There was an interesting piece in the paper this morning the timber of which was for the most part doom and gloom for Florida. The piece was written by Dave Hodges and was centered on a Sunshine State Survey, devised by USF professor Susan McManus. 1220 Floridians were surveyed 45% of whom said that we Floridians were worse off than we were one year ago. 52% identified the economy as our overall greatest concern. 55% said that the state was doing a poor job of creating new jobs. 75% said that the government was doing a poor job placing blame on our elected officials. Nearly 25% of Floridians were considering leaving the state.
I guess my question is if you leave, where on earth are you going to go? Florida is doing poorly because the nation is doing poorly. Remember that the backbone of Florida's economy has for a long, long time been tourism. Most of us did not need professor McManus to discover that for us. Think about this. We do not have a state income tax. How many states can say that? If you leave Tallahassee and drive north 30miles and live in Cairo, GA then abra cadabra you get to pay an additional 6% to the state of Georgia out of your paycheck. If you make $50k a year then you are out $3000just by moving 30 miles away.
When I was being raised, I had lived at 16 addresses by the time I was 18 years of age. The old Tempatations said it about as well as it could be uttered in their song, Papa was a rolling stone. I can tell you the answer is not in moving around. I cannot think of a single move that solved any problems for my clan. I moved to Tallahassee in 1972. I have had 4 addresses since the time I married in 1973. We have had the same address for the last 20 years and before that 16 at the same address.
I served on a task force in the mid '90s as invited by the Governor's office through Enterprise Florida. I met half a dozen times in some nice areas across the state. The gist of this endeavor was to brain storm what industry and academia could do to foster job growth in Florida. I represented a Fortune 400 company ergo Big Business.
I ultimately found that the outcomes of this task force were pretty much set before meetings began. Most at the table represented the brain trust of various universities. Researchers were looking to synergize resources surrounding some discovery that they had made in a lab from UF, USF, Nova, FSU. You get the picture. The effort ultimately ended up in the creation of the Scripps endeavour on the I-4 corridor. The task force was not terribly interested in attracting industry to the state via tax concessions, etc. Tallahassee has often been a great example of that mentality.
I remember years ago that the Miller brewing company was looking to bring a bottling plant to either Tallahassee or Albany, GA. Albany ended up getting the plant because Tallahassee was really quite lukewarm about laying their ears back and aggressively luring that company. Incidentally, that plant brought 5,000 jobs to Albany. Good jobs. I remember I had 2 or 3 clients I called on back then who were pharmacists. They quit pharmacy and went over and got a job at the new plant because it was a better deal for them.
Florida has come to this point in their economy due to becoming fat and complacent because we have always had money coming in through the pockets of out of towners. Property taxes have been the gold rush of the '90s. Property taxes went up 100% during the mid-90's in 5 years. Tallahassee has led the charge. On the comparative scale, Leon county is one of the most expensive places in this state to live.
Take a look at the economy of let's just say Utah for example. They have actually grown their economy during the recession. Illinois is another example. The reason? I would say the response is growing where you are planted and being creative and industrious.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Capital punishment a yea or a nay?
We are embroiled in a capital trial here in Tallahassee. The accused is a man named Hilton who allegedly killed and decapitated a nurse from Crawfordville named Cheryl Dunlap around Christmas three years ago. Hilton has already been found guilty in Georgia for the decapitation murder of a young lady hiker and sentenced to life in prison there. He was extradited here to stand trial for Dunlap's murder to apply the rule of law, provide closure for the victim's family and, in that Florida still has the death penalty, pay for his crime with his own life.
So the debate continues on concerning should government via it's judiciary be in the business of applying the Mosaic law of " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" ?
As an aside, I wonder just how far the Mosaic law is from Shiria law in that realm. Under Shiria law, it is my understanding that a woman may be stoned to death for committing adultery. That is a big time " Whatttttttttt?" on my radar screen. They ain't enough rocks in America to keep up with that death sentence as adultery is as common as drinking water.
However, back to the capital punishment debate. In my past I have held the personal belief that capital punishment should be a part of our system. It is an effective deterrent in my mind. If for no other reason it deters mass murderers from recommiting the same crime. What about the rights of the deceased to have justice applied? Where there is overwhelming evidence that the accused perpetrated the dastardly deed does not the punishment match the criminal act?
I then read a book by John Grisham, called The Chamber , and another entitled The Innocent Man. They both had at their core the capital punishment debate. One was a saga of a grandson of a member of the KKK on death row for a bombing of a southern church where little girls were killed. The other was a man who served 20 years in prison lots, of it on death row, until proven innocent. They softened me up a little on capital punishment. However, I, who has extreme claustophobia and panic disorder, would prefer to be gone than to have to spend the rest of my life in a cage.
