Journal : OpenRoadWorks

"As a young man he was able to stand up to just about the best that life can offer , which is not easy, and later he stood up with equal grace to just about the worst." -Herbert Warren Wind on Bobby Jones Occasionally, we meet people that leave a mark.  It can happen in a few short moments or over a long period of time, but that mark becomes pronounced when it is real and meaningful.  That mark is often imperceptible until life events reveal its depth and breadth.  At which time, clarity emerges as to the impact that people can have in our lives. I met Rok in the first days of our MBA program at IMD  in 2005.  Our initial connection was his Slovenian background and the fact that I had visited his home country in 1998 when I studied abroad in Milan; we became fast friends.  This relationship deepened when we were lucky enough to work together in "G7", our first group in the program.  Deep relationships means something more than pleasan...

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Sometimes a good espresso helps to unblock things I have "writer's block" at work.  I'm trying to generate reams of documents that describe the next release of the product of which I am describing, and the forward progress is laborious and stunted.  Walk away, come back, check some email, surf the internet, pen a few lines, then scratch my head on how to jump in.  It's a similar process and exercise to creative writing, only the subject matter and technical details is different. Here's to hoping a quick blog post helps to unblock my creativity, which would be handy for the big push needed to get these requirements documents over the finish line!

Weekends are sacred time, particularly with hectic work schedules. My wife loves shopping, and I love spending time with her, so out shopping it is. At least I have a fancier smartphone to jot posts like this while sitting outside the dressing room!

A fresh start is aided by good food, like my in-laws cook up in spicy Chinese form A New Year's resolution is a fun promise to break.  It feels good to make one, and the expectant mood of great things for the new year allows everyone to fool themselves into believing that some hoped-for aspiration will become reality.  This mood allows us to believe that life will be different somehow, and it will be good and better since a triumph over will, fear of failure, or some other impediment is just around the corner. More often, a resolution takes years to accomplish.  For instance, my goal of achieving 100 entries in 2012 (which I did ultimately accomplish ) was five years in the making.  A quick search through my blog timeline produced reference to a "fresh start" in several entries (ie. jump-starting a regular writing schedule) across  2007 , 2009 , and 2012 , with the outcome a sputter of output.  It was not until this past year that journaling ensued,...

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