Extraordinary Leadership and Failure

I am presently listening to an audio book called, "Extraordinary Leadership" by Robin Sharma. This is actually a free download. It is an 1 hour and 7 minutes but packed with excellent revelations.

One of the disclosures was talking about failures. First, you may wonder what "Extraordinary Leadership" and failure has in common. According to Robin, they are bed buddies. (my words) He believes the Extraordinary Leader will fail at least one time (usually more) every week. If you are not failing you are not trying. It does make a lot of sense, but it is something that we do not see because, all of the successes overshadow the failures.

He also talks about how we must be careful about becoming the stereotype leader that must talk a certain way and act a certain way. The most powerful leaders are real! If you look at the two riches billionaires, according to Forbes, we see Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. To look at their past records and see that Warren failed horribly in real estate while building his empire and Bill is known for his failures in Windows®. Regardless, they are worth billions of dollars. That has to tell us something.

If you want to hear this audio book or a plethora of other free downloads, visit www.learnoutloud.com. This site will require you to sign-up for free and you do not have to enter any credit card. Some audio books can be downloaded direct but other will have a $0.00 charge that will require you to go through the shopping cart. I went through the process and it is painless.

Quote of the day:

Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.
Henry Ward Beecher

Love and Appreciate What You Have

Good morning and welcome back to Whatiz. I wanted to start out this morning's post talking about something that we naturally take for granted. When we are around each other and can predict the behavior of our loved ones, it becomes almost impossible not to take them for granted. We hear the statement that some day they will be gone and we will then wish we could start over and do thing differently. I do not have to say that, at that point, it is "IMPOSSIBLE". We also have the excuse that, "what do you mean? We are too young for something like that to happen!" Well, as the Bible says, we are not promised tomorrow. However, we hear all this and we can still justify our relationships, because all the excuses are nothing more than words.

Let me say that I hope my sweetheart realizes how much I appreciate her but I do not want to assume anything. I try to let her know how amazing she is every day and truly mean every word. We hear about our "better half"… if you look up the word "Better Half" in the dictionary, you would see the definition, "Peggy".

I know this is rather deep for a Monday morning but we truly need to examine our relationships and ourselves. We need to in all honesty, begin to show our appreciation to our families and loved one while it is still "POSSIBLE". Even if they do not show their appreciation.

We received a phone call yesterday from my brother. He delivered some horrible news about my nieces' husband. Apparently, her husband (Scott) was feeling bad and sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, he passed away. Now, I have not heard of any previous ailments, so this was quit sudden. The shocking thing was that he was only 28 years old. My niece (Candy) and Scott has two of the most well behaved small children and now without a daddy.

So you see, even though we do not know when we are to leave this earth, this should be evidence enough that we should show appreciation while it is still POSSIBLE. I know when a drunk driver killed my brother, the statements were made, "we didn't even tell him we loved him" and the response was "well, he would have probably punch you if you would have told him that…" Isn't that sad?

Please keep Candy and her family in your prayers.

Waiting in the "chair"

Peggy and I are out doing a little hunting and gathering. We have been asked to look at Kohl's for some item for my sister-in-law.

So, here I am sitting and waiting for the most wonderful person I know.

It is funny just watching people. The seriousness you can see on peoples faces. The little children running around with what appear to be no parental supervision. Watching the good mothers wrapping her small children at the door before going out in the cold wind. Then, there are those men holding the clothes and purses for their presumed wives. Finally, then comes the assumed professional shopper that says things like, "I know I can get this cheaper at Walmart".

While I was typing this post with my two thumbs, I received a call from my sweetie (Peggy). She wanted to know I could hear the music. Well, I had no music at all where I was sitting. I was at the front door when this call came thru. She was in the shoe department. Apparently, Jon Bon Jovi was playing on the public address system.

Yes, I know. I told you at the top of the Blog, that these posts was going to be "Random thought of Steve Blake"

I would like to encourage everyone to leave comments.

Thank you for coming by and spending some time on me Blog.

More later.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Spring is on the way... YAHHHHH

I don't know if anyone is tired of staying indoors, but now the weather is breaking (for now), the blooms are beginning to show themselves. This is such a good thing to see. On the other hand, I have seen a big snow on Easter... I'm just saying...

When "SMALL" goes to far

Actual Manual

I recently came across this interesting manual for a pair of sunglasses. You know that when Abe is having problems reading this text, things are too small. Of course, Abe is now 200 years old so, I suppose he has an excuse.

