Sweet Job, Bad Economics

Earlier this week Emmanuel Akowauh arrived from Ghana to stay with my family for the school year.  

When talking to him we found out that he likes to eat Corn Flakes for breakfast.  We didn't have any Corn Flakes so that meant a trip to Wal*Mart to buy some. 

Guess what?

When I was at Wal*Mart I found a couple of interesting stories.  (Have you ever gone to Wal*Mart and not come across something interesting?)

The first story that I am going to tell is about a mother and her teen age son.  The exchange was simple, two simple lines.

"Mom, do we need milk?"

"No we have two gallons in the garage fridge."

Like I said pretty simple but it really hit me.  He I was in Wal*Mart and shelves where full of things. and the aisles were full of pallets of even more food ready to be stocked onto the shelves.  What a country.  We have so much.

This family has so much they can't store everything inside and yet they are at the store looking for more! 

The same is true of my family.  Although we don't have a fridge or milk in the garage we do have a freezer that is packed with beef, pizza and much more.  What a country.

Praise the Lord we have so much.

The second story is a little less up lifting.

When it was time to check out I got in line and waited my turn to check out.  While I waited  I noticed a lot of celebrity gossip and that there must be about 4 dozen different types and flavors of gum.  But all of that was interrupted by the following conversation between the clerk and the guy checking out in front of me, who happened to be wearing a shirt that said "Game Stop" on the front of it.

Wal*Mart clerk -"do you work at Games Stop?"

Game Stop-"Yes."

Wal*Mart - "Is it great?"

Game Stop- "It's pretty sweet.  I love it."

Wal*Mart - "Not only do you come in here with a cool game stop shirt but now you are telling me that it is a great place to work and I am working at Wal*Mart!"

Game Stop- "Yea and it is better now that school started."

Wal*Mart - "Why's that?"

Game Stop-" Because now the kids aren't coming in all day."

Wal*Mart - "Oh"

Game Stop- "It will be slow until Christmas. Then it gets busier."

Wal*Mart - "We will all be busy at Christmas."

Game Stop- ""I will have to enjoy the time in between the start of school and Christmas."

I could believe it.  This guy with the "sweet" job was happiest when he didn't have customers! 

Do I need to say it?  Isn't it economics 101 to see the need for customers in providing jobs.  Then it hit me  the same country that has all this wealth that our stores and houses overflow with food and supplies also produces a guy that enjoys not having customers at his place of work.

We live in a great county, lets not take it for granted. God bless America.  Enjoy Labor Day.  

Half Empty? I'll Take a Refill

I am not sure what you think of half birthdays.  When my kids were little it made a big difference.  Ask a youngster how old they are and the will gleefully tell you that they are in fact 4 and a half.  It is a big deal.  When you are 4 and half you are no longer just 4. 

Look you get is that of a person that is ready for youth days of pre-school to be over and ready for the grown up world of Kindergarten.  A half birthday matters.

Well I just had my half birthday.  And it was a big deal.  Not because my wife made me a cake.  (She actually did.)  Because at my house we love to find reasons to party and reasons to make a fancy deserts.   It tasted great, even if my friends mocked the occasion.

It was a big deal because I turned 43 and a half.  I realize you are still wondering why that is worth noting much less worth writing about.  Let me explain.

I started working full time at Willmar Electric just after graduating from college and just before my 22 birthday.  For the connivance of math we are going to round up 18 days and say I started at Willmar Electric at 22 years of age.  That means I have work at Willmar Electric (full time) for 21 and a half years. 

If I work another 21 and a half years I will be 65.  In America 65 is generally assumed to be the age of retirement.  No I am not announcing my retirement or making a promise but it seems that I have reached the mid point of my career (22+21.5+21.5=65).  I am on the downhill side of my work life and maybe the downhill side of life, if I live to be 87.

When you are going downhill you can afford to coast. 

That brings my to the purpose of this article.  Last week went to the 2 day telecast of the Global Leadership Summit put on by Chicago's Willow Creek Church.   Going to that seminar got me excited.  I made me energized about the future of Willmar Electric.

