Happy Birthday, Abe!

Hey Great Emancipator, happy happy birthday—although the big celebration is next year, when you hit your bicentennial birthday—so tonight we'll just birthday party like its 199.

early january, i finally picked up team of rivals—the truly thorough book of lincoln's rise to the presidency, his competitors' stories and how he chose his cabinet from his former competitors. i had been eyeballing it a while, but its a hefty book and even for a paper back, it was a bit hefty in price. i think i decided to purchase it on account of all the business lit books i've been reading for a book club. you know, who ate my cheese...fish..best ship in the navy...the secret—fred factor—it was like eating a lot of process food. yeh, it went down easy, it was in some instances (navy) interesting, it did fill my mind, but really—it wasnt very satisfying. too pat. too rote. too full of platitudes. too... too... too...

i blame it on standford's itunesu hannibal lecture series. the lecturer discussed how military leaders were taken with hannibal. how they studied him, trying to tease out secrets they could use in their real word situation. napolean even climbed the alps with a army of men, tracing hannibal's footsteps and causing havoc in swiss villages along the way.

history! i thought. so now i'm compiling a reading list of off-road business books. books that are about business, yet aren't on the stereotypical business lit map.

here is what i have so far:

1. Team of Rivals
2. Grant's Autobiography
3. Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions
4. Gates of Fire

what other books should i add to my list?

DANGER, Overload! Abort, Abort!

i've fried my circuits.
granted, the magnitude of brain power is a little suspect under this gorgeous head of flonde hair—but while i may lack in deep intellect, i try to make it up with an enterprising and optimistic attitude and willingness to learn.

right now, though, service engine soon lights are blinking crazily and smoke is pouring out of my ears.

curse you, ipod!

in the beginning of my ipod craze, my girl laughed at me as i dizzily described an incredibly satisfying cast i had listened to before our workout—stanford u's guest speaker discussing the history of the monterrey bay in CA. "don't you ever listen to music?" she asked. ha-HA foolish mortal girl! i now hold immortality in the palm of my hand! i shall broaden my intellect at a far more rapid pace than ever possible! itunes university shall reside in my head! rah-hah-hah-ha!

my voracious appetite for the casts was unlimited and i indiscriminately downloaded all manner of subjects: how to paint baseballs or lemons? YES! how did hannibal cross the alps with elephants and which pass did he most likely use? LETS FIND OUT! cooking shows, inc magazine podcasts, wine cast, wine cast, wine casts! a whole course in organizational behavior. literary critique of virgil's aeneid! flash game university, coffeebreak spanish, human-computer interaction seminar, dirty jobs casts, surfing casts, the writer's almanac, havard business review ideaCast, cool hunting videos, costa rica pod casts and gardening podcasts.....

then the consumption. every spare minute. folding laundry, the daily commute—what, the girl didnt make it to the workout? get the pod! my husband considered starting up his own podcast in hopes of communicating to me. it actually sounded like a good idea to me as well, but man, there is a ton of free content out there and i really don't have much time, so if i don't get to it right away, just keep on casting and i'll catch up. he shook his head in disgust.

then it started happening. slowly at first....in the middle of organizational management...i found myself drifting off. couldn't. keep. focused. drifting. drifting.....

whoa. i shook it off. downloaded divefilm hd video and national geographic for something pretty to look at and then went back to consuming. but it wasn't joyous like before. i edited my casts down, got rid of a few that were like: why am i listening to this? but it got worse.

i was coming home exhausted and filled with ennui. i would turn on bravotv and watch endless episodes of the housewives of orange county. even rewatched previous episodes of project runway. the creative process at work was moving at the speed of light, projects were being managed, but i didnt feel the spark. i started feeling just grey. shhhhk grey. like tv snow grey.

i think i have a problem, i told my husband.

you think? my husband retorted incredulously. then he put the buds back in my ears, took the pod and dialed up this episode of zefrank [explicit]:

Why Cant I Get Over Teahupoo?

in my heart of hearts, i think and feel i'm one of these gloriously bravado filled, prime of life surfstuds—stupidly drunk upon my sense of immortality—waiting watchfully for a sip of ocean energy. reality bitterly smacks me upside the head—wake up middle-age, overfed
girl! you've waited too long and put your energies into the wrong areas.

i've come to the realization the best i may do, in regards to surfing, would be to purchase a stint at a well-publicized chick surf camp—most likely in FLA—and maybe hit a 2' swell or two. call it a fantasy realized and scratch it off of my 43things.com. and that's if i can convince my ever patient husband that i must abandon the family in this pursuit to overcome deep seated water-oriented fears while answering my adrenalin lust. learning to surf, i worry, could be the a very satisfying drink of water that i'm pouring done the drain. even so, i still continue to pour. there are children to raise. there is money to raise to apply to the children to raise. there is a career, a vineyard, a husband. i live within this mountainous terrain. i live far, far from the coast of life.

yet, i hunt and feast upon images of teahupoo.


pronounced cho-pu, or, in english: broken skulls. teahupoo, located of the southeast end of french polynesia's tahiti. the chopes is a left-breaking reef but the outer reef also creates right breaks that those with boards must be cautious of when paddling out. the reef delivers consistent barrel waves best summed up in this really cool article:

ex–pro surfer and writer Matt Warshaw observes, “Waves as small as three feet can be ridden at Teahupoo, and at six feet it still has a reasonable shape and demeanor. Above eight feet, however, Teahupoo gets exponentially stronger, thicker, rounder, and more malevolent: each ride begins with a vertical entry; each wave transforms into a thick-walled cavern, which in turn collapses with enough force to send shock waves running through the still water of a nearby channel.”

