Today at work, we had our annual Associate Recognition where we honor those people who are celebrating significant work anniversaries of 5, 10 15, 20 and 25 years. At the offices in Chevy Chase, many people are surprised to realize that it is a full-service conference center catering to youth groups and open to all for meetings and special events. Because of this, the Center, it is open 24/7.

A portion of the workforce there is like me – someone who works on the office floors but we have a large number of employees who are invisible to most people – cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers, engineers, front desk clerks etc.

When your child comes to the 4-H Conference Center, it’s our housekeepers and cafe staff that offer that smile that takes the edge of their homesickness. It is the cook that prepares something kid-friendly, that eases a child’s worry of “What will they feed me?” It is our front desk staff that helps them find their rooms, lost items and gives them directions. They are collectively a kind and generous group of people. I’m privileged to work along side these people each day.

Most of these jobs aren’t the highest paying, and most of the employees who work them, work other jobs. It isn’t easy work and sometimes, I’m sure, it is hard to see how they play a role in the overall 4-H program, but they do. These are the people the kids remember. A kindness truly makes a lasting impression.

Today, from my IPod, I will pick “Try a Little Kindness” by Glen Campbell. I do try to remember it’s better to be kind, than right. But, I do enjoy being right. 🙂

Happy 65th Birthday Stevie Wonder! No one can have too many Stevie Wonder songs on their IPod or playlist. There was recently a tribute to him on TV where people covered his songs. He was in the audience. I usually hate that – if the real performer is there, why not indulge the rest of us and let them perform? But, I will say I thought everyone did a decent job and Stevie seemed please.

One of my favorite songs of his is “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” but there are so many other great ones. “Isn’t She Lovely?”, “Sir Duke”; “Superstition” , “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” just to name a very few.

I think we actually played “Superstition” in marching band, although I could be wrong as I still like the song.

Here’s a link to my favorite Stevie song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOz3p6k5O2g

So many graduations occurred over the weekend and it was fun to see all the pictures on Facebook. Not sure when all my friends got old enough to have college graduates though.

Long after I graduated from VCU, this song from from Baz Luhrmann came out. The lyrics are based on a commencement speech written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist with the Chicago Tribune.  I thought it was a great then and I still do. I don’t remember my college commencement speaker at all but my high school speaker was none other than Jeane Dixon, the famous astrologer from The National Enquirer. She didn’t make any predictions for us though.

Wear Sunscreen has a lot of memorable lines. A few I took to heart:

1. Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.
2. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.
3. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Here is the full text:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column-column.html

The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

Graduation day from VCU.

Last night, Prince performed in Baltimore.  I haven’t heard much about Prince lately. I know he’s done a lot since “Purple Rain” but for me, that’s sort of where he is stuck in time. I didn’t really listen to him when you had to refer to him by a symbol versus his name and like I said, haven’t heard much about him of late, but, man, I do love his old stuff.

I remember one time my Dad saw Prince on TV and asked “Why is he wearing a woman’s blouse?”  If my Dad could only see what people wear now…

Prince plays a ton of instruments and also has written a number of songs that we all know. Here are just a few:

• Chaka Khan “I Feel For You”
• The Time “The Bird”
• The Time “Jungle Love”
• Bangles “Manic Monday”

Since it is Monday, I’ll highlight the Bangles “Manic Monday” from my IPod in honor of Prince.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsmVgoXDq2w&index=1&list=RDSsmVgoXDq2w

When I upgraded my phone at the end of last year to an IPhone, I was super excited about Siri. I was famous for sending texts that were unreadable in the English language. I’d have gotten one letter off somewhere in the text, not noticed and sent it. I can’t tell you how many texts I got back asking if I was ok. Siri was going to be able to take my verbal messages, turn them in to readable messages and send them. That was until Siri and I ran into a problem. She’s a pain in the ass.

First of all, she doesn’t seem to always get what I am saying. Someone at work said it was my accent. Hmm…not sure I really have a strong accent, at least one she can’t understand. Kathryn told me that was because I use her name and say thank you and please – Siri doesn’t get that. So I dropped the common courtesies and began barking texts to her – “Text Kathryn “Wash the dishes.”  Siri: “I will text Kathryn “Watch the dishes. Ready to send?” Honestly, that’s about the same kind of text I could send myself. Good Lord, I will just call Kathryn.

Secondly, when I ask her for other things like directions, she can never find the place. “I can’t locate xxx.” I could be sitting in front of the place and she can’t find it. Friday I was trying to go to a floral wholesaler right after work. I had a general idea how to get there but thought I would engage Siri just to be sure. “Directions to Potomac Floral Wholesale”  Siri “I can’t locate Potomac Floral Wholesale.” Of course not.

I say it again, this time adding the street name. She tells me now to choose from 4 options. It is the first one. I get there but unfortunately, it is closed for walk-ins, I have to go back on Saturday.

I remembered the majority of the directions there but she’d had me cut through a neighborhood and I didn’t remember those street names. I figured, since we’d been there the day before, she’d have no problem with finding the directions. “Directions to Potomac Floral Wholesale.” “I can’t locate Potomac Floral Wholesale”

After a semi-mad laugh out loud, I asked Siri “Why you act so crazy?” Siri responded “This isn’t about me, it’s about you.”

Hell, she’s smarter than I thought.

Happy Mother’s Day! From my IPod today is none other than the very talented and very everywhere, Taylor Swift. This is a great song she wrote about her Mom.

