Journal : OpenRoadWorks

If you want to know your past, look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future, look into your present actions.

Sometimes, words cannot encapsulate cleanly what a person feels. Even with reams of effort and diligence, the meaning is lost in the imperfect shuffle of word choice and tense. Even still, a writer's first impulse is to capture something, however imperfect, to share on to the next person - or as those deep-seated impulses really push for, to leave on as legacy to the following generations. Posterity is worthy for ambition's sake, but something simpler leaves me breathless before I try to ease into bed - that is, the fellow words of fellow writers who can - even for a small instant - capture a distinct feeling and a moment worth sharing. As I try to resurrect my own musings and find a voice buried amidst day-to-day work and personal life (who would have imagined the wonderful burdens of adulthood, like homes and weddings and relationships), I find a little bit of inspiration from others who also follow the same path. The timeless nature of the human experience can bring us toget...

My professor from IMD proposed that we should be 10% citizens - in other words, give 10% of our time to help build community and create a better world. If such a balance could exist, the world would be a better place. I agree with the concept, and to that point I address a global topic worth thinking about and addressing in some form to find better solutions - dealing with Iraq: I'm not an expert on oil, but I do know that established markets reach an equilibrium and balance based on stable market conditions - something that economists yearn for but businesspeople and situations never allow due to dynamic decision-making and changing market conditions. When instability occurs, speculators come in, businesspeople take advantage of the situation (for better or worse), and regulators & economists analyze six months on to see what actually happened. Although the decisions by the Bush administration to enter into its situation with Iraq was not fully about oil, the incursions that h...

I had to comment on this bit of news that I came across today. The Boy Scouts of America (a little background here ) has struck up a relationship with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) so that boy scouts can earn a patch in anti-piracy (press release here ). That's right - little Johnny can be recognized as a good citizen for not ripping CD's and DVD's to his heart's content. And if he's real good and makes the grade, the MPAA will give him a tour of a real-live movie studio! Hip, hip, hooray kids! Now before boys across the land get too excited about this one, it is only Los Angeles-area boy scouts who will get the chance to visit the movie studio, although all lads across the land can work to sport this 21st century badge of honor. As with all Boy Scout badges, there is some effort required to earn it; in this case, a boy needs to either create some sort of propaganda extolling the virtues of copyright or go online to uncover pirated content to sh...

Last weekend was wonderful, going back to Ohio with Wendy, seeing the parents, and just chilling out. All good feelings - except for the UCLA football game. Now, I am not a sports fanatic, but I have a rooting interest in college football for Penn State (my father's tried-and-true alma mater) and UCLA (ah, so many years ago in Westwood now...). When Saturdays roll around in the fall, I keep my mobile phone close at hand - if I'm not in front of the television at some point - to keep tabs on game results. What happened over the last weekend was a cock-up of mammoth proportions, as UCLA went down to the wire and lost in stunning fashion to Notre Dame. I also have to admit another thing - there is something about Notre Dame that really gets on my nerves. Maybe it is the rabid adoration of their fans and alumni. Maybe it is the "holier-than-thou" feeling that emanates from Touchdown Jesus and the lore of their football team. Maybe it is just plain frustration at not havin...

It is already a few weeks on from that wonderful Disney World weekend with Wendy, and I am still remembering that fateful trip. All the icons - Cinderella's Castle, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's A Small World, Carrousel of Progress, and the rest - seem to seap into the subconscious and leave a small impression that carries forward. Sure, it is a series of amusement parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom the quartet - but it has become a national institution. You can realize this by stepping back and watching the passersby, all those park visitors who come from Sheboygan and Fargo and St. Louis and Paris (Texas, that is - and France, too, for that matter); they are, for the most part, a perfect cross-section of Americana. I got that feeling from the market research volunteers that show up from time to time at the gates to ask for guests' zip codes and impressions they have of the park. Just a momentary thought, ...

Some days can be tough. Little sleep, heavy thinking, pressure situations, and unforseen circumstances can bring us down when we least need the heat. And when we cannot stand the heat, we are told to "get out of the kitchen" - or so the expression goes. It is in such a moment that I find myself today, being called out by my manager in a meeting for veering dangerously close to the land of nap time. It is ok because I explained my long hours of driving this weekend and odds & ends that come from buying a house and planning a wedding. Still, it is good to take stock of a situation before it gets out of control. The one thing that I will not do, though, is to let this all-consuming march into a new life get me down. Sure, it is tiring - but it is also fun to change gears and open a new chapter. What I will not do is freak out and lose my mind. I figure one simple thing - have no fear and the good times will inevitably follow.

...I'm singin' in the rain / what a glorious feeling / and I'm happy again... For some reason, I feel like Gene Kelly dancing with an umbrella in the classic 1952 film, "Singin' In The Rain"; I just got engaged a few weeks ago at Disney World, I've had a few nice trips traveling around the area the last couple of weekends (Williamsburg and the Penn State-Michigan college football game), and now I am working on some cutting-edge strategies for my company. This feeling is a far cry from certain feelings over the last few years - where was I going? What did I want to do? What would it look like? Now that all these things are starting to take shape, I am contented with the results - and it only gets better from here. So there you go - the drizzle cannot get me down. I'm singin', singin' in the rain...

I'm exhausted yet very happy. After a beautiful, amazing weekend at Disney World, I am four hours by car removed from my home and typing away quietly in an empty office after 7:30pm. I am almost done for the day and certainly done from a weekend of veritable excitement. Why the sentiment? Simple - I got engaged this weekend in a storybook fashion (Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom). Yes, I am a sopping romantic, and yes - my girlfriend (I mean, fiancee' - imagine that!) did say yes. I have the pictures from the weekend to prove it. That leaves me sitting at this desk. I'm just checking in and keeping too busy to notice all the changes happening around me. It's all good, though - when you wish upon a star, magic does happen.