I just read an op ed by Sandy D'Alemberte whose name I never could spell correctly. He used to be the president of FSU and is a very bright and wise JD. It was just published this past Sunday in our local muckraker newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat. He calls into question the wisdom in retrying Hilton for a crime for which he has been sentenced to life in prison up in Georgia. In these hard economic times why should Florida citizens have to bear that expense? Another juris doctorate answered his query in this morning's edition of the fish gut wrapper, Democrat. He basically said that a criminal should not be allowed to manipulate the system to his benefit. To wit, Hilton confessed to the crime in Georgia so as to avoid prosecution in Florida and risk having his own head sawed off with a serrated hunting knife by a state paid assassin. Of course his victims did not have a choice in that regard in that he acted as judge, jury and executioner in each heinous act of lunacy.
I cannot help but reflect back over the years. I remember picking up the newspaper in my front yard back in January of 1978 and reading the blood chilling account of the Chi Omega murders. We were all touched by this maniac over the years in just staring at him as you would a two headed mountain goat at the county fair. You were disgusted at his depravity but we were drawn to the account of this looney tune as it played out in the written and electronic media. They even made a movie about Ted Bundy and someone wrote a book. Heck, some freako even married him and had a child by him through the benefit of conjugal visits while he was in prison.
I used to be in the pharmaceuticals business. For a period of time I called on Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee. I used to go back into the forensic unit and speak with the psychiatrists back there in that hell hole. That is where they keep the people who killed their grandmother for turning off the TV in the middle of a Tom and Jerry cartoon and then grinding her into sausage. They were adjudged to be too crazy to stand trial and placed in the forensic unit at Florida State Hospital (FSH). I would walk by the doors where they kept the Freddie Kreugers of our world and the screams and epithets you heard would make your hair stand on end. If there is a such a place on earth where demonic spirits rule, I would nominate that place as spook central.
Anyway on one particular day I was in to visit my friend and client Dr. Carmencita Mola, psychiatrist. There was quite a buzz ensuing amongst the staff. I asked her what was up and she told me that Ted Bundy was coming to their facility for a few days. I asked for what purpose. The answer is almost laughable. You see, he was sitting on death row after having been sentenced to death in Lake City for the rape and murder of Kimberly Diane Leach. All the pleas had played out and it was pretty certain that Teddy was going to fry. Now ( you are not ready for this ) the state of Florida was postured to kill him in a few short months. He was in FSH to receieve counseling to help him deal with the fact that the people who were paying for this counseling were going to kill him. I wonder how much "counseling" he gave the 36 to 136 people whom he killed prior to bludgeoning them?
Incidentally, I had a close friend, Alex, who was an assistant state attorney in Lake City. I would see him pretty frequently and we would go to lunch. It was his task to bring evidence to the table to help prosecute Bundy. He interviewed him face to face. He told me two things that remain with me to this day. One was that being in the presence of Bundy was like looking into the eyes of Satan. Secondly, Alex had a little 12 year old daughter. He told me that reviewing the evidence of the murder kept him awake at night. He was a pretty tough old state attorney and the evidence was so horrible it kept him awake.
I knew two people who were in law school with Bundy at University of Utah. My son dated a girl in college whose father had been the policeman who had arrested him in west Florida. All said what a sociopathic human being he seemed to be.
To end my recollections about Bundy who assumed room temperature 22 years ago I have to put you on an airplane heading to Tampa. Halfway there the captain came on the PA and announced that Ted Bundy had just been executed. There was spontaneous applause that occurred throughout the cabin. I am not going to tell you whether or not I joined in. I do remember staring out at the ground below reflecting long and hard for the rest of the trip on the role of the death penalty in our judicial system.
I think if I were a relative or friend of Cheryl Dunlap I might want to reserve a front row center seat to witness Mr. Hilton take his last breath somewhere down the road. If it had been my wife or daughter he had taken and killed I would pray for 2-3minutes alone with him in a room. I suppose that capital punishment must have a stronghold in our primieval identity.
So the debate continues on concerning should government via it's judiciary be in the business of applying the Mosaic law of " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" ?
As an aside, I wonder just how far the Mosaic law is from Shiria law in that realm. Under Shiria law, it is my understanding that a woman may be stoned to death for committing adultery. That is a big time " Whatttttttttt?" on my radar screen. They ain't enough rocks in America to keep up with that death sentence as adultery is as common as drinking water.
However, back to the capital punishment debate. In my past I have held the personal belief that capital punishment should be a part of our system. It is an effective deterrent in my mind. If for no other reason it deters mass murderers from recommiting the same crime. What about the rights of the deceased to have justice applied? Where there is overwhelming evidence that the accused perpetrated the dastardly deed does not the punishment match the criminal act?
