Drum corps and color guard fans check this out...

Wow, I thought drum corps were physically demanding. Imagine the possibilities created by the combination of the Firecrackers jump rope dance team and a world class drum corps or color guard. Special thanks to Ken Levine for posting the Naval Academy performance clip on his blog.

Being a drum corps brass player I can totally relate to this product

This is a great little instructional video for orchestral trumpet players. I can totally imagine this product in use by drum corps musicians each summer.

Enjoy!

Dinner Theatre takes on a whole new meaning

There's a great group called Improv Everywhere that stages a variety of "stunts" just for they sheer joy of playing with people's heads. They're all volunteers or as they prefer to be called "agents". Check out this clip of one of their gigs at mall food court. This is absolutely the best use of theater I've come across in a while. Enjoy!



Thanks to Jamey with Beneath the Brand for finding this.

Things that I am most proud of...

I recently took on another personal development exercise and I have to admit it too was harder than I thought. I was asked to write about the personal accomplishment that I was the most proud of. When I really thought about it, there are a lot of things that I've accomplished in my life. Many that I'd really taken for granted over the years and just wrote off as "Well, yeah. No big deal." The truth is they really are a big deal. To list just a few:

• Marched for 15 seasons in competitive junior and senior drum corps
• Worked three seasons for the Baltimore Orioles
• Judged my first parade at the age of 15
• Worked as one of the youngest professional Santa Claus' in Baltimore retail history
• Photographed a variety of events for McDonald's Baltimore regional office before I was 21. Including Ronald McDonald appearances, store openings and McDonald's crew competitions.
  
• Took a three day temporary staffing assignment as a courier and stretched it into a four month project as a team member of a task force on mortgage banking, a subject I had no prior knowledge of before the project.
• Invited to apply for two positions at Maryland Public Television after serving several temporary assignments. Used the second invitation to secure a position in the copy center that then opened the door for my position with MotorWeek.
• Created the position of Manager, Strategic Alliances at Drum Corps International.

I'll stop there, but there are more. With all of that said, the accomplishment that I am the most proud of is that I did all of this without a bachelors degree. I have been blessed with the capacity to intuitively offer solutions that create cool environments and unique experiences.

I don't advocate not getting a degree as it will open even more doors when I'm finished, but remember that the lack of a degree should never stop you from pursuing what's important to you.

Heroes

Who are my heroes?

This has been a hard question for me to come up with an answer to. I really never considered having heroes in the traditional sense of the word and have struggled with this for a while.

If I had to define who my heroes are, I most identify with people like Walt Disney or Ray Croc (McDonald’s founder). I would also have to add into that list people like Bill Veeck and his son Mike. While Apple is in fact a brand, it's corporate manifesto reflects why I think I of it as a hero as well.

Apple manifesto,
To the Crazy ones.

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore.
They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty frame
and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song
that's never been written?
Or touch a rock on a planet
where no one else has ever stood?

We make tools for these kinds of people.
Because while some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.

And it's the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, who actually do.

Think different.

VegiTunes

Okay, this is one of the more interesting combinations of two of my favorite pastimes, food and music...



For all you drum corps fans out there, the next question is, does a cucumber/pepper qualify as a woodwind or brass instrument?

Check out more clips of vegetable musical instruments

New car sales and a naked man... UPDATE

This an update to one of my posts from last summer...

I came across one of the better commercial for a new car dealership this afternoon. Its for a dealer group in Norwell, MA. The Clay dealerships and their agency Boathouse Group get it. They understand how to disarm the buyer by poking fun at the retail auto industry and in the process gain an enormous amount of exposure not only locally, but internationally.

In a nutshell, the spot features a slightly overweight car salesmen, explaining the unseemly tactics traditional dealers will use to get your business. Why does it work, they get your attention as they guy disrobes as he describes how Clay will show you the naked truth about the pricing for the car that you're looking to buy.

The 4 spots debuted on YouTube.com back in early April and will soon appear on local cable. To view the spots and play a little game that helps re-cloth the nearly naked salesmen, go to http://dontgettaken.com/.

The only other auto dealership spot that I've seen in this same category would be the "Trunk Monkey" spots for Suburban Auto Group in Oregon. While the spots are fun and memorable, I don't think they do nearly as well at communicating a message that in the end distinguishes them from the competition as a place worthy of your business.

