DEBATE NIGHT - A NEW EXPERIENCE!

politico.com

All eyes will be on the second Presidential Debate tonight at Hofstra University in New York State where President Barack Obama will face off against his challenger, former Governor Mitt Romney.  News reports estimate that 70 million people will be tuned in to watch the performances of these two men vying for the highest office of the land.  Tonight’s format is a town hall meeting where all questions will come from individual American citizens.  All the hype, hyperbole and action is focused on which man will come out swinging and land a solid performance. 

I will be watching the debate tonight in a well-lit conference room in Fayetteville, North Carolina with approximately seven flat-screen televisions ranging from 32 inches to a large movie-type screen.  There will be 15 of us in attendance, all political bloggers.  I received the invite from a fellow writer who indicated that it would be a good experience for me.  We are challenged with writing twitter messages throughout the debate performance.  Each writer has the challenge of writing a message every five minutes.  That corresponds to a total of 18 messages over the course of the 90 minute debate.


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As I understand it, all twitter messages will be going out under one twitter address.  Unfortunately, I do not have that address information as of yet.  Even though I have a twitter account, I have as yet to send out even one message.  I am told that we will each have an I-Pad for composing our messages.  We hit ‘send’ and they are then quickly reviewed and sent out into twitter land. 

The only restriction on us is that we must use appropriate language with our messages.  We are allowed to write whatever we wish and support whichever candidate we so choose.  Of course, twitter messages have a limited character count so that will be far away the most significant challenge I suspect I will face.  I have no concerns about being able to write my comments and messages but I will have to forego my usual embellishment and wordiness as I write my tweets.

I have been told that there will be cameras on us.  Evidently, it will be part of a documentary that is being filmed about the presidential election in North Carolina.  I plan to keep a record of my messages and share them on one of my blogs later this week.  I’m hoping that doing the work of creating messaging won’t take away from my experience of watching the two men debate.  I’m sure most of my work will focus on how President Obama is facing the challenge of performing at a higher level than the first debate.

Feels like the ‘The Game’ to me right now.  I am having those pre-game Ohio State-Michigan jitters I get every November.  Not for the tweeting or the composing of messages.  I am anxious for my candidate to do well.      

A BUMP IN THE ROAD

I wish to extend my sincere apologies to my readers for my recent and prolonged absence from these pages.  I freely admit that I have been overwhelmed with angst these many weeks.  It has been a bedfellow for quite some time.  It strikes without warning and envelopes me.  It reminds one of the unwelcome relative who overstays their visit.  Sometimes it’s only an inning, other times it goes into extra innings.  Captive to it I become and only through God’s loving hand am I set free. 

Set free I am, thankfully once again.  Earlier this evening, I happened to answer my phone.  It was a friend, a good friend who I have not spoken to or seen in over a year.  Her voice was that of an angel.  Hearing her voice, laugher and words caressed my very soul.  It started a movement of music within me.  The chains and shackles that clung to me were breaking free. 

Energized by her words and caring soul, I knew what my next step would have to be.  It was time to free myself.  Feeling alive again, I ventured out to walk silently into the night enjoying the pace of my footsteps beating on the pavement.  It was going to be one mile, then two miles and yet a third mile exorcising the demons that have walked with me these past few months.  How free I felt.  How alive I felt. 

Collapsing upon recovery, I fell into slumber and slept the dreams of champions.  A three-hour nap mid-evening is generally a recipe of disaster for my night’s four to five hours of sleep.  Upon awakening, I reached for that dreadful phone that always carries messages whenever I am absent from it.  There was only one and the number was not one I recognized.  Good, I thought, no messages from work.  That’s a first. 

God in his infinite wisdom and mercy knew that it would take a second call to fully and completely arouse me from my blues.  Sure enough, it was yet again a dear friend; a friend not spoken to in years.  The occasional email back and forth but this friend goes back to those very early years when we played cowboys and Indians, soldiers and spies.  His was a voice from my earliest years as a child where we grew up only a few houses apart on the same street. 

The messages were clear even if unspoken.  Both called out of love and concern.  How lucky I am to have two such friends.  How selfish am I to allow myself to be devoured by such an unruly bedfellow.  I thank God tonight, early morning for his love for me and for my friends.  It is truly a blessing to have someone like Kay, my best friend’s best friend to call me and awaken me from my hour of despair.  The incredible joy realized when your longest good friend reaches out to you and provides affirmation of your life. 

