who?

Found this crazy tip...  Always clear your browser's cookies before booking flights online or use your browser's incognito mode. Many airlines and travel web sites (such as Expedia, Kayak, etc.) track how many times you've visited their websites. In so doing, they provide different offers and deals depending on the user.

Track me? Wow. I mean I guess I knew that... kinda... but not really...

Today I had someone look at me mid-conversation and snottily say "I realize you have absolutely no idea what I do in a day, but..."  Thankfully my poker face has improved over the last 2 years... but my brain - at least the part not controlling my face -  was saying... "and you have no idea what my "normal" looks like pal".

Websites know all about every click we make... and the people around us have no idea...

But do we share ourselves? Do we listen or just wait to talk? Do we ask the people around us about their worlds?

I don't... I worry they don't want to talk... or they will misinterpret what I mean...  but I wish I knew "what that person does in a day"... not like a statistical web browser factoid... but in a connected empathetic "what are they dealing with" way.

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better. - Abraham Lincoln

can't sit down

day 2 of my work out decision revealed a new muscle... a muscle never known before... a muscle of which I am completely unsure its purpose... a muscle that now has my constant attention.

who knew there is a muscle at the very top of your inside thigh... which can throb with pain upon sitting... or standing???  I was not aware.

This muscle had done its job happily for years... why now? Well... the workout video included the following: me in a push-up like pose - stretching my leg way up in the air - and kicking my leg over my body flipping me over to my back to "make a table".

I looked more like a heap of mess than a table... but I must have needed that muscle to accomplish the flip... because now I am acutely aware of its existence.

...read a book a couple weeks back about strategically choosing experiences outside of your comfort zone to intentionally reach goals...  you won't know the stuff you're really made of... unless you try.

we have so much more in us than we think... abilities, passions, ideas... so much we don't even know is there.  yet.

so swing your leg high... throw it with abandon over your body... and... you just might find something you never knew you had.

where did you learn that?

recently had a ridiculous interaction with extended family... that is entirely explained by my former professor's wife's puppy.

She carefully examined each one... looking for the perfect coat... the sweetest disposition... the cutest tail. After 30 minutes or so, she happily paid the farmer and brought her baby beagle home.

the next morning there was a horrible crowing... she tried to clear her head... where could the noise be coming from? After some groggy investigation... her puppy was found cock-a-doodling.
See... he had been raised under a chicken coup... grew up listening to the sounds of the chickens... day after day... hearing the chickens and roosters... the puppy sounded like his environment. :)

we all sound like our environment. don't we? we talk like our friends. we argue like our parents. - we  do what we have seen patterned.

eventually her puppy stopped crowing... the new environment having it's impact.

the environments we choose... form our destiny... we decide... if we are going to learn to be who we were made to be... or continue to cluck.

It is funny how God can explain things through nature... life is like the tide.

There is a constant wave.. ebb and flow... a constant up and down... a monotonous soothing pattern....
Then there is also the high tide and the low tide.... being aware of what point of the "tide" we are in... changes our response...

You don't look for shells at high tide... and you don't waste your time building castles at low tide.

Confidence

Recently I walked into a group of teachers and began very timidly to express my ideas for revamping the entire department's instructional strategies. It was a feeble attempt at confidence if I ever saw one. Later that week I walk into a meeting with a much larger group of teachers and began very confidently directing a meeting in which I communicated my expectations and required deadlines for them to adhere to.

The difference????
In the first meeting, I was sharing my ideas with nothing behind me but my opinion. In the second meeting, I was communicating by the request of the principal the directives she wished. Why was I confident? Because if they didn't like it, it wasn't on me. It was backed up by a bigger authority.

If I could just remember that I was acting by the will and pleasure of God, then maybe I would be as confident as I was communicating for my principal.
Sociologists tell us that our self-esteem is based on what we believe the most important person in our life thinks about us.

Confidence is only as good as the one in whom you place your confidence.
Am I confident b/c I am pretty? What if get in a car wreck? Am I confident b/c I am smart? What if I am in a room of PhDs? Am I confident b/c people like me? What about when they stop?
People who are truly confident consistently even when "out matched" are not self-confident but God-confident.

I want to be an Educator

According to a news report, a certain private charter school in SanAntonio was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on inthe bathroom.That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.Every night the maintenance man, an old retired Army Master Sergeant,would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal, who also was a former Army Chief Warrant Officer, decided that something had to be done. He called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. He explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for theold sergeant whohad to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult ithad been to clean the mirrors, he asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers... and then there are educators.

Many of you know... I applied to a Principal Master's Degree program. I will find out if I am selected for the next round of interviews in a couple weeks. I hope I am like this principal!!!

ME and the BOYS