Bottom line for both is they get your attention and at the end of the spot your very likely to smile. And that's always a good thing.

I'll write more about this later, but thought it was important to point out that I discovered the Clay dealership "We'll Show You Everything" campaign on a great web site and blog by the authors of the book Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass and Join the Revolution. It's an easy ready because its both well written and insightful. Check it out.

Blogging Workshop Notes

This afternoon I led a discussion on the use of blogging for festivals and events. We covered a variety of topics from a basic overview of blogging as a communications tool to actually building a blog site on Blogger.

Here are a couple of key points to summarize the session.

1. Define the purpose and style of your event or organizations blog. What is it you want to say and how will you say it. For me, a personal voice works well. I basically write like I speak. You might want something a bit more formal if that works best for your intended audience, so it helps to know who you're writing for.
2. Select your platform. Is it a free blog like I use at Blogger or is a dedicated blog hosted on your own web site. Both have their advantages. If you're just getting started free is a great way to go. When you have some more experience, you can migrate your site to your own web hosting service which will give you a little bit more flexibility.
   
3. Define your look and what you want you want to say. Sites like Blogger provide a variety of standard templates which can be further customized with simple changes to colors and fonts. There are also a number of sites that provide pre-built templates some are free, while others charge per template or offer a subscription to the their site for access to their collection.
4. Add content to your site. How will you keep them engaged and coming back to your site? First, write about what you know. Keep it relevant to your target audience. If you're an arts festival, a good place to start might be profiles about your guest artists or about a style of painting that would be of interest to your readers. If you are a Parks and Recreation Department, you might write articles that talk about camping, crafts, game and related activities.
   
5. Quality is far more important that quantity. A question that's often asked is do I need to blog every day, and the answer is no. You should create new content on a regular basis to keep your readers coming back often, so if you don't have time to write a lot of content yourself, consider occasionally inviting a guest blogger to write about your topic or check out some of the sites that offer free content an a variety of topics.
6. Learn and grow as you go. There are blogs about everything you can think of, including blogs about blogging. Check out the links at the end of this article for some of the resources to get you started.
7. Finally, let me say thank you to the folks that sat in on my session this afternoon for your input.
   

For those who missed my session, here is a list of links to other sites to get some insight into building your own blog. I look forward to reading your blogs, and oh yeah... Welcome to the blogosphere.

General Reference sites

Wikipedia Blogging page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Wikipedia List of Blogging Terms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blogging_terms

WeblogMatrix weblog comparison
http://www.weblogmatrix.org/

EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers
http://w2.eff.org/bloggers/lg/

Blogging software or services

Blogger
http://www.blogger.com/

MyTypes
http://mytypes.com/

Word Press
http://wordpress.com/

TypePad
http://www.typepad.com

Free Blogger Templates

http://www.finalsense.com/services/blog_templates/
http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/

Great blogs about blogging...

Andy Wibbels - Author of Blog Wild
http://andywibbels.com/

Chris Garrett's - The Business of Blogging and New Media
http://www.chrisg.com/

Yaro Starak's - Entrepreneur's Journey
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/

ProBlogger
http://www.problogger.net/

Damn I Wish - Articles about Word of Mouth marketing and blogging
http://www.damniwish.com/

Other blogs to check out for ideas...

My personal Odd's and Ed's site
http://edempsey.blogspot.com/

My resume as a blog
http://edempseyresume.blogspot.com/

A news page for one of my clients using Blogger
http://dcanews1.blogspot.com/

Guy Kawasaki's Change the World blog
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

Mark Cuban's BlogMaverick
http://www.blogmaverick.com/

Freakanomics
http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/

Monk at Work
http://monkatwork.com/

Presentation Zen
http://www.presentationzen.com/

Ted Conference Blog - really rich content. Don't miss it.
http://blog.ted.com/

Scott Adam's Dilbert Blog
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/

Chicago White Sox official blog
http://whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/

Ken Levine's - The World As Seen By a TV Comedy Writer
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/

Jack Morton Worldwide Corporate Blog
http://360.jackmorton.com/

Delucchi+ Corporate Blog (Real Estate)
http://www.delucchiplus.com/blog/

Stumbling on Happiness Blog (Book)
http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/gilbert/blog/

Illinois Special Events Network Convention Update

Okay, so it's just past noon, but this is a good time to provide an update on the day so far. I attended two terrific sessions and a very insightful opening keynote.