Big Wave Surfing, Maura O'Connor

i think maura quotes one of the best descriptions as to why i'm taken with surfing:

...author Daniel Duane writes in Caught Inside: A Surfer’s Year on the California Coast, “The climber never quite penetrates the mountain, the hiker remains trapped in the visual prison, but the surfer physically penetrates the heart of the ocean’s energy—and this is in no sense sentimentality—stands wet in its substance, pushed by its drive inside the kinetic vortex. Even riding a river, one rides a medium itself moved by gravity, likewise with a sailboard or on skis. Until someone figures out how to ride sound or light, surfing will remain the only way to ride energy.”

how long has it been since you've read a really dynamic paragraph like above?

let me ride energy, sound and light!

OurGirl: My Favorite Year

My favorite year? hands down, 2005. i turned 40 and got married on the same day, on a sunny carribean island—just me and my husband. family an friends told me getting married on my birthday was a bad idea. i laughed and said i only wanted to get mad at him once a year. the dear had trouble remembering my birthday, so i didn't hold out much hope for the wedding anniversary.

my husband, much like walsh, has a twisted, nougaty-center. i, on the other hand, am bone-head thru and thru.

for the last three years, i have forgotten the wedding anniversary and barely grunted over the mention of my birthday. my husband, however has gotten ahold of the list of anniversary gifts. the traditional one.

first year: paper. bought me a book, the joy of cooking. me, zippy. he looked disappointed when i grumbled, why anniversary gifts?

second gift: cotton. i just quizzed him and he cant remember what he bought me that was cotton, but he is sure he did. i am too, because i remembering forgetting the anniversary again, and the sad look he shot me.

third gift? leather. heh. so it didnt help that i couldn't stop giggling when he told me this year's anniversary gift-giving ideas. but i had to applaud his originality. he was going to get me a leatherman. then he found out that once again, his wife disappointed him.

so i have another resolution for this year. i'm going to remember the anniversary way in advance. i'm going to make it THE anniversary year and catch up with ALL the years in arrears. oh yeh. then who is going to be the best spouse, ever?

Morgan: 43 things

I've never been really good at following through on my New Years resolutions...So what I've been doing is participating in 43 things for the last year. 43 things is a wonderful community were people set their own goals and give encouragement to other peoples goals. Once you have achieved something you move that item to the I've Done This! list. I've found it very effective for achieving short term goals and listing long term dreams. Here is a list of 41 things that I would like to accomplish...I need to add two new things.

Morgan's 41 Things

2008 is here can you believe it! The years are flying by...Remember 1998? 1988? 1978? 1968? Well I don't remember much of 1968 as I was born in November of that year.
Lets take a little trip in my way back machine. Ok get in the seat next to me, and strap in. Here put this tin foil hat on...it will help. Let me make some adjustments to the control panel, so we return to the correct date....and Whoosh!

1998
January 17 - Paula Jones accuses U.S. President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

January 26 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, President Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

February - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United States Senate passes Resolution 71, urging U.S. President Bill Clinton to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

February 23 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa, declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders

March 27 - The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.

April 22 - The Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.

May 26 - At 23 years of age, Bear Grylls became the youngest British climber to scale the top of Mount Everest and back down.

May 28 - In Encino, California, the wife of Saturday Night Live comedian Phil Hartman kills him and commits suicide afterwards

June 14 - The Chicago Bulls win their 6th NBA title in 8 years when they beat the Utah Jazz, 87-86 in Game Six. This is also Michael Jordan's last game as a Bull.

August 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq officially suspends all cooperation with UNSCOM teams.

August 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq officially suspends all cooperation with UNSCOM teams.

August 19 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: On the day of his 52nd birthday, U.S. President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

August 20 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

September 27 - Google is started. It becomes the biggest search engine and the second most commonly visited web site in history, following Yahoo!

September 29 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.S. Congress passes the "Iraq Liberation Act", which states that the United States wants to remove Saddam Hussein from power and replace the government with a democratic institution.

November 19 - Lewinsky scandal: The United State House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.

December 16-December 19 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders American and British airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.

December 19 - Lewinsky scandal: President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives.

1998 was rough year for me as I started a new job at the Pentagon working in the Air Force Operations Group (AFOG) building the daily Ops briefing for Senior Leadership. I would arrive around 0300am and feverishly build, compile and arrange powerpoint slides as fast as I could, because our deadline was 0600 with the first dry run culminating in the final brief around 0800. It was very interesting observing many of these headlines unfold right before the decision makers. I worked there until January 2002 and never got a good nights sleep...but I loved it. That job taught me I could do anything! 1998 was also the year I met a good friend, Paul, who would later take over my duties at the AFOG. Paul and I still talk about the hardships we endured in the depths of the pentagon and we heartily agree, "We survived...and nothing will ever be as tough as our days as AFOGgers."