BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

28Jun/170

Maine!

Right now I'm in Maine.  It's pretty fantastic.  I'm just having fun and enjoying time spent with old friend and making new friends.

Each day is packed with events and activities.  I've got a friend of mine at home watching my cats... So they are happy.

Tonight I went to get ice cream.  Last night I went out with some peeps to North Conway, which technically isn't Maine... I know, the subject is Maine... But, it's close enough, it's New Hampshire.

While I was out in North Conway at dinner there was a snafu with the meal, so my one main dish was complimentary.  Seems to be a weird theme with me.  I got a free burger last month.

Anyways... there's tons of other things happening and going on here in Maine, but it's too much to recap at the moment, also... I'm being called by a few friends.  Sooo, I must be on my way.

P.S.

I haven't seen a Plantation, Florida hit to trigger a new blog... I just decided to write one anyway.  I'm just gonna write blogs whenever I feel compelled to write blogs.  Maybe I'll go a day without writing one, and maybe I'll go a month.  So, I'm officially ending the "A blog for a hit" policy I previously had.  Maybe I write blogs... and maybe I check my analytics, and maybe I don't.

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13Jun/170

Book Buying Policy

So, I'm doing some lawn mowing.  I'm always mowing lawn.  It's a big lawn.  I really should just buy a big giant gas or electric lawn mower.  Or hire a mowing service.  Here's my thing... I like mowing the lawn with the eco friendly one.  See, what I do is, I get up at 6am... And I mow for a good half hour or 45 minutes.  It's like my morning work out.

I don't know about you, but getting up at 6am to work out?  It's hard.  I've set my alarm before and told myself I'm gonna go to Planet Fitness.  Lets be real... That snooze button always wins.

But when I KNOW I have to keep the grass trim and proper for the neighbors?  And I know it takes me about 4 mows a week to keep it that way?

You bet your buttons I'm getting up at 6am to mow!

Well, anyway, I'm mowing... and listening to podcasts.

Oh, I was also listening to the latest mix of my new song in addition to this one podcast.  I THINK, my newest tune is done.  I'm basically 99 percent sure it's done.  Actually, on Sunday was working on getting things together to copyright and post to CDBaby.  Pretty exciting stuff!

I also got another digital downloads payment!  pretty exiting too.

SO, yes, podcast...

Well, the guy was discussing about working with organizations.  He's kind of a consultant.  He works with companies to try and help their workflow process and business process and make it more streamlined.

Anyways, so... He's talking about one of the things he thinks is important with a company is the following:

What's the process or policy to buy a book.

That's it.  That's where he stopped.  And the interviewer was like, okay?  Can you elaborate on that?

And he says... So, basically, if an organization has a process or policy to buy a book... A 20 dollar book, or even a 50 dollar book.

If you have to fill out paperwork.  If you have to jump through hoops, for your employees to buy a book on a subject related to their job.  That's no good.  That shows that the company has TOO many stops in place to let good employees really better themselves and work at their stride.

Is he right?

I mean, I'm gonna agree with him.  I'm sure there are different schools of thought.

But if you think about it, it's kind of an interesting thing to consider.  I mean, let's say you approach your boss and just say, I want to buy this 15, or 30 dollar book to read and help me better understand the process happening here or my job, or do my job better.  And the boss says... We have to fill out paperwork, and get it approved.

This guy said, if something as simple as a book, which is meant to help you do your job better... Takes all that time... Think about how much time it will take to get a project from idea, to implementation.

I'm tempted now to find an IT related book that I'd be interested in reading, and ask my boss the process of purchasing it.

I guess one thing about my job is, we have a library.  I imagine he'll just be like, oh, just go check that out at the library.

So, there's that idea I suppose.  But, it is an interesting idea.  I guess what he's trying to point out is... How hard is it to push new and innovative things around in your workplace.

Is there a lot of policies and procedures and paperwork for even the smallest thing, like buying some 20 dollar book?  Or can you just go right out and buy that book, which as he said was a negligible cost to the company compared to the knowledge the employee would gain and the gain that the company as a whole would see from the performance increase of that employee knowing how to do their job better/faster/more efficient... Or make less errors in the work they do.

