Category: daily life
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New Norms Needed For New Realities
As my friends on Facebook know, I recently turned off the voicemail on our home telephone line. Even though I had a fairly stern outgoing message that informed people they should not expect a message to reach us timely, people were still leaving messages and getting miffed when we didn’t call back. But the thing…
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Running In Five Fingers Shoes – Some Tips
A few months ago, I bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes and blogged about my thoughts. At that time, I was just using them for general wear, and for the gym. But I am an avid runner, and had not yet tried them out on the road. Well, I did try them once…
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My Top Three Areas For Growth For 2010
I don’t always go in for New Year’s Resolutions. Too often they have felt like empty promises to turn over some new leaf. This year, instead of resolutions I have decided to think about the kind of person I want to be. When I look back on 2010, where would I like to be able…
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We've All Got Our Smartphones At The Ready
My latest piece is posted at Public Square Today, my blog at Washington Times Communities: We’ve All Got Our Smartphones At The Ready Last night, walking through a restaurant, as I passed by about ten tables I noticed six where the diners had their smartphones sitting on the table as they ate. Some were deep…
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Seven Things I Can Control
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about some things that were troubling me. I was unhappy with the behavior of others. As we discussed the situation, it became clear that the behavior may well have been driven by others’ reactions to my own behavior. “You can’t control what they do,”…
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The Value Of Focusing On Something Else
Last night, on vacation with extended family, a few of us stayed up late playing Risk. As players of this game know, these episodes can go on for hours and hours. We laughed harder than I had laughed in a long time. As I went to bed (of course the game is not finished, it…
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I Least Expect It!
One of my children used to love to be tickled, surprised, pounced upon, – still does. Back in the toddler days, it would be a repeated request. “Tickle me! Get me!” Eventually, the tickling and surprising doesn’t work and Daddy gets tired. “I’ll surprise you when you least expect it,” I would promise. The reply…
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Management Lesson From The Boy Scouts: What Looks Simple From The Inside May Be Complex From The Outside
For the past few days I have been helping in a small way on a large crowd control effort. My son’s Boy Scout troop parks cars at the local county fair every summer. The boys plan and execute it each year. This is a huge undertaking, as tens of thousands attend the fair. It’s one…
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Three Friends Teach Self Reliance
I am not the kind of person who posts motivational quotes and aphorisms to my Facebook status or to my Twitter account. And when my friends do, I usually just skip over it, as those sorts of things are not why I hang out in online social spaces. But earlier this week, in very short…
Brad Rourke 