Opening up this morning was Jodi Rudick, President of ADvisors Marketing Group. What a great way to start the day. Jodi's keynote was titled "Talking 'Bout My Generation" and it provided some wonderful insight into the differences and similarities of generations from Millenials (1982-2002), Generation "X" (1961-1982), Baby Boomers (1943-1964), the Silent Generation (1925-1942) all the way to the G.I. Generation (1901-1924).

To give you an idea of how impressed I was, I opted for her session following the keynote. It was well worth the time as it picked up where we left off and helped provide even more insight into the western world as defined by generation.

A hard act to follow for sure, but I new my next session would definitely be worth the time since the speaker was Ira Rosen, president of Entertainment on Location. I've know Ira for the better part of the past 10 years and I knew that he wouldn't fail to provide me some new insight into the process of strategic planning. The time was very well spent as it served as a great reminder of the value of strategic process, which has been a challenge as I've spent so much time in tactical mode lately. Thanks for the gentle nudge Ira.

Okay, off to lunch and the ISEN Skyscraper Awards. More this afternoon.

Winter Wonderland

What can I say, its been pretty much a lost day. Snow fell until noon. Christina was under he weather and I was basically a slug. Did run out this evening to pick up a prescription and a pizza, but it was one of those evenings where everything that could go wrong did.

Pizza was to be ready in 45 minutes. Left house with 15 minutes to spare to run to Walgreen's. Two cars in front of me at the drive-thru. Took 20 minutes to get to the window and pick up prescription. Had already called pizza place to tell them I'm running late. Not a problem, pizza's in the warmer. Good.

Every possible obstruction between the pharmacy and Spizzico happened. Slow cars, traffic lights and no parking at restaurant. Arrggghh. Pulled a wicked u-turn, backed up to curb and sort of parked illegally. Special thanks to the Chicago Police Department for not saying anything. Given the night I was having, I'd have probably snapped and been arrested. Got home and stuck in snow in front of garage. (Now think it might have been a good idea to have shoveled BEFORE I left).

At the end of the day however, it all turned out okay. Good pizza, nice quiet evening with Christina, a pitcher of water and an hour of crash and burn videos on SPIKE TV. It was part of their "What the @#$% Friday" lineup. Which I'll comment on another time.

Night...

Five cool blogs and why I read them...

I know its been a while since I've posted and to be honest I don't have a very good excuse other than being distracted. A lot.

One of those distractions is reading others blogs. Its a great way to get fresh perspectives on a known topic, but far more often its an opportunity to learn something totally new.

Here are a few of the blogs that I read on a fairly regular basis. Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think. If you have a some personal favorites, pass them along as well...

---

Guy Kawasaki's How to Change the World
One of the first blogs that I bookmarked and created an RSS feed for, it cover a variety of topics including evangelism, entreprenuerism, marketing and pitching a venture capitalist. He also talks about his former employer Apple from time to time as well as some of the new projects he's involved in. One of my favorites for sure.

---

BlogMaverick - the mark cuban weblog
Another one that I read all the time is Dallas Mavericks owner and current "Dancing With The Stars" competitor, Mark Cuban's blog. He sounds like a good guy and his blog is very conversational. He's not afraid to speak out on any topic and the blog bounces around from the NBA to the HD television or film business (he's also the owner of HDNet, plus a chain of movie theaters, a film distribution company and a film production company). He also occasional gets into politics and business culture. He's very well versed to speak on any of these topics and his insights are always interesting.

---

...by Ken Levin - The World As Seen By a TV Comedy Writer
Ken's always entertaining blog is an interesting look into the mind of an Emmy Award winning writer. He's also a professional baseball radio and television announcer, which is where I became familiar with him. He was the play by play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, but that's not the only reason I read his blog. His writing is clever, insightful and just fun to read. Which explains why the shows he's written for are far more often than not, among the best stuff on TV over the years.

