Category Archives: Uncategorized

Growing up I was lucky enough to have access to some duck and goose hunting land and terrific friends to go with me. Tim, Neil, Greg and I went hunting often, with mixed results. Sometimes we got many birds and other times not so much. We always had a terrific time being together. We wereContinue reading “Not Shut Out”

Being a rancher my dad needed to be good at many things. He was an excellent negotiator. He bargained over buying and selling cattle, horses, equipment, land, and just about everything else. His mindset was “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” He would use just about any tactic to gain an advantage.Continue reading “What Did You Have in Mind?”

One of my coaching jobs was starting a girl’s basketball program at a local charter school. It was a challenge especially since we didn’t have any basketballs. The girls had to bring their own and only three of them had ever played before. We had only outdoor goals, so we played all our games at the other team’s gyms. We made it through the first yearContinue reading “Pounding the Rock”

I coached basketball for thirteen years from kindergarten to seniors in high school. Many were first time players. I took pride in my ability to teach the fundamentals. One of the hardest things to teach new players was how to shoot a layup. That’s a shot very close to the basket while moving your feetContinue reading “Inch by Inch”

One of the bright spots in my life the past several years has been getting to know a legend in my community, Dr. B. I met him when I volunteered to sack and hand out fresh produce at a local charity. He was in his 90s and came to help. I immediately recognized his name because a middleContinue reading “A Happy Life”

This saying comes from my Dad. The same man that often said “Why take achance when you have a cinch?” The two statements seem to contradict each other, but they really fit togetherlike a hand in a glove. They both have to do with evaluating risk. A good reasonfor taking a chance is if youContinue reading “What Have You Got to Lose?”

I didn’t have a TV in college. When the baseball playoffs started my roommateand I went to the dorm lobby to watch a game. A few feet from us was the biggestperson I’d ever seen. He was 6’8” tall, weighed 280 pounds and a freshmanfootball player. He barely fit in the arm chair he wasContinue reading “What did you Expect?”

In 2011 my good friend Ed told me about TED talks. I soon got hooked and wouldwatch them while eating lunch at my desk. I didn’t know a couple of them wouldalter the course of my life. In March of 2011 Kathryn Schulz gave a talk aboutbeing wrong. It changed the way I see theContinue reading “Being Wrong”

I mentioned in another post that my dad was an orthodontist. He was also arancher. That seems like a strange combination, but he made it work beautifully. Iwas helping him work cattle one day when I was about ten and working cattle isn’teasy, in case you’ve never done it. I made a mistake that causedContinue reading “The World is Going to Keep Right on Turning”