Wednesday Words
To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.
I would not creep along the coast, but steer
Out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars.
—George Eliot
Be daring.
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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28 January 2009, 7:01 am
The motto of the SAS is:
Who dares wins.
That kind of sums it up, doesn’t it. I don’t think anything really great was ever accomplished by sitting back and being meek.
And in “times of uncertainty”, well, this is the best time to dare, isn’t it.
-Brett
–
(The SAS is the British Special Air Service, a special forces unit for those who aren’t familiar.)
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 8:03 am
“…..Yeah, George. But what if you don’t have a BOAT? ”
- Professor F. Meigh, University of Wimperton-on-Chudleigh, 1925.
(Okay…I’m off to work).
Just checking the Hotel Internet, for weather in Toronto. I”m supposed to drive 300 miles home today. And we’re having a major snowstorm. WHAT FUN.
PS. I got a $265 speeding ticket driving down here. EVEN MORE fun!
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 8:05 am
Hey Friar, now you know how the Feds plan to raise money to give us all tax breaks – insane speeding ticket fines.
The sad thing is, you probably were not going that fast to get that.
Have a safe trip… see you for beers tomorrow night
(Oh, hi Kelly – you can have your blog back now!)
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 8:07 am
Brett,
‘Zactly. It’s tough because I feel like if I say that one more time… but then we all need to hear our messages delivered in different ways, on different days.
Wednesday Words is my chance to let somebody else repeat myself, I reckon. And this one is one of my old faves… chokes me up to read those words. That’s some serious inspiration.
“Who dares wins.” Beautiful.
Not quite related: I’ve always loved the Marines’ “Semper Fi,” which means “always faithful.” I try to live up to inspirations like that.
Regards,
Kelly
28 January 2009, 8:10 am
BWAH ha ha.
When I was typing there was only one comment here, slowpoke that I am.
And I almost wrote, “Thank goodness Friar isn’t here mocking me as I get sentimental.”
But then I decided that I’m NOT thankful when Friar isn’t here, so I didn’t.
Friar,
We had a major snowstorm, here, so the kid and I are staying home! Snow day!
We got 1″.
True story.
Until later,
Kelly
28 January 2009, 10:18 am
@Kelly – lol – we eat 1″ of snow fer breakfast. “Git in ma belly!”
Actually, we did have one snow day so far this year. I don’t know what the final total was — about 7-8″ I guess overnight.
@Friar and Brett — has TO called in the troops yet?
@Friar — aye carumba! You know, they make these long, flat, smooth surfaces that are perfect for letting the reins out a little, and they nail you for it. Should be entrapment.
@Brett — I thought you were referring to the Scandinavian Air Service. With a motto like that, it’s little wonder they haven’t had more accidents…
But hey, I’d fly with them. Sounds like fun.
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
28 January 2009, 11:17 am
Snow day here too! We got a quarter inch of ice! Whoo hoo. Slippery out there. Icicles everywhere.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Jason Wu and The Spotlight
28 January 2009, 12:10 pm
@Kelly,
We have to keep on saying it, every day in a new way, until we’re on the underside of the grass
Though I couldn’t find a really great reference, I believe at least unofficially that a branch of the Canadian special forces or airborne had a motto in response to the SAS one:
We dare.
Love it. And yeah, the Marines one is awesome too (love the Marines).
@Graham,
We should tell Friar about that fellow mentioned in the link you sent me a while back… heh heh if Friar can get his CR-V up to that speed, Honda will give him an award!
I haven’t seen any troops headed for the GTA but stay tuned – more snow on the way.
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 12:12 pm
PS – remember your lobster post – well, I’m in a workshop all day today and tomorrow.
They were originally going to feed us, but as of a new policy that came out Monday, no catered lunches. You want my undivided attention for 8 hours, but won’t feed me.
Hmph.
So anyway, a bunch of people were going to go out for lunch, and asked if I wanted to go.