---

Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness
This blog is based on Daniel Gilbert's terrific book Stumbling on Happiness. I finished it a few weeks ago and found it to be a great read. So what's so great about this blog? Well its a fascinating insight into how our brains work and how we perceive the universe around us. His blogging style, like the book, is really easy to follow which is great for a subject that could easily overwhelm. The only downside to this blog is that its somewhat sporadic, so you have to keep an eye out for new posts. That's one of the main reasons it sits at the top of my RSS feeds page. Even if there's nothing new, its a great read, so it easily stays in my top 5 list.

NOTE: I'll post more details on the book in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

---

Dilbert.blog - Scott Adams
If you're a fan of the Dilbert comic strip, you'll understand why I'm a fan of Scott's blog. Its funny. Plain and simple. Sadly I don't read it every day, but I've just repositioned it on my RSS feeds page to make sure it pops up on my radar each time I open my browser.

---

Something that dawned on me as I write this is how much I enjoy blogs that make me laugh. While it's important to get the latest news updates, I really believe that its just as important to smile and have a good laugh whenever possible.

Thanks for staying with me. Feel free to comment on my suggestions and if you have a site to share drop me a note.

Why do small children cry?

Q. Why do small children cry?

A. Because they haven't yet learned how to swear.

I know, I know. This sounds like the ramblings of a cynic or a liberal wacko, but I truly believe that children cry over simple things like a stubbed toe or bumping their tush on the ground when they fall, because they haven't learned how to express themselves any other way.

For most adults, stubbing a toe or a simple fall is an inconvenience but not a grounds for shedding a tear. As adults, we might say "sh**" or the more politically correct "poop" or "crap". That simple syllable is enough of a release to get over any minor pain that was caused by the stubbing or fall.

Children on the other hand have a limited vocabulary and useful expletives are not yet part of that vocabulary.

So what happens when a child cries. We typically assume that somethings wrong and understandably head to their rescue. We say things like "it's okay" or "its just a little bump". Does this really help? I don't know that it does. We wouldn't think of saying that to a 42-year old construction worker who had just dropped a wrench on his big toe. Like the adult, the child usually gets over it pretty quickly without our even noticing it. So why do we feel the need to make a big deal of it with the child and not with the construction worker? In other words, let them have a quick cry and move on. Obviously we need to make sure that the reason they're crying is not life threatening, but give them enough room to experience the little things without having to make them big things.

Understand that I'm not advocating that we teach babies how to swear like a sailor. But let's put "expletives" into context. I hope I never hear a three-year old drop an "F" bomb. It's not appropriate and, to be honest, perverse. They can not even begin to fully understand it in any context. Is there a reason to teach them to swear? No. Will they one day do it. Yeah, probably.

Maybe if they realize that it's not that big a deal when little things do happen that perhaps they'll be less likely to have to use expletives as adults. And if they do use the occasional 4-letter word, understand that they've only expanded their vocabulary and that the world hasn't ended.

Photo credit - Flicker

Two lessons from the summer...

My journey to a new career has been both enlightening and frustrating. In fact the latter has been a major contributor to the former. In other words, my frustration has led to discovery or in many cases to rediscover things about myself. Valuable experience, but at the moment it isn't paying the bills. So what have I learned that might one day pay the bills and make the world a better place. Two things immediately have become obvious to me.

1. Joy is at the core of our existence.
2. When you feel like crap or get frustrated, quickly find any way possible to get over it.

It goes without saying that people who are happy tend to be more productive in the long run. Are much easier to be with. And in general make the people around them feel better. Face it, its a lot of work to be sad when you're surrounded by happy people. The experience of joy makes the day less stressful, we sleep better and we physically feel better.

On the other hand feeling like crap or let things frustrate you (which quickly makes you feel like crap), can drain the life right out of you if you're not paying attention. Feeling bad serves no useful purpose, and in fact only feeds our personal self pity machine. Self pity gets old fast which often pushes others away. The loneliness helps reinforce our bad feelings and we slip into the quicksand, having pushed away the very people that could have helped pull us out of the muck.

I'd spent several days at home feeling sorry for myself. Even with my loving and caring wife Christina sitting next to me or only one room away, I felt isolated and alone. I was so lost that it was like having my life drained from my soul. An emotional Nosferatu. It was not productive and certainly not fulfilling. It had become in Christina's words, "A life, not worth living."