I then read a book by John Grisham, called The Chamber , and another entitled The Innocent Man. They both had at their core the capital punishment debate. One was a saga of a grandson of a member of the KKK on death row for a bombing of a southern church where little girls were killed. The other was a man who served 20 years in prison lots, of it on death row, until proven innocent. They softened me up a little on capital punishment. However, I, who has extreme claustophobia and panic disorder, would prefer to be gone than to have to spend the rest of my life in a cage.
I just read an op ed by Sandy D'Alemberte whose name I never could spell correctly. He used to be the president of FSU and is a very bright and wise JD. It was just published this past Sunday in our local muckraker newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat. He calls into question the wisdom in retrying Hilton for a crime for which he has been sentenced to life in prison up in Georgia. In these hard economic times why should Florida citizens have to bear that expense? Another juris doctorate answered his query in this morning's edition of the fish gut wrapper, Democrat. He basically said that a criminal should not be allowed to manipulate the system to his benefit. To wit, Hilton confessed to the crime in Georgia so as to avoid prosecution in Florida and risk having his own head sawed off with a serrated hunting knife by a state paid assassin. Of course his victims did not have a choice in that regard in that he acted as judge, jury and executioner in each heinous act of lunacy.
I cannot help but reflect back over the years. I remember picking up the newspaper in my front yard back in January of 1978 and reading the blood chilling account of the Chi Omega murders. We were all touched by this maniac over the years in just staring at him as you would a two headed mountain goat at the county fair. You were disgusted at his depravity but we were drawn to the account of this looney tune as it played out in the written and electronic media. They even made a movie about Ted Bundy and someone wrote a book. Heck, some freako even married him and had a child by him through the benefit of conjugal visits while he was in prison.
I used to be in the pharmaceuticals business. For a period of time I called on Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee. I used to go back into the forensic unit and speak with the psychiatrists back there in that hell hole. That is where they keep the people who killed their grandmother for turning off the TV in the middle of a Tom and Jerry cartoon and then grinding her into sausage. They were adjudged to be too crazy to stand trial and placed in the forensic unit at Florida State Hospital (FSH). I would walk by the doors where they kept the Freddie Kreugers of our world and the screams and epithets you heard would make your hair stand on end. If there is a such a place on earth where demonic spirits rule, I would nominate that place as spook central.
Anyway on one particular day I was in to visit my friend and client Dr. Carmencita Mola, psychiatrist. There was quite a buzz ensuing amongst the staff. I asked her what was up and she told me that Ted Bundy was coming to their facility for a few days. I asked for what purpose. The answer is almost laughable. You see, he was sitting on death row after having been sentenced to death in Lake City for the rape and murder of Kimberly Diane Leach. All the pleas had played out and it was pretty certain that Teddy was going to fry. Now ( you are not ready for this ) the state of Florida was postured to kill him in a few short months. He was in FSH to receieve counseling to help him deal with the fact that the people who were paying for this counseling were going to kill him. I wonder how much "counseling" he gave the 36 to 136 people whom he killed prior to bludgeoning them?
Incidentally, I had a close friend, Alex, who was an assistant state attorney in Lake City. I would see him pretty frequently and we would go to lunch. It was his task to bring evidence to the table to help prosecute Bundy. He interviewed him face to face. He told me two things that remain with me to this day. One was that being in the presence of Bundy was like looking into the eyes of Satan. Secondly, Alex had a little 12 year old daughter. He told me that reviewing the evidence of the murder kept him awake at night. He was a pretty tough old state attorney and the evidence was so horrible it kept him awake.
I knew two people who were in law school with Bundy at University of Utah. My son dated a girl in college whose father had been the policeman who had arrested him in west Florida. All said what a sociopathic human being he seemed to be.
To end my recollections about Bundy who assumed room temperature 22 years ago I have to put you on an airplane heading to Tampa. Halfway there the captain came on the PA and announced that Ted Bundy had just been executed. There was spontaneous applause that occurred throughout the cabin. I am not going to tell you whether or not I joined in. I do remember staring out at the ground below reflecting long and hard for the rest of the trip on the role of the death penalty in our judicial system.
I think if I were a relative or friend of Cheryl Dunlap I might want to reserve a front row center seat to witness Mr. Hilton take his last breath somewhere down the road. If it had been my wife or daughter he had taken and killed I would pray for 2-3minutes alone with him in a room. I suppose that capital punishment must have a stronghold in our primieval identity.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The right to petition government
I had an interesting aside with a person this week about my former role in life as a lobbyist. Their take was that it was a very cloaked and nefarious role in society. I explained that one of the rights installed into the US Constitution was a right to petition our government. You can see the tea party movement as a mass lobbying effort in sending the message that Americans are a bit put out over the direction of our country and the general perfomance of our electorate. The results have been newsworthy as there have been more than one career politician who spat in the face of the teapartiers and was sent packing.
