Category: Motivationals

PURPOSE: to show the importance of passing on heritage, knowledge to the next generation for them to have a solid foundation on which to build.

Recently I visited the church I attended as a boy growing up in Barbados. It is a concrete brick church on a hill, on a busy little village street with lush green native foliage and lots of rocks scattered around the church. Behind the church was a huge mango tree arrayed in blossoms, as well as one of the most towering bamboo trees around. The church was painted in a two-tone green color with a variety of palm trees decorating the side of the building. Whenever I visited Barbados, I made the trek to this church to reconnect with the people who were my childhood friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family. But two things usually capture my attention: first, the building itself and what it represents, and secondly, the people, how they have changed, but yet remained the same.

Continue reading “Build It Well”

Recently, I was strolling on a beautiful beach in Barbados when two women jogged past me. Just as they overtook me, an unsuspecting wave crashed against the shore and covered their shoes. Immediately, one of the runners stopped to brood over the water in her tennis shoes and seemed to lose her appetite for running. She stopped and fretted about the water ruining her new shoes.

Continue reading “Push the Needle”

We choose to wage war within rather than have the courage to fight the battles without!

The war we face within represents the struggle between our goals, ethics, morals, and belief systems.  It’s fighting to determine the things that bring us balance and those that disturb our peace and harmony.  The battles without are regrets of missed opportunities.  Each missed opportunity is a potential battle to be won or lost and, but in many cases; we choose to fight those battles already knowing the outcome.  We, therefore, wish to effectively engage in battles without at the expense of the war within.

Continue reading “The War Within”

I was sitting in a restaurant in Port Towsend, WA overlooking the bay and mountains towards Canada. The air was crisp, the water tranquil but grey, the sun was setting, and it was a most peaceful setting. Many customers were waiting for service, but one young couple, in particular, caught my attention. They ordered their meals and never said a physical word to each other for nearly an hour. Each one seemed engrossed with the happenings on their cell phones. Sad, I thought.

Continue reading “Digitally Unstimulated – Part I”

In an article published on Statista, it showed that Americans use some form of electronics 11+ hours a day. If we are awake 18 hours a day, digital devices consume a tremendous amount of our waking time. I am not sure of the accuracy of the data, but from personal experience, I use some electronics daily for long periods. The article included that we multitask, so the data needs to be read and understood in that context.

Continue reading “Digitally Unstimulated – Part II”

I left Florida late in the afternoon driving and headed for Washington State. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and I planned to make it to Atlanta before nightfall. As it turned out, there were traffic problems on all significant northbound highways in South Florida, and it slowed me down considerably. Alas, I did not quite make it as far as Atlanta, but I got to a place just north of Valdosta, Georgia, and approximately 100 miles south of Macon, Georgia on I-75. I was tired, so I pulled into a hotel to see if there was a vacancy. It seemed that every civilized hotel within 10 miles of Valdosta was full, and Valdosta is still in a second world development state. I walked to the front desk of this no-name hotel. Before I could enquire about vacancies, the attendant greeted me with a gruff, “if you ain’t got a reservation, we full.” Which way are you heading, North”? Yes, I said. “Well, there is a motel at exit 45 with vacancies”. Thanks, I said and left on a further adventure.

Continue reading “Room 112 – Part I”

Room 112 – Part II

I headed for room 112 confident that I was too tired to care, all I wanted to do was sleep. Nice I thought, on the front of the door was a no smoking sign and I just remembered the landlord mentioned this was a no smoking room. A small victory I thought, which brought a small smile to my face. I opened the door and entered this dungeon of a room that smelled like the neighbor’s shaggy dog came over after falling into the swamp and stayed over, and over. I turned on the lights. I believe each bulb had 15 watt lightbulbs. I think this was by design so the guess could not make a full inspection. I felt like I was on a clandestine mission in the jungle searching for exotic bedbugs.

Continue reading “Room 112 – Part II”

Recently, I had an opportunity to rewind the tapes of my life and reexamine several events. The reason I did this is that for some odd reason, in my daily reflections, I wondered, if I could go back in time and change one thing in my life, what would it be? I thought that was an easy question to answer; I would rewind that fateful day in 1993 when my only daughter, 17 years old, died in a fiery car crash. I thought the answer was too easy, so I rewound the old eight-track tapes.

Continue reading “What Would I Change?”

Today, in a contemplative moment, I chose to stroll on the beach rather than jog. Most mornings, I am pressed for time to get my workout done before heading to the office. But this morning, I strolled to find the perfect seashell. Usually, when I am running, my gaze is on the distant marker, which keeps me focused on my goal, time, and distance. Very rarely do I look around at the water, the people, and nothing on the ground immediately ahead of me.

Continue reading “Searching for the Perfect Seashell”

Over the last 40 years, I had a career in technology. Sometimes, I felt like I was with Babbage holding a flashlight as he moved some huge levers to switch ones to zeros to get his computer to work. At other times, I imagined I had discussions with Grace Hopper about some crawling creature that mysteriously appeared in a program we were writing, which bugged the mess out of her.

Continue reading “Oh No! Not de Bone!”