Before I got on the plane

I was talking to this nice lady just before I got on the plane. She was a little old grandmother going to Dallas to visit her daughter. Apparently, she has never flown on Southwest. She was asking if she was in the right place. Well, she wasn't and I explained everything to her. Well, she seemed to get concerned when she replied, "No assigned seats? How will they know who we are if we are in a plane crash?". I told her that it didn't matter because, in the event of a crash, you may end up in several seats. Mainly seats closer to the front of the plane. I thought she was going to die laughing.

I know, I am bad.
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Arrived in St. Louis

The flight from Columbus was very nice. Upon arriving in St. Louis, I noticed a flight boarding for Dallas. I inquired about changing my itinerary so I could take advantage of this earlier flight. Apparently, it would be an up-charge of the amount of a new ticket. Obviously, I missed that flight. What does that means? I have a two hour lay over.

And the saga continues...

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First class!

Okay. First class isn't worth the hoopla. I am in the very first seat and I have not received my foot rub yet. Okay, Southwest doesn't have a first class. Everyone is first class that fly Southwest. Wow, do I sound like a commercial?

We only have 60 people on this plane that holds 170. So, this should be a nice flight.

More later...
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Sitting in the airport

Good morning everyone. I am presently sitting in the airport, waiting on a plane for Dallas. This is going to be a very long day because I will be flying back this evening.

I printed my boarding pass (through Southwest Airline) last yesterday. The flight to Dallas required a plane change in St. Louis and therefore, I got two boarding passes pass.

As for the return flight, I could not print the other passes because Southwest will only allow you to print two passes at a time.

It is now time to board, so I will have to go now.

Have a productive day.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Happy St. Patricks Day

That is all!

Christopher and Cameron

Good morning and welcome to another magnificent week. The sun will be shinning (above the clouds) and the temperature will be in the 80's (somewhere). The birds will be singing (actually whistling, because they don't know the words). With all that, life is good (for someone).

I said all that to say... okay, I had to start with something.

We had Christopher and Cameron this weekend for a short time on Saturday, so Chris and Robin could go out on a date. Christopher and Cameron are the most ADORABLE kids in the world (...it is true...). I could just squeeze them to death.

Cameron stayed for a little while on Saturday before going to my mother-n-laws for the night. I barely handle both boys for extended periods of time. Christopher did stay the night and was a joy. The next morning, Peggy and I took Christopher to Sunday School. We asked him if he wanted to go home or go to Sunday School and he wanted to go to Sunday School.

After Sunday School, we took Christopher home and Peggy and I went to a presentation. This presentation was sponsored by Carnival Cruise Line. They are the "cost effective" cruise line and we have sailed with them several times. We had several games and laughs and in the end, we did not win any door prize. We were told of their two new ships they will be coming out with and a bit about the some of the new changes they are making.

Well, that is all for now. Have yourself a wonderful week, don't get too cold, and watch the sunburns. (somewhere)

Ihop

Yes, eat your heart out. I am sitting in an Ihop with a brilliant engineer. I am blowing my diet but that's okay for now.

I am sleepy but have a full day ahead of us. Afterwards, we have a long drive back.

More later.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Rain forest Cafe

I am presently at that the Rain forest Cafe. It is a wild place to shop and eat. I am sitting with Sasha beside a very nice aquarium. The animal are everywhere and the are all very active.

More about that later.

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My day is going much better now

We finally got everything working. This game played out just like a well written action flick. We had a total of 15 minutes to determine if this trip would be a waist of time. So, we began to rack our brains.

We were about to blow $2,500 for this screw-up and the pressure was on. With just a couple minutes left, Sasha discovered something was grounded that was not suppose to be grounded. We removed this ground strap and it worked!!! With only seconds to spare, true testing began.

While the testing was under way, I went out Burger King and bought everyone lunch so they would not have to stop. This way, perhaps we might catch up some of the lost time.

More later.
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Crazy thing are happening

Well, we began our testing this morning and nothing is working. These units were tested before we left.

This is crazy! We are paying big bucks to... Wait... It is working now... :o( no it is not. Grrrrrrrrrrr

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Windy Chicago

My co-worker and good friend got into the Chicago area last night. The intentions were to get all of the electronic equipment setup last night. As it turned out, the test chamber needed for this setup was not ready for us, so we just dropped off the equipment and went to dinner.

Sasha and I went to a sea food restaurant. Things were good but a bit expensive. I had the clam Chowder and shrimp. As expected, the food was great. The dish came with coleslaw and fries but the coleslaw was about one bite and the fries could feed an army. I ate the slaw but did not want the fries.

