NBC's The Office - Crossing the line?

I love The Office on NBC. I think it is hilarious, but last night they crossed the line. I felt ashamed and dirty just watching the show with my wife. Now, I can never trust the content of that show again. What if my in-laws were there? Yikes! I have to screen the show now before I watch it...thanks NBC.

NBC...you're losing your edge. Recently it was the VT shooter footage, now a sitcom has a guy sticking his finger through the zipper of his pants and making crude remarks? C'mon! What's happening to you people?

Death by Meetings

I just finished Patrick Lencioni's fable, Death by Meeting. It was recommended to me by a pretty successful fellow, so I figured he knew what he was talking about. It was enjoyable and easy to read. Once I got going in the book, I couldn't put it down. I had to find out if Will and Casey were going to make it, and you know what...I can't tell you the ending but here is what I can tell you.

Lencioni suggests that company's loose a ton of productivity and momentum from meetings. This book opened my eyes to better meetings and better agendas. It's funny, I think most people see this title and immediately think..."thank goodness, someone is finally advocating less meetings." I was surprised to find that the story doesn't necessarily promote less meetings (sometime company's need more), it simply promotes more effective meetings.

I can recall some pretty awesome meetings, and I can recall some pretty crappy ones too. This book got me excited about the next meeting.

US Bird Feeder

I received the following story in email today and I thought it was interesting. I have no idea who wrote it or who it belongs to, so I will gladly take it down if it is copyrighted. If it is, please let me know.

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quite, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: you child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

So, do you have an opinion?

Blog Changes?

I've been thinking about changing my blog title and color scheme. Pet Peeving, has taken a turn from what I had initially intended for the blog to be. I am afraid first impressions reveal it as a pessimistic and negative blog. I don't want it to be that way, nor do I think most of the content is that way.

What do you think? Any ideas?

Here's what my blog is. It's about me, my thoughts, my interests, my experiences, my conversations...it's about Ben. Since some Canadian has BenForrest.com, I got left with BenForrest.org. I would like to have a dot com domain for the blog, so my name is out. What do you suggest?

Dave Ramsey Certified Counselor

I've not had the chance to give much attention to my blog over the past few days, but that's with good reason. Saturday, I just finished up Dave Ramsey's Certified Counselor Training. It was an intense, but rewarding 4 days. Russ Carroll, Dave's lead counselor and trainer was awesome.

I'm not sure how many people I will counsel, or where this certification will take me, but I am thankful that I had the opportunity to go through the training. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I look forward to helping others with the information I learned. Plus, I had the chance to meet some awesome people from around the country.

If you know someone in the Franklin Area who would like some financial counseling....let me know.