Just something to think about.  SO, now I'm thinking in my own life... How can I be more willing to invest in something small, such as a self help book, without a lot of hesitation, to realize a bigger return down the road.  The question to ask is, will that small investment now, add greater value later on down the road after some amount of time.  Just something to ponder.

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4Jun/170

Sly Fox Fox Trot 5K

Yesterday I ran the Sly Fox Fox Trot 5K.  It was fun!  I had been practicing for the run for the past couple weeks.  I went to the gym a few times and ran on the treadmill, I also went to yoga some, and then I ran outside at Valley Forge Park.

So... I was ready!

Although, the first two miles were easy peasy, the last mile was just kind of blah.  It was lots of uphill to the  finish line.  Although the very last part where the finish line was, was downhill.

I got a mug and a shirt, and a free beer...

Getting to the race, I nearly missed the start.  See, I went Thursday night to pick up my packet and get my race bib... So that meant I could come a little later and just kind of show up at the start.  So, I left the house in time to try and get there about 30 minutes early or so.  Well, for some reason, I just wasn't thinking and got on the North East extension of the turnpike.  So, that means... I basically went 20 minutes out of my way.

That means that I got there JUST in time as the race was starting.  I literally had about 10 minutes to get to the starting line.  I made it though.

Anyways, it was a good race.  After the race I just hung out and had beer, listened to live music, talked to random people, ate food truck food.  My favorite food truck item was the crab dip grilled cheese sandwich. Oh gosh.  Soo delicious.

The organizer of the run actually puts on a lot of 5Ks.  Their website is http://www.greatamericanbreweryruns.com.  They gave me information for another one in the Fall.  So, I'm probably going to do that one.  It's at Flying Fish Brewing.  Just add it to my late summer/fall events list.  That's when a lot of festivals and events are.  Really though, there are events scattered throughout the whole year.  But most of them are concentrated in the Fall.

All in all it was a good day.  I may start doing some more 5K runs.  We'll see.  It's a good excuse to train too... So it's motivation for working out.

Oh, so this one runner I was chatting with said that she actually does one a month.  That's an interesting idea.  Just kind of schedule one a month to run.  Some of them are SUPER popular.  Like, for example, The Color Run and such.  She said that she will travel pretty far for a run.  She's yet to fly somewhere but she wants to go to a really big run out on the west coast.

So, yeah, 5K done.  I may do more.  We'll see.  I'll have to get one of those little fancy iPhone arm holder bands... and maybe grab a bluetooth headphone set and such.  Some people had all the runners gear on and were all kinds of decked out.

I think my next one though will probably be that Flying Fish 5K.  Just stick with the brewery 5Ks for now.  Maybe try more as I find them and pick and choose which ones seem like they would be the most fun.

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1Jun/170

Meeting Mallet

Today I found something interesting as I was doing a little house cleaning... A wooden meat pounding thing... And written on it, it says "Meeting Mallot".

I'm assuming that it's supposed to be mallet but it's spelled wrong...

On the top it just says "Task".

Honestly... I'm not quite sure of the history of this thing.  I'm not sure where it came from or what it was made for.  I'm pretty sure it's a summer camp thing.  It's possible that it could have also been a ski school thing... Or a high-school reunion thing.

Knowing my mom, it's a gag gift of some sort.

She was big on gag gifts.  Just like, stupid funny pointless gifts that had no point other than to make the person laugh.

Or an inside joke gift.  This is probably where it came from.

Camp is 95 percent made up of inside jokes that come out of situations that occur at camp.  But this is true for my own workplace.

I'm sure most organizations, no matter what it is... just by spending time with a group of some sort... An inside joke of some kind forms... And then... You get... A meeting mallet.

My guess is, it came out of having meetings, say, maybe at camp, or somewhere my mom worked, and then people were talking over one another and someone just jokingly said something like... We need a meeting mallet so whoever has that is the one who talks!

And then someone actually took a real wooden meat mallet and wrote on it and then gave it as a gag gift.

I'm really not sure.  It's interesting though to ponder.  I guess it's just one of those things I may never know, unless one of her friends messages me and is like... "Oh my!  You have that Meeting Mallet!"

And I'll be all like, "Why yes I do!"

And they will be like... "That's too funny."

And then... I'll learn the story of The Meeting Mallet.

Until then... I just kind of have to wonder.

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