Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

The weekly Newsletter of Without A Vision Consultancy LLC

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July 15, 2019 – Moon Landing

Good morning!
Greetings from our newest grandson, too — no name yet — born just 24 hours ago.

• Yesterday was National Tape Measure Day — or, if you prefer, Bastille Day — and Saturday was National French Fries Day.
• • We enjoyed a few of the extra-salty, steaming hot delicacies at Val’s, but the wait was the longest-ever, nearly 25 minutes in the jam-packed 90-degrees foyer.
  • • Didn’t know that many people were devotees of the French Fry (Belgium, actually — best fried using duck fat).
• Have you experienced problems the last six months or more finding decent celery at the market?
• • Just learned why: Celery juicers are skimming the premium stuff by the ton — and turning it into thousands of gallons of celery juice for drinking; it’s the latest rage.
  • • Those of us who enjoy old-fashioned celery stalks (with blue cheese or Tabasco) will need to settle for second-rate or third-rate produce.
• I’m concerned for the infrastructure in our city, state, and nation.
• • Our water, sewers, bridges, streets, electrical grids, and roads are decaying, deteriorating, and failing at an alarming rate.
  • • Soon it will be nearly impossible to get ahead of this deferred maintenance.
• The Wall Street Journal is 130-years-old.
• • Did you enjoy last week’s special edition? Worth finding a copy if you didn’t save it from last Monday.
• Fascinating: As the Trump tariffs squeeze China, the trade deficit is expanding with Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan… insatiable demand is establishing supply chains elsewhere.
• • One might conclude there is no putting the genie back in the bottle, no putting the toothpaste back in the tube; the world is flat.
  • • Whack-a-mole.
• How long does a relationship last? Perhaps forever, once it has started; it might change but it won’t end.
• • Tragedy notwithstanding, you will not encounter a greater challenge in life than establishing, nurturing, and sustaining an honest, open, and intimate relationship with at least one other person. Millions of books have been written on the subject — from the trivial to the well-respected professional tome — and yet the secret to a successful relationship remains elusive; there is no panacea, that’s for sure.
• Do you enjoy graphs? Do you study world population trends?
• • Among the better sources for erudite data is The Economist magazine.
  • • The Economist projects by 2050 the continent of Africa will explode into first place for cumulative population growth while China — and even India — level off and begin to decrease.
    • • Can you name the world’s five most crowded countries for population density? One or two might surprise you.
      • • (Send your response and/or look for the answer(s) in next week’s Musings.)
• Can you believe it’s 50 years since humans landed on the moon — at least as far as we know?
• • I was on staff at Camp Hok-si-la near Lake City, MN.
  • • It was 9:56 PM CDT, just fading into complete darkness after a long summer’s twilight.
    • • A tiny, black and white television had been moved into one of the camp buildings so hundreds of us could watch this historic event.
      • • Shortly after Neil Armstrong’s (botched) proclamation of, “… one small step for (a) man…” two buddies and I rushed around camp to be the first in the world to do things and to touch things immediately following Walter Cronkite’s reporting of the historic event.
        • • If memory serves I was first to touch the camp flag pole; dumb, but memorable.

If reflection, visioning, and planning are such universal best practices, why do so few engage in any of them?

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