It made me excited and energized about my role at Willmar Electric.

It made me excited and energized about my coworkers at Willmar Electric.

It made me excited and energized to get back to Willmar Electric and get to work.

I have learned a lot in the last 21 and a half years.  I plan to continue learning during the next 21 and a half years.  I plan to continue to go UP HILL.

Coasting wouldn't be fair to the people I work for, with and around. I plan to press the gas, not coast downhill.

If we were using the old cliche about is the glass half full or half empty I would say who cares because I plan to keep filling the glass.

So happy half birthday to me.  Gifts will be excepted but not expected.  Feel free to try out a new cake recipe on me.

If you work with me and wish I would let up a little.  I plan to disappointed you.  I plan to increase the speed at which Willmar Electric is moving forward.  I would apologize but I am not sorry.

If you have any ideas on how to improve things, I am all ears.  A self help book recommendation, I am ready to hear about it. 

I haven't reached the peak of life on earth and I don't plan to get there any time soon.  I may only live to be 87. But if I do only live to 87 it won't be because I decided life was half over at 43 and a half.  If I die before 87 I plan to be moving forward.

If you are reading this and you are older then 43 and a half I would encourage you to join me in picking up speed by stepping on the gas pedal in your life.  Life is too short to spend any of it winding down.  (Be like my Dad or Steve Bowen.  They moved into new careers in their 60's.)

If you a slightly younger then me don't allow yourself to get down because your not where you want to be for this time in your life.  Be encouraged because you have a long time left and you have a lot you can do to either continue or start on a upward slope. 

The first step is to take a first step toward the direction you want to be going. 

Expectations

I love to help people set expectation and follow-up with how they are doing.  I do this at both home and at work.  This week I am taking a lazy approach and stealing an article written by a friend and posting it on this blog.

Why rewrite something when somebody has already said it so well.

 .

Happiness isn't second place

Do you enjoy the Olympics?  At the Chapin house we have been watching quite a bit of the coverage.  Even though I would rather be watching baseball.  But I have been told the Olympics comes around only once every 4 years and we always have baseball. 

First let me explain something else about my background.  Like Ice Skating and Boxing I don't consider Gymnastics to be a sport. 

Yep.  You read that correctly I don't consider Gymnastics to be a sport.  On another note I do consider Bowling, Curling and Archery to be sports. 

Before you flip out let me explain.  The reason I don't consider it a sport is due to how it is scored.  You see in Gymnastics (like Boxing) the winner isn't decided based on an objective system of scoring such as the fastest time or the most goals but instead by a panel of judges that give us their opinion on who the winner is.

Don't get me wrong I consider Gymnasts to be athletes.  I just don't consider it to be a sport.  Same is true of Boxers and Ballet Dancers.

Enough about that.

If you have been watching this year women's (girls really) gymnastics you may have noticed why the world thinks Americans are snobs.  First we collectively cried as our darling Jordyn Wieber was left out of the Women's All Around.  Then when our sure thing Vaulter, McKayla Maroney, fell and collected "only" a silver medal, she reacted in a less then gracious manner (see picture of her getting medal above).  Her reaction on TV with the Gold medalist standing right next to her was to barely acknowledge the other competitor.  Maroney said nothing to the Russia Gymnast that was clearly better then her on the day that matter.  Nothing.  Not a word.  Even as the rest of the competitors walked up and congratulated the Russian that had beaten each of them.

Don't get me wrong.  I have always considered second place to be first loser and I was raised by a mother that told me daily, "when you lose say little and when you winsay less."  But I also believe that we need to be gracious in defeat and acknowledge others when they do well.  Even if it comes at our expense.

Last night the Men's Vault was held.  The USA's Sam Mikulak came in 5th.  But for those of us watching at home he gave Americans more to celebrate then Maroney.  Mikulak was in 3rd place with two more gymnasts to go.  When the second to last competitor went and had, in the opinion of the judges, a very good vault Mikulak went over and told the competitor he had done awesome.  Even though the competitor had just eliminated his medal chances. Mikulak was ggracious in defeat.  Left me hoping he has future success.  Not because he is an American but because he is an honorable competitor. 