I read a book provided to me by a very bright friend when I was first appointed as the guy who directed lobbying for the firm I worked for. It was called The Third House. It was a history of lobbying in the Florida Legislature over about a fifty year history. The obvious emphasis was that there was the senate, the house and the lobbying corps. The fact is that the third house is effective and strong and a force to be reckoned with.
Examples are the National Rifle Association, National Education Association, American Medical Association, United Auto Workers, American Heart Association, Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers Association, American Trial Lawyers. The list goes on and on. They influence legislation and regulation and generally watch the back pockets of the interests of their membership. One small little piece of legislation can have devastating effects on business interests. One interpretation of a law and the implementation of regulation by a local or state adminstrative board can lay a company low.
Do yourself a favor and look up http://www.state.leg.state.fl.us. You will see on that website a link to all the registered lobbyists that will camp out as the Florida legislature moves into session. They will number into the thousands. As we progress through the session you will see various ads in print and in the broadcast media advising you that so and so wants to take away your right to have your nose tickled by a feather. If you are concerned about that then call your legislator immediately. Those are ads that are put together in grassroots, coalition building venues to influence outcomes. They are paid for by private interests who stand to have their back pockets hit if a piece of legislation becomes law.
Right or wrong that is just the way it is. The framers of our constitution knew that process would be necessary and preserved it for us in language that assures the people the right to petition their government. If you move to Iran or elsewhere you could have your tongue removed for speaking ill of the dictator dujour. Here in America that right is a small part of what makes this republic of ours work
I read a book provided to me by a very bright friend when I was first appointed as the guy who directed lobbying for the firm I worked for. It was called The Third House. It was a history of lobbying in the Florida Legislature over about a fifty year history. The obvious emphasis was that there was the senate, the house and the lobbying corps. The fact is that the third house is effective and strong and a force to be reckoned with.
Examples are the National Rifle Association, National Education Association, American Medical Association, United Auto Workers, American Heart Association, Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers Association, American Trial Lawyers. The list goes on and on. They influence legislation and regulation and generally watch the back pockets of the interests of their membership. One small little piece of legislation can have devastating effects on business interests. One interpretation of a law and the implementation of regulation by a local or state adminstrative board can lay a company low.
Do yourself a favor and look up http://www.state.leg.state.fl.us. You will see on that website a link to all the registered lobbyists that will camp out as the Florida legislature moves into session. They will number into the thousands. As we progress through the session you will see various ads in print and in the broadcast media advising you that so and so wants to take away your right to have your nose tickled by a feather. If you are concerned about that then call your legislator immediately. Those are ads that are put together in grassroots, coalition building venues to influence outcomes. They are paid for by private interests who stand to have their back pockets hit if a piece of legislation becomes law.
Right or wrong that is just the way it is. The framers of our constitution knew that process would be necessary and preserved it for us in language that assures the people the right to petition their government. If you move to Iran or elsewhere you could have your tongue removed for speaking ill of the dictator dujour. Here in America that right is a small part of what makes this republic of ours work
Monday, January 24, 2011
Cheating, the key to attainment
Well now that the 2010 NCAA Division 1 football season is behind us I feel compelled to blather about the principal of cheating. I am of the generation that espouses the little couplet “ Cheaters never win.”
Well, I have to take somewhat of a “ what the heck ?? “ position on this. All through my life I have always been of the position that I will play honestly even if it means losing. All the while I sat back and watched those who were ill prepared for the test, devise a way to cheat and succeed.
We have watched the interplay between the handlers of Cameron Newtron at Auburn University and the NCAA this season. There was a pretty solid case and evidence presented that led most of us to the conclusion that ole Cam and his Pappy, the preacher man, stepped over the line. What did this cost Cameron? Nothing. Unless you have been under a rock in the forest you know that he won the Heisman and led his team to the national championship. His Daddy tried to peddle him to Ole Miss for $80k and it is presumed that Auburn out bid Ole Miss.
I remember back in the day when my Alabama Crimson Tide won a national championship under Gene Stallings. Lo and behold the football program was placed on serious probation thereafter for recruiting violations on a player out of Tennessee. The sanctions imposed by the NCAA blasted ‘Bama out of the water for 10-plus years. They have only recently returned to national prominence.
