I have been using a program called ommwriter to write in. It is very minimalist text tool, which I am liking a lot.

But that is not what this post is about…except that the background is snow, and this post is about snow…in a roundabout way.

There is a strange phenomenon that happens when it snows. Everybody in Tulsa feels the need to go to the store and buy a months worth of food. People just like to stock up. Well, there was that one lady we saw who was getting beer, 5 Hour Energy, Rock Star, and cigarettes. Just the essentials.

During the last great snow we were at the store getting some stuff. We are so used to seeing all the shelves totally full that it was a bit disconcerting to see entire shelves empty. No salad, no milk, no eggs. It is not something we are used to. But, I think that what really struck me was how much there still was on the shelves. Despite the fact that the store was crazy full of people all buying enough food for the next two months (it takes snow that long to melt around here) there was still enough calories in that store to feed a small country, and more variety then most countries will ever see. Particularly if you wandered into the middle of the store where the unprocessed stuff is (like flower and yeast) there was plenty for all.

I don’t really have a point in this, except I guess that we live in a country of plenty, even excess, and I hope I use the privilege well.

I have been dong a fair amount of freelance work over the last several months, which has been really fun. I finally put up a website for myself, so I guess I am official now.

So, if you know anybody who needs design or video work I would be honored if you sent them my way.  I also really like equipping people to do things on their own, helping people figure out marketing plans and communication systems, and just asking people good questions, so there is a strong consulting/equipping side to what i do as well. The site is www.poolhouseblue.com.

Last week in Tulsa it was all the rage to critique the mayors handling of the great snow (I’m sure we have moved on to something else by now) . I don’t really know if they did a good job clearing the snow quickly or not. I am sure there are things they could have done better, and things they did very well.

What I am sure of though is that there are lots of people who clearly know best more then willing to Monday morning quarterback. One person I heard said something like “it is ridiculous that the school parking lots are not clear so that kids can go back to school. It was extremely poor planning to not have the schools cleared.” Now, at this point nobody would have been able to get to the schools even if the parking lot was clear. So, it seems that leaving the schools until last is more effective. But, to this person school being closed had become a symbol of the cities inability to clear the streets.

It seems like this is a great little example of a bigger trend in the way we think about leaders (political or otherwise). We are so focused on symbols that we forget the big picture. We have decided that the most important thing is getting the school parking lot cleared that we never notice that there are people stuck in their cars on the highway, and that it might be good to help them out first. So, we demand that our leaders deal with this issue at the detriment of what is important. Now we have put our leaders in an awkward spot. If they don’t deal with our pet issue we kick them out of power (by not electing them, leaving their church, or voting them off the board), or we sabotage what they are doing that is good because don’t think they are paying attention to us.

Over time our leaders have lost the ability to think big picture and long term because they do so at the risk of losing their position. Or, perhaps the people who can do this are not willing to put themselves into a position where they will not be allowed to.

I don’t think this is the only issue that leads to bad leadership, but it seems like part of the mix. And there are plenty of good leaders who have figure out ways around this. But I do wonder how we can create a culture and a system that allowes leaders the freedom to do really good stuff, even if our pet issue gets ignored.

As promised…a life update.

Well….its been snowing….a lot.

A couple weeks ago we took a short trip to OKC. We started at the whale….

and drove 66 to OKC. We try every year to take a weekend away and do some planning (thanks Russ), just looking at where we are in life, marriage, finances, life goals, stuff like that. Then make some plans and goals for the next year. It was a good weekend. We got to spend a lot of time together, and got to visit some OKC places like The Full Cup, Cuppies and Joe, Joe’s Addiction, and Shop Good.

And we visited the round barn…

We are still working at Garnett Church of Christ doing various things. I mostly work on web/print/video stuff, but I am also trying to do some long term strategic stuff, like helping to rebuild the tech team, find good planning system, and find a good member database/communication system. I know that sounds like about the most interesting thing you could possibly do, but i actually think its kind of fun.

Recently we hosted the African Children’s Choir:

If you ever get a chance to see one of their show go.

Beth has been working a lot for Chris at CQMissional. She can make a post about that sometime.

I have been doing a lot of freelance work, which I am really enjoying. Ill blog about it more some other day, i talk about it some on my other blog,www.poolhousered.com. If your interested. In big news though i actually made myself a business card last night and sent it to the printer. Now i just need a web site.

Beth got a letter press machine:

And i helped set up a balloon drop at the casino…

Random, yes, but that is what happens when your friend owns The Balloon Closet.

I guess one of the big things that has been going on is our small group. We had a great small group in Siloam, and we miss them a lot. Finding a new community of people takes time, so it has been really cool to start having some people around here that we can hang out with, share life, play games, and be friends.

That is about enough life updating for now. But in the spirit of posts all about us…

Breakfast…

and clean up…

(for the record, that omelet was not very good…i sort of overcooked it.)

Back in ancient times the blog was declared dead Of course, others disagree. I think it all depends on goals and context.

That said, this blog has fallen (once again), into neglect. There are lots of reasons for this, lack of discipline, facebook, twitter. I do at times find it strange to write a post about my life…im not funny, a best selling author, and i dont write about interesting stuff, so im not sure why people read, yet they do.

So, im going to continue doing personal updates (in fact, the next post will probably be an update), but i also want to start being a bit more reflective, just reflecting on tings that are going on around me. I think it is good for me to develop an idea in writing and put it out where people can see it. This is really just a good practice for me in terms of discipline. So, we will see how it goes, i want to expand the things i write about, marketing and business stuff will mostly stay on my other blog. This one will be more life stuff, probably not to controversial (although, next year when the Tulsa Holiday Parade rears its tinseled head…). We will see how it goes.

