Category: Musings

Six Every-Day Resolutions for Every Day

New Year’s resolutions. Some will be kept throughout the year, many for a few weeks, most for just a day or two. Maybe we should go with every-day resolutions, instead. Every day.

It’s the Little Things that Make the Big Differences

There will be a woman sweating profusely, lifting dumbbells to shoulder height for a few more reps. A man ordering salads rather than French Fries at lunch. And a business owner following up with clients more often. They’ll all be chasing their New Year’s resolutions.

They’re the big things we promise to do for ourselves and others at the beginning of each trip around the sun.

  • Lose 50 pounds.
  • Go to the gym. Every. Single. Day.
  • Volunteer for 100 hours.

Some people will keep their resolutions throughout the year, many for a few weeks, most for just a day or two. That’s all OK.

But sometimes it’s the every-day resolutions that make the greatest, longest-lasting differences.

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You Can’t Judge a Bison by His Coat

We make judgements about people all the time without knowing much, if anything, about them.

We All Have Our Colors

The guy I roomed with for most of my first two years of college is one of the best.

Brian Johnson started as an architecture major, then became a mechanical engineering student at North Dakota State University from 1986 to 1991. We shared rooms, first in Stockbridge (a.k.a., “Jockbridge”), then in University Village. 

You’d be hard pressed to meet a kinder, more laid-back or unassuming person. Highly intelligent, too. Today he’s the vice president of global engineering for a Twin Cities firm.

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Child’s Religion

This early morning quiet / Many inches on the ground / Falling softly still, six-fifteen / Straight down, not a sound….

This early morning quiet
Many inches on the ground
Falling softly still, six-fifteen
Straight down, not a sound.

The sagging branches, wet white
Up north Dakota Territory
The way of it at thirty degrees
Another clean winter story.

Tip toe up and down
Whisper softly to each one
No school today, ice and snow
Maybe heaps before it’s done.

Really seriously can’t believe
Never happened before
Thank you, Jesus, and
Please send some more.

Snow-covered wind spinner

Pops References

No one has called me “Pops” to my face yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

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A young colleague recently showed me a graphic meant to accompany a client’s social media post. It dealt with clean water in underdeveloped areas. Prominently featured was a blue bus. I shook my head. “Makes me think of Jim Morrison,” I said, assuming the underlying narcotic use suggestion was obvious. “We don’t wanna go there.”

I could have been speaking Swahili. Blank look. “Who?”

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Carson Wentz – “The Dakota Kid”?

The great ones have nicknames.

Peyton Manning was and forever will be “The Sheriff.” Brett Favre is “The Gunslinger.” And despite the drubbing the Pittsburgh Steelers took at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles this past weekend, “Big Ben” Roethlisberger rightfully commands the respect of defenses across the National Football League.

So here’s a thought….

The Dakota Kid-2The great ones have nicknames.

Peyton Manning was and forever will be “The Sheriff.” Brett Favre is “The Gunslinger.” And despite the drubbing the Pittsburgh Steelers took at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles this past weekend, “Big Ben” Roethlisberger rightfully commands the respect of defenses across the National Football League.

So here’s a thought:

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Dripping with Irony

I stood in the shower this morning, absentmindedly going through the get-clean routine and thinking about what I’d like to knock off of the honey-do list today. Suddenly a lightbulb went off over my head….

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I stood in the shower this morning, absentmindedly going through the get-clean routine and thinking about what I’d like to knock off of the honey-do list today:

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Is SAG Sagging in Its Duty?

I’m still trying to come to terms with the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman, the most recent victim of self-inflicted drug overdose in Hollywood. The man was an amazing talent.

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Winter Wonder

In North Dakota gripe about the cold and snow all the time, but winter truly can be wondrous. CLICK ON THE HEADLINE TO READ MORE

As I drove home from work yesterday evening, I was treated to a sundog in the sky to the west. As always when I see a sundog, I marveled at it, thought how beautiful it was and how it has to be really cold for one to show itself.

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