tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62443661768624059512024-02-20T16:01:20.499-08:00RebootYouLee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-76406067471548128022017-09-17T21:24:00.000-07:002017-09-17T21:24:18.140-07:00Tennis Anyone?<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Tami Adachi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Guest blogger<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I haven’t worked in a year. I’m at the age where people ask
me if I’m retired. I always answer “no” because I consider myself a Rebooter
and someone who will never retire. Playing tennis has filled in the work gap
and I’ve taken on a bigger role as a USTA team captain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently started thinking that I <i>am</i> working, in my relatively new job as a tennis captain of about
15-20 women (and sometimes men). The only difference is I’m not getting paid. I
started making comparisons of my new found employment and why money was the
only difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm-4cTuwxvZ8PTvuu99oSOW_7pzkThdC02MtAMjicXUA7HkSamIKoS43kOmuu7gW1UrTs3A255cyxTuAbmizp3uQ1EphcIk5BR5xLFBdC5ctmnvLQv0hfRMHMQQsmYvFJ56USqy6FLHU/s1600/tami+return+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="762" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm-4cTuwxvZ8PTvuu99oSOW_7pzkThdC02MtAMjicXUA7HkSamIKoS43kOmuu7gW1UrTs3A255cyxTuAbmizp3uQ1EphcIk5BR5xLFBdC5ctmnvLQv0hfRMHMQQsmYvFJ56USqy6FLHU/s320/tami+return+shot.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I had a handful of comparisons, I tested them on my
husband Lee, who is one of my biggest tennis fans. Here’s what I found:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Teammates are like employees, except they don’t get
paid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->As a captain, I am leading a team of teammates
(employees) that changes every three months. I have to recruit the team, set
lineups, schedule practices, and see that we play in compliance with all the
rules of our tennis club and the USTA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->As the “boss,” I have to figure out ways to
motivate, lead and support my team. This is a true test, mainly because no one
is getting paid to do this job. My teammates play tennis because they love the
game. If I don’t do a decent job, they can tell me to take this job and shove
it! In the real world, this is harder to do!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->It’s very rare that you have to fire someone
from their job. When I was a paid boss, I was fortunate that I never had to
fire anyone. It’s human nature that everyone wants to do a good job. Telling
someone they are fired is not easy. I’ve only had to do this once as a tennis
captain, when the team chemistry required it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Before every tennis season begins, I always set
the tone, explaining what my philosophy and expectations are. My philosophy is
the same every season: we are a competitive (and fun) team as opposed to
recreational. My expectations are the same every season: keep your availability
up to date, try to come to practice and be a good ambassador of our tennis
club. Availability is a tennis captain’s biggest challenge in putting match
line ups together. When a player who is scheduled to play becomes unavailable,
it changes the entire line up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lee thought I was on the right track. That’s when I
suggested I write about it and perhaps he would post it on his website! So here
we are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is my tennis job fulfilling? The answer is an overwhelming
“yes!” I’m in the best physical shape I’ve ever been in and tennis is a lifelong
sport. I enjoy the women and men I play (work) with. A lot of them return every
season. We have a great track record of making our goals of playing well,
having fun and even going to the playoffs. I have a healthy respect for my
teammates, many of whom juggle careers, families and tennis. And from what they
tell me, they think I’m doing a good job. I can certainly say <i>they</i> have done a good job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what’s the moral of my story? I believe that when I
re-enter the world of paid employment, I will be a better employee and boss.
Tennis teaches you a lot of life lessons and I’ve learned a lot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tami Adachi is a
consultant in the Bay Area with more than 20 years of experience in public
relations and public affairs. She took up tennis just a few years ago and has
quickly established a reputation as a team captain people want to play for. She
is married to Lee Callaway.</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-91215983423994475372017-08-30T18:26:00.000-07:002017-08-30T18:26:15.265-07:00Losing -- and finding -- the breadcrumbs<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana;"><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"Breadcrumbs" are a type of secondary
navigation that reveals the user's location in a website or web application.
The term comes from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale in which the two title
children dropped breadcrumbs to form a trail back to their home.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, I lost the breadcrumbs to find my way
back to the page for publishing new posts on this blog. I know, duh. But thanks
to a tech specialist with Google, I found my way back and am bringing the
blog back to life.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Talk about rebooting! How many times have I
owned up to letting the blog (and the website, <a href="http://www.rebootyou.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.rebootyou.com</span></a>) get stale? Too many
times. Will this time be different? I hope so.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">I still believe
passionately in the principle behind RebootYou -- that we must continually
reinvent ourselves to stay vital, relevant and, well, alive.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Please join the
conversation -- or let's start one! I'd love to hear from anyone who considers
himself or herself a rebooter about your experience in reinvention. Post a
comment to this blog. Let's talk!</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-45890268563339455842016-12-17T13:40:00.000-08:002016-12-17T13:40:11.876-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Going back to work as
a ‘boomerang’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">Boomerang retirees: people who exit
gracefully after their career at a company, then return shortly afterward to
work there part time.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A growing
number of firms are offering programs to bring retired employees back for their
knowledge and expertise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“From the
corporate perspective,” Christopher Farrell writes in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/business/retirement/boomerang-boom-more-firms-tapping-the-skills-of-the-recently-retired.html?ref=business&_r=0&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=3EB0E0DD4D8CBCA8D06D0681E0262D1F&gwt=pay">the
New York Times</a>, “it is useful to have experienced hands who can train
younger people, pass along institutional wisdom and work with fewer strings
attached.” Farrell notes that while formal corporate programs to engage
retirees are still relatively rare, “human resource professionals predict that
the number of boomerang retiree programs will expand, especially among larger
companies with deep pockets.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Boomerang
programs are appearing in the public sector, too. California and other states
offer retired employees the opportunity to come back part time, and the federal
government has initiated a phased retirement program where hours are cut back
but additional retirement benefits can still be earned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Are you
boomerang material? Check out <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/business/retirement/boomerang-boom-more-firms-tapping-the-skills-of-the-recently-retired.html?ref=business&_r=0&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=3EB0E0DD4D8CBCA8D06D0681E0262D1F&gwt=pay">the
whole article here.</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-19324989216695511642016-09-30T22:18:00.000-07:002016-10-03T21:12:08.339-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Not a mastermind? No problem. They're all around</b></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">You don’t have to be a
mastermind, but you can benefit from one. You can start or join a mastermind
group. A mastermind group is <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;">a </span></span><span style="background: white;">group of people who get together regularly to
collaborate, help each other, offer advice and exchange contacts for the
purpose of mutual benefit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“Starting a mastermind group is a
natural fit for retirees,” according to Tobe Brockner, who is quoted in a
recent article in <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6571-business-ideas-for-retirees.html">Business
News Daily</a>, “6 Smart Business Ideas for Retirees.” Brockner is the author
of "Mastermind Group Blueprint:
How to Start, Run and Profit from Mastermind Groups" <span style="color: #333333;">(Aloha Group Publishing, 2013)</span><span style="color: #333333;">.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Many [retirees]
already have a network that they can tap into to find excellent mastermind
group members, and by being the group organizer and facilitator, they can
make a nice supplemental income," said Brockner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Depending
on the size of the area in which they live, Brockner said enterprising
retirees can start and facilitate multiple mastermind groups, and charge a
premium for the value of being a member. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Mastermind group
facilitators can generate between $1,500 to $3,000 per month per group for
just a few hours [of] work," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background: white;">Stephanie
Burns, founder and CEO of Chic CEO, a free resource for female entrepreneurs
looking to start a business, wrote an article in <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/chicceo/2013/10/21/7-reasons-to-join-a-mastermind-group/#75e8f93117ab">Forbes
magazine</a> about seven reasons to join a mastermind group. They including being
a part of an exclusive group, getting advice from people you trust, and picking
up new learning.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What
if you want to join a mastermind group instead of starting one? Here’s one
source of information: <a href="http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/find-a-mastermind-group/">The Success
Alliance</a>, headed by Karyn Greenstreet, author and small business consultant.