After dinner, He and I went back to the hotel and I began doing some work with emails and reports. I figure, I can get the reports done early and so I don't have to worry about them later.

I attempted to setup this Blog so I could post to it through a super - secret email address. On the way to Chicago, Sasha and I stopped at Cracker Barrel. I attempted to post an entry to Whatiz and it did not work. I discovered the super - secret email address was not correct and it is now working. So, you may see very short post on some of the events of the day.

Well, that will be it for now. Expect to see some tidbits of activities from time to time.

New updates

Wow, talk about dynamic planning. At 8:30 p.m. last night, I was told the Dallas trip was cancelled. So, Chicago it is! I will be leaving this morning for a few days in the tropical breeze of Chicago. Okay, it is going to be a high of 29°F for the next couple days. I guess I wasted those tanning sessions. :>(

I was also informed by my "events coordinator" (Peggy) that my Brother, Sister-n-law, and niece will not be joining us for the Las Vegas trip. What will we do????

Well, this was quick but I need to leave for Chicago now so if I miss a post or two, that is why.

Until later.

Traveling Dad...

Mountains in Reno, NV

Traveling Dad...( this is a reference to a good friend on MySpace, Traveling Mom...)

One moment it is on, the next it is off. I am in between my next trips at work. On Wednesday, it will be Dallas TX or Chicago IL???? :>) All I know is that I am doing a lot of traveling right now and I am not enjoying it at all. However, it is a necessary evil for this position of which I am enjoying a lot.

I try to bring something back with me each time I go somewhere. On my last trip to Reno, I brought back some excellent photos of the mountains. Unfortunately, the photos were taken with a simple point-and-shoot. This time, I will be taking my camera equipment.

Last night Peggy and I went shopping for some low carbohydrate foods. We are getting ready to go to Las Vegas next month and we need to loose some weight. We are just going to buckle down and look simply marvelous for the trip. We are also beginning to go to the tanning bed so we will not take the chance of getting burned while we sit by the pool and soak in the rays or head out into the desert.

We will be going with my brother Danny, sister-in-law Jill (Party waiting to happen) and niece Britt. I always enjoy going on trips with them. They will actually be going with us on our cruise scheduled for the end of June. More on that later.

Well, that is it for right now. I well let you know how things turn out at work. Here is my prediction... I will end up in Dallas on Wednesday, take care of business there, fly back to Chicago on Wednesday and take care of business there on Thursday and Friday. At that point, I will drive back from Chicago on Friday.

Back from Reno

Yep, that is right. I just got back from a business trip from Reno Nevada. The weather was cold but the scenery was magnificent. I was there on business and stayed at the Peppermill Casino and Resort.

On my way to Reno, I left Columbus and flew through Las Vegas. Boy, I am glad I don't have a gambling addition. Nevertheless, we were actually 15 minutes late on an original layover of 30 minutes. Las Vegas is not a huge airport, so I was able to run from my Columbus flight to my connection in short order. I was the second to last person on the plane before the door closed. As I was huffing and puffing past the "door greeter" and down the cat walk, I was told to not worry, my luggage would make it.

Well, I made the flight and get to Reno when, to my surprise (Not!), no luggage. I fill out all the necessary paperwork and told the front desk to be looking for the luggage and to bring it up as soon as they get it. I was also told that I would have the luggage by 10:00pm (Reno time, 1:00am Columbus time). I am not sure what happened but I woke up at 2:00am (Reno time) and no luggage. My first thoughts were that I have a meeting that morning and the only clothes I have include, jeans and sweatshirt. As it was, they did have my luggage in the lobby and brought it up to my room.

Now to step back... The first thing that hits you when I walked into their casino was not the megawatts of power surging through the lighting, sounds and machines, no, it was a lung full of cigarette smoke. Now, I do not smoke and find it to be appalling. I was not there to gamble and I really don't enjoy the gambling addition. However, if I did want to play the games, I would not enjoy it with the choking, toxic air.

The second thing I noticed was the fact the front desk was not obvious and (of course) you had to walk through the huge smoke ladened casino to find the front desk.

Okay, off the soap box and back to my typically good natured self. I am back and anticipate my next trip to be Wednesday. The question is, will it be Texas or Illinois... Stand by to hear more about the fantastic happenings and Random thoughts of Steve Blake.

This is another Test Post

This is the second post the is simply a test.


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Steve Blake
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Test Post

This is a test post as I begin setting up my Blog.This is a photo showing the layers of ice on the trees.