Monday, June 26

What would you do with extra daylight?

In response to last week’s question, "What would you do with extra daylight?," my attorney friend Philip advised, "Invest in solar panels." 

My social media friend Mark proposed, "Shop for new blackout curtains, so nap time is not reduced by too much light."  My dad's beach buddy Bob had an opposing thought, "Keep the lights off more of the time and perhaps go to bed a bit later."

My sailing friend Norm replied, "I'd go sailing late into the evening! Best time to be on the lake is after 6 p.m. when all the jet skis are gone, it's quieter, and  it's cooler and there is slight breeze."

And my adjunct executive friend Lindy wrote, "I would put extra daylight in my pocket and pull it out when I’m driving at twilight and lose my distance perspective, or in the middle of the night when I’m afraid of monsters in the closet."

Then please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

        Can you stay up until you wake up?  (from my sailing friend Jan)
  
We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm

Monday, June 19

How do you elevate a grunt?

In response to last week’s question, "How do you elevate a grunt?," my writing and sailing friend Rich suggested, "Turn it into a squeal" while my dad's beach buddy Bob wrote, "You elevate it with a sigh of relief."  To this, my sister Lorrie countered, "You can elevate a grunt to an aahh with a timely sitting on the toilet." And my cycling friend Ted determined, "A grunt is elevated to a 'Hmmmm!' "

My social media friend Mark pointed out, "Join the ladies tennis tour. Or call yourself Rafael" to which my PR friend Stan added, "By winning a major tennis tournament. Of course, with the French Open only being shown on Tennis Channel, very few people got to hear the winning grunts, so this became an  ineffective way to elevate a grunt.  Or the other hand, raising the minimum wage can elevate another kind of grunt. There are so many grunts that it makes me snort."

My temple friend Richard declared, "Grunt louder or grunt in an elevator.  In the military, you elevate a grunt by promoting him / her to sergeant" to which my birthday bud Jon concurred, "Make him an officer."   My neighbor
Al then pointed out, "Usually by giving them high Pro / Con scores or they request an MOS change.  (Only Marines will understand.)"

My adjunct executive friend Lindy noted, "If the grunt is coming from an animal, then put the pig or whatever on a pedestal. That would elevate it.  If the grunt is from a person, why would you want to elevate it?  Better to ignore it." 

My equestrian friend Royce determined, "By the decibel and acoustical level" to which my cousin Valarie agreed, "Just make it LOUDER! Stand on a higher platform? Send him to the boss upstairs."

And my sailing friend Norm explained, " A grunt is a fish closely related to the blue striped grunt(Haemulon sciurus) and the French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum). The familiar "grunt" that this fish makes is caused by its pharyngeal teeth grinding in the back of its throat.  So you elevate a grunt by catching it on a fishing line and pulling it up."

Then please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

            What would you do with extra daylight? (Wed is the longest day of the year.)

We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

My sailing friend Glenn shared a response to the prior week's question,  "Should you take on a leadership role if you can't be a dictator?," explaining "Dictatorships frequently do not end well:  Julius Caesar stabbed in the Forum also in the chest, back, nuts, etc.  Benito Mussolini shot and hanged,  Hitler suicide in the bunker.  Napoleon exiled.  Lenin probably poisoned.   Yet there are exceptions: Fidel Castro, Francisco Franco, Mao to name just three.  However, almost all these rulers cost untold amounts of suffering and death.  Not a good trade off."  

Summer fun:  In Atlanta, there will be 14hr, 24min of daylight (from 6:27am to 8:51pm).  Civil twilight will last until 9:19pm and Nautical Twilight until 9:55pm, which is still little compared to Fairbanks, AK, where the sun will rise at 2:58am and set just after midnight at 12:47am (21hr, 49min), after which is civil twilight until the sunrises again at 2:58am.  Bring on the Vitamin D!


Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm.   I invite you to call or email me to catch up.

Monday, June 12

In response to last week’s question, "Should you take on a leadership role if you can't be a dictator?," my writing and sailing friend Rich counsele,d "While there are days when the 'there is only one captain and he is never wrong' rule would make the day go quicker much more efficiently. However, there is also a rule that 'the captain is responsible for everything that happens.'  The smart captain listens to what his crew is telling him and acts on it. This can come in handy when there are icebergs about."   To this, my dad's beach buddy Bob  concurred, "No.  Only a wussy snowflake would think it possible to tell everyone all is well when the water is rising after the dam broke.