Those words sent a shock through my system and helped remind me of the Ghandi quote, "Be the change that you want to see in the world." As I have always believed that joy and fun can and will change the world, I only had two choices, stay and be miserable which obviously wasn't working, or be that change, to be joyful and fun.

It only took a second or two to make that shift and it was immediate. I won't say that it was easy as there were several days of muck to shake off. But like making a commitment to climbing out of quicksand, slowing things down, letting the people around me help and staying focused on my intention allowed me to break free.

Life is better for sure. I have more energy, less aches and generally sleep pretty well. From time to time I do step in a small puddle getting goo around my ankles, but its a lot easier when I feel it tug at me. I can quickly regain my footing by refocusing on the joy and fun and being that change that I want to see in the world.

In the end, life is perfect. It's not flawless but it is perfect.

Hummer photo credit - Tx4x4.com

Einstein was right, time is relative

Okay, so it's been more than three months since my last post. While that's not the end of the universe, the realization a few minutes ago was a wake up call. Time is slipping by way too fast.

Do you remember when you were a kid, it seemed like the days would last forever, and things we were looking forward to, like birthdays, special trips and summer vacation would never get here.

Somewhere along the line, things shifted. We seemed to get busier and busier and there was never enough time in the day to get things done. Suddenly, rather than always looking forward to things, we were usually looking back and saying what happened. Where did all of that time go? It still clicked by 1 second at a time, but our perception was that it had for the most part slipped past unnoticed. Einstein was right, time is indeed relative. Reflecting on the last few hours, I'm coming to believe that wonder and joy are in fact, two of the keys that help slow time.

Wonder lets us to look at things openly and in minute detail. This openness creates a feeling of control like nothing else on the planet. Is it possible to open to wonder and feel anything less than being in full control of our senses and in absolute awe at the universe around us. One of the byproducts of wonder is joy.

True joy gives the sensation that time is standing still. It is a state of mind that is so natural for most, that you never want to let go. This creates a problem for most of us.

While it's true that with age and maturity come responsibility, there is a perception that there is little if any room for joy and wonder among the responsible. As this mind set begins to take hold, our experience of time begins to shift from abundance and anticipation, to scarcity and loss. I know I've been there for the better part of the last 40 years. Not sure the precise moment that it happened, but I do know that it happened.

In the coming days, weeks, months and years, I am all about rediscovering wonder and unbridled joy. I am about creating a better world through joy and fun. Its the only way that I can truly make a difference in the world and to make this happen I need your help. If you ever see me being anything less than joyful or fun, you have my FULL permission to give me a swift kick in the bottom and call me on it. There's a catch, you also have to give me a shove in the right direction. That might be something as simple as asking what's up and then asking what's next.

I know this is a lot to ask as we all have really busy lives and responsibilities, but I truly believe that if we can help light each other up, if only for a moment, that time will indeed begin to slow down, become abundant and fulfilling without having to be irresponsible. It is how we were created and wouldn't the world be a lot more fun if we could be both joyful and responsible.

I'll provide an update on the summer with my next post along with a personal promise to being accountable for providing updates on a regular basis.

I welcome your comments and when needed a good swift kick in the pants.

What's Next?

I've been asking myself that question a lot over the past few months. And the answer is: I don't know... yet.

What I can tell you is that it will be extraordinary. I will be a key force in the creation of events and experiences that will touch, move and inspire, They will provide moments of extreme joy and will connect all who participate in or pass through the spaces that I create.

Why do I write about this in my blog. Couple of reasons...

First for those who have read my blgs before to know what I'm up to. If you know of someone who shares my vision, you might pass along a link to my blog to someone looking for a person to help their company, organization or brand create an extraordinary experience.

I also write this with the thought that someone not familiar with me or linked through family or friends might come upon this blog using search terms like "special event", "extraordinary experience" and "wow". (I'm open to more keywords. Send them my way at ed.dempsey at earthlink dot net)

So to answer my original question what's next? - A world with a lot more people saying "Wow, that was cool!" and smiling as they reflect back on it.

I was sitting at lunch today...

I was sitting at lunch today looking over my draft of last night's post about joy and fun. It struck me that it might appear that I was thumping my chest saying look at what I’ve done. Know that this was never the intention of my post.

