What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

Death is a pretty morbid subject but I am going to try and put a positive spin on it.  Death is inevitable so almost everyone has likely had the the misfortune of losing someone close to them. I have been very fortunate to have not lost too many loved ones (knock on wood) but those I have lost definitely had an impact on me.  For instance my grandfather passed away a few years ago who is one of the most gentle and kind people I have come to know.  Seeing him in an open casket was nice in that I got to see him one last time but obviously difficult for the mind to consume.  We often take those around us for granted but during funerals we are all reminded how fragile life is and how important it is to appreciate those around us.

At work we lost an executive who was deeply loved and appreciated a few months ago that I had met at a restaurant about a year prior to his passing.  I remember hearing everyone talk about him the day everyone learned of his passing and how many people said they would miss him and how genuinely nice he was to others which leads me to the reason I am writing this post.  I recently heard a quote which basically said those we will miss upon death are people who came into the world crying when everyone around them were smiling but when they leave the world they will be smiling when everyone around them is crying.

The Flipflop Generation: How Generation “Y” Will Change the Workforce


As I have mentioned in past posts, I was at a Communications Media Managers Association (CMMA) event last week in Arizona.  Before I was a manager I always hated not getting any information about what my bosses got to learn at the events they attended so I vowed when I became a manager I would communicate everything (as much as possible anyway) that I learned.

CMMA brought a speaker in to talk about the differences of the generations in the workforce which I thought was interesting being a person from the Generation “X” era.  She said her son wears flip flops to work and she gives him a hard time for doing so but he says “oh mom people don’t care what I wear to work”.  Each generation is bringing their own style and way of thinking to the workforce.  As older genreations retire newer generations are going to greatly change the way we manage people, think, and work.

Continue reading

The Future of Education

My First Long Form Blog
I’ve been writing down a few topics in draft form and adding to them as I have time. That may be good news or bad news, depending on if you like to read long posts.  Please know with all blog posts that my ideas are just that, ideas.  Society tends to want to think the way it has always been taught, but change is inevitable.  Bruce Barton said it best with his quote: “when you are through changing, you are through”.

My Educational Experiences
It is no secret I love technology, and sometimes you can’t help but wonder how it will continue to change our lives (for better or worse).  I look back at my education and the teachers who had the daunting task of trying to teach a dunce like me a thing or two.  I never really enjoyed school, in fact, the day I graduated from high school has to be one of the best days of my life. My wife and I have a son who is fifteen months old at the time of this writing.  After talking with a coworker who asked if I had started saving for his college, yet I replied I hadn’t but in the back of my mind I get a “spidey sense” I should.  Part of the reason I haven’t saved for my son’s college is because we have other financial priorities at the moment, but part of me also wonders what college will be like for him in another 17 years.  By not saving for his education, I am taking a calculated risk that in the future, education will be nothing like it is today.  After going through 12 years of public education in 7 schools, I hope it will be very different!

Continue reading