I used to lobby the legislatures in three southern states. One of my allies was the dean of a pretty prominent science program at a well known university. I supported him with numerous grants, honorariums, etc. and he helped me on a major issue I had before the legislature. One of his associate deans called me and asked to meet with me. I did so and found out that this “friend” I had fostered had recently taken a large pay out to take the polar opposite position on this issue with my competition. He stabbed me in the heart. I successfully rallied my other support and beat him and the reptilian competition in the end. However, this cheater was recently in the news for obtaining a heavy duty major position with another university. I keep waiting for him to get caught but he continues to win over the 20 year interim since this experience.
I used to be heavily involved in Little League baseball. I found that other coaches flat out cheated to load their teams and recruit out of boundary players. They won all their games and went on to compete at the state level and to this day have never been caught.
I have known people in all walks of life who cheat on their wives. They never get caught and they live seemingly pristine and happy lives with their unsuspecting families.
I had people to whom I reported in business and other venues who ignored their wedding vows. In business I always used a common logic that hit people in the midst of their mindset. They would extol the person to whom we mutually reported as a stalwart good guy. They were ready to believe that in the inner circles of corporate life that this person always had our backs. I always said: “ I and you know that this person cheats on his wife. If he does not live by the sacred vows he took in front of witnesses and betrays his life partner who has given him children, just how likely is he to stand up for you and I ?” That always caught the listener off guard and I never got an argument returned.
Cheating is a common matter. I see it constantly in the current world in which I make a living. There are people at all levels who bend and/or break the rules to bring the business advantage to themselves. They do not care about you and I, only themselves.
We might therefore conclude that cheating is a symptom of a very serious illness called selfishness.
I always liked the following poem:
When you get where you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for the day.
Go to the mirror and look at yourself and
See what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your father or mother or wife,
Upon you whose judgement must pass.
The person whose opinion matters most in this life,
Is the one looking back out from the glass.
You may be like Jack Horner,
And chistle a plum.
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the mirror says you’re a bum.
If you can’t look him square in the eye.
He’s the one you must please, forget all the rest
For he’s with you clear to the end.
You have passed the most dangerous and difficult task,
If the man in the glass is your friend.
Now you may fool the world,
Down the pathway of years,
Getting pats on the back as you pass.
But the final reward is heart ache and tears,
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
Well, I have to take somewhat of a “ what the heck ?? “ position on this. All through my life I have always been of the position that I will play honestly even if it means losing. All the while I sat back and watched those who were ill prepared for the test, devise a way to cheat and succeed.
We have watched the interplay between the handlers of Cameron Newtron at Auburn University and the NCAA this season. There was a pretty solid case and evidence presented that led most of us to the conclusion that ole Cam and his Pappy, the preacher man, stepped over the line. What did this cost Cameron? Nothing. Unless you have been under a rock in the forest you know that he won the Heisman and led his team to the national championship. His Daddy tried to peddle him to Ole Miss for $80k and it is presumed that Auburn out bid Ole Miss.
I remember back in the day when my Alabama Crimson Tide won a national championship under Gene Stallings. Lo and behold the football program was placed on serious probation thereafter for recruiting violations on a player out of Tennessee. The sanctions imposed by the NCAA blasted ‘Bama out of the water for 10-plus years. They have only recently returned to national prominence.
I used to lobby the legislatures in three southern states. One of my allies was the dean of a pretty prominent science program at a well known university. I supported him with numerous grants, honorariums, etc. and he helped me on a major issue I had before the legislature. One of his associate deans called me and asked to meet with me. I did so and found out that this “friend” I had fostered had recently taken a large pay out to take the polar opposite position on this issue with my competition. He stabbed me in the heart. I successfully rallied my other support and beat him and the reptilian competition in the end. However, this cheater was recently in the news for obtaining a heavy duty major position with another university. I keep waiting for him to get caught but he continues to win over the 20 year interim since this experience.
I used to be heavily involved in Little League baseball. I found that other coaches flat out cheated to load their teams and recruit out of boundary players. They won all their games and went on to compete at the state level and to this day have never been caught.
I have known people in all walks of life who cheat on their wives. They never get caught and they live seemingly pristine and happy lives with their unsuspecting families.
I had people to whom I reported in business and other venues who ignored their wedding vows. In business I always used a common logic that hit people in the midst of their mindset. They would extol the person to whom we mutually reported as a stalwart good guy. They were ready to believe that in the inner circles of corporate life that this person always had our backs. I always said: “ I and you know that this person cheats on his wife. If he does not live by the sacred vows he took in front of witnesses and betrays his life partner who has given him children, just how likely is he to stand up for you and I ?” That always caught the listener off guard and I never got an argument returned.
Cheating is a common matter. I see it constantly in the current world in which I make a living. There are people at all levels who bend and/or break the rules to bring the business advantage to themselves. They do not care about you and I, only themselves.
We might therefore conclude that cheating is a symptom of a very serious illness called selfishness.
I always liked the following poem:
When you get where you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for the day.
