File Folders and Rubber Bands
Weekenders have no doubt heard the arguable fact that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, as made popular by John Gray, Ph. D. in his 1992 book by the same name.
View ArticleWhat Do You Want?
Does your pizza have double crust? Is the crust cheese-filled? Maybe it is sprinkled with parmesan and/or garlic. You can get a side of wings with that. Regular, mild, hot or atomic hot; what’s the...
View ArticleStress: Is It Relative to How We Carry It?
Is there anybody reading this Weekender who has never experienced stress?
View ArticleDistinguished Graduate
As the afternoon passed we were given an hour to ourselves before departing for the day’s final event; a dinner and presentation of plaques.
View ArticleMemorial Day: Not Just A Day Off From Work
In a couple of weeks the nation will pause on Monday, May 25th to celebrate Memorial Day.
View ArticleCycles
When I was in grade school I remember doing a science project about the cycle of water.
View ArticleHard To Be A Hero
I’ve heard people say we need more heroes in today’s world, but I submit that we have tens of thousands – millions even – of heroes out there.
View ArticleBefore You Open Your Mouth -- Jumpstart Your Brain
I am at the drive through speaker at my most convenient fast food joint. It is 6 a.m. “Would you like to try our two for one special today?” (This is a recording.) No thank you (Different voice) Go...
View ArticleWhen A Smile Becomes A Laugh
I have bloviated before in this column about the power of a smile; how a smile can change someone’s face and their whole outlook on life and how it can spread that good will infectiously to others.
View ArticleMoving On
So I watched the boy cross the stage, shake the principal’s hand and secure the diploma. It was done. In a sense many things were done. My eyes froze on my kid and tears welled.
View ArticleJuly 4th: A Day To Celebrate the American Ideal
The July 4 Independence Day celebration is upon us once again and as I often do, I wonder how many Americans will simply celebrate the day with fireworks and cookouts; or take time to find meaning in...
View ArticleHe Said What?
My daughter is a neat freak like her mother and they both have this habit of taking things apart to get them “real clean.”
View ArticleOrigin of Words; The Sequel
Sometimes I have to bite the bullet and give in to my continuing interest in the origin of some common phrases; I try to go cold turkey on this but the urge to share some of these pearls of wisdom is...
View ArticleWise Old Owls
Seems like there are a greater amount of older people in my life now. Way more than there used to be. May have something to do with me getting older - not sure about that one.
View ArticleAbout Moving, “Things” and “Stuff”
My family and I have just made our second move in a little more than two years and what confuses me is how we could have accumulated so much “stuff” while we were purging, simplifying and streamlining.
View ArticleLighten Up
A T-shirt being sold at one of the national chains of stores has sparked a backlash online, as many customers are claiming the top is offensive to women.
View ArticleTalking Trash
I hope Week-Ender readers will bear with me, because I’d like to talk some trash; no, really, trash, as in garbage, as in the things we throw away each day.
View ArticleCaught Off Guard
Here's a long-kept-secret story of a boy named Ron who was captain of the Safety Patrol in 6th grade at a homey little elementary school in Berea, Ohio. One of the captain's "staff" members was a bold...
View ArticleWhat If Cell Phones Stopped Working?
A recent article in Christian Science Monitor noted that a Pew Poll said that 90 percent of Americans have cell phones and 64 percent of them are smartphones.
View ArticleThe Millennials Have Arrived
We dropped the boy off at college last week. Several hundred dollars of miscellaneous bedding, clothing, books, food and other assorted materials accompanied him but we still felt like we’d forgotten...
View ArticleStop And Re-Charge
No doubt Week-Enders have plans to “stop and re-charge” during the upcoming Labor Day weekend. Some plans may be elaborate and some may be simple, but the bottom line intention is one that hopefully is...
View ArticlePreserve Your Memories
I think back to the simple lyrics above and it seems to me we’ll never be able to return to that time again. First of all, there appears to be no large quantity of innocence left in any corner of the...
View ArticleThe Thing About Oaths In Today’s Society
I was recently involved in a situation that made me realize an oath is just a bunch of words strung together unless those using it believe in its underlying principles.
View ArticleThe Hand-Off Is Complete
So perhaps I bored some of you to tears at the end of last month when I gave you my impressions of the inevitable emotion due to the parent/child severance that occurs during college freshman drop-off.
View ArticleTraditions Are Important
As most parks and rec professionals probably know, the National Park Service (NPS) celebrates its Centennial next August--100 years of protecting and preserving on behalf of the American public.
