"The American Dream is still alive out there, and hard work will get you there. You don't necessarily need to have an Ivy League education or to have millions of dollars startup money. It can be done with an idea, hard work and determination." ~ Bill Rancic

Wired. That's right. Wired. Some might call it wired up. But, literally, I have been wired up for my sleep evaluation. It didn't automatically call 911, therefore, I assume the captured information will be useful to those interpreting the results. We will see. Life. There's always a new wrinkle. It is Tuesday, February 18, 2020.  I do appreciate those who read along with me each day. I also appreciate the feedback I get from time to time. I always worry about the content being 'same-same', but, when you do blogs for 12 plus years and you only have the life you have, well, it pretty much comes with the territory. I call it the mendacity of a mundane and mediocre life. Not really. I just wanted to string those 'm' words together. And, I did at one time promote an emphasis with my staff on how we could avoid the mendacity of mediocrity. I never wanted these things to be said about our program: ordinary, commonplace, indifferent, average, middle-of-the-road, tolerable, passable, adequate, fair, inferior, second-rate, uninspired, undistinguished, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, not very good, pedestrian, just okay, so-so, fair-to-middling, (plain) vanilla, nothing to write home about. Believe it or not, I don't want that to be said about what I do here each day. Knowing what you want to avoid is good, but, it's even better to know exactly what you want to be said about the effort you put in. Things like, extraordinary, excellent, distinguished, outstanding, unique, remarkable, second to none, etc., etc. You know what they say. If you have no target you will hit it every time.

Having said all of that, I now leave myself open to those who are the recipients of my work. That, by the way, is how it works. It reminds me of the story of the late Ed Koch, mayor of New York City. When he was first elected he went everywhere asking any and everyone, "Hey, how am I doing?" That went over very well at the beginning. Reality set in and the feedback began to be less than positive. What did he do? He quit asking. I've been there and done that. However, it is best to keep working, keep striving, and, yes, to keep seeking feedback. Too many of us fall into the trap of reading our own press releases. While waiting on my chicken order to be prepared, I had a ten-minute conversation with the lady who operates the franchise. The margins in that business are thin. The franchisor keeps squeezing her with price increases and other fees. This has caused folks buying chicken to complain about the prices. I explained to her what I had learned when I was handling the computing and telecom needs of an oil change system with 2,000 locations. Working with the franchisees who operated each location, we had to focus our services on the person purchasing the service. The customer. The lady who drives her car to have it serviced. If we do the things to take care of the people purchasing the service, the other stuff will work itself out. But, and this was an issue, when we treated the franchisee as the customer, we missed the boat. Entirely. If you don't take care of the customer, the rest doesn't really matter. I told her she might have that conversation with her franchisor. It was the best I could do in ten minutes.

I know what some of you are thinking. Who died and left me in charge of telling other people how to do their business. The short answer, no one. I've known that lady for some time now and I felt comfortable talking to her about the business. And, I did have 10 minutes of wait time. I like my fried chicken to be fresh. I'm typically willing to wait. The lady running the chicken place gets there at 9 a.m. every day, seven days a week, and closes each day at 10 p.m. I told her that schedule reminded me of what my grandfather used to tell me after we had worked all day fetching firewood. He would say, "Son, you will not need to be rocked to sleep tonight." The lady laughed in agreement. She and countless others are doing all they can to make it in this world. Her son, maybe 14, works with her when he is not in school. I get the idea she is a single mom. Her desire is focused on making a better life for her and her son. I believe she is originally from the Philippines. We hear it tossed about here and there, but, folks, there really is something called the American Dream. We hear some of those running for President saying how terrible everything is here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Yet, we still have people from all over the globe doing everything they know how to do to come to our country. Interesting. Right? Be thankful for God's provision in the land He gave us to live in. Amen. ....More later.