Go to the mirror and look at yourself and
See what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your father or mother or wife,
Upon you whose judgement must pass.
The person whose opinion matters most in this life,
Is the one looking back out from the glass.
You may be like Jack Horner,
And chistle a plum.
And think you’re a wonderful guy.
But the man in the mirror says you’re a bum.
If you can’t look him square in the eye.
He’s the one you must please, forget all the rest
For he’s with you clear to the end.
You have passed the most dangerous and difficult task,
If the man in the glass is your friend.
Now you may fool the world,
Down the pathway of years,
Getting pats on the back as you pass.
But the final reward is heart ache and tears,
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Theft aborts child's prayer
I had a closing scheduled today for a sweet young family. As we sat in the office the Mother retold how her 8 year old son had asked the Lord, in his prayers the evening before to not allow anything to postpone their getting into their new house. Such was the level of excitement in the household.
About 15 minutes later, my phone rang and it was the other agent. He told me that he was in the home to be purchased and that someone had stolen the brand new stove/range and dishwasher. That put a sudden halt to our closing and was in direct conflict with the prayer of this innocent little boy.
Last week I was showing property and the buyer I was with said, " My, that air conditioning unit certainly looks strange." Upon closer examination we could see that it had been disassembled and the copper tubing stolen. About a month ago I was called by a lady in the northeast about selling a piece of rental property she owned in Tallahassee. As I took the time to go and look at it for her I learned that her outside a/c compressor had been completely removed by some low life thief.
Every story has a comparable that escalates the previous one. My daughter and many others went to church over in Pensacola back in the summer. The air conditioner had been completely removed from the building the night before. These air conditioner thefts have to be done by someone who knows what they are doing elsewise you would hear of many more electrocutions in peoples back yards. Premeditated acts of opportunity they are.
I think back in my memory to reading an autobiography of a lady I knew named Gladys Wilson. She was a registered nurse and many years prior had worked for one of the big oil companies in Iran. She had pictures of human hands hanging at the gateway entrance to a town. These hands had been amputated and hung to provide a message to those who would contemplate stealing another's property. The occurrence of theft was very low, almost unchartable.
I have always felt that thieves are at the very bottom of the criminal food chain. They usually go uncaught. Do you realize that retail chains lose as much as 10% of thier merchandise at the hands of the very people to whom they grant a paycheck and provide benefits? Now that is low. A person who would steal from the person that puts groceries on his table is definitely a low life.
Of course this cost is added back into the cost of doing business and you and I end up paying for these criminal acts.
It is a sad reality that thieves have always been with us and very likely always will be. Just the same as cockroaches, slugs and fungus.
About 15 minutes later, my phone rang and it was the other agent. He told me that he was in the home to be purchased and that someone had stolen the brand new stove/range and dishwasher. That put a sudden halt to our closing and was in direct conflict with the prayer of this innocent little boy.
Last week I was showing property and the buyer I was with said, " My, that air conditioning unit certainly looks strange." Upon closer examination we could see that it had been disassembled and the copper tubing stolen. About a month ago I was called by a lady in the northeast about selling a piece of rental property she owned in Tallahassee. As I took the time to go and look at it for her I learned that her outside a/c compressor had been completely removed by some low life thief.
Every story has a comparable that escalates the previous one. My daughter and many others went to church over in Pensacola back in the summer. The air conditioner had been completely removed from the building the night before. These air conditioner thefts have to be done by someone who knows what they are doing elsewise you would hear of many more electrocutions in peoples back yards. Premeditated acts of opportunity they are.
I think back in my memory to reading an autobiography of a lady I knew named Gladys Wilson. She was a registered nurse and many years prior had worked for one of the big oil companies in Iran. She had pictures of human hands hanging at the gateway entrance to a town. These hands had been amputated and hung to provide a message to those who would contemplate stealing another's property. The occurrence of theft was very low, almost unchartable.
I have always felt that thieves are at the very bottom of the criminal food chain. They usually go uncaught. Do you realize that retail chains lose as much as 10% of thier merchandise at the hands of the very people to whom they grant a paycheck and provide benefits? Now that is low. A person who would steal from the person that puts groceries on his table is definitely a low life.
Of course this cost is added back into the cost of doing business and you and I end up paying for these criminal acts.
It is a sad reality that thieves have always been with us and very likely always will be. Just the same as cockroaches, slugs and fungus.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
10 Things I learned in 2010
Lesson 1:
Anyone who holds a conversation with you and tells you with every other breath what a great Christian they are, watch your back. I had a client this past year with whom I had that experience. They tried to throw me under the bus on a deal, yet all the while telling me how close they were to Jesus. Don't listen so much to what they say. Just watch what they do.