I have been absent way too long.  I have lots of stories to share.  My frustrations, my joys and my expectations are overflowing now and will soon spill out onto the many pages I write.   You may not agree with all of what I write and that’s okay.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Thank God from whom all blessings flow.           

Customer Service - An Exemplary Effort!

filthylucre.com

Last evening I was visiting my local shopping mall where I was going to pick-up this week's issue of Time Magazine, have some Chinese food and catch-up on what's happening in the world.  Arriving at the mall, I stopped at the bookstore and purchased my magazine. 

As always when I visit the Mall, I stopped at the Zales jewelry store to say hello to my son.  He's employed there and has been for a couple of years.  He was unusually happy to see me this evening as he needed a favor.  I figured he wanted me to pick-up a soda for him or something of that nature.  That was not the case.

He had a problem.  His problem was that the store's printer's ink cartridge was no longer serviceable.  He had a customer, actually a young couple, looking to purchase a wedding ring or band and needed to complete a finance sales agreement.  He told me that he would be unable to complete the sale without a signed agreement.  He asked me to drive to the local Office Depot store and purchase the ink cartridge. 

My son relayed to me that his call to the store manager was not well received.  The manager was unwilling to return to the store with an ink cartridge and told  my son to call someone, perhaps a friend, to purchase one and the store would do a paid out reimbursing the friend.  I turned out to be that friend.  I drove to the Office Depot store and purchased the appropriate ink cartridge and returned it to my son so that he could finalize the finance agreement with his customer.  He then reimbursed me for the cost of the ink cartridge.         

I was proud of my son this evening as he truly exemplified what going the extra mile for a customer is all about.  As a hotel executive, I love catching my employees performing in such a fashion and am incredibly gratified that my son understands the concept of taking care of the customer.  The young couple was most appreciative that I came to the rescue with the ink cartridge.  However, the real hero was my son who needed to solve a problem that his manager was unable or unwilling to accomplish. 

I know from my own hospitality experience that every customer is an important one.  I also know that my goal is to establish a relationship with that customer so that he becomes a life-long customer, not just a one-time customer.  I believe that my son accomplished that for Zales tonight when he bent over backwards, went that extra mile and developed a new relationship with this young couple.

Exemplary customer service is something we all run into from time to time.  Not nearly enough but we all have experienced it and know what it is when we receive it.  These are the experiences we go out of our way to share with our family and friends.  In a time when many employees and managers alike seem to care less, I experienced a child of mine displaying great passion for his work and a determination to take care of his customer.  I could not have been more proud of one of my own employees.  It was so much sweeter to experience it first-hand in my own son.  Great Job Daniel Hawkins Brown. 

Losing Faith In People - Thank God For My Children

anecdotalanna.wordpress.com

Calm, cool and collected.  The marketing phrase that was popular for years extolling the benefits of using Secret, the body deodorant, aptly describes my personality make-up.  I am the calm in the storm.  I am cool amid the stress.  I am collected among all the chaos.  Very little gets to me and my buttons are very difficult to find let alone push.  I would admit that my work in hospitality has frequently taken me closer to my meltdown point than I care to acknowledge.  Taking care of the customer becomes more challenging each year.     

This past weekend I experienced three different events that once again gave me great pause about the human condition.  I experienced anger, frustration and a feeling of hopelessness coming from all three of these experiences.  Each of them made my face grow red and my blood boil.  As calm, cool and collected as I am, my emotions were starting to get the best of me.    

The weekend started with a couple who reported that they had an IBM Tablet stolen from their room.  They immediately accused one of my housekeepers of stealing it.  Responding in a prudent and responsible fashion, I investigated the matter with haste along with my security counterparts.  The housekeeper was questioned and believed to be innocent.  Security reported back to the guest that our investigation found no theft on the part of the housekeeper.  The guests then made a point to search our 32-acre property to confront me and demand compensation. 

I was at our oceanfront restaurant having a light salad for lunch when the couple interrupted me with their loud, accusatory voices.  I explained to them that we were still investigating the matter but we believed the housekeeper was innocent.  They believed differently of course and made a point with their loud voices to make sure everyone else knew as well.  Later in the day, I returned to their unit to make a visual inspection myself under the guise that our insurance company would want to know that we did a search of the unit for the missing computer.

