Tuesday, November 25, 2014
I Like Pie
Every Thanksgiving I hold a tournament. Various people bring pies to the party and I eat a piece of each pie. By piece I mean I each an entire piece. Not a sliver or just a taste. I eat 1/8 of each pie. Then I declare a winner and eat a second piece of that pie. There have been years that I have eaten 8 pieces of pie. I realize this means that some years I eat over 4,000 calories in pie.
I like to have these blogs relate back to a life lesson or part of Willmar Electric’s foundational principles. So today my self-imposed challenge is to relate my Pie Tournament to each of the core values, brand promise, marketing slogan and BHAG.
Core Values
Thrifty-Eating this much pie has very little to do with being thrifty but the chances of us having leftover pie is decreased by my eating so much of them.
Meeting Customer Needs-The people that make the pies typically ask me what kind of pies I would like to eat.
Treating others the way they want to be treated-I try them all. All pies get a shot at winning. No pie is left out.
Merit Shop-Every pie gets an even chance but in the end the best one (and only one) is declared as the best and elevated above the rest based on its merit (taste).
Brand Promise
On-time-You need to get started on pie eating right away or the party runs out of pies.
Organized-Eating 5-8 pieces of pie needs to happen in a certain order and at a certain pace. You need to figure which ones might have a run on them (French silk) and eat them early before they are gone. Others (sour cream raisin) can be eaten at any time.
Approachable-During the tournament I am very approachable especially if you are bringing me pie.
Marketing Slogan
Design-Like I mentioned above I often help select the pies that are brought to the party.
Build-I play a very small role in the baking or making of a select few pies.
Beyond-I help with the dishes.
BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)
Choosing the projects we want to do and making money doing them. Every year I manage to get a second pie of the party’s most popular pie, French Silk.
Happy Thanksgiving. Give thanks to the Lord and enjoy the pie.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Brownies and Potato Oles
Last week Tyler Brown and I spent a day giving each other a hard time and mocking the other person. Somebody noticed the trend and pointed it out to us. The person went so far as to say to us “are you treating the other person the way you want to be treated?” We agreed that they had a point.
So we reversed course and started being nice to each other. Not really all that hard since I like Tyler. It shouldn’t be too hard to be nice to somebody you like and respect.
Instead of trading barbs and insults we were civil.
Last night my wife served brownies to my son’s friends when they stopped over. Because I knew that they were Tyler’s favorite snack I brought one to him.
Then at lunch Tyler went to Taco Johns. He even sat down next to me and starting eating his meal. No big deal. The room was full of other people eating.
No big deal that is if you don’t know the Chapin family. Let me give you some background. My family has an unhealthy attachment to Potato Oles, literally. The point wasn’t missed on Misty Lauer. She started to laugh as soon as Tyler sat down.
So what did Tyler do?
He shared his Potato Oles with me. (Sue isn’t going to be happy to learn that she made the bars but I got the Oles).
I am not suggesting that we should live in a world where we keep score and figure that if I bring you a snack you should “repay” me. Neither Tyler nor I were expecting to be paid for our actions. It was just a natural outgrowth of treating people the way we wanted to be treated. It worked when we were mean to each other and quickly turned 180 degrees when we were nice to each other.
Thank you Tyler for the unintended example (and Potato Oles).
Luckily we work at a place that has treating other as you want to be treated as a core value. Now I just need to make sure I live up to that standard.
So we reversed course and started being nice to each other. Not really all that hard since I like Tyler. It shouldn’t be too hard to be nice to somebody you like and respect.
Instead of trading barbs and insults we were civil.
Last night my wife served brownies to my son’s friends when they stopped over. Because I knew that they were Tyler’s favorite snack I brought one to him.
Then at lunch Tyler went to Taco Johns. He even sat down next to me and starting eating his meal. No big deal. The room was full of other people eating.
No big deal that is if you don’t know the Chapin family. Let me give you some background. My family has an unhealthy attachment to Potato Oles, literally. The point wasn’t missed on Misty Lauer. She started to laugh as soon as Tyler sat down.
So what did Tyler do?
He shared his Potato Oles with me. (Sue isn’t going to be happy to learn that she made the bars but I got the Oles).