Lesson 2
If you are healthy then give mucho thanks. My wife came within 24 hours of the pearly gates this past spring. After almost 6 weeks in the hospital at a cost of $250,000 and now many months of trying to come back she is still not where she was before. She is trying hard and is still here. Life is very, very hard without your health.
Lesson 3
I saw a great bumper sticker this year. It said "Wag more, bark less." Isn't that a wonderful idea? We naturally like to grouse and complain, at least I do. We should try very hard to be a bit more positive and way less negative.
Lesson 4
There is still independence in the citizenry of this country. The tea party movement was a real deal. We sent a 24 year vetted Congressman home here in North Florida because he got on the wrong side of the tea party. That scenario was replicated all over America. The will of the people is still something to be reckoned with.
Lesson 5
Friends are hard to find. I discovered this year that people who I would have thought would stand up and fight with me over nearly any issue that was important to me can toss you aside and never even return your phone calls. You are lucky if you have 2 or 3 people whom you can call friend. Most of those you can truly count on come from the midst of your own family. Be nice to people in general but lean on those 2 or 3 that are closest.
Lesson 6
Hang out with 2 and 3 year olds more. I was having a particularly hard day this past year. I went to see my 2 year old grandson, Benjamin. I found him out in his driveway playing with his cars. His favorite is 'Mater from the movie "Cars". I was telling him about my bad day and he looked at me and said, " Go fast, Pop." He then roared off down the driveway pushing 'Mater as fast as he could. He was consumed with enthusiasm and happiness. Nothing seemed to worry him. I have tried to remember that attitude when the sledding gets rough.
Lesson 7
This recession we are in is seriously real. In my business I have seen more and more people who have had to reinvent themselves and move on to something new. I know dozens of people who have lost their homes, jobs, life savings and their joy and happiness. This recession is real.
Lesson 8
Things change. That beautiful young lady you knew back in college is just as old and wrinkled and most likely as unattractive as you are. She has changed. If you have not kept up with technology you are out of touch and unless you make some herculean adjustments you will remain out of touch. The music that young people like nowadays is not going to do it for you. Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson and Elvis are dead. Things change. Adopt it or get run over by it.
Lesson 9
Sometimes you have to die to get better. I lost one of the best friends I ever had this past year to cancer. He was just shy of 60. I had known him for 6 years. He was
a soulmate. I and others stayed with him as the cancer began to eat him away. He fought it as courageously as is possible. In the end he labored for every breath and groaned in agony. The only way for him to get better was for him to die. I was in his presence after he died. He was peaceful and serene. Sometimes you have to die to get better.
Lesson 10
You need to go on vacation. Two of the high points of this past year were a trip to Savannah with my wife back in January. It was record cold. We were about the only people there and had Savannah almost to ourselves. We stayed 4 nights in a bed and breakfast before she got so sick. We watched 'Bama win the national football Championship from that B&B. Into the summer the whole family spent a week on the banks of the Tuckaseegee river in a mountain home in Sylva North Carolina. It was a week of playing with the little ones, laughing and watching movies and playing board games and of course eating lots of chow. This was after my wife's illness and it was restorative for all of us, especially her.
Anyone who holds a conversation with you and tells you with every other breath what a great Christian they are, watch your back. I had a client this past year with whom I had that experience. They tried to throw me under the bus on a deal, yet all the while telling me how close they were to Jesus. Don't listen so much to what they say. Just watch what they do.
Lesson 2
If you are healthy then give mucho thanks. My wife came within 24 hours of the pearly gates this past spring. After almost 6 weeks in the hospital at a cost of $250,000 and now many months of trying to come back she is still not where she was before. She is trying hard and is still here. Life is very, very hard without your health.
Lesson 3
I saw a great bumper sticker this year. It said "Wag more, bark less." Isn't that a wonderful idea? We naturally like to grouse and complain, at least I do. We should try very hard to be a bit more positive and way less negative.
Lesson 4
There is still independence in the citizenry of this country. The tea party movement was a real deal. We sent a 24 year vetted Congressman home here in North Florida because he got on the wrong side of the tea party. That scenario was replicated all over America. The will of the people is still something to be reckoned with.
Lesson 5
Friends are hard to find. I discovered this year that people who I would have thought would stand up and fight with me over nearly any issue that was important to me can toss you aside and never even return your phone calls. You are lucky if you have 2 or 3 people whom you can call friend. Most of those you can truly count on come from the midst of your own family. Be nice to people in general but lean on those 2 or 3 that are closest.
