TCOBaG – kNow ThiNkIng AllOwEd

Skip Bayless should say less because he’s Clueless about what it takes to be a leader.

Holy cow. I’ve never been a fan of the ranting, raving, yelling, over-the-top analysts whether they’re in finance or sports or politics.

Yelling does not make your point more clear.

NOTE: FTR, I am not a Giants fan, nor an Eli fan, but I do respect and admire accomplishment.

I understand that in order to stand out in the group of penguins you need to do something to differentiate yourself, but Skip Bayless is absolutely ridiculous with his statements about leadership – case in point, this time, is his rant about Eli Manning not being a leader, and not being able to have become one.

‘Leaders are born, not made’ has to be one of the biggest lies about leadership, and yet it is still perpetuated and believed.

If leaders can’t be made, then why are there so many leadership books, training seminars, and classes out there that corporations even pay for employees to access, use, or attend?

Because it is actually a fact that in the right environment, in any group, someone will step to the front and be the leader.

Period.

Take any group of the wimpiest, weakest, easiest to be led people, put them in a closed environment, and one of them will emerge as the leader.

This means that you _can_ make a leader – or that anyone can and will become a leader once the right motivation, stimulation, education, and situation are found.

Is this what happened with Eli Manning? In a way, not so extreme though. He grew, other more outspoken leaders have left, he stepped in and filled the leadership void. Seems simple enough to me.

So, Skip why not think a little before getting those veins going in your neck?

Perhaps the world would be a better place if you were Skip Sayless? My world would be.

Today for some reason Wanisan.com is not acting right, so for now we need to have a link to our assignment for today’s Web English class.

Thanksgiving Quiz and Games

I hope this works for now.

I’m a lucky guy, and I’ve been able to share some pretty interesting things with my family.

I was really lucky this time and got to spend 10 days here in Japan with my dad and step-mom.

Father’s day a little early for me. Was really a great way to spend it. I’m guessing the call I made was appreciated on the actual day of celebrating, but got to believe the early reveling was more memorable. Bless Fathers. I know I’m blessed.

We didn’t really get to go out and do much since the trip came up a little faster than we expected and we all had our regular stuff and work to do, but it was great just hanging out with them.

At least it was for me. They said they enjoyed it, but I’m not so sure

The boys were really happy to see them both, and it was great to just see them all together.

I did take them to Nagoya Castle one day during their visit which was pretty interesting.

Here are a few photos from their visit:

So, I messed up.

I thought my good friend, John’s birthday was this week.

Turns out it was last week.

Not really a big deal, maybe, but we meet each Wednesday as lunch is wrapping up and his birthday actually fell on Wednesday and would have been the perfect opportunity to have a something a little extra for his birthday this year.

But, I messed up. His birthday was last week. I realized it right away that day, but didn’t say a word to him about his birthday. Just the normal talk like it was just another day.

I decided I would go ahead with my plan to celebrate his birthday today.

Last night Ahn and I stayed up a little late decorating the cake. He really wasn’t that much help, but he does love licking that icing bowl, mixer beaters, spatula, and sucking the last drop of icing out of the border tube His brother fell asleep on the sofa with Mommy, so we plowed on ahead.

Today I met some of the students I sometimes have lunch with on Wednesday and asked them to give me a hand. They were of course happy about that. They didn’t know John, but they’ve wanted for a while for me to bring them a cake I’d decorated, so that worked out great for every body.

It was a small cake, and a fairly small group, but I think things turned out really well.

Here are a few photos:

So, anyway, while some people would like to focus on the negative, I still prefer to think of things from a more positive aspect and regard this as actually being 51 weeks early for John’s next birthday.

It was fun, and I’m glad to have done it.

Happy Birthday, John!

Sometimes you get to thinking that it is easier to put off an answer with your kids when they’re asking for something.

You think, okay, I can say ‘yes’ now, and put a little time on it, and by the time that time comes, they’ll have forgotten all about it, or changed their minds.

Right?

Wrong!

At least for us.

Several years ago (about a third of my oldest son’s life ago) Bynn asked for a pet for his birthday. They’ve often asked for pets, but it really isn’t something we’re set up for being gone sometimes for weeks at a time, and besides, Dad (me!) knows he’ll end up with the dog walking/poop scooping/feeding responsibilities within a week.

So, my wife suggested a turtle. Sounds safe/easy enough, right? Then she cavalierly promised Bynn that on his 11th birthday he could have a turtle. He was turning 8 then.

He didn’t forget. In fact, every birthday since, and several times in between, he’s mentioned that on his 11th he expected, and was really looking forward to getting, a turtle.

We, well, mostly I, always give both of my sons presents on each other’s birthdays. I started this when Ahn was too young to understand why big brother got a present and he didn’t. Besides, one of anything is usually not that much fun, so we’ve continued to buy 2 of just about everything; different sizes, colors, but usually pretty similar.

So, for the turtles:

Back in December (his birthday is the 25th of January) we started researching more carefully on the turtle situation. We decided on our usual 2 even though the pet shop clerk says turtles don’t get lonely and one would be comfortable living alone.

Cheap turtles are out there. But, and this is a big but, they also grow to be about a foot wide which wasn’t something we wanted to become an issue.

We ended up with these guys pictured below. Still not sure what kind of turtle they are though the Japanese name literally translates as ‘helmet scent turtle’. Not much help

Surprisingly, they’re really a lot more interesting as pets than you might expect though.

They’re fairly active. They walk around, stand on their hind legs to stretch and get air (though they’ve yet to climb onto their floating rock island). They come out in a flash to get their food, and happily eat away.

The food is fresh frozen. Seems to be mostly mosquito larva. That’s a little inconvenient, thawing out a small cube and keeping the rest in the refrigerator (not sure how that might be on a cracker, but if I get hungry enough, I’ll let you know )

You can click the photos to see larger images.

My wife absolutely loves them. She also fell in love with another little guy while at the shop several times, so we ended up going back later and now are the proud ‘parents’ of Janni (for January, very original, eh? )

Janni is currently living on our coffee table in the living room. The light sometimes causes a glare on our tv, but it’s really kind of fun for now to sit annd watch him doing his Prison Break impression and aiding him when he flips himself on his back while trying to scale the walls.

Janni at home