My hope was to provide something to consider if you might ever find yourself hanging out in the dark recesses of doubt and insecurity. With that in mind, let me elaborate on my personal discovery in that moment.

When I hit bottom yesterday, Christina gave me a loving nudge that reminded me of the people that surround me everyday. Extraordinary, loving people. I know I said that yesterday, but it’s worth repeating. Each of us are surrounded by them every day. They love us unconditionally.

There are some that we know. They’re obvious like the family, friends and co-workers that I mentioned yesterday. But there are many more than we might imagine. Your support structure could include people we’ve long since forgotten like teachers, old neighbors, classmates and distant family. People that we haven’t thought of in years. But they might just as easily be total strangers, like fire fighters, police officers and social workers. Many are seemingly unrelated, people you may never meet face to face. These are the ones that I want to talk about.

Yesterday at Disney’s California Adventure, I experience something that could have only been possible because of a group of caring, loving human beings. Disney produced Golden Dreams, a short film about the dreams that have and continue to make California great. The film was both calming and inspiring. So much so, that its closing song pushed me to a level of emotion that I rarely reach. It was an awe-inspiring moment.

I’ll be the first to admit that I often wear empathy on my sleeve, usually in the form of tears wiped aware when something truly moves or inspires me. It’s happened while watching television, a movie or a live show. It might have come during a sporting event or while reading a particularly poignant story. This experience yesterday however was one of the more intense moments and came at absolutely the right point to carry me the full 180º from earlier in the day. I found myself at the point of almost outright sobbing, the big loud stuff that you find at funerals. Like most people, I find it uncomfortable totally loosing it in the presence of total strangers in a darkened theater, fortunately I held on and when the end of the film came, I was able to regain my composure and exit the theater. I have to say though that while restrained, that release gave me the lift that I needed to complete the journey that Christina had started me on two hours earlier.

It would be an understatement to say that this moment in the theater would not have been possible without the caring, loving producers, writers, technicians and performers that created it. The emotions that I experienced could only emerge from the core of our existence and in this case it was triggered by a group of people that I’ve never met, but am now forever grateful to because their gift disguise as a theme park movie, made my day and I am now better as a result. The best part to all of this is that this same experience is there for anyone who enters that theater and watches this same film. For some this film might not be that big a deal, but for those that it does touch, move or inspire, it can be a huge lift. For those that it doesn’t connect with, not to worry, since there are plenty of other people out there ready and waiting to touch move and inspire them when they need it most.

And in the end, the world is a better place because of the support that we provide for each other.

I swung a full 180º and back today

It’s been a long day. I swung a full 180º and back today and am now both exhausted and exhilarated. It took a while to get rolling, but better late than never. The sun was shining and the peaks of the surrounding San Gabriel Mountains were clearly visible. It was a nice change of pace after four days of overcast skies and damp weather.

After an early lunch I began my journey to Anaheim to spend the day at Disneyland. As I pulled out of the McDonald’s parking lot, I decided to take a quick detour to a local CompUSA that was going out of business. Thought this would be a good opportunity to scout out the mic that I’d been planning to buy for my iPod, especially since it was likely to be on sale. And then the wheels began to come off of my cart.

I got a call that one of my projects was in trouble. After a series of phone calls we got it back on track, but I was really bothered that I’d not been more on top of things and had left room for an issue to pop up at all. Being bummed like this, I was ready to return to the hotel and crawl back into bed.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for a call from my wonderful wife Christina. Being aware of the situation, she was checking in on me. She encouraged me to go to Disneyland anyway and in the process, kicked me in the proverbial butt. What I realized while sitting in that CompUSA parking lot, feeling sorry for myself, was how supportive a group of family, friends and extraordinary co-workers I had surrounding me.

After my trip to Disney’s California Adventure that afternoon, I had come a full circle. I had gone from upbeat to the dumps and back to joyful and inspired. It was quite exhausting, but a very rewarding experience and a day worth sharing with all of you in my blog.

It reminded me that JOY and FUN live in how we're being, and not in the space or circumstances surrounding around us. While the environment might help us along, the real joy comes from deep inside of you and can exist at any time, in any situation and under any circumstance. When we realize that and let it happen unconditionally, the world is a better place.

I got it. Thanks to all, especially Christina for helping me to see that again.

