Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…
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September 30, 2019 – Shanah Tovah Monday Morning Musings
Good morning!
It has been a solid September — so far. One more day and I could have written, “Welcome to October!” The Twins win! Raise your hand if you thought it would happen.
This just in: Among the sources of various and abundant germs in your home is your washing machine… and I would add, personally, your dishwasher. (Makes sense when you think of it.) Looks like Central Minnesota might have a dramatic up-change in temperature (80s?) today — and then quickly back down to cooler. A tropical vortex?
- What foods are you finding on your table this time of year?
- Squash? Zucchini 100 ways? Home Baked Beans? Cassoulet? New Potatoes? Tomatoes? Sauerbraten? Cabbage? Ratatouille? Meatloaf? Sourdough? Cobbler? Pie(s)?
- According to CBS News, the gap between the richest and the poorest in the United States is greater than it’s been for fifty years.
- Why is that important?
- Have you met or worked with or benefited from the leader of the Smithsonian?
- Lonnie Bunch was featured on Sunday Morning yesterday; impressive — and such an important and rewarding job.
- Between 2004 – 2008, while at the time losing big-time to PepsiCo and amid massive employee layoffs, Neville Isdell as CEO took Coca Cola Co. from a worsening significant negative return to a 20% positive return.
- Volume increased 10%, thirteen different billion-dollar brands were amassed, and the stock became highly re-valued on Wall Street.
- How did he do it?
- “I took the ‘how’ as seriously as the ‘what’.” (Beyond Performance 2.0, Keller & Schaninger, 2019)
- How did he do it?
- Volume increased 10%, thirteen different billion-dollar brands were amassed, and the stock became highly re-valued on Wall Street.
- Do you remember when the Feast of All Hallow’s Eve was basically just one evening, and mostly for kids — and before that, a deeply religious holy day?
- Now our United States Congress, notwithstanding its enormous responsibilities, is considering a Forever Saturday Halloween so as to provide a bigger build-up to the night and to have it be not on a school night/ work night.
- That said, we think it was some time ago the norm shifted to a majority of people not working a traditional Monday – Friday forty-hour week.
- Now our United States Congress, notwithstanding its enormous responsibilities, is considering a Forever Saturday Halloween so as to provide a bigger build-up to the night and to have it be not on a school night/ work night.
- What are you reading? Always an important question — and an even more important answer.
- If you enjoy (mostly) true intrigue and Machiavellian schemes from the Florentine era, look no further than The Family Medici, Hollingsworth, or…
- a bit on the darker side, The Borgias, Strathern.
- If you enjoy (mostly) true intrigue and Machiavellian schemes from the Florentine era, look no further than The Family Medici, Hollingsworth, or…
- Happy Rosh Hashanah! (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!)
- Daniel Durken first taught me about the New Year, provided the apples and honey, and permitted me to blow the shofar (ram’s horn)… not easy to get a sound out of it.
- Here’s an old one I’ve been carrying around with me for more than fifty years: If ignorance were bliss far more people would be happy.
- When will you give yourself the greatest gift of all, the gift of time?
- Schedule a no-obligation, no-cost initial exploratory visit with Without a Vision Consultancy today.
Chairs on the Curb
By Michael A. Mullin
Who decides when a chair’s life is over?
Why is one chair kicked to the curb
while another seemingly identical chair continues
its usefulness for another century?
A chair whose life has ended might get rescued from the curb
or be crushed in the massive jaws of the truck.
Is the executioner to blame or the one who placed
the chair there in the free pile?
Does the free pile absolve the decider?
A dead chair might get handed down,
given to the Good Will,
fetch a fortune in an antique store,
or provide an hour’s worth of warmth during a Siberian winter.
What standard is used to decide?
A chair combined with a table is sacramental;
it welcomes you to supper, invites you to rest,
encourages conversation with others seated there.
Too many chairs suffer premature deaths;
they’re preventable.
We have rescue dog programs, why not something for chairs?
©2017 Michael A. Mullin
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