Saturday, December 15, 2007

Hoping You 'Hit' All Your Goals!

The following piece has been making the rounds on the internet. It was sent to me as something comedian George Carlin said, but a quick Google search indicated that the Carlin attribution was a hoax, that he never said this. Whoever wrote it – and I will give credit to anyone who proves authorship – I got a hearty chuckle out of it, and I wanted to pass it along:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life. You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Phil Knight -- Rebooter (or maybe Re-Shoe-er?)

I just read a remarkable story in today's Wall Street Journal (Dec. 3, 2007) about Philip H. Knight, the billionaire founder of Nike, the world's largest sportswear company.

It turns out that Knight, renowned for his seclusion and secrecy, has been quietly attending creative writing classes at Stanford University for three years. He has told fellow students that he is writing a novel. And he has been a full participant in his classes -- sharing his homework with other students, debating themes and characters in novels and, with his wife, Penny, hosting after-class get-togethers with students at Palo Alto bars.

Knight is an exceptional figure on the Stanford campus for reasons other than just being an older "adult student." He has given $102 million to the Stanford Graduate School of Business (from which he garduated in 1962), funded a professorship at the business school, donated a graduate school building and made gifts to the athletic department.

Edward Schwarzschild, a novelist who visited one of Knight's classes, is quoted as being struck by his unassuming approach to learning the writing craft. "He could easily import someone, fly them up in a helicopter," Schwarzschild says. "But he wanted to be a part of a true workshop, as an equal. He didn't want to be CEO. He wanted to be Phil Knight, the student."

Makes me want to head for a Nike store and re-shoe myself.