I am not suggesting that we should live in a world where we keep score and figure that if I bring you a snack you should “repay” me. Neither Tyler nor I were expecting to be paid for our actions. It was just a natural outgrowth of treating people the way we wanted to be treated. It worked when we were mean to each other and quickly turned 180 degrees when we were nice to each other.
Thank you Tyler for the unintended example (and Potato Oles).
Luckily we work at a place that has treating other as you want to be treated as a core value. Now I just need to make sure I live up to that standard.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
"Workstyle" Change
It is often hard to notice progress in life and it has always been hard for me to wait for things in life. So I am trying harder to look at the long term more often and recently I noticed a very encouraging sign among my co-workers in the Lincoln office.
Let me give you some background.
People that know me know that I value organization and keeping things neat. I believe it is hard to keep things straight in your head if you can’t keep your surrounding tidy. I have never said or heard anybody else say about another person, “Their office looks chaotic but there are really organized. “ (You can substitute the words desk, room or house for the word office if you like.)
I have worked with people on trying to be organized in their approach to their work space over the years and had some success but during 2014 I have made it a focus. Word organized is part of our brand promise.
So in addition to modeling organization I have been openly talking about it. I have suggested resources for helping people be organized and have even given out books on the topic. I wanted to see organization grow past Sylvia’s desk.
I would have assumed that everybody would see the light and get organized quickly. They didn’t. At least not everybody all at once.
But Justin Jung did. He took it upon himself to organize and maintain an organized office. Eight months later he is still going strong.
Then came Tyler Brown. He took it to the next level. Now I try to match his level of organization.
Now Dan Williams has jumped into the game.
Slowly but surely we are getting more organized. It's fun. I say that not because I want others to be like me but because it works and people are becoming more productive and are easier to work with as they get organized. Our common spaces are 200% then last year and we are continuing to make improvements. Many others not named in this blog have made progress in this area but Justin, Tyler and Dan are completely transformed!!! The have made a change in their “workstyle.”
I realize that other areas within the company have also followed suit. Some examples are:
-The part carts at Camp Ripley and Fort Sill.
-I have been told that the cupboards in the corporate office are labeled and it is easy to find things in them.
-Steve Gardner’s drawers would make Tyler Brown proud.
-But the best example is the Willmar Shop. We have come a long ways in keeping it organized and it is not a coincidence that projects in the area started to save hours (and material) as the shop got more and more organized.
Approachable, On time and Organized. We talk about it every day in our huddles. Tyler, Justin and Dan in addition to Jake, Justin, Ruth and Steve along with several others that are taking being organized serious on a day to day basis. It is great to see.
Three books are very good resources in this area.
-“2 Second Lean” by Paul Akers
-“Take Back Your Life!” by Sally McGhee and John Wittry
-“Getting Things Done” by David Allan
Let me give you some background.
People that know me know that I value organization and keeping things neat. I believe it is hard to keep things straight in your head if you can’t keep your surrounding tidy. I have never said or heard anybody else say about another person, “Their office looks chaotic but there are really organized. “ (You can substitute the words desk, room or house for the word office if you like.)
I have worked with people on trying to be organized in their approach to their work space over the years and had some success but during 2014 I have made it a focus. Word organized is part of our brand promise.
So in addition to modeling organization I have been openly talking about it. I have suggested resources for helping people be organized and have even given out books on the topic. I wanted to see organization grow past Sylvia’s desk.
I would have assumed that everybody would see the light and get organized quickly. They didn’t. At least not everybody all at once.
But Justin Jung did. He took it upon himself to organize and maintain an organized office. Eight months later he is still going strong.
Then came Tyler Brown. He took it to the next level. Now I try to match his level of organization.
Now Dan Williams has jumped into the game.
Slowly but surely we are getting more organized. It's fun. I say that not because I want others to be like me but because it works and people are becoming more productive and are easier to work with as they get organized. Our common spaces are 200% then last year and we are continuing to make improvements. Many others not named in this blog have made progress in this area but Justin, Tyler and Dan are completely transformed!!! The have made a change in their “workstyle.”
I realize that other areas within the company have also followed suit. Some examples are:
-The part carts at Camp Ripley and Fort Sill.
-I have been told that the cupboards in the corporate office are labeled and it is easy to find things in them.
-Steve Gardner’s drawers would make Tyler Brown proud.