My engineering friend Steve called out, "I’d say you shouldn’t take on a leadership role if you are a dictator" as my computer networking friend Andrew explained, "In the management classic 'Think and Grow Rich,' Napoleon Hill talks about 2 types of leadership:
1.       Leadership by Consent (cooperation)
2.       Leadership by Force (dictation)
“Leadership by consent of the followers is the only brand which can endure.  Reference is Ch. 7, Organized Planning, the Crystallization of Desire into Action.  So the only way you can be a true leader is to be a 'servant-leader,' not a dictator (the latter is not even a valid form of leadership, since you are not leading as much as coercing)."

My temple friend Kevin shared ,"Long ago, when I was being interviewed for my first temple board position, David Strauss, at the end of the interview, asked me if I had given any consideration to being the temple President at some point.  After I got over my initial shock at such a suggestion, I replied with what I basically believe about leadership:  Leaders can only be leaders if they have earned the respect of those who are going to follow.  Leadership is never to be a one-way street nor should ever be taken without understanding that truth."   My sailing friend Norm agreed, interjecting, "A good leader delegates to the team.  A bad leader 'dictates' to the team.  I will only take on a leadership role if I can have a good team that I can 'delegate.'  Nobody likes to work for a dictator."  

My cycling friend Ted alternatively concluded, "Yes-because being a dictator is not all it's cracked up to be. For all you Game of Thrones fans, look what happened to King Joffree!! As the "dictator" of my dental practice, I can tell you I would love to let someone else handle the crap from time to time. Then of course, this leads to the implication of this entire question-should "The Donald" be president? Well, let's leave that for a special edition of HMMMM!!"

Then my cousin Wes replied, "It depends on whether you like herding cats. Most of my group projects end up with me as leader and me doing all work, hence me as de facto dictator" to which my equestrian friend Royce added, "Only if you are pulling the strings."

Then please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

            How do you elevate a grunt?

We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm.   

Monday, June 5

When someone says 'That's interesting,' how do you know if it is interesting-good or interesting-bad?,

In response to last week’s question, "When someone says 'That's interesting,' how do you know if it is interesting-good or interesting-bad?," my temple friend Richard advised, "There is an old Chinese curse: 'May you live in interesting times.'  Given the preference for orderliness in the Chinese culture, 'interesting' is bad. I’m going to assume that after many thousands of years, they know more than I do on this subject.  Well, that and the fact that I love Chinese food, which merits giving them at least the benefit of a doubt."

My dad's beach buddy Bob counseled, "You obviously go with the sentence that preceded it," while my birthday bud Jon observed, "If it’s your therapist or doctor, it’s bad."  My writing and sailing friend Rich concurred, "I usually go with profession,  when your doctor, for instance, squeezes some part of your anatomy  and you let out a scream and the Doctor goes 'hmmm, that’s interesting,' you can bet what comes next is going to be bad."

My collaborative friend Tricia shared, "I tend to use the word interesting when I'm at a loss for a positive word, which ultimately means not-so-good. Typically, I'll combine it with 'hmmmmm, that's interesting' to ensure I'm searching for something better to say, but can't!"

My social media friend Mark concluded, "If it starts a conversation, it is good. If it stops one, it is bad."  To this, my photographer friend Thomas recommended, "Ask yourself, was it interesting?" My cycling friend Ted wrote, "When you make some new food and someone says--'That's Interesting' --BAD!!  When you watch a documentary on PBS and it's 'Interesting'--Good!!

My cousin Wes pointed out, "It may be only interesting to them."  My equestrian friend Royce contemplated, "Now that's interesting!..... any further dissertation would be anti-climatic."

My production management friend Ray recalled, "I can usually tell by the tone of the voice and the accompanying facial expression.  I learned to discern because I had a good teacher as a boy growing up - my next door neighbor - Zelda Topolosky.  Mrs. Topolosky was a master at using one word to mean good, bad and you had better be wearing boots.  Her word was "amazing".  It wasn't until years later I learned the word was not spelled with 3 a's in the middle "amaaazing".  Thanks for the reminiscence of some very good days in my life."        

And my temple friend Bob shared, "If it is really interesting to that person, they will want to continue talking about it.  If someone says, "that's interesting" and changes the topic, then, yes, it means that they recognize that it might be interesting to someone, but not to them.  If someone says "that's interesting" and follows it up by wanting to continue talking about it, then they mean exactly what they said.  For example, you're in bed with a lady friend and she looks down and says 'that's interesting' and then proceeds to talk about the dinner you shared earlier, that's not good."

Then please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

Should you take on a leadership role if you can't be a dictator? from my friend Andy


We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm.