Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Under Armour Footsteps
Foot steps say it all...
Do you hear foot steps?........or are they hearing you?!?
...this ad is genius!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Are you "THAT" cow?!?
I've been wanting to start this blog for a while now. The day's finally here! No more procrastination! Carpe Diem!
So, what do I write about for my first entry? There's always the weird / wacky things like: My cat acting like he's a cross between a dog and a teenager, my 18 yr old pit/akita/lab thinking that he's still a young pup who can get loose and run around the neighborhood but when he does people think he got hit by a car because of the way he limps, work stories, friend stories (who's acting like a jerk, who has done something fantastic), neighborhood gossip, or diet struggles??
Well, I like to stay positive. After all, ladies and gentlemen, "Thoughts become Things!"
My boss at work assigned me a developmental task this year, which includes reading a book called "Play to Win" by Larry Wilson and Hersch Wilson. I fell in love with the book just a few pages in (which is a HUGE compliment to the authors because I'm not usually a fan of reading).
I'm going to share the first story in the book because I found it very interesting and inspirational:
" West of the Pecos River,
throughout the ranches of New Mexico and West Texas, cattle graze on ranges that are so large that it is not economical to hang gates everyplace a road crosses a fence. So ranches invented the cattle guard - a ditch dug across the road with mental bars spaced every few inches to span the ditch at road level.
Cattle guards were a great invention. Cars and trucks could drive right over them, but cows couldn't walk through them. The cattle were effectively fenced in.
Of course, there is one problem with cattle guards. When a pick-up truck (the vehicle of choice in the West) runs over a cattle guard at fifty or sixty miles an hour, the jolt to the driver, passengers, cargo, and suspension is hellacious.
Once upon a time, some enterprising cowboys got together to tackle this problem. Figuring that cows were not terribly bright, the cowboys decided to fill in the ditches, and paint stripes across the road where the bars used to be to keep the cows from straying. It worked. Cows wandered up to the painted cattle guards and said to themselves, "Whoa! That's a cattle guard" I can't go farther."
Painted cattle guards became the rage. The cows, being mostly an unchallenging lot, accepted the painted guards, chose not to question their fate, and spent their days milling around grazing in their assigned pasture.
But of course, no solution is perfect. A few years passed, and then, one day, a couple of cowboys found a herd that had crossed a painted cattle guard to graze in the rich, lush grass close by the Pecos River.
Here's what the cowboys concluded: One cow had gone up to the painted cattle guard and for the first time really examined it. She squinted her eyes and looked at it hard. Thoughtfully, cautiously, she let out one hoof on the cattle guard and discovered that it was just paint. "Paint!" she thought. "This isn't really a cattle guard! U gave been fenced in all these years by a pretended cattle guard!" This went against herds wisdom. It was a common knowledge that cattle guards were impassable barriers; it was the way things were!
But now this cow thought hard and long about the consequences of being fenced in by paint. And although she was terrified, she put another hoof on the paint and still nothing happened! she took a deep breath and walked across. Then she let the entire herd across the painted cattle guard.
That was what we call a smart cow:
What made that smart cow successful wasn't necessarily extraordinary courage. She was successful because she took the time to examine the painted stripes on the road and to think about them. She considered real evidence rather than relying on herd wisdom. Only then did she discover that the cattle guard - which had kept her fenced in for all those years - was just made up!
The moral of this admittedly tall tale is this: At first glance, most true adventures seem dangerous and full of barriers - like cattle guards that herd wisdom teaches us not to cross. But if we stop to examine what is fencing us in and then think about it, we often discover that the barriers are simply paint. If we can clearly understand the difference between what is real and what is paint, we can begin adventures we had never before imagined.
WE HAVE A CHOICE! WE CAN REMAIN FENCED IN ALL OUR LIVES BY HERD WISDOM and painted cattle guards, or we can choose to examine the cattle guards, break through, and go on our way.
To go our own way requires us to think clearly and deeply..."
I know, I know। Many of you are saying "Did you really just write about cows?
Did I really just read this? I want a refund back for the last last five minutes of my life".
Just step away from the kool-aid Negative Nancy for one minute and really THINK about the story! I think it's genius!
How many of us have been told by our friends, family, and society that we won't accomplish something? People may say this because they care and they feel that they know best, or they may just say it in order to bring you down and make themselves feel better. It seems that the world has become a bunch of critics, when only a small portion the world actually has the experience and knowledge to advise us. The rest is just negative babble which we need to weed out.
(and remember, the advise from the experienced, although based from a more educated basis, is STILL subjective. It's an opinion and it's made to give you options. YOU are still in charge of your decisions!) .
There are lyrics to a song called "Sunscreen" by Baz Lurhrmann that say:
"Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia,
dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal,
wiping it off,
painting over the ugly parts
and recycling it for more than it's worth."
...Man is THAT the truth. I love that song!
So, a word for the night: Take charge and make you're own decisions! Take advise into consideration and be as knowledgeable as you can, but don't let the world make your decisions for you. You'll just end up blaming the world and using the world's pressure as an excuse for your failure and crutch.