An afternoon at the Norton Simon Museum

Vacation day two…

I just struggled to get up this morning. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t have a real plan for the day or that I was just tired from yesterday, but today got off to a slow start. I did get a bit of work in as promised, but I also wanted to take in at least one local attraction. I decided that the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena would be a good place to start.

I have to admit that I’m not a huge museum buff, especially by myself, but I decided to be open to new things and this would be a good test. This place was totally fascinating and well worth the 3 ½ hours spent exploring the various galleries.

While they don’t have a reciprocal agreement with my Chicago Art Institute membership, as a student, I got in for free, which was a welcome offer. At the end of my visit, I am convinced that it would have been worth every penny of the regular $8 adult admission.

The Norton Simon museum is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest private art collections and spans more than 2,000 years. As I only focused on the upper floor of the museum, much of what I saw ranged from the 14th through the 20th century. Some of it I didn’t understand at all, but fortunately many pieces feature brief descriptions beyond the name, date and artist. They give you insight into the image, the background on the subject or details about the artist at the time he created the piece.

The most engaging images for me personally were several portraits that were startlingly real. The often seemed to jump off the canvas and I was awestruck by the amount of patience these men and women had in the creation of their masterpieces (and I assure you, each is a masterpiece).

Among those really stood out for me were the School of Caravaggio’s “A Geographer”

“Portrait of a Young Man” by Dutch painter Frans Hal.

Dutch painter Jan van Bijlert’s “Man in Armor Holding a Pike”.
















and finally “St. Joseph and the Infant Christ” by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, a 17th Century Italian painter. While the first three paintings are cool because of the realism, this last one of St. Joseph and the Infant Christ is cool on a couple of different levels. First I’d never seen an image like this. Usually when you see the Infant Christ, he’s with the Madonna. This image has a warmth and humanity that I think made it more real than similar images with the Madonna. It’s an especially moving image, one that will stand out in my mind for a long time.

There is so much more to write about my visit to the Norton Simon Museum today, but it will have to wait until later. If you are in Southern California I encourage you to visit this world class museum in Pasadena. You will not be disappointed.

In the Shadow of Mt. Baldy...

I got closure on my Friday evening adventure, by following through on my commitment to attend Mass this morning. Given a choice of half a dozen Catholic churches in the Pomona, Upland, Claremont area, it only seemed appropriate to attend St. Anthony's directly beneath Mt. Baldy. Thanks to the parishioners for welcoming me into their community for this morning's 7:30 Mass.

Friday night's experience continues to give me pause to reflect on who I am, why I'm here and the mark that I will leave on the world. Life is good...

Just because a road appears on a map...

Just because a road appears on a map, does not mean that it will always be paved.

Coming to Southern California with plans to visit Disneyland at some point during my stay, I didn't expect to have a white knuckle EEEEEEEE-ticket ride last night in the San Bernadino National Forest, the Cucamonga Wasteland to be exact.

After working all day at the California MEA Conference in Ontario on Friday, I thought it'd be cool to drive a circuit from I-15 up through the mountains to Mt. Baldy and back down into Claremont where I was staying. Since it would be around sunset, I thought this should be a pretty spectacular ride. Leaving the convention center just after five, I encountered pretty heavy traffic through Ontario while trying to work my way over to Sierra Road, where my adventure would begin. I've experience bad traffic, but nothing that would rival this. It took 45 minutes to go one mile. While frustrating that I might miss the best of the sunset, I still expected that it'd be a fun drive at dusk.

I reach Sierra Road at the Interstate and head off toward the town of Lytle Creek. Smooth winding roads are very, very cool for a driving junkie. Its best in a convertible or a performance car, but my rented Saturn VUE was up to the task and we were rolling along at a nice clip. The VUE and I sailed through the town of Lytle Creek along a dried riverbed. Just past Lytle Creek, we hit a stretch of pristine asphalt. Smooth as glass, this is the stuff of dreams for the driving junkie. That would all change very shortly.

Let me back up the story for a moment. Just before hitting the pristine asphalt I passed a sign that should have sent up a red flag - San Bernadino County road maintenance ends here. That would prove to be an understatement a couple of miles further, when the next sign said - Unpaved Road Ahead.