Finding nothing of course, I thanked them and indicated I would be calling the police to come by the following morning to complete a police report.  The husband showed up at the Front Desk the next morning and reported that they found their Tablet.  Funny how the couple just happened to find it prior to the police arriving.  Filing a false police report is a felony in South Carolina.  Funny how they chose not to search the property for either the housekeeper or I to apologize for their false accusations.

The second experience was a guest reporting to the Front Desk that their unit had bugs in it.  They had just arrived to their unit and found roaches all over the place.  I immediately went to the unit.  It was true.  There were roaches everywhere.  I acknowledged to the guest that the unit had a bug problem and made arrangements to have the guest moved to a different unit.  As I was walking out of the unit I noticed that there was a jar in the trash can by the kitchen.  This was a clean unit and there would have been no trash in the trash cans.  This guest, using the word loosely, emptied out the roaches into the room in hopes that they would receive a nicer and closer unit to the ocean. 

My third experience over the weekend and the one that still bothers me is seeing a three-year boy sitting on his mother's lap in the  passenger seat of their SUV.  They were driving on the property looking for a parking space.  There were two young girls in bathing suits walking toward one of our pools.  The little three-year old flips them the middle finger.  Mom is laughing watching her young son obviously emulate her or his father. 

Three wonderful experiences at the beach.  Every time I experience such behavior from my guests, I am reminded how proud and pleased I am with my three grown children, Timothy, Jennifer and Daniel.  I have truly been blessed with three wonderful children.   It is of great comfort to know that not one of my three would behave in just a boorish and ghastly fashion.  They restore my faith each and every day and help me overcome my frustration with disgusting and shameful people.     

Watching One's Life Flash Before Your Eyes...It Really Can Happen!

quotes.cl

Like you, I have often heard a friend or co-worker say that their close call with some type of accident has caused them to see their life flash by in their head.  For the most part, I have always considered this more of an expression, a saying.  Not a reality.  Having had such an experience just two weeks ago, I can now attest to that very occurrence.  Mine was not a close call in an automobile accident.  Nor was it a near drowning experience.  Not an accident at all.  I was on the witness stand.

I have sat in that lonely chair before.  Couple of times actually.  Never any fun for fear that you will say something wrong or inappropriate.  Certainly do not want to lie when you sit in that chair after you have taken an oath of being honest.  I have testified at an Internal Revenue Service hearing.  As a Chief Executive Officer, I testified on behalf of our non-profit in a liability case.  I have given my testimony in a number of depositions but not these nor my court appearances gave me pause as much as my Family Court experience only a few weeks back.

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Only being married one time and never all that curious about others who have experienced divorce, I was not concerned about the court proceedings.  My attorney prepped me for what to expect of the court action and how to answer his seven or eight questions.  I knew this proceeding was not going to be adversarial in nature and had little concern for it taking a turn unexpected. 

What I didn't expect was to take the witness stand and experience what can only be recalled as "watching one's life flash before their eyes".   It was an amazing experience.  It wasn't a near-death flash but rather a wonderful remembrance of what once was.   Thankfully, the answers my representation required of me were all affirmatives or negatives, no lengthy dissertations.

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The first flash was when I saw her step from her car all the way back in the summer of 1971.  Those incredible legs.  Stuffing the soccer ball under her shirt.  The wedding.  The birth of three wonderful children.  The amazing vacation trips.  The mutual quests to stop smoking.  All of these and hundreds of other experiences we shared together over 22 years of a solid marriage.  The images were a collage of everything wonderful about our life together.  All in a matter of one minute while answering eight questions. 

Amazingly, not one of the negative experiences we shared surfaced during that flashback.  None of the guilt that I lived with for years reared its ugly head.  It was a surreal experience and one that I will always smile about.  The flash disappeared as I walked back to my courtroom seat.  Walking out of the courtroom, all the guilt, the anxiety and uncertainty walked hand in hand with me.  Karen Mathea Hawkins and I embraced and she told me "it's okay".  The guilt and anxiety are gone now but the uncertainty remains.  Where do I go from here?     

