Having turned the corner into the summer season, it is now time to put Ken's Kandid Komments to rest for a while. Ken is returning to Canada for a few months and both of his readers are tired of being forced to make regular positive comments. So all three of us are off the hook.
See you in the fall! Maybe!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
The Voyage Never Ends!
As everyone knows, I love to travel. Always have and probably always will. I recently stumbled upon a number of travel quotes, some of which I really like, that I’d like to share.
• “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain
• “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine
• “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
• “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” - Moorish proverb
• “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang
• “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
• “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
• “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” - Martin Buber
• “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux
• “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” - Charles Dudley Warner
• “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu
• “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy
• “Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien
• “Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli
• “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca
• “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley
• “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” - Rudyard Kipling
• “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” - Clifton Fadiman
Hope that you may have found one or two quotes that you enjoyed!
• “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” - Mark Twain
• “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine
• “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
• “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” - Moorish proverb
• “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang
• “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
• “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
• “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” - Martin Buber
• “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux
• “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” - Charles Dudley Warner
• “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu
• “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy
• “Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien
• “Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli
• “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca
• “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley
• “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” - Rudyard Kipling
• “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” - Clifton Fadiman
Hope that you may have found one or two quotes that you enjoyed!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Best Things in Life Cost Money
Frank Sinatra used to croon the following lovely song:
The moon belongs to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
The stars belong to everyone,
They gleam there for you and me.
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing,
The moonbeams that shine,
They're yours, they're mine.
And love can come to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
Frank would probably have to rethink the lyrics if he was still alive today. The USA would probably declare ownership of the moon since they have staked their flag on the lunar soil and the ownership of the stars is likely on the agenda of a future G-20 summit. Picking wild flowers in spring is illegal and the robin population is becoming endangered. Moonbeams are a non-profitable resource so no one cares if they are free and love can be purchased by phone, online or in person, globally. So, not much in life is really free any more!
Each day I am impacted by the fact that just about everything now costs money. When I fly, if I pre-select a seat I must pay for the privilege. If I should be bold enough to want to carry baggage I must pay a fee for each suitcase I take. If I pay my baggage fee at the airport, I am charged another fee for that service. If I had paid online there would not have been a charge. How generous! We have now invented a fee, for the privilege of paying a fee!
Times are really becoming desperate. Pretty soon water and air will no longer be free. Come to think of it, a 500 ml bottle of water costs over a dollar and as a result a gallon of drinking water now costs nearly ten dollars – far more than the price of gasoline. And a recent trip to a service station introduced me to an air pump, to fill up my car tire, for only one dollar a shot! So “the best things in life are free” notion has reached its ultimate demise, as we must now pay for air and water. Can a charge for breathing be far away?
Sinatra’s happy ballad needs to be rewritten. Perhaps it might begin with:
Nothing belongs to everyone,
Everything cost some loot,
A bus ride costs two fifty, and
Parking a buck a foot.
The best things in life cost money
Nothing is really free,
The world is getting greedy, and
Overcharging both you and me!
Chorus: Do be do be do
Be do be
Do be do be do!
The moon belongs to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
The stars belong to everyone,
They gleam there for you and me.
The flowers in spring, the robins that sing,
The moonbeams that shine,
They're yours, they're mine.
And love can come to everyone,
The best things in life are free.
Frank would probably have to rethink the lyrics if he was still alive today. The USA would probably declare ownership of the moon since they have staked their flag on the lunar soil and the ownership of the stars is likely on the agenda of a future G-20 summit. Picking wild flowers in spring is illegal and the robin population is becoming endangered. Moonbeams are a non-profitable resource so no one cares if they are free and love can be purchased by phone, online or in person, globally. So, not much in life is really free any more!
Each day I am impacted by the fact that just about everything now costs money. When I fly, if I pre-select a seat I must pay for the privilege. If I should be bold enough to want to carry baggage I must pay a fee for each suitcase I take. If I pay my baggage fee at the airport, I am charged another fee for that service. If I had paid online there would not have been a charge. How generous! We have now invented a fee, for the privilege of paying a fee!
Times are really becoming desperate. Pretty soon water and air will no longer be free. Come to think of it, a 500 ml bottle of water costs over a dollar and as a result a gallon of drinking water now costs nearly ten dollars – far more than the price of gasoline. And a recent trip to a service station introduced me to an air pump, to fill up my car tire, for only one dollar a shot! So “the best things in life are free” notion has reached its ultimate demise, as we must now pay for air and water. Can a charge for breathing be far away?