To me, an unpaved road, means its not paved, but cleared of large rocks. A cinder road is what I expected, not an off-road course that would make a Land Rover work hard. It started out as small rocks so I thought okay, a bit more than expected, but not overly difficult to travel, especially for a vehicle with reasonable ground clearance like my VUE. I was rolling along hoping that the pavement would begin again as I came upon two guys in a performance compact with low profile tires. They asked if I might know how to get to a nearby town with access to the interstate. It seems they were trying to get around the backup on the 15. After a quick consultation of my rental car company map, it appeared that they weren't that far from the town so they opted to continue on. At this point, it was getting close to 7 and getting darker by the minute so I wished them well and continued in my pursuit of a paved Mt. Baldy Road.

The road at this point weaves back and forth along the dry riverbed of the Lytle Creek. That's fine if the road is well defined, but this was not the case and as the rocks and ruts got bigger and new trails began to appear in different places along the riverbed. After a near miss with a boulder, I kept going forward because I was more worried about returning over the course that I'd already driven. The unknown that lay ahead combined with the hope that paved road was just around the next bend seemed to be a better bet. In hindsight this makes no sense, but at the time, optimism won out and I forged ahead.

When the automatic headlights finally kicked in and all I could see was the road immediately ahead of me, the adrenaline kicked up a notch and I conceded that this was not going to be good. I hit the OnStar emergency button to get some idea of how much further until I returned to a paved road. After two timed out calls, I began to panic. I was not only in deep, but I was out of range to communicate with the outside world. At this point, I made a pledge to God that if I got out of this in one piece, I would gladly go to Mass on Sunday morning. Miraculously, the OnStar auto-dialer persisted and eventually connected me to an angel named Jocelyn. She asked if I was okay and how she could help.

"Yeah! I need to know where I am and how far until the pavement returns" I responded. She used the VUE's OnStar GPS to determined where I was and what direction I was heading. As her map, like mine, didn't distinguish between paved road and the mule path that I was now on, she put me on hold while calling the National Park Service to figure out how to get me out of there. As I was certain that the paved road must be just ahead, I continued driving while on hold.

It was at the beginning of an uphill climb along a one lane path that I redefined my understanding of being aggressive. It was now dark and there were a pair of headlights coming down my one lane path. I kept moving forward. If someone's going to give, its going to be the couple in the pickup truck. Fortunately the showdown was short lived as they had enough room to back up and get out of the way rather easily. Another miracle that there was someone else out here, so I decided to ask for help from my one lane adversary. He explained that I was only about a mile and a half from the Mount Baldy Lodge, but that the road ahead appeared to been washed out. When a full size 4x4 pickup driven by someone who knew how to drive in these conditions had to backtrack, this was not a good sign for my trusty VUE. My response was simple, please lead me back to paved road, any paved road that gets me back to an interstate. I didn't care if it was in Arizona or Nevada, any interstate would do.

He agreed and after I turned around, we began our journey back. At this point, I'd lost the OnStar signal, but I didn't worry too much since I had a knowledgeable escort. I was feeling better, but I still needed to get back in one piece. Using their taillights as a beacon in the darkness, we trekked back and forth through the dry riverbed. Eventually we came upon the two guys in the sports coupe We waited for them to turn around and our growing caravan continued on its way. Jocelyn called me back to apologize that I'd been cutoff and more importantly to check to see if I was still okay and tell me that a Park Service Ranger was coming up into the valley to assist me and asked if I'd like her to stay on the line. I thanked her again, but explained my encounter with the pickup and that we were on our way back out to Lytle Creek.

As we hit the edge of the smooth pavement, I took a very, very long deep breath. I had lived through the adventure and would be forever grateful to God for connecting me to Jocelyn at OnStar and for finding the couple in the pickup truck. I'd likely still be lost in the wilderness without them. Jocelyn called back one more time just after we'd hit that glorious blacktop. I thanked her again and assured her that my next car and any future rentals would be equipped with OnStar. This one incident convinced me that this indeed is an extraordinary service and peace of mind is worth every penny.

The bottom line in all of this, never trust a map that runs through an area called wilderness. Remember, just because its on a map, doesn't mean that it's paved. And when its not, don't keep going forward, especially when it’s getting dark. I think I'll stick to the suburbs for the rest of my trip. Oh yeah, I'll also be looking for a church for this Sunday morning.