I said, “no, I can eat better and cheaper at home, and then I don’t have to listen to you talk about work on *my time*…”
That’s what happens when you don’t buy me a lobstah
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 12:13 pm
I think there’s a speed limiter on the CRV — I can’t remember the speed exactly, but I think that it topped out at something like 147. Very annoying to find that out when you’re passing a transport in Northern Ontario, and the straightaway is coming to an end…
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
28 January 2009, 12:17 pm
Yes, most (probably all) cars in Canada and USA have them – generally related to the speed rating of the tires.
It is done in the engine control unit (ECU) and can be turned off at most tuning shops.
The average passenger car would have it around 180 km/h or so.
Sportier cars tend to be around 210 km/h. I know my GTI is (and don’t ask me how I know that… heh heh) but with Z rated tires it would go quite a bit faster
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 12:21 pm
LOL – you’d think the CRV would be its own speed limiter…
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
28 January 2009, 12:23 pm
Kelly- Today is Jackson Pollack’s birthday. Thought that was cool in light of your quotation. Hm, a little more daring called for today all round.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Jason Wu and The Spotlight
28 January 2009, 12:29 pm
Exactly – aerodynamic drag does play a part (as well as the ability of the engine to “breathe” at higher rpms) – if I looked purely at the numbers I should be able to hit about 260-270 at redline in 5th but I seriously doubt I could with the car stock.
Now, if I dropped about $10k into it, doubled my hp and torque, cold air intake, free-flow exhaust, bigger turbo (better brakes to stop!!!) – then I could get myself into “cop shoots you on the side of the road” territory…
(Can you tell I’ve researched this?)
Somehow I suspect my wife would kick me out before I got to that point.
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 12:36 pm
If you’re going to do that, you might as well go all the way and drop in six-gear gearbox. Redlining for long periods of time can be hard on the engine I hear.
As for your wife — at what speed would she kick you out at then? And would she be able to hop over and take control of the car before skidding out?
I’ve found that’s the downside to having bucket seats and lots of leg room: trying to get into the driver’s seat of an out-of-control vehicle. ESPECIALLY just after you’ve run over a giant, deflated banana peel. Painfully slow maneuver, and even a little dangerous.
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
28 January 2009, 3:18 pm
You know when you see your email inbox is full of comments at your own blog and you’re worried that there may be gorillas involved?
No?
*ahem* Neither do I.
Graham,
Believe me, I’m aware of the humorous nature of our snow days. Another true story: we’ve had school cancelled the day before a storm more than once, on the forecast alone. Then had no school on sunny, 48°F days.
Brett,
You have my deepest sympathies. Hope your lunch at home was good!
Janice,
Jackson Pollack is my second favorite artist. How cool. Happy birthday to Jackson… He’d be a hundred or so, I imagine, by now?
Side story:
I used to carry a jar of crayons in my purse everywhere for my daughter when she was little so she could make art in any boring situation she got stuck in (lines, doctor’s visits, restaurants, libraries, etc.). One of those tall baby-food jars with the pop-up seal cap that’s sort of rubberized underneath. The crayons would rattle around in my purse and the inside of the lid got quite colorful, and we always used to say it was her Jackson Pollack jar.
When she was a little over a year old she started saying it to other people: “Dackson Powack jar.” Then she’d pull off the lid and show people. It was a cute parlor trick when we were in a museum to have her show the docents.
Later,
Kelly
28 January 2009, 3:54 pm
I LOVE that! Want one of my own. LOL. To color in 20 foot gorilla on my box of Friar’s Breakfast Cereal.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Jason Wu and The Spotlight
28 January 2009, 4:05 pm
Oh, no… LMAO again…
Can I keep the yellow?
I can’t say why…
Help! *giggles*
28 January 2009, 4:20 pm
Yes. ROFLOL. And if it is for what I think, here here’s an extra ’cause one just will not do.
I blame the Canadians.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Jason Wu and The Spotlight
28 January 2009, 4:40 pm
Hah!
Me, too. I was so serious before they invaded!
28 January 2009, 4:53 pm
@Graham,
So long as I don’t modify it to go faster than 210, I’ll be okay with the 5-speed (it will turn around 5300 rpm at that speed, soft redline is 6700 and hard redline is 7100). Though the 6-speed would be better for fuel economy, which is really what I’m after these days (I get around 42 mpg at 90 km/h).