The website lists various mastermind groups, some that meet in person and
others that meet via videoconference and telephone. The site provides a
description of each group’s area of focus and contact information. The list is
updated monthly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Looking
for one in my neighborhood, I found <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Speakers/">Meetup.com</a> with mastermind
group contacts in the San Francisco Bay Area.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As
a latecomer to the worlds of both mastermind groups and meetups, I found that
there are tons of opportunities out there in both fields. All you have to do is
look! </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-19876472498206328932015-01-03T12:22:00.000-08:002015-01-03T12:27:31.610-08:00What to do when a state of denial becomes undeniable<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“No, I’m not in denial,” I said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I was – and the subject was my hearing. My wife had suggested numerous times that I was getting hard of hearing but I denied it. I thought I could hear fine, even though the person closest to me was telling me otherwise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This blog is about denial, specifically denial about hearing loss, one of several forms of denial that I have been guilty of (more to come in the next several blogs.) I’m writing about denial because it is one of the biggest barriers to rebooting and reinvention. And I also will be writing about how to get out of this unfortunate state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Hearing loss common in older adults</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), age-related hearing loss gradually occurs in most of us as we grow older. It is one of the most common conditions affecting older and elderly adults. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Approximately one in three people in the United States between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing,” says the NIDCD’s website. “Having trouble hearing can make it hard to understand and follow a doctor’s advice, respond to warnings, and hear phones, doorbells, and smoke alarms. Hearing loss can also make it hard to enjoy talking with family and friends, leading to feelings of isolation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Age-related hearing loss most often occurs in both ears, affecting them equally. Because the loss is gradual, if you have age-related hearing loss you may not realize that you’ve lost some of your ability to hear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Brought up short</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“There are many causes of age-related hearing loss. Most commonly, it arises from changes in the inner ear as we age, but it can also result from changes in the middle ear, or from complex changes along the nerve pathways from the ear to the brain. Certain medical conditions and medications may also play a role.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whatever the cause in my case, the incident that brought me up short (and out of denial) was when a co-worker asked me one day if I had a hearing disorder. She said she had noticed that I seemed to miss some things in telephone conference calls. To my embarrassment, I had to acknowledge that I did indeed have some hearing loss and would get a checkup. I also had to admit to my wife that she had been right, both about my hearing and about being in denial. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I went through the process of being tested and fitted for hearing aids. That was almost 10 years ago and I have been wearing them ever since. Of course I can hear much more clearly now and have moved past the social stigma of having them in my ears.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What to do about it</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you think you have hearing loss, and are in denial about it, there are steps you can take to get out of this double bind. Here’s what the NIDCD advises:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The most important thing you can do is to seek advice from a health care provider. There are several types of professionals who can help you. You might want to start with your primary care physician, an otolaryngologist, an audiologist, or a hearing aid specialist. Each has a different type of training and expertise. Each can be an important part of your hearing health care. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>•</b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span>“An<b> otolaryngologist </b>is a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating diseases of the ear, nose, throat, and neck. An otolaryngologist, sometimes called an ENT, will try to find out why you’re having trouble hearing and offer treatment options. He or she may also refer you to another hearing professional, an audiologist.<b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>•</b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span>“An<b> audiologist </b>has specialized training in identifying and measuring the type and degree of hearing loss. Some audiologists may be licensed to fit hearing aids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>•</b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-weight: bold; white-space: pre;"> </span>“A<b> hearing aid specialist </b>is someone who is licensed by your state to conduct and evaluate basic hearing tests, offer counseling, and fit and test hearing aids. You must be examined by a physician before you can be fitted for a hearing aid, although federal law allows you to sign a waiver if you don’t wish to be examined before you purchase an aid.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’re going to talk about other denial traps, including rebooting denial, how they can come to define us, and how to get out of them. So stay tuned. And you might want to take notes!</span></div>
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Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-32802784073143305922013-08-12T22:11:00.000-07:002017-09-17T21:33:45.366-07:00Tennis for underserved youth<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">OK, re-rebooting and re-running.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I’m in the process of updating and doing some redesign on the
RebootYou website at </span><a href="http://www.rebootyou.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">www.rebootyou.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.
More details to come. Yes, it’s about time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I’m also running in the 2013 ING New York Marathon on Nov.