Humans tend to make uneducated comments, or worse, some tend to put another human down to make themselves feel better.
Don't be a victim! Control your world! Stay focused and stay positive!
Good Night!
So, what do I write about for my first entry? There's always the weird / wacky things like: My cat acting like he's a cross between a dog and a teenager, my 18 yr old pit/akita/lab thinking that he's still a young pup who can get loose and run around the neighborhood but when he does people think he got hit by a car because of the way he limps, work stories, friend stories (who's acting like a jerk, who has done something fantastic), neighborhood gossip, or diet struggles??
Well, I like to stay positive. After all, ladies and gentlemen, "Thoughts become Things!"
My boss at work assigned me a developmental task this year, which includes reading a book called "Play to Win" by Larry Wilson and Hersch Wilson. I fell in love with the book just a few pages in (which is a HUGE compliment to the authors because I'm not usually a fan of reading).
I'm going to share the first story in the book because I found it very interesting and inspirational:
" West of the Pecos River,
throughout the ranches of New Mexico and West Texas, cattle graze on ranges that are so large that it is not economical to hang gates everyplace a road crosses a fence. So ranches invented the cattle guard - a ditch dug across the road with mental bars spaced every few inches to span the ditch at road level.
Cattle guards were a great invention. Cars and trucks could drive right over them, but cows couldn't walk through them. The cattle were effectively fenced in.
Of course, there is one problem with cattle guards. When a pick-up truck (the vehicle of choice in the West) runs over a cattle guard at fifty or sixty miles an hour, the jolt to the driver, passengers, cargo, and suspension is hellacious.
Once upon a time, some enterprising cowboys got together to tackle this problem. Figuring that cows were not terribly bright, the cowboys decided to fill in the ditches, and paint stripes across the road where the bars used to be to keep the cows from straying. It worked. Cows wandered up to the painted cattle guards and said to themselves, "Whoa! That's a cattle guard" I can't go farther."
Painted cattle guards became the rage. The cows, being mostly an unchallenging lot, accepted the painted guards, chose not to question their fate, and spent their days milling around grazing in their assigned pasture.
But of course, no solution is perfect. A few years passed, and then, one day, a couple of cowboys found a herd that had crossed a painted cattle guard to graze in the rich, lush grass close by the Pecos River.
Here's what the cowboys concluded: One cow had gone up to the painted cattle guard and for the first time really examined it. She squinted her eyes and looked at it hard. Thoughtfully, cautiously, she let out one hoof on the cattle guard and discovered that it was just paint. "Paint!" she thought. "This isn't really a cattle guard! U gave been fenced in all these years by a pretended cattle guard!" This went against herds wisdom. It was a common knowledge that cattle guards were impassable barriers; it was the way things were!
But now this cow thought hard and long about the consequences of being fenced in by paint. And although she was terrified, she put another hoof on the paint and still nothing happened! she took a deep breath and walked across. Then she let the entire herd across the painted cattle guard.
That was what we call a smart cow:
What made that smart cow successful wasn't necessarily extraordinary courage. She was successful because she took the time to examine the painted stripes on the road and to think about them. She considered real evidence rather than relying on herd wisdom. Only then did she discover that the cattle guard - which had kept her fenced in for all those years - was just made up!
The moral of this admittedly tall tale is this: At first glance, most true adventures seem dangerous and full of barriers - like cattle guards that herd wisdom teaches us not to cross. But if we stop to examine what is fencing us in and then think about it, we often discover that the barriers are simply paint. If we can clearly understand the difference between what is real and what is paint, we can begin adventures we had never before imagined.
WE HAVE A CHOICE! WE CAN REMAIN FENCED IN ALL OUR LIVES BY HERD WISDOM and painted cattle guards, or we can choose to examine the cattle guards, break through, and go on our way.
To go our own way requires us to think clearly and deeply..."
I know, I know। Many of you are saying "Did you really just write about cows?
Did I really just read this? I want a refund back for the last last five minutes of my life".
Just step away from the kool-aid Negative Nancy for one minute and really THINK about the story! I think it's genius!
How many of us have been told by our friends, family, and society that we won't accomplish something? People may say this because they care and they feel that they know best, or they may just say it in order to bring you down and make themselves feel better. It seems that the world has become a bunch of critics, when only a small portion the world actually has the experience and knowledge to advise us. The rest is just negative babble which we need to weed out.
(and remember, the advise from the experienced, although based from a more educated basis, is STILL subjective. It's an opinion and it's made to give you options. YOU are still in charge of your decisions!) .
There are lyrics to a song called "Sunscreen" by Baz Lurhrmann that say:
"Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia,
dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal,
wiping it off,
painting over the ugly parts
and recycling it for more than it's worth."
...Man is THAT the truth. I love that song!
So, a word for the night: Take charge and make you're own decisions! Take advise into consideration and be as knowledgeable as you can, but don't let the world make your decisions for you. You'll just end up blaming the world and using the world's pressure as an excuse for your failure and crutch.
Humans tend to make uneducated comments, or worse, some tend to put another human down to make themselves feel better.
Don't be a victim! Control your world! Stay focused and stay positive!
Good Night!
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