Sinatra’s happy ballad needs to be rewritten. Perhaps it might begin with:
Nothing belongs to everyone,
Everything cost some loot,
A bus ride costs two fifty, and
Parking a buck a foot.
The best things in life cost money
Nothing is really free,
The world is getting greedy, and
Overcharging both you and me!
Chorus: Do be do be do
Be do be
Do be do be do!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Like a Walk in The Rainforest
Sometimes the rituals or practices of the Catholic Church baffle me. When I go to Sunday mass it is an opportunity for me to worship, pray and find an hour of tranquility in an otherwise hectic world. Last Sunday that all changed.
For some reason, the church I attended introduced a new practice that was very annoying. After the entrance procession, about six parishioners met with the priest at the main alter. Before the mass began it was decided that the entire congregation would be blessed with holy water. Usually the priest just symbolically sprinkles a little water in the direction of the congregation from the foot of the alter.
Last Sunday a more dramatic blessing was introduced. Each of the six parishioners was given a bowl of water and a rather large tree branch well endowed with leaves. The enthusiastic “sprinklers” gleefully dipped their branches into the water bowl and began to spray the parishioners. With a twinkle in their eyes, they proceeded down the aisles spraying left and right with unrestrained vigor. Water flew like a family of robins splashing in a birdbath.
The congregation tried to remain solemn and composed but they were quickly forced into a defensive mode. Everyone wearing glasses turned their heads away from the possessed sprinklers trying to avoid spotting on their glasses. Everyone on the left jerked their heads to the right and everyone on the right jerked their heads to the left. A Broadway chorus line could not have been choreographed with more precision.
Ladies wearing their Sunday best were paralyzed with the fear that the deluge would ruin their new suede jacket or silk blouse. Some people sitting in the middle of a pew were trapped with assaults from both sides. It was intended to be a solemn moment but it quickly deteriorated into a moment of restrained anxiety. I am not sure how it added to the solemnity of the occasion. By the time all of the wearers of glasses had cleaned their glasses and the children had finished playing in the puddles that had accumulated on the seats, the mass was half over.
If the congregation must be blessed with holy water, I would like to suggest that perhaps a plant mister, like that used to spray houseplants, be utilized instead of a tree branch. I understand the intent of the blessing with water, but my recent experience was more like a walk in a rainforest. Next time I will wear a rain slicker to church!
For some reason, the church I attended introduced a new practice that was very annoying. After the entrance procession, about six parishioners met with the priest at the main alter. Before the mass began it was decided that the entire congregation would be blessed with holy water. Usually the priest just symbolically sprinkles a little water in the direction of the congregation from the foot of the alter.
Last Sunday a more dramatic blessing was introduced. Each of the six parishioners was given a bowl of water and a rather large tree branch well endowed with leaves. The enthusiastic “sprinklers” gleefully dipped their branches into the water bowl and began to spray the parishioners. With a twinkle in their eyes, they proceeded down the aisles spraying left and right with unrestrained vigor. Water flew like a family of robins splashing in a birdbath.
The congregation tried to remain solemn and composed but they were quickly forced into a defensive mode. Everyone wearing glasses turned their heads away from the possessed sprinklers trying to avoid spotting on their glasses. Everyone on the left jerked their heads to the right and everyone on the right jerked their heads to the left. A Broadway chorus line could not have been choreographed with more precision.
Ladies wearing their Sunday best were paralyzed with the fear that the deluge would ruin their new suede jacket or silk blouse. Some people sitting in the middle of a pew were trapped with assaults from both sides. It was intended to be a solemn moment but it quickly deteriorated into a moment of restrained anxiety. I am not sure how it added to the solemnity of the occasion. By the time all of the wearers of glasses had cleaned their glasses and the children had finished playing in the puddles that had accumulated on the seats, the mass was half over.
If the congregation must be blessed with holy water, I would like to suggest that perhaps a plant mister, like that used to spray houseplants, be utilized instead of a tree branch. I understand the intent of the blessing with water, but my recent experience was more like a walk in a rainforest. Next time I will wear a rain slicker to church!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Team Building is For Twits!
The corporate world has fallen in love with team building activities and exercises. The theory is that the team that plays together, stays together. And by extension, the group becomes more efficient, effective and productive in the workplace. All I can say is “Hogwash!”
Team building activities are usually an expensive way to allow the staff to act silly and get drunk. If the group camps out together in a wilderness setting or goes whitewater rafting or climbs a rugged mountain trail, all that will develop are sore muscles, the start of a cold, and a number of hangovers. Rather than developing a more cohesive and bonded team, the members often become more resentful, disgusted or intolerant of each other. They may have had fun but the “team” is no more built than it was before they started.