Of course, this is a two author blog, so Beth’s post will of course be mixed in as well.

I just finished reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It is very good, and very quotable. Take this for example:

A good storyteller speaks something into nothing. Where there is an absence of story, or perhaps a bad story, a good storyteller walks in and changes reality. he doesn’t critique the existing story, or lament about his boredom, like a critic. He just tells something different and invites other people into the new story he is telling.

Or this:

No girl who plays the role of a hero dates guys who uses her. She knows who she is.

I don’t want to get into the book to much here, you should read it. It did inspire me to make a little list though…

So, I have often thought that I have lived a sort of un-interesting life. Don’t take that to negatively. I live a good life which i like, but not a lot of crazy stuff happens to me. I don’t have nearly as many funny stores as Cass, I did not almost burn the last living grass in all of Australia like Rhett. In the book Donald Miller talks about memorable scenes. A good story has memorable scenes. Im learning that its not so important to have lots of memorable scenes, just that the scenes be important, and that you let them shape you. So, from birth to now, here are a few memorable scenes from my life:

My first memory (I think), was of a box fan getting blown out of a window during a storm. It was very scary.

I remember hikes in the woods behind our house in MA. I remember a boulder that we could climb on, and an really cool pine forest. I still love the woods.

I remember my brother sledding into the creek in the middle of winter, and I remember watching the snowplows at night.

I remember making huge snowballs. In my mind they are bigger then 4 year old me. Probably not. I still love the snow.

I remember having to evacuate the church because of a fire in the heater.

We moved to Arkansas, on our drive there we saw the Statue of Liberty, made snowflakes for the van, I got a really cool toy truck for christmas. My cousin Brian got a bow.

I didn’t want to go school at all. I got in trouble the first day at a new school for something I did not even know was against the rules (I climbed on top of the monkey bars), then i got lost trying to find my classroom. I hated school I think. I know I hated to read. I got a big sad face on my homework.

Ms. Nelson let us take apart a water pump. And she taught me to read. I still love to read.

We almost burned down the Haak’s farm.

There were people who I wanted to like me, but i didn’t think they did.

We got a dog.

One time Daniel and I were playing on our flooded back yard and i jumped into the water and cut my knee. I still have the scar. Really, there are countless scenes with my brother in them. Playing army, beating computer games, jumping from couch to couch being Peter, Edmond or Caspian.

My parents read and sang to us almost every night. I still remember those songs. Horris the Horse is still an inspiration to me, and if you ever run across a magic wardrobe please call me first.

I played in Mark’s hay barn, went to Luke’s birthday party, and borrowed Daniel’s toy riffle

I made 100% on a spelling test. Two times. other then that, i worked really really hard to spell well, but never, ever did. I still don’t spell well. I won the science fair. Twice. I still like science (nerd..sure).

I went to NLR…there are a lot of scenes from NLR, and it sets up an entire Act.

I went to Mendenhall Mississippi, where I saw inequality, and people trying to make the world better.

I remember a homeless guy coming up to our car on vacation while we were in the drive through at McDonalds, i was confused then about how you should react to somebody asking for money. I still am.

My freshman year of college actually has a lot of good scenens, but they probably would seem really boring if you were watching from the outside. Stuff like always being the last ones out of the dinning hall after dinner. Throwing napkins in the toaster (well..that could be exciting), eating pizza and watching Buffy (Cody was obsessed), playing basketball and shooting 22s with Zak and hanging out with Andrew. Eating snow ice cream, and driving home to Siloam Springs with Chandle. Amy helping with my first ever design class, and playing Frisbee with new friends (and getting destroyed at our first tournament). These are really important to me because it represented starting over with new people, and i guess in a lot of ways a new me.

I went to Europe. Traveling has a way of creating good scenes. Ill just share one. Brooklyn and I were stranded in some city and there were no hostels or hotels open. So we walked the streets for a night. I actually learned a lot that night.

Ok, another one from Europe, I almost jumped out of a moving train. The conductor grabbed me and held me on. That was kind of crazy,

NLR does of course have a lot fo scenes. Here are two: I met Beth. She jumped into the creek with her shoes on (not because I met her…). Heath and I climbed Jacobs Ladder. We both had something to learn from each other.

Josh, Dusty, some other guys and I got lost in the dark and rain at Sam’s. Then our flashlights started dying.

Sam and I climbed the Chapel at JBU.

Beth and I got married, but i dont really remember that. Weddings are kind of like that. Ill have to watch the video.

Chase and I drove across Colorado so I could visit Daniel and he could go to a funeral. Colorado is a beautiful place.

Luke and I drove the Outback way up into the mountains. It was amazing to see some of the most beautiful land created. Then we broke the sway bar on the car, and were really late getting back to the cabin…

Cass and i stayed up until 6 in the morning (or something like that) building a new recruiting display for camp. Actually Cass is a part of a lot of late night (or early morning) scenes. He is also part of a lot of projects, learning, and growth in me.

Beth and I climbed a mountain together.

We moved to Tulsa, and all our friends were really generous to help.

We tried to dig a well at church.

I met Margen and was honored to hear her poetry.

Our friends recited half of Oklahoma while standing around a camp fire. It was really funny.

Jared captured the attention of a crowd at an open mic night. That’s not easy and is kind of incredible to watch.

Just today, we walked in the snow, watched ice float down the river, and saw an amazing sunset.