View ArticleThe Value Of Human Interaction
What do you value? I have a friend that values free food. Wherever we go, whether it is a sporting event, conference, church social, poker game--if someone serves him something for free, he’ll look...
View ArticleFacebook Can Be A Good Thing
I’ll say right up front, when it comes to Facebook or any of the other “social media,” I have always been cautiously optimistic about their redeeming values.
View ArticleOut Of Our Hands
I was on the Planning and Engineering Department team as an intern in 1985 and one of the things they were working on was this caging for one of the zoo animals that incorporated lots of structural...
View ArticleKISS More
Someone told me recently that old adages are old adages because, generally, they tend to stand the test of time and hold true throughout the ages, no matter what generation in which you happen to live.
View ArticleOld-World Beliefs
I look back now and it all seems so comical. The rituals my parents and family followed that were either based on nothing in particular or handed down through ages.
View ArticleYour Excuse Is Invalid
I tend to be a pretty highly-motivated person, but there are times when I feel sorry for myself because I can’t do everything I could when I was 23 or because I have an ache here or a pain there.
View ArticleSnips And Snails To Puppy Tales
Sam and Bruno were best friends. Sam’s older brother, Nicco, had picked out his dog, Lucca, many years earlier. At the time Sam was 2 and Nicco was 10.
View ArticleChange Your Perspective, Find Peace
As we enter the season of Thanksgiving, I am compelled to propose one wish for which I would really want to be thankful if it were to come true; I wish that people could understand each other enough to...
View ArticleLet Tough Love Prevail
It was the 1970s and our school system was putting together a cooperative agreement between three neighboring communities where sixth-grade kids would come together for a one-week camping trip.
View ArticleThe Cowboy Way: If It’s Not Right, Don’t Do It
My brother has been working on a memoir about my parents moving from Chicago to buy a farm in Wisconsin and our subsequent life growing up there. His work got me thinking about things I hadn’t really...
View ArticleWorn Out And Moving Forward
At the end of my work day I have a “decompression” routine that I try to stay consistent with. I lay on my stomach on the couch, face forward with my head and feet elevated at each end like a backwards...
View ArticleThe Power of Positive Thinking
Bad things do happen to good people. Family members get sick, people die, jobs are lost, young sons and daughters go off to war - some don’t come back, those who do are injured in mind, body and/or...
View ArticleDecide For Yourself
After the president’s January 2016 State of the Union address, people were having him sign autographs on the way out the door.
View ArticleIf You Can See It, You Can Do It
One of the interesting elements of human interaction is to see how the perception of others can actually change the perception one has of him- or her-self.
View ArticleTurned Up And Tuned In
My wife works some part-time hours at the local hardware store a couple nights a week and on some weekends. It’s a comfortable schedule and passes the time productively since we became empty nesters--a...
View ArticleBe Our Example
Week-Ender readers, I need your help. Many of you already know that Parks and Rec Business and Camp Business will host the 2nd annual Fall Festival on September 29 at the Shisler Conference Center in...
View ArticleToot Your Own Horn
Investor’s Business Daily recently reported that, “After studying the daily habits of 177 self-made millionaires over the course of five years, Thomas C. Corley found that they avoid one costly habit:...
View ArticleRecognition: Signs of Achievement
Recognition; the word is fairly innocuous looking, not one that grabs at peoples’ emotions or tugs at their heartstrings; yet it is the one thing that a vast majority of people seek, whether they know...
View ArticleThe Old Saying Goes ...
Eighty-six-year-old “moon walker” Buzz Aldrin stepped up to the microphone recently and told the press that if the world doesn’t start to take a global approach to space investigation and science we...
View ArticleGetting Organized In A Disorganized World
I have come to realize that it is very difficult to get organized in what really is a very disorganized world.
View ArticleLet Your Words Become Contagious
Most men love western movies. Even if the actual “way out west” setting isn’t Texas or Mexico, the rough lean character that speaks seldom, carries a big gun and has that angry scowl on his face...
View ArticleThe Last Revolution For "Real" Men
I always held a certain reverence for the old-time journalists. You see them portrayed in old black and white movies. They wear fedoras with “Press” passes stuck in their hat ribbons. They smoke, they...
View ArticleRemember 22 Per Day
There is a statistic stating that about 22 veterans per day are committing suicide, or about one every hour of every day.
View ArticleGetting Back On The Right Road
Nick had been driving all night and the sun was just now coming over the horizon. He loved the glow of the land just before daybreak and considered what a friend the early morning had always been to him.
View ArticleHoping For More Involvement
This year I went to a local state veterans’ home for a Memorial Day ceremony and I was in awe of the men and women who reside in that place.
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