3. This time I’m running for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">USTA Serves</b>,
the charitable foundation of the U.S. Tennis Association. USTA Serves brings
tennis – and more – to underserved and disabled people with an extensive
program that combines tennis and education. You can learn more about USTA
Serves and how it carries out its mission at </span><a href="http://www.ustaserves.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the USTA Serves website</span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. I encourage you
to take a look. This organization is doing a lot of good for a lot of deserving
people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You may be wondering if I have
suddenly taken up tennis. No, the tennis player in the family is Tami, and it
was through her membership in the U.S. Tennis Association that I learned about
USTA Serves being an official charitable sponsor of the New York Marathon. When
she got the USTA email telling her about the sponsorship, we both got excited
because this would give us a way to do good and have fun at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By raising money for USTA Serves, I
could earn a guaranteed a spot in the race. Which is a big deal, given that it
is difficult to get into the New York Marathon in any case. Unless you run for
a charity, to get in you have to compete for a spot in a lottery with about a
zillion other people, and until I learned about USTA Serves, I was not
seriously motivated to run for one of the other sponsoring charities. What’s
more, getting in this year’s race was especially challenging because everyone
who was officially entered in last year’s Sandy-cancelled race has an automatic
pass into the 2013 event. But being able to run for USTA Serves changed all
that for us – this is really Tami’s and my race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">So I will be getting my own street
view of New York’s five boroughs on Nov. 3, taking a few small steps to bring
tennis to people who might not otherwise have an opportunity to play. I’ll be
blogging about my training along with continuing thoughts about rebooting. Hope
you’ll come along for the ride. Or the run, as the case may be!</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-27553496539365535972013-06-05T11:52:00.000-07:002013-06-05T11:52:03.443-07:00Life in the safe lane
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwUr5LDL6wZnTAlLSh4gzEgKwPsYeFvEMWtLbEF1uwon26FtWvgwajoAqmk7JJBNy-xsvXDharN3E3b9mI7Rr4GahXPqupYplLb8iZDquW318Cq4EubhKG3mcnJfKPzkvXhTOQA7qfr8/s1600/cars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwUr5LDL6wZnTAlLSh4gzEgKwPsYeFvEMWtLbEF1uwon26FtWvgwajoAqmk7JJBNy-xsvXDharN3E3b9mI7Rr4GahXPqupYplLb8iZDquW318Cq4EubhKG3mcnJfKPzkvXhTOQA7qfr8/s1600/cars.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the RebootYou.com website, we’ve suggested going back to
school as one strategy for restarting. Well, I took my own advice recently and
went back to school, although it wasn’t exactly what I originally had in mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was driving school – a course for seniors whose skills
behind the wheels may be slipping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a pretty thorough refresher course, lasting about
2-1/2 hours and covering freeway, residential and downtown traffic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was encouraged to take this course by my wife, who sees my
driving habits from the passenger seat and has a much more objective view of my
abilities than I do. So while I was initially skeptical, it turns out she was
right – the course did show me several areas where I can definitely improve,
and underscored the fact that I am not the Mario Andretti that I used to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For example, glancing in the rear view mirror regularly to
see who or what is behind you and what they are doing – closing on you, passing
on the right or left, etc. It’s a way of staying mindful of your total
environment. I wasn’t doing it often enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another example, when exiting the freeway: don’t step on the
brake pedal while you’re still in freeway traffic. Just take your foot off the
accelerator, slow down to make the exit ramp, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">then</i> apply the brakes. Putting on the brakes on the freeway may
slow you down too fast and it also sends what could be an alarming signal to
the car behind you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And looking in the right hand side mirror (and turning
around to look) before turning <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>right at
a stop sign or traffic light – there may be a bicyclist or skateboarder
slipping up beside you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, steering out of denial and into the safe lane. The life
I save might be yours – or mine!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-82312972831696561522011-12-24T17:54:00.000-08:002011-12-26T10:11:59.309-08:00Rebooting RebootYou<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m getting myself back out on the road to run again, after a too-long layoff. As I was running today, I was thinking about the RebootYou website. Talk about something that needs rejuvenation! That’s another task I haven’t been taking care of. So enough of my beating myself up and on to the subject at hand: rebooting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The original concept of RebootYou was to help people recently retired get back to being productive instead of sitting on the couch. My assumption was that there were ample opportunities in the market for gainful employment after retirement – perhaps at a slower pace or a different type of job, but staying active and engaged in something rewarding.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, today, four years after I launched RebootYou, that assumption no longer holds true. In fact, the exact opposite situation prevails -- there are not even enough opportunities for gainful employment for many in their prime earning years -- well before they are at "retirement age." Many have been forced into involuntary joblessness not because they have aged out of the workforce, but because the overall workplace opportunity has been downsized by the economic downturn.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Making matters worse for those newly out of a job are fundamental global changes described by Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum in their new book, <i>That Used to Be Us</i>. They point out that the combination of globalization and the information technology revolution have made many jobs obsolete or nonexistent. Even white collar jobs for high skilled workers can be outsourced to lower cost geographies. The net for would be rebooters is a vastly different climate than existed just 4 short years ago: <o:p></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The demographic bulge of Baby Boomers turning 65 still looms. The oldest of the Boomers have already hit 65 and started retiring from conventional jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have no data to back this up, but I’m guessing the majority of these Boomers are not on the cutting edge of personal technology and social media techniques.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The number of job openings has shrunk considerably, not only for those "second career" jobs but for basic employment as well.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To have any hope of qualifying for a job in this new world, many boomers will have to learn new skills and will have to learn to compete on a whole new playing field.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But for those who <i>can</i> adapt to the new realities, there are at least two broad paths to re-employment and continued contribution: education and entrepreneurship. I plan to talk about these avenues in coming blogs. Please come back and share your thoughts, too.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-53730597691813672562011-03-22T22:37:00.000-07:002011-03-22T22:39:09.487-07:00Los Angeles Marathon Success!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am happy to report that on Sunday I successfully finished the Los Angeles Marathon, all 26.2 miles, in 6 hours and 42 minutes. I ran with Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was without a doubt the most challenging marathon I’ve ever run. It started raining when the opening gun went off (actually the opening horn), and it rained the entire time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was no drizzle, it was an out-and-out winter storm, even though it was the first day of spring. The rain was continuous, sometimes light and sometimes coming down in buckets. And just for fun, there was a brutally cold wind whipping through the LA area with gusts up to 25-30 mph. The route took many twists and turns, so we got the wind from every direction at one time or another – front, back and both sides. And since I was soaked through and through, it sometimes cut like a knife. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In many locations the drainage could not carry off all the water, so it backed up into the street, 3-4 inches deep in places (today’s Los Angeles Times described it as “shin high,” and that was no exaggeration). There were 2 inches of rain in Santa Monica, 2.29 in downtown LA, and 6.35 inches in Van Nuys, which is just a few miles north of the marathon route.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I used a run-walk strategy which really saved the day, and at the end I had enough steam left to run all out for the last half mile. At times I felt – well, miserable: cold, wet and tired. I had to keep reminding myself that I was doing this voluntarily! I didn’t break any records for speed, but the objective was to finish. And I finished feeling strong – I did not hit the wall. As a footnote, last year’s winner, Wesley Korir, hit the wall at mile 21. He said afterward, “First of all, I’d like to thank God that I’m still alive. I thought it was the end of my life.” Hey Wesley, I felt your pain! Thousands of runners were evaluated for hypothermia and 26 were taken to hospitals for treatment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tami and two dear friends, Dirk and Tonya Jackson, were my support team. They braved the rain to cheer me on at the halfway point and wait for me at the finish line. All four of us, dripping wet, finally made it back to the hotel where we could dry out. I took a long hot shower (hot water never felt so good!), then we went out to dinner and had a big juicy steak to celebrate.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Monday I was a little stiff (surprisingly, not as sore as I thought I would be) but very happy with the outcome. The Bay Area Team in Training runners raised over $100,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Team in Training runners from all over the U.S. participated in this race, as it was one of their main events, and all in all TNT raised $610,000 at the LA Marathon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many great friends and members of my family helped me more than double my personal goal of $3,000. My final total topped $6,000. I am deeply grateful for everyone’s financial and moral support. Their donations will go a long way toward advancing the mission of curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improving the quality of life for patients and their families.</span><br />
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</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-82370460808875217372011-01-29T22:44:00.000-08:002011-01-29T22:44:17.830-08:00An update on my training<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tami and I were in Hawaii for 18 days over Christmas and New Years, and I got a lot of running in on Alii Drive on the Big Island.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alii (means “king” in Hawaiian) is the main street in Kona, and it’s the perfect length for runners – a little over 6 miles. And there are scores of runners on the street, especially in the morning. Men, women, all ages, even a few very young athletes. Some – they are easy to identify – are clearly Iron Man athletes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I ran on nine of the days for a total of 81 miles. Longest run was 16, and also did a 14 and a 10. Today (Jan. 29) I went 18 miles, and right now I’m pretty stiff and ready to go to bed! I was thinking that this soreness was caused by lactic acid buildup, but I just spent 30 minutes reading about lactic acid and it seems that it’s not the villain at all. What the latest research shows is way too complicated to go into here, but suffice it to say we get sore for a lot of reasons, one of which is probably not lactic acid!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are going extremely well. At this point my total on my Team in Training website is $4,391, but I’ve turned in a couple of checks that haven’t been recorded yet and I have received two more checks this weekend that I haven’t sent in yet. So I think I will definitely hit my upward-revised goal of $5,000 within about a week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The support of so many people is amazing and really gives me a huge boost to do the training, even when it seems to take a long time and take a lot out of me. I started this project mainly for myself, with of course the added purpose of raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It has become a much bigger and more emotional effort, for which I am grateful. I’m still running for myself, but now I’m also running for a lot of other people – those who have had (or who have) one of these diseases (listed on my webpage), those who will be benefited by the money I and others raise, and the many people who have contributed money to L&L Society. It’s a completely different experience now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Team in Training is a great program. It will do wonderful things for you, both physically and psychologically. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in working for a worthy cause while doing something physically demanding.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-88975759486667496892010-12-09T15:06:00.000-08:002010-12-09T15:06:13.568-08:00Making progress one step at a time<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The marathon training is coming along well. Had a slight flareup of what I thought was tendonitis, but it turns out to be just a strained muscle in my lower calf. Had it checked by my doctor today who concluded that it was in fact not tendonitis. He advised me to keep stretching, ice it down regularly and keep on running.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">On Sunday I ran 11 miles, partly in the rain. Wind picked up on the way back and it was rather chilly. But overall it was a good day. By the end of December I hope to be up to 17-18 miles for my long runs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Have shed about 6 or 7 pounds since I upped my running schedule. That's one of my goals for this effort and so far it's paying off. The old saying is true: burn up more than you take in and you will lose weight. The simplest diet regime in the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm tweeting about my training, and I think you can follow me on Twitter @leecallaway. Not sure exactly how that whole Twitter thing works -- I know how to post tweets but don't know how to recruit followers. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">When we work out with Team in Training, I am usually the last to finish any given lap or sequence of laps. Which means I am following all the other members of the team but none of them are following me on the track. Maybe there's a connection here -- if I could pass a few people, then I would have followers...</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-74968637412787546702010-11-16T13:50:00.000-08:002010-11-16T13:52:19.605-08:00This is your brain on running<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Running for me has always been as much about mental health as physical health. It clears my mind, calms me down (after the fact) and gives me a lot of time to put my brain in neutral without most of the interruptions of the day-to-day world – phone calls, e-mail, necessary errands, etc. More than once while running, an answer to a difficult problem has just popped into my head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t usually run with an iPod or portable radio like many people do. I prefer to run without a soundtrack. I run a lot on streets and roads without sidewalks, and I like to be able to hear the cars coming toward me, especially the ones coming up behind me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the most part, I generally prefer to run alone rather than with other people. I find that other people like to talk when they run. I’d rather save my breath for survival.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I clearly remember how I got started running. This was some years before running caught on and became a popular sport for the masses. A friend and neighbor, Royce Hough, said one day, “We ought to run.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“What? Run where?” I asked in all innocence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I don’t know, maybe around the block for starters.” He had done some research and found out – duh – that running is good for your health.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That first attempt to run around the block didn’t go so well. Our block had a hill on two sides. I made it down the first side but not up side 3.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We stuck with it, though, and pretty soon we moved to a nearby park which had two softball fields adjacent to each other. Once around both of them was about a quarter mile, as I recall. My first running shoes were Marine combat boots. They were the only shoes I’d done much running in before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After about a year I bought my first pair of Adidas. Big improvement. I felt like Fred Astaire. OK, I felt like Fred Astaire <em>looked</em>. There the resemblance ended.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-53081841928913509812010-11-14T21:55:00.000-08:002010-11-14T22:02:11.084-08:00Gotta run now...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I should be old enough to know better, but it turns out I’m not. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve signed up for the Los Angeles Marathon on March 20, 2011. I know, some people think it’s an insane thing to do at any age, let alone 74.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But when the little voice inside says do it, you gotta answer. And as Marilyn Monroe said (I got it from a reputable quotation site), “Ever notice that ‘what the hell’ is always the right decision?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I am going to blog about my training. In a very real way, I’m rebooting myself in the running game. I’ve run eight marathons in the past (completed seven – more about that later), but haven’t tried one in about nine years. I think I’ve still got the wherewithal – we’ll see as the training gets serious. I promise to report honestly!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today (Nov. 14) went for my longest run in quite a while – 10 miles. Very slow, though, because of the excess weight I’m lugging around. Hopefully I’ll shed some of that during the training. The run felt great. A bit tired at the end but definitely not out of gas. Ran in Redwood Shores – saw a hummingbird, three egrets, a bunch of ducks, another bunch of Canada geese, and a great blue heron. At the end of the run I was running west and looking at a gorgeous sunset – in the Bay Area we don’t get that many with just the right amount and kind of clouds, but this afternoon was sensational.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I won’t be trying to add anything scientifically or athletically significant to the running literature. I’ll just be sharing my thoughts and feelings along the way. It might even be interesting, so please check back when you have time.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-80918533544296412432010-08-29T11:36:00.000-07:002010-08-29T11:36:05.077-07:00Ability to reinvent yourself = the new job security<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>The following column on career reinvention is reprinted from Business Week, August 28, 2010.</em></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Business Week Interview: Career Reinvention </strong></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In today's tumultuous workforce, flexible talents, skill sets and a willingness to change means job security. Best-selling author and Business Week columnist Marshall Goldsmith talks with The Reinvention Institute's Pamela Mitchell on how to effectively transform careers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>You say that in today's marketplace, the old concepts of career change don't work. Why is that?