-But the best example is the Willmar Shop. We have come a long ways in keeping it organized and it is not a coincidence that projects in the area started to save hours (and material) as the shop got more and more organized.
Approachable, On time and Organized. We talk about it every day in our huddles. Tyler, Justin and Dan in addition to Jake, Justin, Ruth and Steve along with several others that are taking being organized serious on a day to day basis. It is great to see.
Three books are very good resources in this area.
-“2 Second Lean” by Paul Akers
-“Take Back Your Life!” by Sally McGhee and John Wittry
-“Getting Things Done” by David Allan
Monday, July 28, 2014
Flowers in the Wall
As I typically do every weekend I mowed my yard on Saturday. While mowing I noticed a flower growing out of a retaining wall in my backyard. Yep, right in the middle of the block wall was a blooming flower.
It wasn’t there the week before. If I would’ve seen it before it bloomed I would have pulled it because it would’ve looked like a weed and I hate weeds.
Seeing the flower growing in a wall amazed me. How did it do grow there? I remember thinking to myself “weeds can grow anywhere but not flowers.” At the Chapin house flowers can be hard to grow. You can plant a flower in great soil, water them and make sure they get plenty of sun light and still they don’t grow unless the condition remain perfect. Miss a week of watering or forget to keep track of the puppy and the flower dies.
Seeing the flower made me think of the entire situation as a metaphor on life.
It is easy to get negative things to thrive. Bad situations seems to feed themselves. All a weed (or bad situation) needs to take root and take off is a small crack.
But getting the positive to thrive takes hard work. Care, nurture and attention are normally required to make the positive take root. So much so that when a flower (or positive situation) takes off without those things is a shocking to see.
It wasn’t there the week before. If I would’ve seen it before it bloomed I would have pulled it because it would’ve looked like a weed and I hate weeds.
Seeing the flower growing in a wall amazed me. How did it do grow there? I remember thinking to myself “weeds can grow anywhere but not flowers.” At the Chapin house flowers can be hard to grow. You can plant a flower in great soil, water them and make sure they get plenty of sun light and still they don’t grow unless the condition remain perfect. Miss a week of watering or forget to keep track of the puppy and the flower dies.
Seeing the flower made me think of the entire situation as a metaphor on life.
It is easy to get negative things to thrive. Bad situations seems to feed themselves. All a weed (or bad situation) needs to take root and take off is a small crack.
But getting the positive to thrive takes hard work. Care, nurture and attention are normally required to make the positive take root. So much so that when a flower (or positive situation) takes off without those things is a shocking to see.
Monday, May 19, 2014
How do you Rate?
Last week I had the honor of interviewing candidates for two open teaching positions at the local Christian School’s elementary school. Like all interviews we asked a lot of question in our effort to get to know the candidates better.
One question that we asked was “on a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate yourself in Bible knowledge?” It is a tricky question. Answer too high and you seem like an overconfident show off but answer too low and you likely won’t be hired. It was really a trap. After asking it once we decided it wasn’t a fair question so we stopped using it as part of the decision making process. But we continued to ask the question as part of a social experiment.
During a break I asked the principal that was conducting the interview how he would rate himself. He said about a 4. I said I was thinking I was thinking I was a 3-4. I asked the principal if his self-answer was higher or lower than it would have been for himself 10 years ago. He said he would rate himself lower than 10 years ago. I said
I would definitely give myself a lower score today than 10 years ago.
Clearly neither of us was going backwards or unlearning things from the Bible.
The more I dig into the subject of the Bible I find that I have so much more to learn.
Over the weekend I had the chance to ask my children and some of their friends the same question. Everybody was in the 3-4 range as well. All of these children are high school students at a Christian school. They go to bible class every day and church every Sunday. One of them said “so the lower the score the better you understand the Bible.” He might be right.
I am sure that the same is true of every subject. It seems the more you study a subject, the more you realize how much you don’t know about that subject. Hopefully that realization drive you to keep studying.
Pretty humbling isn’t it.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
We Measure Results Not Effort. (Just ask the Chicken).
Today my son, Mike, send me a text message that says,
“It is no use saying ‘we’re doing our best’ you have go to succeed in doing what is necessary”
Winston Churchill
What a quote. Getting the text made me smile for many reason. The first reason is because it came from my son. Getting that quote from Mike told me that he has been listening. He is actually catching what I am saying.