Lesson 6
Hang out with 2 and 3 year olds more. I was having a particularly hard day this past year. I went to see my 2 year old grandson, Benjamin. I found him out in his driveway playing with his cars. His favorite is 'Mater from the movie "Cars". I was telling him about my bad day and he looked at me and said, " Go fast, Pop." He then roared off down the driveway pushing 'Mater as fast as he could. He was consumed with enthusiasm and happiness. Nothing seemed to worry him. I have tried to remember that attitude when the sledding gets rough.
Lesson 7
This recession we are in is seriously real. In my business I have seen more and more people who have had to reinvent themselves and move on to something new. I know dozens of people who have lost their homes, jobs, life savings and their joy and happiness. This recession is real.
Lesson 8
Things change. That beautiful young lady you knew back in college is just as old and wrinkled and most likely as unattractive as you are. She has changed. If you have not kept up with technology you are out of touch and unless you make some herculean adjustments you will remain out of touch. The music that young people like nowadays is not going to do it for you. Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson and Elvis are dead. Things change. Adopt it or get run over by it.
Lesson 9
Sometimes you have to die to get better. I lost one of the best friends I ever had this past year to cancer. He was just shy of 60. I had known him for 6 years. He was
a soulmate. I and others stayed with him as the cancer began to eat him away. He fought it as courageously as is possible. In the end he labored for every breath and groaned in agony. The only way for him to get better was for him to die. I was in his presence after he died. He was peaceful and serene. Sometimes you have to die to get better.
Lesson 10
You need to go on vacation. Two of the high points of this past year were a trip to Savannah with my wife back in January. It was record cold. We were about the only people there and had Savannah almost to ourselves. We stayed 4 nights in a bed and breakfast before she got so sick. We watched 'Bama win the national football Championship from that B&B. Into the summer the whole family spent a week on the banks of the Tuckaseegee river in a mountain home in Sylva North Carolina. It was a week of playing with the little ones, laughing and watching movies and playing board games and of course eating lots of chow. This was after my wife's illness and it was restorative for all of us, especially her.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Astronaut Don Lind
This past week I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by former astronaut, Don Lind. As a young man back in Montgomery Alabama in 1964'ish I used to hang out with a lot of Air Firce brats. I was aware of and became a fan of Don Lind. He was a PhD in Physics and was also a navy pilot, before he became an astronaut. His son Dave lives here in Tallahassee and is a PhD and also teaches Physics at Florida State University.
I have kept up with Dr. Lind over the better part of 40 years and have always held him in the utmost of esteem. He flew on one of the sky labs and was lifted into space on the Challenger. I never knew this particular fact. He and his crew were the last crew to successfully fly Challenger into space. The next crew that went up on it were subjected to a fiery explosion that ended all of their lives. I believe that was January 28, 1986.
After the Challenger disaster Dr. Lind told our recent gathering that he was called into a NASA office in Houston and was told the following. You may recall that the reason that the Challenger exploded was because of a defective O-ring sealing the rocket booster from the separation configuration between it and the payload. This same defect existed on Dr. Lind's flight. The same malfunction occurred but through some miraculous coincidence a fragment of the O-ring plugged the rupture just long enough to prevent the fuel from rushing sideways thusly stopping the explosion on their flight. He told us that he was advised by this project supervisor that he and his colleagues had come within .3 seconds of the same fate as the crew of 1/28/86.
He testified as to how chilling of a realization that was. That he came that close to dying caused him a great deal of reflection. The thought that he could have ended up a charred cinder in less than one second had serendipity not have saved him was sobering.
Now he had landed almost 100 flights on the deck of a carrier during his flying days. He had led a life that involved a great deal of risk taking.
I can isolate several near misses in my life. Experiences behind the wheel of a car, behind the handle bars of a motorcycle, being a few inches to the left of a 30-06 round out in the woods during deer hunting season. I am sure that there have been numerous close calls that I was not even aware of.
We humans are most likely amongst the most fragile of all life forms here on planet earth. We are a delicate balance of carbon atoms suspended in just the right chemical status to keep us getting up in the morning. If the homeostatic balance is marginalized in any fashion we are toast.
I remember many years ago a railroad accident in Youngstown, Florida. That is near Panama City. A couple of young men thought it would be fun to interfere with the integrity of a railroad track. Their vandalism caused a freight train to derail. One of the cars was filled with chlorine. When the car was ruptured a fog of chlorine gas ensued. It was fairly early in the morning. As cars proceeding south on US 231 approached the area they noticed what they thought was a little fog hanging over the road. As they drove through the mist they unfortunately found themselves breathing poisonous chlorine gas. The outcome was 14 fatalities. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I remember reading a short story by Mark Twain called " The Mysterious Stranger". It had as its main point how precarious life is. It was somewhat of a commentary on how silly, Twain's opinion, that the theory of predestination was.
I suppose we should live each moment as if it were to be our last one. We would all be a lot better off, I would imagine.
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