Are you a workaholic? How do you know? A friend of mine shared a recent article from FoxNews.com entitled, "12-Step Program to Just Say No -- to Work." It shared a very sad truth. Being a workaholic is an addiction that society applauds. You know what I'm talking about. We see it all the time. Even if the work we do is good, too much means that something is hurting, however we live in a society that asks us to define who we are by what we do. Where did you get your degree? When are you getting your next promotion? How many trips did you go on this year? What's your next big accomplishment? …
Adultitis
My Brother, The ‘Stache Master (Almost)
Tonight I am quite proud of my little brother for finishing as runner-up in the highly prestigious Mustaches For Kids competition. Long-time readers may remember me blogging about this event last year. I was supposed to be a judge, but got sick. I was invited to judge this year as well, but had to decline because I was related to one of the entries. My brother Doug, who moved to Madison with his wife late last summer, has been cultivating his mustache for four weeks now. He ended up going as a sleazy van conversion salesman, and put on quite a performance. His improv and acting experience came …
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Mud Ball, Anyone?
One of my favorite parts about traveling with Jason to gigs is being able to meet different people. People have amazing stories, if you take the time to ask and get to know them. I met a really neat woman in Atlanta a few weeks ago at one of Jason's gigs. Since our visit we have emailed back and forth a few times and she shared with me a great story. Here it is.. "I put some play into my day yesterday when my 17-year-old son and I had an impromptu game of mud ball. …
Tie Day
My dad works at a lumber yard. It's a small town place; been around since 1848. In a sea of gigantic, homogenized lumber yards which feature discount prices (and employees with discount experience) Maze Lumber stands out because of its knowledgeable employees and non-crappy building materials. You'd think this would be enough to stand out in the marketplace. However, price competition is a seductive mistress and it can be easy to be intimidated by the Big Boxes (i.e. Wal-Mart, Menards, etc.) and slip into the belief that you must compete on their terms. This ill-fated belief is why so many mom …
Is Adultitis in Your Lunchbox?
An article in the Houston Chronicle by Nicki Britton got me thinking. The article, which appeared in the Food section, features a brand new cereal bar she says is ideal "for those too grown-up for Rice Krispie Treats."I've got nothing against Special K -- although it needs a few spoonfuls of sugar to make it palatable in my book -- but upon reading this review, I can't help but think: Who's too grown up for Rice Krispie Treats?[tags]Rice Krispie Treats, Adultitis[/tags] …
Earning Rest
When I was in high school and college I took the MBTI or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. ® After answering a series of questions it provides you with your personality profile. There are four divisions of your personality type. They are introversion versus extroversion, sensing versus intuition, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving. You can read more about each mental process and orientation here. At first I was skeptical but when I read my profile I was in shock. The profile of my personality type was very accurate. Since then my friends and I have learned more about this …
A New Ism
Racism, ageism, sexism – these are all wrong and should never be tolerated. On our plane ride home from Tampa the other day I witnessed a new "ism," which I've labeled "kidism." I define kidism as prejudice or discrimination against people who are acting like a kid. It differs from ageism in that with ageism the discrimination is directly related to the age of the person, with kidism the prejudice is related to one's actions instead of their age. Victims of kidism can be both children and adults. …
Escaping Adulthood is a Team Sport
Satisfaction
Tonight as a group of us sat around and watched the Super Bowl half-time show, we just couldn't help but comment about Mick Jagger. How old is he? I'm sure we weren't the only ones having this conversation tonight. Well, I checked. In July he'll be 63. Yes...63! He joked that he could have sung the song "Satisfaction" at the first Super Bowl forty years ago. My brother-in-law, being in his mid-twenties, commented that he didn't know if he could move about and dance like that night after night. He was all over that stage. I have to admit that I'm not a huge Rolling Stones fan, however I will …
Get it Right, Doctors
I’m not one to really follow the lives of celebrities. Honesty, I feel like celebrities are the high school “cool kids.” Why do we care about them? I’ll admit that I know much less than most people about the latest Hollywood gossip. Even though I’m pretty clueless in this area, I sure seem to hear a lot about celebrities contracting the disease called…Exhaustion. The list is astounding really – Colin Farrell, Ashlee Simpson, Mariah Carey, Ruben Studdard, Eminem. The list goes on and on. Recently Helen A. S. Popkin, a MSNBC contributor, wrote an article joking about this trend. She writes: …