The second reason the quote made me smile is that I love Winston Churchill and getting a quote from him is golden.
The third and most important reason it made me smile was because of what it meant. It is a home run of a quote. Today’s society has evolved into a culture that gives too little attention to results and rewards effort far too much. Let me state my case here.
“It the thought that counts.”
“I gave it my best shot.”
“We need 110% from you.”
To most people that hear clichés like that and think they are positive remarks. I don’t. I think they are lame and full of excuses. Don’t get me wrong. They have their place in polite conversation. For example when drawing a picture for Grandma “it is the thought that counts” not the quality of the picture. When learning a new hobby or playing a game for fun “giving it your best shot” is acceptable.
Do I like it when my team has dirty uniforms because they went all out? Yes and I expect it. But in cases where winning is what matters it isn’t the team that sweats the most that wins. Idea that “it’s not who wins or loses but instead how you played the game that matters” is another clichés that has run its course. True you need to follow the rules. I don’t believe in winning at all cost if the way to winning is cheating or breaking the rules.
But in the real world it is results that matter. Over time we look at the scoreboard and not the jerseys to see who won the game. In backyard volleyball games at the family reunion winning and losing might not matter but unless you’re the Chicago Cubs or Detroit Lions continually losing will cost those players and coaches their jobs (and fans). You will likely continue to invite all the cousins, aunts and uncles to future family reunions regardless of the final score. You may even continue to have your high school buddy on the slow pitch softball team regardless of his lack of results. But in the parts of life that count we need to make sure we are delivering results.
Let me give you an example.
Do you prefer to work with somebody that does their job as required with a minimum number of mistakes or work with somebody that is trying their hardest but often embarrass the organization with what they produce or make you work harder or differently to cover up for their short comings?
Because at work we depend on winning. When people perform poorly it can result in horrible results for co-workers. Injuries, job loss, and customer loss are all common results from a co-workers poor performance. It isn’t always just the person that makes the mistakes that suffers.
A poor performer actions can result losing a customer and everybody that depends on that customer plus some overhead personal will lose their job when we lose the customer.
My unsafe behavior can result in your injury. (Have you ever been rear-ended in a car?)
Should we try our hardest? Yes. But more than effort we need results. An electrician that works hard and installs 180’ of conduit in a day isn’t has handy to have around as somebody that puts up 240’ with ease. (Assuming the quality is to our standards.)
Let me tell you a story.
When my daughter was in elementary school they had baby chicks in their class room. The chicks need to go home with a student on the weekend. Finally after a few weeks our turn came to host some of the birds.
Our dog wasn’t good with sharing our home with chicks. He didn’t want to leave them alone. So if wanted a break from playing keep the dog from the chicks you had to move the birds to a safe place.
We put them inside the tub in our master bath. The dog couldn’t get into the tub and it meant he had to open 2 doors to get in the room.
The neighbor girl come over and our daughter wanted to show the chicks to her friend so she took her into the bathroom and showed her the chicks.
About 30 minutes later the dog came down stairs with a chick in his mouth.
I raced up stairs to find two open doors and tub full of water. A trickle of water was coming out of the faucet.
The neighbor girl admitted that she had bumped the faucet but thought she had turned it off. The dog took advantage of the fact that the chick was now floating and “rescued” it from the tub.
The Chapin family did everything they could to keep the chicks safe. Maximum effort. But very bad results. The class forgive us for not delivering live chicks on Monday (It helped that another family had lost a chick over the weekend.) But they didn’t send any more chicks with us. We weren’t equipped for the task (mostly because of the dog).
______________________________________________________________________________________
I realize you might be angry at this blog and be thinking I am too harsh but winning isn’t everything. If that is the case I would love to hear from you.
“It is no use saying ‘we’re doing our best’ you have go to succeed in doing what is necessary”
Winston Churchill
What a quote. Getting the text made me smile for many reason. The first reason is because it came from my son. Getting that quote from Mike told me that he has been listening. He is actually catching what I am saying.
The second reason the quote made me smile is that I love Winston Churchill and getting a quote from him is golden.
The third and most important reason it made me smile was because of what it meant. It is a home run of a quote. Today’s society has evolved into a culture that gives too little attention to results and rewards effort far too much. Let me state my case here.