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the past several decades, the pace of business cycles has sped up considerably. Cradle-to-grave employment is a thing of the past.In this day and age, the ability to reinvent yourself—to recombine your skills, talents, and experience to move between job functions, departments, or industries—is the new form of job security. Within the space of a decade, what's been considered to be a good field for jobs can disappear. Take a look at the phenomenon of outsourcing, which has decimated U.S.-based opportunities for many industries, like software programming. Or consider the media field. With traditional revenue models struggling and new technologies competing for audience attention, newspapers are trying to find new niches to replace lost profits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>How do you cope with these factors? Career change has tended to focus on typical job transitions—strategies for climbing to the next level of seniority within your organization or moving to a similar position within the same industry. But what do you do when your company is reducing headcount and opportunities in your field are disappearing?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great point. How is career reinvention different from career change? In this day and age, the ability to reinvent yourself—to recombine your skills, talents, and experience to move between job functions, departments, or industries—is the new form of job security. More than just repackaging your background, career reinvention involves changing your assumptions about how your career will evolve. It means being prepared to take advantage of new opportunities by developing your skill sets with a strategic eye toward emerging business models.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>That sounds great for someone who is new to his career, but what about if you've been working for 10 or more years in the same field? Is still possible to reinvent your career when all your experience has been in the same industry?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is one of the most common questions we get! Yes, it is possible; in fact, we have a number of clients who have made successful switches after long careers in a particular industry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That said, it is crucial that people understand that career reinvention is not an easy process. I like to draw the analogy that switching between job functions or industries is similar to moving to a foreign country. To be successful in your new land you'd have to learn the local language and familiarize yourself with its customs and cultural expectations. The same is true when you want to move to new career territory. To bridge the divide between your old and new careers, you need to learn the language and customs of your new field…and decide what to bring along from your former job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>If someone with 10 or 20 years of experience is leaving a field, that's a huge loss of talent for their organization. How does the trend toward career reinvention affect companies?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the next 5 to 10 years, as boomers retire and the available pool of workers shrinks, companies will be forced to rethink their strategies for retaining talented workers. But this requires that they break out of the old mindset of slotting employees into function-based boxes. They need to ask themselves: Do our people feel they can transform themselves beyond their current role, or do they need to leave us to grow?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For corporations, reinvention is the road to retention. Leaders need to become the architects of employee reinvention within their companies. One of our recommendations is that companies develop their workforce by facilitating ways for their talent to move within the firm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Along with reducing layoff costs, this strategy can minimize the expenses associated with pursuing new business opportunities. Some forward-thinking organizations are already creating these types of reinvention programs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>What are some of the stumbling blocks people face when they're trying to reinvent their careers?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People tend to fantasize about new careers and are often unprepared for the amount of work that's involved in actually making the switch. They also have a hard time shifting out of their old work identity, which means that they often try to pitch themselves in a new field using their old language. This results in a translation failure, where hiring managers don't understand how the candidate's background applies to the job they're seeking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Identity can also be a big obstacle when people are trying to reinvent themselves within their firm. Because they've been defined by a particular job function, they cannot get a shot at a new role. A number of clients come to us after hitting this barrier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>What advice do you have for people looking to reinvent their career?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Understand that whether it's within your current firm or a totally new field, successfully reinventing yourself requires you to establish your legitimacy as a candidate. Hiring managers, both internal and external, have goals they need to meet. Your mission is to prove—in tangible ways—that you can be a valuable asset to them in reaching those objectives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Minimize translation failure by learning how to repackage your background so that it highlights those skills that will be directly useful in helping you succeed in your new role. Ask yourself: "How can I benefit from what I've done in the past?" Analyze your talents and identify the work successes that demonstrate them. Match those previous accomplishments to future career deliverables—this will help you see what achievements in your background are of value to hiring managers in your new field.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>Source: Business Week, Marshall & Friends July 1, 2008</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jul2008/ca2008071_219231_page_2.htm </em></span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-34708572172193698552010-08-21T15:13:00.000-07:002010-08-21T15:22:02.609-07:00Moving the attitude adjustment hour<p><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are many things in life we can’t control – the weather, the economy, traffic on the freeway, to name a few. But there is one thing we definitely can control – our attitude. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">We wake up every morning and go out into the world with an attitude. We put on an attitude just as surely as we put on our clothes. Even if we don’t consciously adopt a certain attitude on purpose, that non-expression is itself an attitude that shows up to other people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">I thought about what makes up an attitude. What are the components? What are the ingredients? </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here’s what I came up with. I concluded that my attitude is made up of a combination of where I am on a number of scales:</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">· Self-respect vs. self-deprecation<br />· Humility vs. entitlement<br />· Positive vs. negative<br />· Easy sense of humor vs. scowl and frown<br />· Generosity vs. selfishness<br />· Forgiveness vs. anger<br />· Gratitude vs. thanklessness<br />· Optimism vs. pessimism</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">By just focusing on these scales – even briefly – I can figure out where I am on each one. Then I can adjust my positions to shape my attitude. It’s like the bathroom mirror I can adjust by rotating the edges. Turn it one way, normal reflection. Turn it the other way, magnified reflection. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">I can look at myself in that mirror and adjust the image that I am projecting – my attitude.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Since my thoughts took this path, I find myself reminded of them every morning when I look in that mirror to shave. It’s a new enough experience that I’m pleasantly surprised every time. I’m hoping I can make this an everyday thing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">And what might an adjusted attitude do for you? Quite a few possible benefits:</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">· A healthier mental and physical wellbeing<br />· An opportunity to look at your life more positively<br />· Attracting people who are like you (you get back what you put out)<br />· Maybe a job<br />· And possibly the most important result from floating somewhere to the left of center (on the scales), you will find your creative juices flowing, "rebooting" yourself into a better and perhaps longer life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">It’s a new time of day for the attitude adjustment hour.</span></p>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-58158635562287893312010-06-24T19:12:00.000-07:002010-06-24T19:16:44.958-07:00Behind the times<span style="font-family:verdana;">I had a George Bush moment the other day.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">No, no, not that George Bush. The first one. George H.W. Bush.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Remember when he was baffled when he saw a barcode scanner at a grocery store checkout counter? He’d never seen one before. That moment became a symbol of his being behind the times and out of touch, and may have contributed to his defeat by Bill Clinton in 1992.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, so far my George H.W. Bush moment hasn’t cost me the presidency, but it was a big “aha” moment for me, anyway.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was listening to the radio and an ad came on for a barbecue specialty chain that sells high end grills. “Father’s Day special,” the ad said. “We’ve knocked off $300 on our top grill.” </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Whoa. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">$300 off? Wow, what do those things cost? Are they giving them away for Father’s Day? </span>
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<br />Well, next day I happened to be close to one of the stores in that particular chain, so I stopped in.