My wife? Oh, she closes her eyes any faster than 140
@Kelly,
Thanks for your sympathies – lunch was the highlight of my day, because I got to talk with the cat… more intelligent than the folks I spent the day with…
Did somebody say gorilla?
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 4:53 pm
@Graham
No…Mel Lastman hasnt’ called in the troups yet. There’s about six inches of snow on the ground…an annoyance for where I live. But Armageddon by Southern Ontario standards. I’m expecting the Army Corps of Snow Shovellers to be here any minute.
@Brett and Graham.
Stupid A**hole ticket. I was going 125 in a 90 zone. Wasn’t even deliberately trying to be fast..the car is so quite, the speed crept up. Hardly what I’d danegerous speeding, though. It was a straightaway in a 4-line section of highway.
Stupid rented car. If I had been using my 9 year old CRV….it would have protested enough, that I’d have known I was going too fast.
@Kelly
Our Factory always says “SAFETY FIRST”. So I claim it’s “not safe” to drive 300 miles in a snowstorm to get to work on time tomorrow. I drive tomorrow instaed, and play hookey. (Yayy!). So it’s SORT of a snow day for me too.
Now I’m gonna hava a NICE dinner (Mabye a steak or somethin’) at the company’s expense! (I’ll take it when I can!)
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 4:56 pm
@Friar,
Safety first. Yeah, that’s why they *insist* you take a rental car – that you cannot get snow tires for in Ontario – and is unfamiliar to you. Instead of letting you take your *all-wheel drive* CR-V which has snow tires, and you know like the back of your hand.
Safety first, or money first. Hmm.
Enjoy the steak. Make it Keg-sized.
Oh, and sorry about your luck with the ticket. Gotta pay for this new budget somehow, at least until the smart-meters are installed for the electricity.
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 5:22 pm
@Brett
Suppose I could have force the issued and taken my car. But then that would involve putting 1000 km on a vehicle that’s 9 years old, and has 300,000 km already.
I had a 16 oz Rib steak yesterday, with a pint of beer, baked potato, Cesar Salad and dessert! HAH!
You know, I could do ANOTHER steak today! (I’ll burn it all on the ski hill next week).
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 5:25 pm
@Kelly
“Better to creep along the shore and be certain to arrive at your destination, thant to venture out in a leaky boat and risk drowning”.
- Professor Dicke Weede (Confessions of a Poltroon, 1834).
“I don’t care WHAT you say, George, you’re STILL not getting that boat, and that’s FINAL”.
- Mr. George Eliot’s
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 5:26 pm
@Kelly
Oops. Typo. The last quote was from MRS. George Eliot. (Darn!)
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 5:29 pm
Friar,
Oh, that timid Dick.
*deletes the rest of the joke*
ROFL some more.
Later,
Kelly
28 January 2009, 5:32 pm
Friar – you’d still probably have been safer. They just don’t want to pay you the 46 cents a km for 1000 km, that’s all. They used to do it about 6 years ago, and it was quite profitable if you drove your own vehicle…
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 5:44 pm
@Kelly
Mabye if that Dick wouldn’t be so timid, if he displayed a STIFF upper lip…you know…had some back-BONE….
@Brett
So they’d pay me $450 in mileage for this road trip? (Are YOU KIDDING?)
Heh heh…I think they’ll already freak out that this trip is costing me an extra night in a hotel. They’re so cheap for money.
Hmmm…I’m thinking the KEG for supper…..
Friar’s last blog post…Update on Basil the Special Dog
28 January 2009, 6:00 pm
@Kelly – It does sound funny. But I can understand their point. You probably don’t have snow removal, your cars probably don’t have good tires for that sort of thing, and you’re drivers — well, you’re from New England, so I’m sure you know what I’m saying.
I remember driving somewhere that got like a half-inch of snow (can’t remember where it was… maybe even taking a cab in London?) and everyone was crawling like it was a white out, if not slower. So frustrating! Move already!
(Yes, I have issues…)
@Janice – Um, I don’t think we mentioned anything about gorillas… Can only blame us by association!