“It the thought that counts.”
“I gave it my best shot.”
“We need 110% from you.”
To most people that hear clichés like that and think they are positive remarks. I don’t. I think they are lame and full of excuses. Don’t get me wrong. They have their place in polite conversation. For example when drawing a picture for Grandma “it is the thought that counts” not the quality of the picture. When learning a new hobby or playing a game for fun “giving it your best shot” is acceptable.
Do I like it when my team has dirty uniforms because they went all out? Yes and I expect it. But in cases where winning is what matters it isn’t the team that sweats the most that wins. Idea that “it’s not who wins or loses but instead how you played the game that matters” is another clichés that has run its course. True you need to follow the rules. I don’t believe in winning at all cost if the way to winning is cheating or breaking the rules.
But in the real world it is results that matter. Over time we look at the scoreboard and not the jerseys to see who won the game. In backyard volleyball games at the family reunion winning and losing might not matter but unless you’re the Chicago Cubs or Detroit Lions continually losing will cost those players and coaches their jobs (and fans). You will likely continue to invite all the cousins, aunts and uncles to future family reunions regardless of the final score. You may even continue to have your high school buddy on the slow pitch softball team regardless of his lack of results. But in the parts of life that count we need to make sure we are delivering results.
Let me give you an example.
Do you prefer to work with somebody that does their job as required with a minimum number of mistakes or work with somebody that is trying their hardest but often embarrass the organization with what they produce or make you work harder or differently to cover up for their short comings?
Because at work we depend on winning. When people perform poorly it can result in horrible results for co-workers. Injuries, job loss, and customer loss are all common results from a co-workers poor performance. It isn’t always just the person that makes the mistakes that suffers.
A poor performer actions can result losing a customer and everybody that depends on that customer plus some overhead personal will lose their job when we lose the customer.
My unsafe behavior can result in your injury. (Have you ever been rear-ended in a car?)
Should we try our hardest? Yes. But more than effort we need results. An electrician that works hard and installs 180’ of conduit in a day isn’t has handy to have around as somebody that puts up 240’ with ease. (Assuming the quality is to our standards.)
Let me tell you a story.
When my daughter was in elementary school they had baby chicks in their class room. The chicks need to go home with a student on the weekend. Finally after a few weeks our turn came to host some of the birds.
Our dog wasn’t good with sharing our home with chicks. He didn’t want to leave them alone. So if wanted a break from playing keep the dog from the chicks you had to move the birds to a safe place.
We put them inside the tub in our master bath. The dog couldn’t get into the tub and it meant he had to open 2 doors to get in the room.
The neighbor girl come over and our daughter wanted to show the chicks to her friend so she took her into the bathroom and showed her the chicks.
About 30 minutes later the dog came down stairs with a chick in his mouth.
I raced up stairs to find two open doors and tub full of water. A trickle of water was coming out of the faucet.
The neighbor girl admitted that she had bumped the faucet but thought she had turned it off. The dog took advantage of the fact that the chick was now floating and “rescued” it from the tub.
The Chapin family did everything they could to keep the chicks safe. Maximum effort. But very bad results. The class forgive us for not delivering live chicks on Monday (It helped that another family had lost a chick over the weekend.) But they didn’t send any more chicks with us. We weren’t equipped for the task (mostly because of the dog).
______________________________________________________________________________________
I realize you might be angry at this blog and be thinking I am too harsh but winning isn’t everything. If that is the case I would love to hear from you.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Workforce Development
As many of you may already know I am active in ABC. You might wonder why I give so much time to ABC. Watch this video and it will give you a very good idea why.
I love the USA and all it stands for. Construction is a vital part of our American economy. I think workforce development is a key to making the construction industry better.
Let me preface the video by telling you that I am a college graduate and I have a daughter currently in college. So obviously I’m not opposed to going to college. I am opposed to sending everybody to college.
I can also tell you from personal experience that at Willmar Electric the compensation for the top level non-college graduates is higher than the college graduates.
If you have teenagers you need to watch this video. If you want to develop a better workforce you need to watch this video.
http://workforceunderconstruction.com/featured/success-in-the-new-economy-technical-skills-vs-college/
If you are interested in more check out this even shorter video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSRaglKr3lk
I love the USA and all it stands for. Construction is a vital part of our American economy. I think workforce development is a key to making the construction industry better.