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<br />Whoa. And wow again.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The minute I walked in, I realized that I had completely missed out on the upscaling of backyard cooking. The first model I saw had a price tag of over $3,500. It was a beauty, all right. Shiny stainless steel and a huge lid that opened to reveal a cooking surface big enough for a side of beef. And a double decker grill.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I asked a salesman if this was his most expensive grill. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">“Oh, no,” he said. “There’s our top of the line.”</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He pointed to a monstrous SUV of a grill with about eight burner knobs, mounted on a faux stone pedestal. “That one goes for $7,350.”</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was relieved to see that, in addition to the super-high end models, they also had a lineup of three basic black Weber kettle grills – large, medium and small. The one I use at home is a small. I also have an even smaller Smoky Joe, which retails for around $35, I think. So they haven’t forgotten about the average guy.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When my Smoky Joe wears out, I can consider upgrading to the $7,350 model.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Or I can buy 210 new Smoky Joes.</span>
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<br />Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-62849723517197997232010-06-14T22:58:00.000-07:002010-06-14T22:59:58.298-07:00What were they thinking?<span style="font-family:verdana;">A lot has been written about Chevrolet’s boneheaded attempt to kill the word Chevy, including a very good column today by Jon Carroll in the San Francisco Chronicle.<br /><br />I didn’t think there was much more to say about the memo until tonight I heard a Chevrolet commercial on the radio. The last words were, “Go to Chevy.com.”<br /><br />Hmm, I thought, didn’t whoever wrote that memo even go to his own website?<br /><br />When I got home I typed </span><a href="http://www.chevy.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.chevy.com/</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> into the address bar and hit enter. The words immediately changed to </span><a href="http://www.chevrolet.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.chevrolet.com/</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and opened up the Chevrolet site.<br /><br />In the top navigation bar there was a big link to “EXPERIENCE CHEVY.” So I tried it and found a sub-link, “History and Heritage.” On that page the company displays photos of significant models, innovation and milestones from 1911 to 2008. In 15 of the captions, the car (or the company) is described as a “Chevy.”<br /><br />Then I went to the search bar – this is still on the Chevrolet site – and typed in “chevy.” Up came a page with RESULTS 1-10 OF ABOUT 13,900 FOR CHEVY.<br /><br />All righty, then. Didn’t exactly think that one through, did they?<br /><br />Well, as Jon points out, they’ve now backtracked and said they really like the word Chevy, after all.<br /><br />But I’m filing that in my “What were they thinking?” file, along with subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, drilling for oil a mile under the Gulf of Mexico with no emergency shutoff plan, and telling your staff you’re going hiking on the Appalachian Trail when you’re really headed to Argentina to see your secret lover.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-32144022378436534652010-06-14T22:51:00.000-07:002010-06-14T23:02:48.210-07:00More Montgomery baseball<span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">(Please see previous post dated June 11 for context)<br /></span></em>We’re going back to Montgomery to visit family in July and we plan to go see the Montgomery baseball team play. Once known as the Rebels, they are now called the Biscuits, for reasons I hope to find out. And they play in a new park called Riverwalk Stadium. We’re really looking forward to the game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But no hill, no train smoke, and a team called the Biscuits – will it really be Montgomery baseball? We’ll find out! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I have fond memories of the old Montgomery Rebels, and I can name almost the whole lineup from those teams of the 40s:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Pitchers</strong>: Stan Coulling, Marty Arrante, Chester “The Great” Covington, among others</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Catcher</strong>: “Mop” Brown, who whistled three quick times every few minutes. I don’t remember Mop’s real first name, but it may have been Charles.</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>1b</strong>: Al Brightman or Mac MacWhorter (Mac was a utility player who once played every position in the field in one game – one per inning – and was the winning pitcher!)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>2b</strong>: Roy Carlin</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>SS</strong>: Billy Spears</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>3b</strong>: Ray Wilson (A hometown boy. Ray’s dad, who always sat behind the Montgomery dugout on the third base side, was his biggest fan and would cheer him on with a loud “GoRay, GoRay, GoRay” whenever he came to bat)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>LF</strong>: Johnny Creel, who stuck his bubble gum on the button of his cap when he came to bat (there were no batting helmets in those days).</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>CF</strong>: Billy Martin, a speedster who was the stolen base leader (and center field mountain climber).</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>RF</strong>: Art Rebel, clearly the most appropriately named player on the team.</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Manager</strong>: Frank Skaff, and later Charlie Metro</span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The radio broadcasts were done by an announcer named Dave Manners. Like all broadcasters back in the day, for out-of-town games he would sit in the station studio in Montgomery and re-create the action from ticker tape messages. The message that would actually come across was something like, “Spears grounds out to short.” Dave would describe a whole imaginary at bat, pitch by pitch, sometimes running the count to 3 and 2, and add made-up color as if he were at the game. When Dave would pause, you could hear the tickertape clattering away in the background. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">They don’t make ‘em (up) like that anymore.</span></p>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-54961317100365928792010-06-11T21:08:00.000-07:002010-06-11T21:14:24.644-07:00The sounds of silence<span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">(With a bow to Simon and Garfunkel)</span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em>“You will hear some silence while you wait.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That’s part of the conference call recorded message that plays when you dial in before the call has officially started. The whole phrase goes like this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">“The leader has not yet arrived. Please stand by. You will hear some silence while you wait.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It always intrigues me. How do you “hear” silence?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Whoa. Pretty deep thought there. Maybe a philosophy class topic. One hand clapping, and all that. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In my brain it connected to another thought: On the radio, you never hear silence. “Dead air” is what the broadcasters call it. When dead air happens, it’s because somebody forgot to throw a switch or turn a knob or activate something. And for the radio people it’s a bad thing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But moving on to the next thought, there is a time when you hear silence on the radio. On purpose. And nobody gets fired for it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It’s in a broadcast of a baseball game. There are frequent lulls in the action on the field, so there are frequent pauses in the announcers’ talk. Those silences – when the announcers go quiet and all you hear is the faint murmuring of the crowd and the occasional shout of a vendor – are one of the endearing attributes of a baseball broadcast that makes it so pleasant, so accessible, so – well, listenable. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I grew up listening to broadcasts of baseball in Montgomery, Alabama. Our team’s name, of course, was the Rebels (Forget, hell) and they played in a ballpark named Cramton Bowl.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">They don’t make parks like that anymore. It was used for both baseball and football, so it had a funny shape. There were grandstands behind the plate and along both baselines, but then on the first base/right field side there was a much larger extension of stands for football games. The right field line in baseball was also approximately one sideline of the football field.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When configured for baseball, there was this <em>hill</em> in center field. It was not a small rise, it was a serious hill. A center fielder in this park had to have mountain goat skills to catch long flies hit anywhere between left center and deep straightaway center.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And just beyond the left field fence, behind a big row of trees, there was a ravine with a railroad track running through it. In the days when there were still steam engines, a train would go by, chugging and puffing away, and if the wind was right, huge clouds of black coal smoke would roll up from the ravine and blow into the playing field. The left fielder would disappear in the smoke.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You had to be tough to be a Montgomery Rebel.