I sit here attempting to write this blog post. I know upstairs needs to be cleaned and I really should start the BBQ. My youngest son in running around pretending to be Iron Man, while the older one is playing some video games. I quickly glance over my shoulder while my wife whizzes by me rushing to get to get some cleaning in. She is running a jewelry party and has a long list of to-do’s that need to get done before the start of the week, I see that she is flustered and pressed for time. We both are very busy with work and home responsibilities. There are a lot of activities going on in our lives which is nothing new for a lot of families, but what has continued to be reduced in the last few decades is Margin. You may ask what is Margin? Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives is written by Richard Swenson.  “Margin” the author explains is, “the space that once existed between us and our limits.” Swenson suggests and I'm in agreement that progress has eliminated our margin creating stress, overload and complexity. At this is not abating in fact its growing at an exponential rate! Think about your life. Many of us have way too much activity, ...

It has been over a year since I have written in this blog. A lot has happened in this time personally and professionally. New career path, travelling, speaking and meeting interesting people which deserves its own post! During this time, one of a couple central thoughts that has remained constant is to continually learn, grow and introspection, so on Saturday I ran into this quote from a book I thoroughly enjoyed which is Echarte Tolle A New Earth which stated. How to let go of attachment. “Don’t even try. It’s impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them. ~ Tolle Growing up I was like the other kids I wanted the latest game system, nice expensive clothes, latest comics which later changed as I became older into more expensive things like, plasma TV, Tech gadgets, cars, big house. At the time, I had no idea why I wanted or needed those things. Now I know its for some of these reasons. I wanted to feel accepted by my peers I wanted to feel accepted within society I looking for stuff external to fill that insatiable need for more The egos insistent need to for grasping for things I was coerced by the marketing genius to purchase and want for things I have no need for I felt like I ...

Debating race is a series of conversations between Dawson and a wide swath of people from Scholars: Gary Orfield, Cornel West, politicians: John McCain, John Kerry and pop-political commentators Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher. They tackle many aspects in this book which is broken down into 7 areas.   Civil Rights Ethnicity Conflicting Loves Youth & Violence Black Masculinity Catastrophes Anatomy of A Conflict Why Bill Cosby is still wrong   Overall I found this book very powerful and presents a very deep dive into very controversial areas. Unfortunaly their is not enough dialog about those very serious issues. There is such a wealth of ideas presented in this book I could start a blog just tackling those issues. From reading the book here are a few thoughts.   The 7 areas discussed in his book, are not black and white but many shades of grey. I‘ve gained an appreciation of how complex each of these areas discussed in the book are.   The real struggle is about power and control. Those who have it the "ruling elite" and those do not "everyone else" To illustrate that example here are two facts. Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans constitute about 25 percent of the population together. They have about 6 percent of our nation’s operating businesses. ...

Obama wins nomination what a great day! This is the first time a brother received the ticket to lead a majority party. I am proud that he made it. You could say its a sign of progress maybe... For me though how he stands on issues is considerably more important than race. Prime example is Condoleezza Rice. Her accomplishments are admiral and I respect that immensely. My main beef with her is. Look at who she works for and supports. Was she able to avert the wars that we are currently in, or encourage it? Has she been able to create good will and broker peace across the world? No on all accounts! Where was she on Martin Luther King's birthday, on January 15th 2003, when George Bush declared the University of Michigan law school's affirmative action program unconstitutional? Where was her outcry? Please give me a break, she does not represent me. I like Obama, he believes in change. Hope won out over fear. New won out over old. If you look at his record he was able to cross the other side and get things done. We sorely need it at this time. We sorely need a good leader. According to Lee Iacocca's book, ...

I came back from my yearly group vacation to Animal Kingdom on Monday.   We rented a five bedroom house with a nice pool, Jacuzzi, and most importantly a play room for the kids. There were a total of ten adults and ten kids eight of which are under the age of three. Can you imagine the madness and laughter with a bunch of excited kids running around the house with reckless abandon?  Well for those of us with kids it’s not bad at all! We arrived at the house early Friday evening, unpacked and settled in. A few hours later the kids and our wife’s were hungry, so the hunters decided to run out and kill some food. Now I knew that was a mistake, why you may ask? Will if you have been married or in a relationship for any significant amount of time this is what invariably happens. The ladies can’t decide what they would like to eat.  The guys eventually pick the restaurant. Then at the last minute you get a call that they changed their mind, and at the end of the night the guys get blamed for something. The genius that I am was correct, so while we ...

Procrastination will be my downfall. I missed the 7:06AM train and opted to take a quick power nap in a little shady corner because the public parking area was full and to be honest I was too lazy to park on the other side of the block. I was walking on the north bound side of the station where an US border control officer was questioning an individual woman of Chinese decent. I know that there is an increased presence, but seeing that image right in my back yard is an uncomfortable feeling. Once I got to the other side I saw that the officer had handcuffed a Mexican man. I asked the guy standing next to me why he was handcuffed? He said that he didn't have any form of identification, so the officer took him away. I was able to snap a Picture. What bothers me is this. There are over 12 million undocumented workers who mostly just want to survive and live the dream like so many generations before us, and because they are flying under the radar they are getting abused, in many cases treated less than a human, and discriminated against. Sounds quite familiar? The whole illegal immigration ...

After an inordionent amount of time away from writing or creating the purpose of this blog is primarily an outlet for self expression, life journey, and discovery.  My intent is to touch on a wide swath of subjects, those urika moments that I find interesting, and maybe along the way you may find my musing of interest as well.