Meaningful Pursuits

Quantify Suffering

Dr. J. E.  mentioned on the phone this morning that he was trying to "speak the business language" and begin to put various alternatives into how politicians and capitalists talk.  His overall theme was that a community must protect their "human capital".   As I queried further - he said "how do you quantify human suffering?" 

In the 80's, I remember working on the Human Resource Practice Aid for Accenture.  One of the intellectual ponderances was how to get employees on the balance sheet - or --  how to quantify human capital.  Does an employee depreciate or appreciate over time?  The thought was that as we transition to a service economy it is human capital that "wins" in the corporate marketplace.  As an example the only asset - real asset - Accenture has is it's 190,000 employees.

If human capital is like a machine - then as we age we depreciate.  If it is the emotional and intellectual quantification then maybe some of us appreciate as we age.  But what about the ups and downs - joy and suffering. 

Mythbusters the other night tried to quantify pain with the length of time you can hold your hand in a bucket of ice.  That would be one way to quantify pain and suffering. The results confirmed women tolerate pain better than men. 

"Labor" on that one.  :)

Family Additions

Yesterday Serena appeared and our family increased by one.  This will be the second time we have hosted a student from China.  It just proves that the family can expand and contract quickly.  I use the term family because  they become and integral part of the day-to-day family functions - dining together, playing together, working together, traveling together.... the list goes on and on.

In fact there is a tradition in our family of "hosting or being hosted".  D'Lane and Ann hosted a high school boy from Denmark (I think);  Mom left home while in high school and lived with a family until graduation.  I have nieces that spent summers overseas with families.

The cultural exchange is amazing and wonderful.  I look forward to this experience and hope it sets an example for our children.

Blogging - Year 2

OK - Last August 27, 2009,  I entered the world of blogging.  Now 178 entries later it is time to reflect on the world of blogging.  My goal a year ago was to experiment with this technology trend and determine it's value.  Here are my observations"

(1) My blog did not become specific to a subject or expertise.  This was probably because I was not using the blog in conjunction with a business objective.
(2) At no times did I feel the blog was a burden - or something I had to do.
(3) There was usually always a natural subject of interest to blog about.
(4) Privacy was not much of an issue as I did not "publicize the anyone other than close friends, family and business associates.  However it is easily found with a google search on my name.
(5) Tagging the entries was an interesting exercise.
(6) Time spent was an average of 10-15 minutes per blog -  44.5 hours of investment to date
(7) Ability to search the blog was limited - requiring a cut and paste to a cumulative word document
(8) Without search it was hard to remember what I blogged about before
(9) It was fun to try to make the blog either humorous, clever or insightful.  I enjoyed the research on new subjects.
(10)  By blogging my other journal entries decreased
(11) I did not try any sophisticated links - kept it simple to occasional picture, or hyperlink
(12) It is fun being an "author"

So will I continue to blog. -  For now yes.  What changes will evolve?  That is an interesting question-  maybe something to blog about.  :)

Memory, History and Identity

I listened to a very touching StoryCorps on NPR today.  Bob Patterson and his wife reflecting on his Alzheimer condition.  She said "Memories are not who you are" and it hit me like a cold shower. How ironic.

Capturing memories has been a goal of mine.  I have recently spent a great deal of time converting my parents 8mm movies, 35mm slides and listening to the  reel to reel tapes from the 60's.  Last year I enjoyed writing Jenna my MMM - Monday Miami Memories each week during her freshman year.  Additionally, I am a pack rat for keeping all kinds of stuff - old letters, emails, event programs etc.   Also just look at my 45 tapes of home movies.  I have spent time asking my parents about genealogy stuff (kindled by Aunt Nannie's 110th birthday).  And how about my desire to watch old TV series like Rat Patrol; T.H.E. Cat;  The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Notice I  have a tag in the blog for "memories" (59 posts so far). I enjoy conversations with people that spark a memory in my past or listen to a nostalgic memory from their past.  This blog is a form of capturing memories;  I write in a daily spiritual journal; I record financial and behavioral facts in my financial investment journal; - all capturing history that immediately becomes a "memory".

Time is mysterious.

 

Rating People

Reconnected with JD (a colleague at Accenture) yesterday and in one hour received a years worth of ideas to blog about.  The topics included religion, philosophy, trading psychology, social networking, job environment, Accenture alumni, privacy, telecommunications, human resources, organizational effectiveness, sales performance, business metrics,  and the list goes on.

When your character reveals itself in full transparency, the strategy,metrics and management in business takes on a completely different approach.  How much better we could perform in this kind of environment.  Just a brief discussion with JD confirmed this to me.  He had a great quote:  "We should be measuring smiles".  It fit perfectly with chapter 3 of "The Spirit to Serve" by J.W. Marriott Jr.  - "Give to your employees - and they'll give back to you". 