Let me preface the video by telling you that I am a college graduate and I have a daughter currently in college. So obviously I’m not opposed to going to college. I am opposed to sending everybody to college.
I can also tell you from personal experience that at Willmar Electric the compensation for the top level non-college graduates is higher than the college graduates.
If you have teenagers you need to watch this video. If you want to develop a better workforce you need to watch this video.
http://workforceunderconstruction.com/featured/success-in-the-new-economy-technical-skills-vs-college/
If you are interested in more check out this even shorter video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSRaglKr3lk
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Going Lean
This is going to be a very short blog. Many people at Willmar Electric have been studying and reading about subject of LEAN construction. The book we are focusing on is "2 Second Lean" by Paul A Akers.
It is a great book. To learn more check out this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pDcmUvtL6w
To learn a lot more check out this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUmY8WnnpU
The website http://www.2secondlean.com/ has many more interesting videos that will get you fired up about continuous improvement.
It is a great book. To learn more check out this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pDcmUvtL6w
To learn a lot more check out this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPUmY8WnnpU
The website http://www.2secondlean.com/ has many more interesting videos that will get you fired up about continuous improvement.
Friday, January 10, 2014
A Tale of Two Basketball Players
My oldest daughter Anne has gone off to college. That means we only have two children living with us full time.
Mike is a junior in high school. Sara is a freshman in high school. They both play basketball and that means my wife, Sue, and I get to spend our winter in the stands watching a lot of basketball.
Mike was recently promoted to the varsity. It is dream come true for him. (As a former basketball player that had to quit for health reasons in the middle of my sophomore season I will admit it is a dream come true for me as well.)
Well done Mike you are awesome. I was told by the coach that it came from hard work and practice.
Sara is a very good basketball player but has had injury problems the last two years. It has cut into her playing time and made getting on the court hard this season. But she is gutting it out and has told me that “she has three years left” and we are sure she will get back to 100%.
As a parent it is fun to watch your children play basketball. Especially fun when they score points.
But Mike’s position as the new guy on the varsity and Sara’s health means we haven’t seen huge point totals out of either of them.
That leads into the next two stories about this basketball season.
A few weeks ago we saw Sara sitting in the stands watching Mike play and talking to a girl that is about 3 years younger than Sara. Later that day that same youngster posted on Social Media how awesome Sara was.
It isn’t anywhere close to the first time we have heard from somebody about what a huge positive impact Sara has had in the life of a young child. In fact we hear it a lot. Sara wants to grow up and be a 4th grader teacher. It seems like a perfect fit.
Over Christmas break we were told on multiple occasions about how a younger high school player was excited because something made him more like Mike Chapin. The player had brought up many examples of being like Mike. But younger player wasn’t talking about jump shots or rebounds. It wasn’t Mike’s basketball life that he wanted be like.
He wanted to “be like Mike” the person.
If Mike or Sara finishes their basketball careers with 1,000 points we won’t be as impressed with them as we are with these two stories.
(P.S. We are sure that the same stories are going on at Bethel but we don’t know those students parents and siblings.)
Mike and Sara are People Making a Difference for People!!!
Mike is a junior in high school. Sara is a freshman in high school. They both play basketball and that means my wife, Sue, and I get to spend our winter in the stands watching a lot of basketball.
Mike was recently promoted to the varsity. It is dream come true for him. (As a former basketball player that had to quit for health reasons in the middle of my sophomore season I will admit it is a dream come true for me as well.)
Well done Mike you are awesome. I was told by the coach that it came from hard work and practice.
Sara is a very good basketball player but has had injury problems the last two years. It has cut into her playing time and made getting on the court hard this season. But she is gutting it out and has told me that “she has three years left” and we are sure she will get back to 100%.
As a parent it is fun to watch your children play basketball. Especially fun when they score points.
But Mike’s position as the new guy on the varsity and Sara’s health means we haven’t seen huge point totals out of either of them.
That leads into the next two stories about this basketball season.
A few weeks ago we saw Sara sitting in the stands watching Mike play and talking to a girl that is about 3 years younger than Sara. Later that day that same youngster posted on Social Media how awesome Sara was.