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><em>More in the next post.</em></span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-30312528691837265232010-06-08T17:57:00.000-07:002010-06-11T19:32:28.797-07:00Stayin' alive<span style="font-family:verdana;">I got a letter – an “official e-mail,” no less – from a “Mr. Adams Williams,” who identified himself as “Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Mr. Williams advised me that “one Mr. David Woodruff, who claim to be your business associate/partner here in Africa,” was further claiming that I was dead and that “all relevant documentation/Informations regarding your Payment/Transfer be changed to him as the beneficiary of the payment” of $1,850,000 which, Mr. Williams said, the government of Nigeria owed me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">“We need to confirm from you if it’s really true that you are dead as made mention by your associate. You should note that, if we do not hear from you, it automatically means that you are actually dead and the information passed to us by David Woodruff is correct.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If I was not dead, the letter went on, I was to “respond to this e-mail immediately” with my name, address, and other identification information, plus a copy of either my driver’s license or my passport. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, I don’t know about you, but I have not had great success in responding to these “help me collect millions of dollars for you” e-mails. So I decided, with some reluctance, not to answer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Several weeks later I got to thinking about it – “Mr. Adams Williams” didn’t hear from me, so to his mind I am “actually dead” and “David Woodruff” has probably collected all the money that was rightfully mine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That Woodruff. He’s always doing something like this. And to think he used to be my “associate/partner” in Africa. Why I ever trusted that guy in the first place I’ll never know.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And what can you say about the government of Nigeria? They’ve owed me money for years and have stiffed me time and again.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But back to my being “actually dead.” I suppose I should let my insurance company know so the life policy will pay off. And probably Social Security, too, so they can forward my checks to my wife. I mean my surviving spouse.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But there’s a silver lining. Since I’m “actually dead,” I no longer have to floss. Better yet, I won’t have to go the DMV later this month and renew my driver’s license. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I’ll just join all those other bad drivers on the road who really need to get a life.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-14676146565364015942010-06-05T13:30:00.000-07:002010-06-05T13:37:17.619-07:00Don't be inactive!<span style="font-family:verdana;">You gotta hand it to those bankers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When it comes to separating you from your money, they’re creative geniuses.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Most recent case in point: On my most recent statement for by business charge card, there was a $20 item. The description: <strong>“INACTIVE ACCOUNT FEE.”</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, now! They want to charge me $20 for <em>not using my charge card?</em> Come on! I agree it’s legitimate for them to charge me interest when I charge something, because I am in effect borrowing money from the bank to pay for something. No problem there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But a $20 clip for <em>doing nothing</em>? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I protested. The young banker where I do business professed to be surprised by the charge, and called someone somewhere out there in call center land to see about getting it removed. After surprisingly little persuasion on his part, the answer came back, OK. The charge was removed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">(I can envision what was going through the mind of the person on the other end of the call: “Darn, another one caught on. Oh well, there are millions more who will just pay it and not complain.”)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You have to look for life lessons wherever you can find them, and I found one here: </span><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Don’t be inactive. Stay active.</span><br /></em><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I don’t mean to necessarily go out and charge something. I mean keep moving, stay actively engaged in life, don’t sit around and do nothing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you’re recently retired or fired or laid off, don’t sit there and bemoan your fate. Get off your chair and reinvent yourself. In fact, go to </span><a href="http://www.rebootyou.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">www.rebootyou.com</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and look around. You’ll find all kind of resources there to help you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Either that, or send me $20.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-55866181585398498812010-05-23T22:38:00.000-07:002010-05-23T22:46:41.785-07:00Nobody said it was going to be easy<span style="font-family:verdana;">I’m reprinting below a series of e-mails I got from a lady named Jane Waldmann, a Rebooter in spirit and actions. I’m sharing them, with her permission, because (1) I suspect there are a lot of people in similar circumstances and (2) Jane is continuing her efforts despite some setbacks. I admire her tenacity and determination, and I’m hoping her words will be an inspiration to you.</span><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">To: </span></em><a href="mailto:info@rebootyou.com"><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">info@rebootyou.com</span></em></a><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Subject: Reinventing Jane</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">I would loooooooooooooove to reinvent myself. I have teaching degrees in English and Art but only taught HS English for a few months, quit to have my first child. I then was a stay at home Mom for 12 years raising 3 children. When I went back to work I did it in the office arena. Not much fun there.</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">I looooooooooooooooove computers though, self taught everything I know on them, PC and Mac. Almost a geek!! But…</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">The problem is money. How does one reboot without money? All the computer degrees, certificates or courses cost a lot. My husband still works and although he barely makes enough to pay our bills, I do not qualify for any type of low-income training or scholarships.So here I sit watching my life go by very rapidly without finding out what could have been.</span></em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Jane Waldmann</span></em><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I wrote Jane back with some words of encouragement. I noted that she seemed to be a good writer and she’s a self starter. She has replied twice. Here are her e-mails:</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family:verdana;">Reply No. 1:</span></strong><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Thank you (for writing) me regarding my email. You ... showed genuine concern and encouragement. I will explore the Reboot website more thoroughly. </span></em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">One of my biggest obstacles is that I am floundering all over the place. I have an art degree and love crafts but find the money does not pay the bills at first anyway. Also I love the computer and thought about graphics courses. I am not sure which direction to go in but have been praying about it. I have no doubt that when I do figure out what I enjoy and want to excel at, I will have determination and race ahead.</span></em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">You say writing but I have never really been a fan of writing a lot, although I do have a command of the English language. I still favor my artistic side. I have combined the two once, when I was a temp, producing a monthly newsletter for a property management company (but that only lasted 9 months).</span></em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I will explore your site and the web and dabble in temping and real estate ( I have my license) until I can say, "That's it, that's what I want to do!!!!"</span></em><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>Thanks again,<br />Jane Waldmann</em><br /><br /><strong>Reply No. 2</strong></span><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here is an update: I got on unemployment. (Had an accounting asst. job and was fired for not being a "team player.")<br /><br />And because of that our local county Workforce Alliance gave me funding for $4000 to take a CIW course (Certified Internet Webmaster).<br /><br />I finished in Feb. and enjoyed it. However I discovered most of the jobs in this market require much more than just a certificate, namely college and lots of experience. I also discovered I do not enjoy designing websites.<br /><br />I did however love the Photoshop classes which were included. I also found a website in which I can upload designs and they will print and sell the fabric.<br /><br />I think I am heading in the right direction. My unemployment has run out, though, and I just hope I can figure out how to make some extra money without compromising my creativity by getting an office job. I really believe, and so does my hubby, that another office job would just about kill me!!<br /><br />Thank you again for all your encouragement,<br />Jane</span></em>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-12114498915100680112010-05-21T18:55:00.000-07:002010-05-21T18:57:44.100-07:00The homeland security threat level today: pink?