Naturally this morphed into a discussion about various people we have both encountered in business and life.  We measure each other constantly - making judgments and assumptions.  JD interjected - "Maybe we should rate more like children. They never make an assumption or judgment about the Rolex watch you are (or not) wearing."

I wonder what Ellen and Jenna give me as a grade.  :)

Birthday Girl #2

My Great Aunt Nannie is 110 today.  Her 86 year old daughter (Bessie) is taking care of her in Guthrie, Olka.  Aunt Nannie is the youngest sister of my Grandmother Wisner (Park was her maiden name).  I remember her in the visits we would take back to Oklahoma and to the McNeil family gatherings. 

How much time we are given on earth is something we all speculate on.  However to think you might live to 110 is unfathomable - otherwise we (those of us age 50 +) might think, act and behave like we were 20 again  - thinking our mortality is at least 40 years away.

Well - Happy Birthday Aunt Nannie. 

Birthday Girl

Ellen is now 11. The time fly's by too  quickly.  This was a high tech birthday with choices - DVD, Computer, Netbook, Laptop, Surround Sound Headphones and the list goes on.  I purposely gave her a birthday of decisions.  Should she buy, save, or reuse.  Similar to the decision matrix I gave to Jenna on her 19th birthday, Ellen got to feel like the "big girl" with equally challenging choices.

It will be interesting to she what she picks (I completely miss guessed what Jenna would do).  What a great study of human behavior - the urge to get, the immediate feeling of consumption vs the delayed gratification of saving.  Tough choices at any age.

In the end she really wanted the portable DVD and to defer the decision of what to do with the birthday money, Ellen came up with $170 to purchase the 9 inch portable DVD player.  She was thrilled when we unpacked it.  And it will be even more meaningful because she spent her own money for it - vs getting it as a birthday gift.  Now she can reserve her birthday money for other choices - more consumption or savings (which I match from the tradition handed down from my parents).

So off to bed the 11 year old goes.  Happy in all ways - a birthday of decisions.

Tennis Fatigue

After two weeks of tennis - I have hit the saturation point.  Even with sharing the box this year, it was too much tennis or I'm getting to be a tennis wimp.  Next year it goes back to one week (actually 8 days) with a combined Womens and Mens tournament.  The good news - you can only watch one match at a time - the bad news is you pay for all the matches by buying a sponsors box. 

Sunday after the finals is always an interesting feeling of fatigue and loss (meaning no more matches to watch) - but also a relief from not feeling compelled to watch more tennis.  It's no wonder I pay little attention to the US Open after spending so much time watching Cincinnati tennis.

It was a good final - Fish vs Federer that lasted three sets with two tie-breakers.  We left at 3pm too tired to see the doubles.  My 29th Mens final is history. 

Back to School

This week and next start the back to school routine.  Ellen hopped on the bus today at 6:55am - with all the stress of entering middle school.  Contrast that with Jenna - the veteran sophomore at Miami U. has none of the stress from last year's freshman butterflies. 

Returning to school was always something I looked forward to and probably my connection with liking the fall season so much.  New books, new frontiers and a "clean slate" always felt good.

I saw a family this morning taking a picture of the "First day of School" as they awaited the bus - the child was a teenager.  I suspect he was dreading the tradition - but when he is blogging in his 50's he will cherish the 12 years of pictures his parents had the foresight to take on each of his first days of school.

Sports Inflation

Box620B4LowerRightSeat

The obstructed view from the ESPN camera for the Women's Tournament vaulted me into a research project (naturally) of the historical cost of box seats for the Tournament.  So this is my chance to record the history of my commitment to watching this local tournament.

 After volunteering from 1981 - 1991 (Susan was also a volunteer), the two of us decided to buy two loge tickets (NE corner ) for $200 per seat in 1990.  Then we began to dream about buying a box seat (Accenture's center court box seat was $433/seat in 1990).  There was a waiting list of 250 to get a box and we thought - "great that would probably be 3-5 years".

Suddenly we were called in 1991 saying a box was available. We gulped and decided to take the plunge.  The tournament had expanded seating and increased box seat prices - it was now $500 per seat.   Then we discovered Jenna was due to be born in mid- August (I think that is why Jenna came early in July).  Luckily we had Mom and Dad as babysitters during the 1991 tournament - it was a very happy memory.

We slowly moved down closer to center court over the years (one away from courtside) when Susan and I decided we should joint the Championship Club in 1995 by buying 2 memberships (mainly because the heat was getting the best of us).  Susan also began the process of requesting the shaded North Balcony seats with a formal request in 1996.   It took 8 years of waiting but in 2004 we were offered our current location (620 B4). 

Now for the punch line -  today's seat cost is $1,285.  That is a 5.1%  CAGR or an average of 8.26% increase.  Now the Tournament officials would say we now get top flite Men and Women to play.  I say baloney  -  do these sports folks understand we have deflation and a recession?

This could be our last year.  After all there is no obstructed view and complete air conditioning at home watching on ESPNHD - the view from the camera that is obstructing our view.  :)