Sarah sent me an email earlier today, encouraging me to watch the debate tonight.

She also asked me (several times) to donate to help elect the Republican ticket from top to bottom while telling me about all the bad things the Democrats are doing and will do.

In the footer of the email, I'm told the McCain-Palin Campaign can't receive contributions because it's participating in the presidential public funding system (which I like that they're doing). But then it goes on to say something about a Compliance Fund that its campaign can take money for in order to defray certain costs.

I'm incredibly confused and frustrated.

Could you imagine if both campains found it necessary to hold themselves accountable to the complete truth (like they once taught their children to do)?

(imagine still if reporters and journalists didn't have an agenda and just reported the facts… and we thought for ourselves)

I got an email from Joe Biden a few hours after his debate with Sarah Palin last week (he was working very late… I like that).

Joe let her have it and then asked me for a donation of $5 or more to help bring about the change we need.

What confuses me is why the Democratic Party is asking for more money for their campaign when they've done such a wonderful job (an all-time record setting wonderful job) in fundraising.

Will they actually spend it all? It seems analogous to a rich person asking for a donation.

(is this a foreshadowing of something?)

From left to right in the parking lot last night at the tennis courts….

Mine…

My opponent…

We finished this morning. It was tie.

I was driving home Friday night wondering what it’s going to take for this nasty economic situation to turn around and realized…

It’s us.

We need to care more. We need give more. We need to put in extra time (as did so many of our predecessors in challenging times).

We need to tell the truth (to others and ourselves… more coming).

The US Navy SEALs have a creed we shared with our JustSell.com subscribers recently (whole thing here). I’m inspired by so many of the thoughts but my top three are…

(accountability) The lives of my teammates and the success of the mission depend on me…

(resilience) If knocked down, I will get back up, every time.

(purpose) In the worst of conditions, the legacy of my teammates steadies my resolve and silently guides my every deed.

<><><><><>

You and I are the solution regardless of challenges and circumstances. There is no option.

We need to choose, in George Bernard Shaw’s words, to be “a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making us happy.”

We need to do what it is we’re asked to do and then ask for more.

Let’s go to work.

tgim

(that’s a Gratitude Card above and below… one of our newest products… a quick way to say thanks to people who do great work wherever you find it… I hope to earn a few… you?)

I love this “travel thoughts” post of Seth Godin’s. So many great questions that might improve our travel experiences in airports… if only someone were awake within the system.

“What would happen if Imagineers from Disney designed the security line? Why not let them try?" asks Godin.

If I felt it were my calling, I charge the hill with this one and try to help. But it’s not.

So I flip it.

What do I need to be doing? Where have I gone to sleep in my work?

What should be done and how can I take it a step further?

Would you pick it up?

I'm fairy sure I would now. I'm not sure I would have 10 years ago. Most likely not beyond that (sorry Mom… Dad).

I know someone who puts a piece of trash on the floor just before someone comes in for an interview to see how they respond… if they pick it up.

I think I remember reading a story about Southwest Airlines bringing a large number of potential hires into a room and hiring only those who helped their competing candidates the most… looking for those who cared most for others (rather than themselves).

There's a gym in Florida that got some press recently with Inc. magzine (the owner of the gym is a 212er). They tell of a person there who put a few extra chairs in the room before someone came in for an interview. Before they began, the interviewer told the candidate he needed to bring a few of the chairs into the next room before they got started. The candidate sat there… watching.

What keeps us from looking for opportunites to help (even in the most obvious of settings)?

If we can't do it just because it's the right thing to do, you'd think we'd at least do it out of ego and our desire not to look like an @ss#o/&.

(tgit)

One of my favorite breakfasts… An open-faced, over easy egg & cheese sandwich with onions on rosemary toast. So good you should probably have wine with it but a good orange juice matches nicely too.

If it's a nice morning and you have a comfortable setting, eat it outside and eat it slowly (because you're not animal and you savor your food).

Once you've made it a couple times, this is a breeze (10 minutes tops). Learn how…

update: this is an award winner on chow.com (for food freaks)… I was ridiculously happy when I found out… like 10-year-old

Continue reading →

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

– From the U.S. Department of Labor

I like that.

(history here)

A line a traffic and I was in the wrong lane.

I was the guy who should have known to get in the right lane earlier (and not jump the line).

I put my blinker on hoping to sheepishly move over at some point so I could make my turn. The person behind me to the right edged up reminding me of my rudeness.

The person up and to the right apparently saw me in their rearview mirror and waved me up and in. That was 212 kindness. Awake and looking for an opportunity to help someone… forgiving and inspiring kindness.

There's hope on the road.

Whoever you were, you sent out a good ripple that day.

(I didn't have a camera with me when it happened. That's the Spaniard above… my arm model.)

“We’ll need to work on that shaking people’s hands and looking them in the eye thing we’ve been talking about,” I said to my almost 8-year-old after introducing him to someone.

“I know.”

“We’ve talked about it before, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to do it?”

“Yes.”

<<pause>>

“But, Dad.”

“Yes?”

“What if they’re a vampire and I look at them in the eye? Then I’ll be one.”

“Good point. Everyone but vampires, okay?”

“Okay.”

(above: the vampire slayer caught on the beach earlier this summer in a Ozzy Osbourne moment)