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My earlier post had been about how sports seasons need to be distinct seasons and not last the whole year.  This post applies that same idea to holidays, mainly Christmas.

What prompted this was the local radio station‘s switching to the all-Christmas-music format on November 1st.  At least they waited until after Halloween.  But I’m still boycotting them temporarily.  Until Thanksgiving, I am skipping right past them (and any other Christmas-music stations) during my normal station-flipping during my drive home each day.

My favorite line from The Incredibles is something like “When everyone’s special, the no one is.” For the record, that line appears twice, but in two different forms.  The first one is by Dash, who says, in response to being told that everyone is special, “Which is another way of saying no one is. ”  The second one is by Syndrome, who says “And when everyone’s super, no one will be.”

That line, combined with the example of Marie Antoinette, gives a good idea of why seasons need to be short.  The longer they’re drawn-out, the more diluted they become.  Marie Antoinette, for those who don’t know, is attributed with having everything she wanted, so she was quite bored (“nothing tastes“).  Life was not enjoyable for her, because nothing was special.

Keep Christmas (and other holidays) special: don’t start anything Christmas-y  until after Thanksgiving.  I know some of you may think this post violates that principle.  I’m not saying don’t mention Christmas until then, just don’t promote it or start celebrating until then.

“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
– Romans 8:25

Harrison Bergeron should be required reading.  It’s a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and it helps show why personal responsibility and achievement should remain more important than government programs.  The government should protect freedom of opportunity and a level playing field, but it should not enforce equality of achievement or a level outcome.

The government should be like a referee – ensuring that everyone plays fairly, but not making every game end in a tie nor making sure the teams are evenly matched.  So be wary whenever you hear anyone, especially a politician, speak favorably about redistribution of wealth.

“For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’
– 1 Timothy 5:18

In the business world, there is an old saying that there are three options for whatever you’re buying: price, quality, or speed – and you can choose only two.

A good example of this has been any retail item.  You can buy a certain item at a retail store, and you have chosen speed and quality.  You can buy the same item from a mail order or internet retailer and have it shipped to you, and you have chosen quality and price.  The store item is available immediately but for a higher price than the mailed item.  The mailed item will take a couple of days for shipping but will cost less.

The same concept applies to any business program, in particular regarding employees working on a project.  If a project needs to be done quickly, you’ll have to pay more by either paying employees overtime or hiring more people.  If it needs to be done quickly but you don’t pay more, then people will cut corners and do only certain items, sacrificing quality.  And if the project needs to have high quality and low price, then it will take a long time.

There are some articles that indicate that by improving quality, or by improving speed, you can reduce costs.  That is true, but it is true for a long-range purpose not individual projects.  Let’s say you bid on a project and you say that it will cost X and take two weeks to complete.  If the customer says that two weeks isn’t fast enough and he wants one week, you’re not going to be able to improve your processes enough to meet that demand.  What those other articles are talking about is long-term process improvement such that your initial quotes are improving.  But if you quote something accurately, changing one part of the “quality-speed-cost triangle” will affect one or both of the other parts.

If you are a manager, please pay attention to that concept.  Don’t demand immediate results from too few employees and then be surprised if problems appear later because of poor quality.

“each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”
– 1 Corinthians 3:13

Due to excessive spam on this post, comments have been closed for this post only.

Apologies to Lenore Skenazy for the title. The best way for kids to have good self-esteem is to earn it.  How do they earn it if their parents don’t let them do things on their own?  Give kids the independence to try things.  If they grow up expecting their parents to always help them out and protect them from everything, then they will end up being adults who will expect the government to bail them out of any financial problems they get themselves into.  We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;”
– Romans 5:3-4

I mentioned to a co-worker that I was leaving work to go pick up my child from school.  I also mentioned that they card you now, when you pick up a child from school.  You have to show photo ID and the name on the ID must match a name that has already been provided to the school as an approved picker-upper.

He said that was much improved from his days in school and it’s a lot safer, not having just anyone be able to come in and take a child.  I reminded him of the statistics though, that most abductions are by someone who is known to the child, not by strangers.

His response was that to improve child safety, schools should release children only to people they don’t know.  Statistically, that would be safer.

I had no response, other than to tacitly agree.  That’s the problem with statistics.

“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
– John 10:5

We had nothing scheduled for this evening, so we decided to do some things in the yard. First was to plant some mums that we had bought recently. We didn’t really plant them – we left the mums in their pots but set the pots down in the dirt a little. That was somewhat for better curb appeal but more to keep the wind from knocking over the pots.

Next was to water the vegetable garden and the potted flowers. That’s an easy job – the kids are eager to volunteer. “Who wants the hose?” I ask, and they come running. The hard part is making sure they take turns and don’t drown some plants while ignoring others.

Then, since the hose was out and running, the kids asked if we could get out the sprinkler. I thought that would be a fine way to keep them outside, so I got the sprinkler. It’s the type that spins, but they don’t like it to spin. Once it was setup, they started pulling plastic toys out of the shed. They also pulled out the lawn chair. I think it was meant to hold their towels, but I commandeered it so I could sit and read the issue of the Inspire that came today.

It was quite peaceful – the kids had found the T-ball set and placed it right next to the sprinkler and were playing waterball.  There were no bugs, particularly mosquitoes.  I don’t know whether that was because of the slight breeze or because I had sprayed for them last week.  I was thinking “This is what summer is supposed to be.”

Then I noticed some dark pick-up truck stop on the side of the road, just after our driveway.  A couple of people came around the side of the truck and started moving things in the bed.  I figured they just had to adjust their freight.  Then some more people appeared.  I saw the freight, and it was a cooler.  The local high school cross-country team was on a training run, and they decided to place their water break right in front of our house.

That’s when I realized that summer was officially closing.  Cross-country camp, football starting across the nation, planting mums – they all add to equal the start of fall.  All good things, but summer needs to last a little longer.

“You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter.”
– Psalm 74:17

Buy The Five Love Languages and also buy Love and Respect.

Those are two books that will help you understand your spouse.  People are different from each other, with different personalities, and the Five Love Languages addresses that.  Men and women are also different from each other in general, and Love and Respect addresses that.

I knew these as just books, but it turns out that there are study guides and DVDs and conferences. There are plenty of resources out there to help people with their marriages. Be sure to start your marriage on the right foot; read these books before your wedding ceremony.

“Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”
– Ephesians 5:33