Speed Eater

Eating alone in a restaurant is pitiful anyway, so why go slow?

Free Fish

All but the oldest 2 kids packed up with us and we drove to Chicago to visit Shedd’s Aquarium.  We parked in the garage under Soldier Field and braved the 1/4 mile walk through freezing winds to gladly discover that admission on Mondays and Tuesdays in February is free!  What fun!

So, we used the savings to shop at the mall in Shaumberg and avoiding the lake shore snows got home by 11:30 p.m. 

I even forgot about work for awhile.

Motorpool Duty

I spent the whole day driving around spending money on my motor vehicles.  Between oil changes, body repair, tire repair, and refueling stops I wasted time walking through pet stores, waiting to pick up kids from school or piano lessons, or driving around to all those places again looking for my lost keys.

Billable Busy

I haven’t had this much billable “programming/ consulting/ data  conversion/ project management” work on my plate in years.  It’s good news / bad news.  I’m too busy and I always have to choose who to “not please” this week.

On the bright side, I post more often. 

Celebrating 3 days off line

This is the first thing I’ve typed on my computer in three days.  Nice.

Fastest month on record

It has been confirmed by several reliable sources that October 2007 went by faster than any previous month in recorded history.

Green Bottle Collection

I’ve gotten quite a collection of diet squirt and diet dew bottles in my office.  I’m almost to the point where I can order my “usual” at the local 7-11.

Wrong Steve!

I sent an email to a Steve from church, asking for a time to meet and catch up on things, and to talk to him about possible serving on the board at church this upcoming year.

Actually, the email went to a different Steve who works for one of my customers where I do software development work.  This Steve is on the team who decides what I get to work on. 

“Board”, “Team”, “meeting”, “after worship practice…” There was enough overlap to make it sort of make sense – but not enough to keep it from being really confusing.  Ha ha!  He must have thought I was crazy! 

Freakonomics

I’ve just read the book by the same name.  It was very intriguing.   

A Doctor or Real Estate agent (the expert) can use their expertise in a relationship with you or I (the patient or client) and the asymmetric nature of the information can make it easy for them to cause us to behave in ways that can often be in the expert’s best interest rather than our own.  (Like undergoing a medical procedure or accepting a “reasonable” offer for our house.)

It’s true, and that’s what frightens me because I’m an “expert” worker. 

I’m a software developer with a lot of very technical expertise that I “use” to influence my customers to hire me to do work (and more work) for them.  I think I honestly do what is in my customer’s best interest – but I know that often the process is intimidating for them nevertheless – especially when purchasing software.  Now that I’m more aware of the dynamics of the relationship, I’m going to be more careful to avoid “fear” as a motivational factor in my customer’s decision making process and I’m going to be more intentional about eliminating the informational embalance between us. 

I’m also a Pastor.  What would it be like if I used my Theological training to leverage “informational asymmetry” to gain a greater voice, manipulate someone, or otherwise drive a personal agenda?  Yikes! 

The Bible is for everyone and understandable by everyone.  No wonder Jesus was so hard on the hypocritical religious leaders of his day.

Deliberate Sloth

After too many long hour weeks in a row, and five extra lbs from all the stress related eating, I’ve decided to deliberately rest.  (again)

I don’t mind sprinting once in awhile, but the cost of burnout is too great and the dangers too real to not make an adjustment before it happens.

It’s funny, or sad, I guess.  It’s almost a badge of honor to burnout and then make the adjustments – it’s like only after you destroy yourself or your family – after you really fall – then it’s ok to live in a balanced way.  Anyone who avoids the burnout or makes the adjustment early… well, we’re just lazy, I guess.  That’s what I always think…

So, I’m reminded again, it’s a sprint, not a marathon.  Both take our all, but the latter lasts longer, changes more, and sees more scenery along the way.