I doubt I will be cheering for Ms. Maroney.  I find myself hoping she has learn a lesson and will be less arrogant in her future endeavors. 

As an electrical contractor we find ourselves bidding projects and losing quite a bit.  I will admit there are times that we find the low bidder to be scary low and wonder how our competitor can possibly do the work for the price they submitted.  But we don't run down our competitor.  We except the results and move on. 

As an electrical contractor we are given many chances to weigh in on our competitors and the quality of their work and people.  People often try to bait us into running down our competition.  But we resist the urge. 

It isn't up to us define our competition.  It is up to us to do our best and concentrate on improving our performance.  We can control our actions and with that our results.  Once we have done that we need to be gracious in our reaction. 

Because it is often our reaction that leaves the lasting memory with others.

(On a side note I resisted the urge to title this blog "I'm a Loser."  Even though it would've given a nod to England's own The Beatles.)

All her bags are packed, she is ready to go.

The title sounds like both the lyrics to a country song and a misquote of a John Denver classic.  But it is neither.  It is the lead in to another life lesson drawn for the real events surrounding the life of one of my kids.  This time the model is my youngest daughter Sara.

Let me give you some background on my daughter.  Sara is 13 and entering the 8th grade.  She is what most people would consider a Tomboy.  Sara's clothing "style" of choice is "modern athletic".  She wears sports shorts and tee-shirts.  She has a free and easy hair style and has had a busy summer schedule.

The highlights of her summer includes several trips.

• A trip to Grandma and Grandpa's lake place with 4 friends.
• The girls Trip to California. (Past blogs on ManWeek highlight this event.)
• A week at Bible camp in MN
• A week at Grand Camp in CO.

Summer is 11 weeks long and she was on the road for 4 of them.

That is a lot of packing. 

Before one trip I poked my head in her room and asked if she was packed yet. 

She said yes and asked if I wanted to see what she had packed.  I said yes, of course, and ventured in to her room.

Now keep in mind Sara's "free and easy style," it would allow for grabbing a few things and hitting the road.  But what I found was much more thought out.  Sara had laid out outfits for each day. 

When I asked probing questions like what if you get a shirt gets dirty half way through the day and she needs another?  She pointed out her back-up plan.

When I asked about various weather chances and her plans to deal with the possibilities, she told me that she checked the weather and then told me her plans for adjusting to the changes should they happen. 

Now you are likely thinking.  I bet she packed everything.  You are saying to yourself, "right Dave she over packed" and "did it take a fork lift to haul her things away." Wrong, she didn't do any of those things.  She grabbed the smallest suitcase in the house and packed it for the trip.

Last week when I was at my brother, Justin's, house his 10 year son was packing for a trip to Grand Camp.  When I opened the front door I saw 6 unique hats laid out ready to go the next day.  He had a Cardinals hat, a Cowboy hat, Goofy Ears, Red Sox hat, another Cowboy hat and more all ready to go.  When I asked Karl what the deal was he told me the camp leader like to wear different hats everyday and he was planning to do the same thing. 

Karl was ready for fun.  (He had boots for the cowboy hat days.)  The theme for the Camp was Western.  Karl had done his research.

OK, so big deal the two kids can pack for a trip.  They share the same birthday, maybe everybody born on December 10th has a weird packing habit/talent. Not really. 

I actually saw a life lesson in it all.  If a 13 year old Tomboy can pack lightly yet still make sure she is covered and a 10 year old can plan next weeks headgear, can't we all plan better in our lives. 

Do I approach everything in my life with that same outlook that Sara and Karl use when packing?

• I am reviewing what is going to happen and do I have everything I will need to get through the week?
• What if something changes?  Am I ready for that?
• Did I "check the weather/"
• Do I maintain my own uniqueness while still looking at the future? Or do I hold tightly to chaos because I want to keep my options open?

Is your life "packed" for next week?