In my opinion, a team is built only when the members are focused on the same goals, are committed to those goals and work hard to achieve them. The more that each member recognizes the same commitment, focus and hard work in his team members, the stronger the team will be. Participating in some peripheral activity like golfing together, climbing a high pole or learning to sail has no relation to building a team. The team that plays together just plays, it doesn’t advance the group’s real goals.
I recently read of a new corporate team building activity- playing in a child’s bouncy castle. For $2000 a team of twenty can rent a big inflatable castle for two hours and bounce individually or collectively to their hearts content. Among the activities that you can play in the castle are Follow the Leader, Tag Team Climbing and Kneeling Basketball. Can’t you just visualize the corporate board of General Motors bouncing around trying to solve their financial woes?
I am sure that when the team returns to the staff room at the office it will be hard to keep them from bouncing on the couch and playing tag. And Corporate America spends millions of dollars on these inane team-building activities each year. Has anyone ever done a scientific study on the overall effect of these activities on the team achieving its stated business goals?
If someone has, I would love to read it! Only then will I see this team building nonsense in another light.
Team building activities are usually an expensive way to allow the staff to act silly and get drunk. If the group camps out together in a wilderness setting or goes whitewater rafting or climbs a rugged mountain trail, all that will develop are sore muscles, the start of a cold, and a number of hangovers. Rather than developing a more cohesive and bonded team, the members often become more resentful, disgusted or intolerant of each other. They may have had fun but the “team” is no more built than it was before they started.
In my opinion, a team is built only when the members are focused on the same goals, are committed to those goals and work hard to achieve them. The more that each member recognizes the same commitment, focus and hard work in his team members, the stronger the team will be. Participating in some peripheral activity like golfing together, climbing a high pole or learning to sail has no relation to building a team. The team that plays together just plays, it doesn’t advance the group’s real goals.
I recently read of a new corporate team building activity- playing in a child’s bouncy castle. For $2000 a team of twenty can rent a big inflatable castle for two hours and bounce individually or collectively to their hearts content. Among the activities that you can play in the castle are Follow the Leader, Tag Team Climbing and Kneeling Basketball. Can’t you just visualize the corporate board of General Motors bouncing around trying to solve their financial woes?
I am sure that when the team returns to the staff room at the office it will be hard to keep them from bouncing on the couch and playing tag. And Corporate America spends millions of dollars on these inane team-building activities each year. Has anyone ever done a scientific study on the overall effect of these activities on the team achieving its stated business goals?
If someone has, I would love to read it! Only then will I see this team building nonsense in another light.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
I’m Living and Learning Again!
A man’s love of a sport evolves over his lifetime. For example, as a child we played baseball for fun with a stick and a ball. Then we may have played in Little League and become the fan of a professional baseball team. We loved to watch games of TV and attending a real live game was the ultimate treat. As we got older we began to play Fantasy Baseball where we picked our own team of professionals to complete statistically with other old jocks. Fantasy sports are immensely popular today.
Well I have just learned about a new fantasy sport that has grown into an $800 million industry with more than 30 million players in the US and Canada that I have never heard of – fantasy fishing Yes Virginia, there is such a thing as fantasy fishing. And you can win a million dollars. And you don't have to pay an entry fee.
Before each of the six regular-season tournaments on the largest pro bass-fishing circuit in the U.S., you pick 10 anglers at fantasyfishing.com. The better your picks do, the more points you rack up. The winner of each tournament gets $100,000. Whoever piles up the most points over all six tournaments wins the million. That's quite a nice catch. The first tournament each year is held in February on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Ala.
Fantasy fishing provides more prize money to people who “play the game” than any other fantasy sport! I find this absolutely mind-boggling. And I have missed out on playing it because I just heard about it. You don’t need to even know anything about the “professional fishermen” because for $10 you can buy the “stats guide” for all the participants, just like buying the program at the racetrack.
I am just going to have to become more vigilant. Opportunities like this might exist in other areas such as fantasy hog calling, fantasy moonshine making or fantasy horseshoes. I think a field trip to the Ozarks might be necessary to do a little advance scouting.
It continues to blow my mind when I think of all the things that I still have to learn! I don’t even know what I don’t even know anymore! Fantasy fishing?
Well I have just learned about a new fantasy sport that has grown into an $800 million industry with more than 30 million players in the US and Canada that I have never heard of – fantasy fishing Yes Virginia, there is such a thing as fantasy fishing. And you can win a million dollars. And you don't have to pay an entry fee.