I’ll be sending the day at the National’s Game with my family. Wishing all Moms and all the other great women in our lives, a very happy day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4_6eQm7RTQ

Since the weather continues to be summer-like, I thought of a few songs I remember from my high school beach week. “Tainted Love” and “Don’t you Want me Baby” were two songs that were popular 1981/82. I pair these two songs together in my head because they always seemed to be on the radio, one after another. Soft Cell performed “Tainted Love” and “Don’t You Want “me by Human League. I’ve no idea if those two bands ever did much else. These two songs will always take me back to Ocean City and the summer of ’82. What are your summer songs?

Recently, I’ve read a number of articles of how music affects people and why we are drawn to it. I also was looking at my IPod one day and wondered if someone found it, what type of person would they assume I was. Probably would think I had split personalities and when it comes to music, that’s probably true. I have a bit of everything on my IPod from classical to children’s, rock to country and of course, a heavy dose of 70’s and 80’s music.

I got the idea to share a song a day, with a bit of commentary of why or if it means something to me. After all, I think we all have songs that when we hear them, we are transported back to a certain place or time. Music can instantly change our mood or create one. It’s magic.

Since it is my first day writing this, I looked on my IPod at the artists beginning with “A” and found Gregg Allman’s “I’m No Angel.” I don’t know much about Gregg except that he was married to Cher and played with his brothers and some other musicians in The Allman Brothers band.  I do know that this song is an anthem for liking a bad boy and let’s face it, haven’t we all?

The weather is great today here in the DC area and this is a perfect song to blare in the car with the windows rolled down. Enjoy!

One of my biggest pet peeves is people who knowingly sit in the wrong seat at ticketed events. We’ve all sat in the wrong seat by accident. I’m not referring to that here. I’m talking about the people who purposely sit in the wrong seat.

You know the scenario – you are walking to your seat – scanning for your row and you see someone sitting in what might be your seat. You get there and sure enough, someone is in your seat. Thing is, they’ve have seen you coming but don’t bother to move, just in case, your seat might just be close by. You get there – check your ticket, check the row, check the seat. Then the inevitable “I think this is my seat.”

Response varies – “Oh, sorry.” And they move.

“Oh, yeah, I wanted to sit here so I can sit with (blank).” (Who cares? Just move)

Or no verbal acknowledgement at all. They just get up and move.  I’ve seen and experienced it all.

Yesterday, for example, I watched a woman and her friend approach a guy who was sitting in one of their seats at the Caps game. She said nicely “We have these seats.” He said “Yeah, my seats are down there.” and pointed down the row. Silence. She was obviously waiting for him to get up and he was obviously not going to do so. She finally muttered something and sat in the row in front of him.

One time we went to an O’s game and a guy was sitting in one of our seats. He saw us coming – saw the scanning of the rows and seats. Saw us looking. We got to our row, said we had that seat and he moved over ONE seat. He acted like we had displaced him from his rightful throne.

When I have to ask people to move, it ruins the experience for me. I’m all excited to go somewhere and then boom, I have to have an awkward confrontation. If you want a specific seat, then buy it. It is that simple.

Today we celebrate Memorial Day, a day meant for the nation to honor its war dead. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced the loss of anyone I know in war. But today, as I thought about the day, I thought about my father and his friends, all who served in WWII.  So, today my thoughts have been about friends lost – both in war and because of war.

As a kid, I was fascinated by my father’s high school yearbook. First of all, everyone looked to be about 35.  So formal, well groomed. So mature looking. It was hard to believe that they were actually 17 or 18.   Secondly, it was fun to read what people had written about my dad.  A great student and good athlete, most of the entries were “Eddie, wouldn’t have made it through Latin (or English or history) without you.”  Or “Eddie, nice stride. Keep running at Notre Dame.”  I think all kids wonder what their parents were like and my dad, according to his yearbook, was an all-around great guy. People raved about his smarts and his dry wit.  There were a few mysterious entries – some that might have implied my father had been up to some mischief, but when asked, he would just smile and say he couldn’t remember the context.

I would ask my dad about his who were his friends and when I’d read what someone had written, asked what ever happened to him/her.  For the girls, he was generally vague but for the guys, he’d reply that “We lost him in the war.”  or “I’m not sure, we lost touch because of the war.”   As a kid, long before Facebook, email and cheap long distance, it still seemed hard for me to believe that my dad had lost contact with so many of his high school friends. He had a very good friend, Harry Flanagan, who even went to Notre Dame with him yet, because of the war, they lost touch.

My father never went to the frontlines of the war. He spent his time in the service state-side. I only know of two jobs he had in the Navy – one was the athletic director teaching people to swim and box. Not sure what the boxing was about. Hand to hand combat? Confidence? Who knows? And the other was in intelligence evaluating tips from citizens about suspicious people. My father told us how they had a neighbor in Great Neck who was German. This gentleman had a telescope and enjoyed watching the stars. My dad got the report that someone from the neighborhood reported him – now believing he was a spy getting messages via the telescope. My dad laughed as he said he marked that one as non-urgent.

My father and his three brothers all served during WWII. All came home safe. My grandparents were very fortunate.

Today as I thought about Memorial Day, I thought about how many people, like my father have served, those who have come home and those who haven’t. Those who have fought in wars that the majority greatly supported and those who have served in those which have faced opposition. Regardless, I think as Americans, we are always behind our military. They fight to protect our rights, even the right to disagree with our government’s decisions about war.  Today we remember and we say thank you, today and every day, for your service.