Overstuffed Bathing Suits - America's New War On Obesity

I would never want to be accused of being a "dirty old man" but living and working on the beach lends itself to casual observation of women in bathing suits.  Men too.  Every day from my beachside office I am confronted with men and women in all sorts of beach attire.  The parade of families on their way to the pools and ocean provides ample opportunity to view first-hand what has been hotly debated for months now, America's War On Obesity.

ibtimes.com

From my vantage point and daily viewing of the vacationing public, America has a serious obesity problem.  It spans all ages, economical groups, ethnic background and all the other politically correct designators of the American public.  The majority of folks I see are all carrying extra luggage and it isn't the kind you place on a luggage cart.  Some just need to shed 5-10 pounds but by the looks of the overstuffed bathing suits, many should get serious about their weight problem.

This past year has seen Michele Obama lead the charge on childhood obesity.  Her anti-childhood obesity program, "Let's Move", is in its first year and slow, incremental progress has been made.  Her many appearances and speeches have elevated the discussion to an entirely new level.  Her leadership has compelled grocers, food and beverage companies and schools to take a long hard look at how to combat obesity among our children.

mcntalk.com

Like every First Lady endeavor, there are critics from every corner including those that believe that government has no business dictating any personal choice issues.  However, the alarm bells are going off throughout the country about our young people and the obesity problem.  It is clear that we must take action to help young people make good personal choices about their nutrition, exercise and health.  The anti-smoking campaign that has been on-going for years has made a difference and one hopes that obesity education will have similar results.

It is estimated that 300 million people worldwide are obese.  One in five children are obese in the United States which calculates to 12 million children.  Excess weight is linked to all kinds of health issues including diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.  Any amount of weight loss, even small amounts help improve one's health.  Just this week, the American Medical Association announced that it supports annual educational instruction for public school children on obesity.

The AMA also reported that they support the idea of using revenue from taxes on sugar-sweetened sodas as one way to help pay for obesity-fighting education.  However, there is concern among some doctors that such a tax would be of a greater burden on the poor and disadvantaged.             

Americans in particular have become a sedentary bunch.   We sit in our chairs and recliners, eat chips, drink beer and eat fast-food out of convenience and necessity.  Our children follow our lead watching television, playing games on their game platforms and texting and talking on their cell phones.  Afternoon play has been relegated to television and games rather than outdoor adventure and activity. 

guardian.co.uk

Educational programs involving children encouraging healthy eating habits and good nutrition along with exercise and play is the beginning of turning around the obesity problem.  Making inroads in this one area of health will go a long way toward reducing our nation's long-term health care costs. 

Moving Forward ...Finally, It's True

trezzalaw.com

For longer than I care to admit, I have used the expression "moving forward" to describe the ending of a long-term relationship.  The words came easy to me and I really believed them.  Truth was and has been, that "moving forward" was a perpetual holding pattern.  Both parties of the relationship believed it was over long ago with no hopes of repair.  Both thought they were "moving forward" but instead it was postponing the messy, inevitable task of making it official. 

Regrets and apologies all around but finally "moving forward" is the phrase of the day.  After 18 years, not quite as long as the marriage itself, the day has come.  By all accounts, it is rather anti-climatic since both parties called it quits long ago.  Not sure how I should feel.  Others I have known have celebrated.  Others yet are relieved.  Some feel free and enabled to move forward.

There's that phrase again, "moving forward."  I have no plans to celebrate nor anyone to celebrate the occasion  with.  I am not particularly feeling relieved because I have not been stressed about it.  Feeling free and enabled; not sure I feel either of those feelings.  I have a feeling that Monday, June 11, 2012 will be like most Mondays.  Not all that exciting, not good or bad, just another Monday with a brief meeting in a courtroom. 

On the eve of the divorce decree, what I really am feeling is the satisfaction of at least knowing that finally, it's true, I am moving forward.  At least with this relationship.  There is a freedom that comes with the end of any long-term situation.  Whether a marriage, a job or any number of other situations one might think of. 

For me, it opens up opportunities to take some new steps.  I am foregoing the use of the phrase "moving forward" ever again.  It only got me in trouble.  Truth is, I have been taking new steps for many months now and this is only one of many "moving forward" moments I have come to achieve.  I have written much about my "Renaissance" as a soon-to-be 60 year-old. 

The divorce is a key moment though.  Although anti-climatic for me on some levels, it fulfills one step among many that I am on task to complete.  Unlike many in my situation with the ending of such a long relationship, I am happy to say that ours is one that will continue in a positive, new fashion.  All the better for both of us as we go about our separate lives. 

Thankfully, for me "moving forward" is over and done with and now it is all about moving ahead.