Before each of the six regular-season tournaments on the largest pro bass-fishing circuit in the U.S., you pick 10 anglers at fantasyfishing.com. The better your picks do, the more points you rack up. The winner of each tournament gets $100,000. Whoever piles up the most points over all six tournaments wins the million. That's quite a nice catch. The first tournament each year is held in February on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Ala.
Fantasy fishing provides more prize money to people who “play the game” than any other fantasy sport! I find this absolutely mind-boggling. And I have missed out on playing it because I just heard about it. You don’t need to even know anything about the “professional fishermen” because for $10 you can buy the “stats guide” for all the participants, just like buying the program at the racetrack.
I am just going to have to become more vigilant. Opportunities like this might exist in other areas such as fantasy hog calling, fantasy moonshine making or fantasy horseshoes. I think a field trip to the Ozarks might be necessary to do a little advance scouting.
It continues to blow my mind when I think of all the things that I still have to learn! I don’t even know what I don’t even know anymore! Fantasy fishing?
Monday, May 18, 2009
How to be Renewed, Recharged and Reawakened
All of my life I used to think soap was soap and shampoo was shampoo. How wrong I have been. Had I read the labels on some of the shampoos and shower gels on the market I would probably have had magnificent movie star hair and the complexion of a god.
One shampoo is sold as Highlight Activating Moisturizing Shampoo with Light Enhancer. It maintains on the label that it will renew silky texture, recharge parched highlights and reawaken sparkling shine. Can you believe it – renewing, recharging and reawakening all in one shampoo?
After shampooing it might be wise to follow up with Naturalizing Conditioner with Light Enhancer. The container claims that the conditioner will banish distressed hair texture, brighten shimmering highlights and bestow glorious shine. How exciting to know that it will banish, brighten and bestow! Alliteration of benefits seems to be an advertising essential.
But wait, you are not yet finished! You may still apply a dab of Luminous Color Glaze shine gloss, which will intensify glossy shine and dramatically smooth texture. And finally, you might wish to use Color Thrive with Fade Lock Technology, “an exciting new system that helps block your hair color from fading, prolonging the life of your hair color.” I didn’t know there were so many things you could do to your hair!
After applying all of the hair treatments it is time to finish your shower. One product advertises itself as Warm Amber Shower Gel – a precious, aromatic and festive soap-free cleanser with moisturizing Community Trade organization organic honey. The manufacturer claims that it is “Made with Passion” and explains it as follows: “Some scents go back years. With aromatic amber, make that hundreds of years. We’ve blended precious amber extract with notes of orange blossom, ginger, sandalwood and myrrh, to create a fragrance that’s festively exotic, spicy and utterly decadent.”
I guess it goes without saying that my years of just reaching for a bar of Zest and a bottle of Head and Shoulders will just not cut it anymore! But we live and learn – don’t we? Good grief!
One shampoo is sold as Highlight Activating Moisturizing Shampoo with Light Enhancer. It maintains on the label that it will renew silky texture, recharge parched highlights and reawaken sparkling shine. Can you believe it – renewing, recharging and reawakening all in one shampoo?
After shampooing it might be wise to follow up with Naturalizing Conditioner with Light Enhancer. The container claims that the conditioner will banish distressed hair texture, brighten shimmering highlights and bestow glorious shine. How exciting to know that it will banish, brighten and bestow! Alliteration of benefits seems to be an advertising essential.
But wait, you are not yet finished! You may still apply a dab of Luminous Color Glaze shine gloss, which will intensify glossy shine and dramatically smooth texture. And finally, you might wish to use Color Thrive with Fade Lock Technology, “an exciting new system that helps block your hair color from fading, prolonging the life of your hair color.” I didn’t know there were so many things you could do to your hair!
After applying all of the hair treatments it is time to finish your shower. One product advertises itself as Warm Amber Shower Gel – a precious, aromatic and festive soap-free cleanser with moisturizing Community Trade organization organic honey. The manufacturer claims that it is “Made with Passion” and explains it as follows: “Some scents go back years. With aromatic amber, make that hundreds of years. We’ve blended precious amber extract with notes of orange blossom, ginger, sandalwood and myrrh, to create a fragrance that’s festively exotic, spicy and utterly decadent.”
I guess it goes without saying that my years of just reaching for a bar of Zest and a bottle of Head and Shoulders will just not cut it anymore! But we live and learn – don’t we? Good grief!
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