that I do not want to get an MBA specializing in Supply Chain. The concepts of supply chain seem intuitive and and the skills that you gain from studying other subjects can be applied to developing Supply Chain solutions. Last week, a young (35) Dow employee told us about his experiences and how going to Harvard Business School really helped to develop his career and to really understand who he was professionally and how that relates to his personal world view. I think insight like that, is something that i can gain while working but can gain more rapidly from a full-time top tier MBA program. I have some time before I need to make the decision of where but I do know that in 5 five years I will be enrolled at a school somewhere.
The answer to the question of why do I want to be successful is answered simply saying because my mom said so. My mother did not lay down the plan for my life explicitly but I know I try to do my best because I am representative of her and for that matter, my entire family and anyone that chose to support me. Holidays are very special to me for that reason. The holiday that really means the most to me is Easter. My senior year of high school, I was celebrating Easter with a lot of family friends that we went to church with. Myself, Greg, Little Brian, and Mr. Henry were on the basketball court following dinner. While we were playing, Mr. Henry collapsed face first while trying to defend Greg from driving the lane. At first, we thought that he was joking and then we realized that he wasn't moving. It was the one time that I didn't have my cell phone with me and for that reason I will never be without someone wit ha phone handy. So I sent Greg running to get the adults from the house. Meanwhile a young woman was walking buy and she let us use her cell phone to call 9-1-1. After it was all said and done, Mr. Henry was pronounced dead at the scene from a hereditary heart condition that has caused deaths in the same way for many years. The one thing I really remember from the funeral was that Mrs. Henry came up to the three of us and told us not to blame ourselves and that she was glad that we were there to be with her husband in his last moments and she told us that we were blessed and destined for great things. From then on, everything I do is never for me, it is for those who support and believe in me. Holidays are a time when I renew my focus on those individuals.
This holiday season will be a little tough. It is the first thanksgiving where I won't be spending it will my parents. I am very thankful however that there are people in Midland looking out for me and really becoming my surrogate family and inviting me to events like watching Barack Obama speeches, celebrating birthdays, and thanksgiving dinner. As it is right now, my Christmas/new years plans are up in the air. I will probably fly home for Christmas and then for new year's I hope to be in Dayton. I just have to find a place to sleep for the weekend.
Now that I have spent nearly two hours writing this post, I am going back to work.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Yes We Have and Yes We Will!
Good Day to all. Today I feel the all is well and good in the world. I am sure that this feeling of euphoria will fade but what will not fade is this sense that we have finally selected someone to lead this country that has the temperament, judgment and intelligence to begin to lead this country forward in one of the most challenging times in the history of the United States of America.
In this post, I will be commenting about President-Elect Obama's Victory Speech from Grant Park but for those who didn't get to see it, here is a link.
If the embedded video does not work, here is a link to cnn.com
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/video.election.obama/
To me, the speech was a work of art. A real testament to the governing philosophy and world view of the man that will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.
"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America." However, "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were."
Juxtaposing these two quotes, Obama skillfully acknowledged the historical significance of the moment but realistically tells the world that there is still a lot of work to be done. While I was watching the speech, I got the same feeling that I got when I received my diploma. This is an accomplishment not only for me but for all of those that supported me but now I have to back it up with substance and because of this I believe that the tenure of the presidency of Barack Obama will a historic one. From his comments, I believe that he has the feeling that the achievement is significant but the only way that it becomes validated and transferable is if he succeeds and because of that he has the weight of the political aspirations of Black Americans of his shoulders.
The feeling that there is always more to do and never being settled with your situation is the exact type of mindset that we need in a leader. Personal accountability is a humbling mechanism and it is one that I think anyone who aspires to lead must develop. Complacency is the breeding ground for mediocrity and mediocrity is the catalyst for failure. To see this trait in one who has achieved so much gives me hope that this country and this world is in store for much more brighter days.
"The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved. "
- Confucius
In this post, I will be commenting about President-Elect Obama's Victory Speech from Grant Park but for those who didn't get to see it, here is a link.
If the embedded video does not work, here is a link to cnn.com
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/video.election.obama/
To me, the speech was a work of art. A real testament to the governing philosophy and world view of the man that will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.
"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America." However, "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were."
Juxtaposing these two quotes, Obama skillfully acknowledged the historical significance of the moment but realistically tells the world that there is still a lot of work to be done. While I was watching the speech, I got the same feeling that I got when I received my diploma. This is an accomplishment not only for me but for all of those that supported me but now I have to back it up with substance and because of this I believe that the tenure of the presidency of Barack Obama will a historic one. From his comments, I believe that he has the feeling that the achievement is significant but the only way that it becomes validated and transferable is if he succeeds and because of that he has the weight of the political aspirations of Black Americans of his shoulders.
The feeling that there is always more to do and never being settled with your situation is the exact type of mindset that we need in a leader. Personal accountability is a humbling mechanism and it is one that I think anyone who aspires to lead must develop. Complacency is the breeding ground for mediocrity and mediocrity is the catalyst for failure. To see this trait in one who has achieved so much gives me hope that this country and this world is in store for much more brighter days.
"The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved. "
- Confucius
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Playing the Game vs. Changing the Game
So, I am in this program that is regarded as only selecting high potential employees that will one day be Global Directors and Vice Presidents. Due to the highly selective nature of the program, the individuals in the program are very intelligent, highly motivated and in some way are visionary (I have no idea how I got in this program). Keep all of this in mind as you are reading this post.
As I have gotten accustomed to the working world, I have realized that there is an unwritten structure on how to address issues within my company. It seems that as I work my way through the company those who are successful are the ones who follow the old saying of knowing when to pick your battles. I understand that this is important as going on through life but what I am having trouble with reconciling is that there are people being penalized for voicing their concerns when we are in a group that is positioned as future leaders of the company. Leaders are characterized as being critical of the process and trying to find ways to solve it. How can we be expected to critically assess a program and voice our concerns about it, if every time it happens, we are chastised?
After hearing about the situation, I have attributed it to a lack of understanding of setting rather than saying something truly offensive. We were in a casual setting that was really structured for us to get to know some important people in the company and it wasn't a venue to vent the problems on the day. However, there is something that should be said for stifling honesty. How can they tell us that we are the leaders of the future and will be solving the problems that plagues the company but when we apply the ability to assess and think critically, we are discouraged? This does not make sense to me.
It is what it is....
P.S. Sorry for the lack of structure or coherence but I couldn't figure out a better way to tell the situation without telling the whole story which I told a friend that I wouldn't.
As I have gotten accustomed to the working world, I have realized that there is an unwritten structure on how to address issues within my company. It seems that as I work my way through the company those who are successful are the ones who follow the old saying of knowing when to pick your battles. I understand that this is important as going on through life but what I am having trouble with reconciling is that there are people being penalized for voicing their concerns when we are in a group that is positioned as future leaders of the company. Leaders are characterized as being critical of the process and trying to find ways to solve it. How can we be expected to critically assess a program and voice our concerns about it, if every time it happens, we are chastised?
After hearing about the situation, I have attributed it to a lack of understanding of setting rather than saying something truly offensive. We were in a casual setting that was really structured for us to get to know some important people in the company and it wasn't a venue to vent the problems on the day. However, there is something that should be said for stifling honesty. How can they tell us that we are the leaders of the future and will be solving the problems that plagues the company but when we apply the ability to assess and think critically, we are discouraged? This does not make sense to me.
It is what it is....
P.S. Sorry for the lack of structure or coherence but I couldn't figure out a better way to tell the situation without telling the whole story which I told a friend that I wouldn't.
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