Month: April 2005

Sorry but I never realized that that piece of soap was in the shape of a flower. Now the mystery has finally been solved.

For the last couple of years, when I was done doing you know what, I washed my hands with that piece of soap on the bathroom sink.

Now that I think about it, I had noticed that it was of an unusual shape. So unusual in fact that to me it only made sense turning it upside down, as that way it lay more firmly in place. It had never ever crossed my mind that that shape was a flower to be returned to its spot with the flower side lying upwards of course...

A beautiful attractive piece of reddish violet soap ready to be fondled by the next pair of hands.

This mystery had been bothering poor Thea for a very long time, that is until she caught me red-handed. So you are the one!

Yes, I was the culprit all along, and I hadn't ever realized it.

In order to lead a team well and convince them to follow you into the (unknown) future, produce a clear and emphatic "stump speech" made up of the following four items:

• This is - where - we are going.
• This is - why - we are going there.
• This is - who - is going with me.
• This is - how - we are going to get there.

Borrowed from this great book I am reading called Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott.

Lately at night I have been snoring terribly loud. In fact, last night was an especially noisy one for my wife, and she had to shake me no less that three times to get me to stop.

I do not remember this, but she ensures me that I did not react in a grumpy way, but merely accepted her requests by rolling over and stopping. At least until deep slumber caught me again off guard and the loud snoring rose up again like a volcano ready to erupt.

It does not matter if I lie on my back, on my side or whatever; it has become inevitable that at least once a night I start snoring loudly. I used to never snore, and I was always proud of this.

Now for one reason or another I have become just another unknowing sleeper in the general noisiness of all the other snoring fools.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

This week marks exactly one year since I started my new adventure in the wild and crazy world of Internet.

I still think that this great company was the right choice, and I am up for the ongoing challenge to pioneer my way into the unknown year ahead.

Lots of challenges, pitfalls, ups and downs, rewarding projects and what not.

No one can predict the future nowadays, but then again that would be just too boring anyway wouldn't it?

I really don't mind helping my kids with their homework. Those are at least the few moments nowadays that they are willing to sit close to me, listen to what I have to say, and politely thank me. In normal every day life I see them much less, they are embarrassed to be seen with me when they are with their friends, and they seem quite indifferent to the fact that I have been home sitting down stairs most of the evening. I can be useful as a father once in awhile, so at least their is some potential left in that regard.

According to the book I am reading, one of the important principles to which one should focus is:

"Tackle your toughest challenge today."

So then what does this mean to me? Well, at the moment my biggest challenge is:

"Inspire and lead those around me with the proper mix of enthusiasm, positive thinking and clear objectives during difficult times of change. While the future is uncertain, the team and I can influence progress to a great degree, more so than we realize."

My main challenge then is to convince and inspire.

It's sure fun tearing down the house, but it is alot work at the same time. Activites like ripping things apart, yanking out floor boards and hammering hard take care of all that excess agression which has been collecting inside of me all week. Too bad about the sore bones, bloody fingers and stiff back though.

I would say that one of the most difficult and absolutely necessary changes in your life is finally realizing that you should not keep doing what you think others think you should be doing and instead doing what your feelings deep down in your heart have been trying to tell you to do all these years.

Can you believe this?

Here are a couple of interesting thoughts I have been pondering recently:

• You and no one else can create the world around you.
• Your body manifests the pictures you take inside your mind.

I don't know what you believe, but I am fairly confident that there is much truth in these thoughts.

Courage comes from the French work 'coeur' which stands for heart.

Question:
How shall I live my life so that it will mean something more than just a brief wink of biological awareness which in the end disappears forever?

The poor folks at home do not hesitate to remind me regularly to stop all that rochelen as it sometimes gets out of hand and drives them completely nuts.

Sorry about that, but it has been something I have always had since I can remember. When I was a kid everyone would keep telling me to stop rattling.