It isn’t anywhere close to the first time we have heard from somebody about what a huge positive impact Sara has had in the life of a young child. In fact we hear it a lot. Sara wants to grow up and be a 4th grader teacher. It seems like a perfect fit.
Over Christmas break we were told on multiple occasions about how a younger high school player was excited because something made him more like Mike Chapin. The player had brought up many examples of being like Mike. But younger player wasn’t talking about jump shots or rebounds. It wasn’t Mike’s basketball life that he wanted be like.
He wanted to “be like Mike” the person.
If Mike or Sara finishes their basketball careers with 1,000 points we won’t be as impressed with them as we are with these two stories.
(P.S. We are sure that the same stories are going on at Bethel but we don’t know those students parents and siblings.)
Mike and Sara are People Making a Difference for People!!!
Monday, January 6, 2014
Elmo Chapin Day 2014
Today would have been my Grandpa’s 92st birthday. Every year I send out a tribute to him and encourage others to consider leaving their world better than they found it in honor of him. I call it Elmo Chapin day.
Last year I posted this note and I am reposting it today.
Here is how my Grandpa worked. He was a servant. He thought that you should always leave a room or any other place in better shape than you found it.
So if he saw a piece of garbage on the floor he didn’t wonder who put it there. He picked it up and threw it away. If he was leaving a room he turned off the lights when he left the room.
He wasn’t perfect.
At times he left you wondering how a person could so easily notice and take care of three scraps of paper in a public restroom but was unable to clean the stacks of useless piles of paper out of his own office. The temptation to ask him how a 6 year old magazine on a subject he could care less about wasn’t garbage just like the paper towel you picked up off the floor ten minutes ago came to me quite often. His office was always beyond a mess.
My Grandpa not only used this concept on the small level I have suggested above but he carried it out to a much larger level. Thing that he worked on in his life like give to and supporting missionaries at church, starting the alarm division at Willmar Electric, and helping widows or the underprivileged are larger examples of his wanting to make the world a better place. Giving people a hand up in the world made his day.
Finding a job or a place to live for somebody down on their luck was typical of Elmo Chapin.
Over the past few years of my declaring an Elmo Chapin day I have received several warm responses from people about how much they appreciated and loved my Grandpa. They are always fun to receive. I have also seen countless examples of people being like Elmo Chapin. That is even more fun. (Even when it was Dan Williams shutting off the lights on a room full of people leaving us in complete blackness as he left the room. He laughed and we reminded him that shutting off the lights when you leave a room applies only if you are the last to leave!)
But his concern for his fellow man and the world around us was something we all need to try to emulate.
A link to another post on “Elmo Chapin Day 2012” is below.
http://willmar-electric.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-birthday.html
Last year I posted this note and I am reposting it today.
Here is how my Grandpa worked. He was a servant. He thought that you should always leave a room or any other place in better shape than you found it.
So if he saw a piece of garbage on the floor he didn’t wonder who put it there. He picked it up and threw it away. If he was leaving a room he turned off the lights when he left the room.
He wasn’t perfect.
At times he left you wondering how a person could so easily notice and take care of three scraps of paper in a public restroom but was unable to clean the stacks of useless piles of paper out of his own office. The temptation to ask him how a 6 year old magazine on a subject he could care less about wasn’t garbage just like the paper towel you picked up off the floor ten minutes ago came to me quite often. His office was always beyond a mess.
My Grandpa not only used this concept on the small level I have suggested above but he carried it out to a much larger level. Thing that he worked on in his life like give to and supporting missionaries at church, starting the alarm division at Willmar Electric, and helping widows or the underprivileged are larger examples of his wanting to make the world a better place. Giving people a hand up in the world made his day.
Finding a job or a place to live for somebody down on their luck was typical of Elmo Chapin.
Over the past few years of my declaring an Elmo Chapin day I have received several warm responses from people about how much they appreciated and loved my Grandpa. They are always fun to receive. I have also seen countless examples of people being like Elmo Chapin. That is even more fun. (Even when it was Dan Williams shutting off the lights on a room full of people leaving us in complete blackness as he left the room. He laughed and we reminded him that shutting off the lights when you leave a room applies only if you are the last to leave!)
But his concern for his fellow man and the world around us was something we all need to try to emulate.
A link to another post on “Elmo Chapin Day 2012” is below.
http://willmar-electric.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-birthday.html
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