March Madness

Today is one of the greatest days of the entire year. The NCAA basketball tournament has begun. It's like a snow day, Christmas, the night before going to Disney world as a kid. Today is just a happy day!

I have a couple of brackets filled out on who will win it all but man...it's college basketball. Who cares who wins? It's exciting to watch! However, being from North Carolina, I am pulling for UNC but because I live outside of Nashville, I hope to see Vanderbilt do well also.

If you're reading this blog post today - why? Shouldn't you be watching the scores?

Discovering the Power of Purpose

For this morning's devotional, Dr. Paul Crites spoke. At the end of his talk, he gave everyone in the room a copy of his book Discovering the Power of Purpose. What a nice guy.

There were a few things that caught my attention as I read through this little book.

1. If you are an orange tree, move to Florida. In other words, if your not fulfilling your purpose in your current position, figure out what you need to do in order to bear fruit.

2. "Never discuss a problem with someone who is incapable of solving it". That certainly would limit the amount of gossip people participate in since gossip usually discusses problems.

3. Like the law of gravity, sowing and reaping is a "fixed law of God". There's no reason to doubt God when it comes to him blessing your hard work.

Anit-Boredom Video

Thanks to noozio.com, I ran across one of my all time favorite videos that circulated via email. Apparently the Sunday drives for elderly people have gotten a little boring. Check it out.

The Little Red Book of Wisdom

It's always nice to receive a free book. Our company gave every employee a copy of Mark DeMoss' The Little Red Book of Wisdom.

As I read through this book, I realized that the wisdom shared in this book isn't really anything I haven't heard before, but I realize that there are a lot of people who have not had good fortune of growing up with both parents, extended family, and a good church. Having had all three of those, nothing in this book was eye opening to me.

However, it was a wonderful reminder of several things. It occurred to me that having wisdom is not forgetting it. Several things that DeMoss mentions reminded me of some things that are good to hang on to, both for my personal life and professional. I'm sure I'll mention some of those reminders in future posts. I'd say this book is a good little read - it won't take you long.

No Email on Fridays

What a great idea! US Cellular has started a new policy on Friday's that prohibits employees from sending emails. According to US Cellular it has been wonderful for the company. In fact it is working so well, that they are also going to prohibit meetings on Fridays.

Some of the comments by employees are remarkable. One guy discovered that a fellow employee that he emailed often was not in fact, across the country, but rather, just across the hall. The productivity has increased because employees are making the most out of their emails the other 4 days.

Emails can be obscure, misunderstood, and sometimes a complete waste of time. I suppose the same could be argued by blog comments too. People need to continually remind themselves of the importance of talking to one another in person.

This article also made me think...what if ISP charged by emails sent and received like cellular providers do for texting? Imagine only getting 250 emails a month and then being charged for overage.