<span style="font-family:verdana;">My wife and I recently took a short vacation to Cancun, Mexico. On our way home, we learned something new about how our borders are protected.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Before I get to this insight, I’m happy to say that Cancun is delightful. Clean and new – only about 40 years old. Admittedly, what we saw was not Cancun proper but “hotel row,” an island shaped like a 7, lined with both moderately priced and luxury hotels, malls and theme parks, and connected to the mainland by bridges at both ends.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And the beach is postcard beautiful – sparkling white sand and the Caribbean a brilliant turquoise in the shallows and a rich blue in the deeper water.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our itinerary included overnight stays both ways in Los Angeles, there being no direct flights between San Francisco and Cancun. So we went through both outbound security and inbound customs at LAX upon our return.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The TSA people were especially alert as we left. At the security point, they pulled my wife’s luggage for detailed inspection. The offending substances: Nordstrom delicate fabric wash, a white powder in a small plastic container along with alleged facial creams, all in approved 3-ounce plastic containers. The fabric wash didn’t pass the X-ray test, so the inspector had to take it out for hands-on inspection.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">No problem. We complimented them on their diligence. Hey, they were doing their job and we thought they were doing it quite well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">After a wonderful stay in Cancun, we came back to LAX. After the usual long wait to show our passports, we made our way to the exit where a customs agent was collecting the tourist card you must present to authorities when you return from Mexico.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My wife, dressed in comfortable travel clothes that included a pink tunic top and pink pashmina wrap, handed the document to the guard. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He gave it a quick glance, said, “OK,” and waved us through. The speed surprised us.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">“Is that it?” my wife asked. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">“That's it,” the guard smiled. “Terrorists don’t wear pink.”</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-25520760135573632812010-05-04T23:43:00.000-07:002012-07-28T17:07:46.116-07:00Formation Flying<div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">I was out running the other day and three ducks happened to fly over on a glide path down to a small man-made lake. They were in formation, one in the lead of a small “V” and the other two on either side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Later that day I saw a flock of pigeons swirling and swooping over a three-story building on a main thoroughfare in a commercial district. They were not in what you would call a formation, but they were somehow staying roughly together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">If the ducks were a team, the pigeons were a mob. Or maybe a high-energy crowd, to put it more charitably. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">It was the ducks, though, that kept my interest. I did a little research on duck and bird formation flying and found out that formation flying – especially in a V – is more efficient for all the birds except the one in the lead. And flocks of birds alternate the lead role on long migrations so as to evenly distribute the fatigue of covering long distances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing those ducks the other day – they were in and out of my line of vision in two or three seconds – brought to mind one thrilling formation sight I will never forget.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">The Navy Blue Angels were performing at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. A quick geography primer: Moffett is on the shore of the southernmost end of San Francisco Bay. Nearby are salt evaporation ponds separated by wide dikes or berms. There are trails on these berms that are open for hiking, running or biking. Some of them extend well out beyond the salt ponds into the bay itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">I decided that the end of one of these berms jutting out into the bay would be a great place to watch the Blue Angels. And indeed it was. I was completely alone – not like the packed crowds at Moffett. Of course the Moffett runways were the center point of all the Blue Angels’ amazing aerobatics, but if you’ve ever seen them you know they cover a lot of real estate on their approaches and departures from the center point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">At one point late in the show the four who fly together formed up in a diamond formation and came soaring past me in a thunderous roar, banked for a right turn. They were going from my left to my right and passing directly in front of me. It was a spectacular sight.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJrtJfH_dXR_mowCsqcFG1WbAy3WbK_zm1SVhHxxtVnWnMzjO2S_M3VBRYpcMpjlzCYd0vkgVgLV2-eFgZWnNyWcVpY783N2GH7fT9oPq-vJE0haSYQHZ6YcHaHUB9hFXDfYmiFWIu70/s1600/blue+angels+diamond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 184px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 221px;"><img border="0" height="135" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJrtJfH_dXR_mowCsqcFG1WbAy3WbK_zm1SVhHxxtVnWnMzjO2S_M3VBRYpcMpjlzCYd0vkgVgLV2-eFgZWnNyWcVpY783N2GH7fT9oPq-vJE0haSYQHZ6YcHaHUB9hFXDfYmiFWIu70/s200/blue+angels+diamond.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">What I hadn’t realized was that there were some ducks in the water right below where I was standing. Just at the moment when the Blue Angel formation was directly in front of me, the ducks must have been startled and burst up out of the water, wings beating furiously, water dripping from their feathers as they became airborne. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8X-Do5_ajrkBEmX6hvlGOySHxLnvrH0xlhhyx_JWPgSYfdlagpltKIVbZL4FUYBA16KFifMV-IW9NtNWCz37PP7srUZD17zBONYXKEzyYS1BAbiuvvZxrqpjD4M8joq6rQqkxip1jtQI/s1600/ducks+small.jpg" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467674733820802338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8X-Do5_ajrkBEmX6hvlGOySHxLnvrH0xlhhyx_JWPgSYfdlagpltKIVbZL4FUYBA16KFifMV-IW9NtNWCz37PP7srUZD17zBONYXKEzyYS1BAbiuvvZxrqpjD4M8joq6rQqkxip1jtQI/s200/ducks+small.jpg" style="float: left; height: 101px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ducks came up out of the water in formation! I really don’t think they planned it – but if they had they could not have executed it more perfectly. They flew up and to the right on a trajectory that perfectly mirrored the Blue Angels. So what I saw in one field of view was the Blue Angels in formation in the distance and the ducks in formation just a few yards away from me. It was a jaw-dropping, stunning, unbelievable sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">I put these stock photos together just for the fun of it. Many is the time I have wished that I could have caught that scene for real with a camera, but it is just as well that I didn’t have one because I couldn’t have reacted fast enough. Anyway, I was so blown away I probably would have dropped my camera in the water.</span> </div>
</div>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244366176862405951.post-7782601614359333092010-05-02T22:02:00.000-07:002010-05-02T22:06:01.116-07:00Flipping and YouTubing<span style="font-family:verdana;">I figured it was time. High time, in fact. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Time to join the YouTube Generation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If I’m going to promote rebooting and reinvention, I’d better do a little rebooting and reinventing myself. And a good place to start would be getting into the 21st century.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So the first thing I did was to buy a Flip video camera. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My reaction? Wow!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was absolutely amazed at the capability of this stunning little device, completely impressed with its ease of use and blown away by how simple it is to take videos and then get them onto your computer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I’d read a lot of praise for Flip, and now I understand why. It’s all true. Very small little box, not much inside except the Flip, a one-page quick start guide (that’s actually understandable), the warranty, a little carrying pouch and a wrist strap. It came with the battery half charged so all I had to do was take it out of the box and shoot a video, a 23-second epic of my wife sitting at our breakfast room table.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I slid the little button on the side down and out popped a USB arm. Slipped it into a USB port on the side of my laptop, and the Flip software automatically uploaded from the device to the computer. Downloaded my first video onto the computer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In less time than it takes to write about it I was in the video business.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">End of Part 1, now time to move on to Part 2: YouTube.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Figuring out how to upload a video to YouTube wasn’t as simple as learning to use the Flip, but after some trial and error, I figured it out. Now my first video (and a second test shot today) are uploaded to YouTube, along with – how many others? Several hundred billion or so?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Doesn’t matter, I did it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yes, I’m late to the party, but that doesn’t matter either. The important thing is that I have just opened a couple of doors to new worlds, and I feel great about it.</span>Lee Callawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760736311793790776noreply@blogger.com0