Wishes and Hopes

It has been many years since I've spoken to my to my former colleague. From my side, Kathleen and I are social network friends because she is a talented photographer and is kind enough to share the product of her skills with her connections. What she gets from this relationship I have no idea-- I'm muted on her end for all I know. One day you actually log in to social networking and life happens to someone, gets shared and you trip over it.

Kathleen, the meditation from your aunt is better than any words I can find.

May baby Hana feel safe and protected.
May baby Hana feel loved and held in gentle kindness.
May Hana be healthy, strong, and whole.
May Hana be free from suffering.
May Hana grow in joy and peace with her family.

May Kathleen and Paul be safe.
May Kathleen and Paul be surrounded by love, hope, and strength.
May Kathleen and Paul be free from suffering.
May Kathleen, Paul and Hana grow in joy and peace as a family.

Best wishes from a long ways away from someone you knew a long time ago.

UK Trip Litmus Test!

Last presidential election, Mitt Romney had a bit of a rough trip to the U.K.

Have you noticed how many of the Republican hopefuls have made trips to the U.K. this go round? So far, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, and Scott Walker have all gone.

It has gone so poorly that this article suggests then Senator Obama basically set them up for failure by having a successful trip abroad while running for the presidency.

I have a different thought. I think major Republican financiers-- you know, the ones who aren't allowed to coordinate with the candidates or campaigns-- have requested that serious candidates undertake these trips to figure out who to back. Given how poorly these trips have gone, I don't see any other reason that would motivate other candidates to keep trying.

Squeaky Wheel or Barking Dog?

The old saying goes, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." I like better this concept Maynard Webb introduces, "Don't feed the barking dogs."

Fortuitous and/or apropos? Time will tell, but I predict yes to both.

Decoy Story

C'mon people. They had everyone talking about the "One Wisconsin" wording and now everyone is being smug for winning the push back. No one has their eye on the ball. IT'S A FREAKING DECOY. I think the whole debacle was intentionally executed to keep attention from THE REAL STORY: the 150M/yr in cuts from the already tight budget of an organization that no longer has reserves.

This seems especially brutal since most employees about undergo lay off just got a $4000 compensation cut just a few years ago. It is my understanding that prior to the cuts our UW System employees were already compensated lower than their peers from other states.

I worry about how much damage this will do to our UW System and, by extension, the state.

Totally irrelevant, but ironic. This from a guy who didn't graduate from college.

Three Childrens!?

"One reason for having three kids is so that you can stop talking about having three kids." Jennifer Eyre White - havingthreekids.com

Funny stuff. Yes, definitely funny, but definitely scary too.

Jennifer also wrote a review of The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Happy Parenting that makes it sound pretty darn funny. Though, I wonder if the book will live up to the review.

Book Review: ...Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl

This book is an odd combination of two halves. A first hand account of Nazi death camps from Frankl's perspective as a prisoner in the first half followed by Logotherapy in a nutshell.

The first half is heavy stuff as the reader is shown example after example of the brutality and hardship.

Some of Frankl's assertions especially some details around Logotherapy don't ring true to me. But the core propositions definitely resonated with me. For example, one quote that stood out to me is, "Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue." Frankl asserts a person chasing happiness wont find it. A person who has a purposes and is pursuing that end, or at least surviving hardship now to pursue it later, can achieve happiness. Someone without purpose, might try to fill their existential void with power, money or gratuitous sex. What that all sounds like short term fun, I'll take a life with actual meaning for 100, Alex.

Yes, thanks to this book I actually now know what existential means. Subject matter aside, you can tell that Frankl isn't a native English speaker. Parts are fascinating, but parts were an effort to focus through. Some of that is subject matter, some is phrasing. Frankly, I'm not sure if this book was edited or not. From a subject matter point of view, I seriously wonder how the Logotherapy in a nutshell part of the book would read through the eyes of a modern day mental health professional. How much ever became accepted? How much of that has stood the test of time?

The version I read is 165 pages including addendum by Frankl and has a forward and afterword both by other authors.

No Pope!

The pope is coming to the United States and some folks hoped his trip would include a stop in our neighborhood. I commented on the effort in a prior post.

It is interesting to see the current bishop express disappointment. This guy is is what I've come to tag in my head as, "Benedictine" or, "Team Benedict". To me, that means prioritizing liturgical enforcement, inflexible judgment and politics over empathy and compassion. He plays the media game fairly well but I think he's probably happy Papa F isn't passing through. Off the top of my head...

• Press release against someone coming to speak at a college on a topic where everyone with sense should agree.
• Churches financially participating in WISDOM forbidden.
• And why is it, exactly, that Father Guy Blair is no longer in town, Bishop? I didn't personally know him but remember his passionate advocacy on behalf of the homeless very well. I was on the receiving end of it often enough.

And that's just what I know about as someone who does not pay attention to he local diocese. I can't help but wonder if Francis would've spanked Ricken on the way through...