@Brett – Forgot about fuel efficiency. Yeah, red-lining it really does gulp the fuel. Need a six-speed fer shur.
@Friar – Ha, who else but Mel would call in the troops for a bit of snow? NOOOOOOOOOOO-BODY!
(I’m sure that joke’s been done before, but I’ve never claimed to be original. Okay, I have, but that’s called “marketing”.)
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
28 January 2009, 6:04 pm
@Friar,
You bet! That’s why everyone used to take personal cars to SP back in the day. TC went down there and back every single week for three years. THREE YEARS. At the time, mileage was 0.43/km – so at roughly 1000 km round trip, he was pulling in an extra $22k per year before tax. It was more than enough to pay for gas and maintenance.
And, well, you know TC – never buys a new car. So he basically got a new “used” car every year, on the company (err, on the taxpayer… ’cause, you know…)
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 6:26 pm
@Graham,
The latest VW’s (Europe only for now) have 7-speed DSG transmissions (dual-clutch automated manual tranny, very quick shifting like an F1 car) – really nice for gas mileage – and performance
Brett Legree’s last blog post…viking fridays – turn the spell.
28 January 2009, 7:53 pm
@Graham
Hahahah! NOOOOOOBODY! That’s pure marketing…one of these days, we’ll have to explain to Kelly how a discount furniture salesman became the mayor of a major metropolitain city in North America.
(And how he pretty much blew any chance we had at hosting the 2008 Olympics!…with his comments about being boiled in a pot!)
@Brett
Yeah…ain’t it GREAT how people like TC abused the system for all those years. So that we late-comesr are denied the same priviledges.
So now that I can use a 2-WD cheesy rented sedan for business trips, which handles like CRAP on snowy roads compared to my 4WD Honda CRV.
And what happened to TC? The booted him upstairs…he’s in the Old Boys Club now!
29 January 2009, 10:27 am
Kelly, simply beautiful. To be daring also takes the courage to fail out loud. I have embraced that in a new way lately and I have fallen flat on my face. Luckily, not hard enough to require plastic surgery.
Karen Swim’s last blog post…The One About Trains, Tweets & Lying Down In Public
29 January 2009, 10:41 am
Oh Karen and Kelly- now I AM going to have to get out my DVD and work on my Hindu Push Ups and Bridges which means I will fall flat on my erm, face or something else…I had stopped because I was feeling so awkward and not that great them.
Do you think, Kelly that that awkwardness, that out of their comfort zones, is something your clients come up against too? Even though they know the change or the thing your advising is the good and right thing, they resist?
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Jason Wu and The Spotlight
29 January 2009, 5:46 pm
Gents,
Carry on. I think there was some car talk up there but I…
zzzz…
Karen,
LOL. If only I could afford the plastic surgery for all the times I’ve fallen on my face! I know exactly what you mean, and I plan to keep on daring and failing, darn it, as long as I’ve got breath. Thanks for that wonderful way of looking at it.
Janice,
When I talk to a client I don’t get to outright say, here’s the psyche-bits that seem to be stopping you. But I listen for them, and if I could, yes.
And my posts are very often inspired by or even subtle messages to clients, which has a lot to do with why change and daring and innovation are oft-repeated.
Hey, it’s the hardest thing in the world for me, too. Getting out of my comfort zone. Daring. So I appreciate that difficulty, but at the same time, moving forward is the ONLY way to get where you’re going. Your destination is not suddenly going to come to you. So the Experience Designer plays a bit of psychologist at times, finding ways to make that goal so desirable that you’re ready to go 125 in a 90 zone to get to it.
Like Friar— ‘cuz I know he could hardly wait to get back to The Factory.
Until later,
Kelly
29 January 2009, 6:09 pm
@Kelly
heh heh. Typical. The guys talk about cars and large apes.
And the women talk about Hindu push-ups and tantric-estrogen-yoga and flowers and flute music.
Isn’t diversity WONDERFUL?
29 January 2009, 6:19 pm
Hahaha!
Dear Friar,
When women want to talk about our apes and their bananas, we typically do it in private.
Or at least on somebody else’s blog.
Later,
Kelly