Montana Jones

Learning experience

Me:

I'm looking forward to B_'s first birthday party. How's our little guy doing?

He:

He is smiling, pooping and climbing up things. He got this bump on the head here when he tried to climb the rock out front.

Me:

Awww, did you take a bump to the noggin? Sounds like a learning experience to me.

She:

He is learning to stand up and to fall over.

Me:

Roll with it little buddy. You are going to have many opportunities in this life to discover that our best learning experiences are also a little painful.

The meeting earlier in the day was decidedly tense. We were determined to do our business on our own terms. BP_ and I had been preparing for weeks. Months in fact. We had the issues spelled out as clearly as possible. We had our goals defined. Our talking points were rehearsed. We were confident. We were prepared to meet anger, antagonism and personal attacks. We even had secret signals ready to help each other out if things started to go badly. It is a difficult thing to confront someone else, demand respect, and insist that they make sacrifices to change the status quo. As with most battle plans, ours did not survive the first contact.

Higher Power chastised us first thing for the stern tone we were taking in our written statements. A lot of people in that room were expecting the worst and in shields up mode. We were able to stand our ground quite successfully. They conceded many points we were not expecting. We conceded on points as well. I learned some things.

I learned that preparation is everything. Even though the battle plan was down in flames in the first moments we still had our goals, resources and a solid knowledge of the ground we were trying to cover.

I learned that while long standing issues are best resolved before they are long standing, sometimes they become long standing because of talking softly. For right or wrong, we had to remind some people that we also carried a big stick.

I learned that if a long standing issue is not getting resolved, being stern and wielding the big stick will suddenly get a lot of attention pointed at the issue. Sometimes more attention than expected. If you are sure you are in the right, and you will know if you did your preparation correctly, you can stand your ground confidently.

I learned that when you rock the boat it makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. Rocking the boat can make yourself very uncomfortable as well. I learned that I do not want to rock the boat very often.

For good or ill the stern tone worked. I don't know if it is the same thing as respect, but I do know that I was taken seriously and the outcome of the meeting was favorable to us. It is a day I will remember for a long time. The experience was a little painful. One year olds are not the only ones that ache for a while after a learning experience.

Labels: ache, business, confidence, conversation, learning, meeting, rock the boat, stern

Posted by: Montana Jones / 5:17 PM 0 comments

From the Spokane Half Marathon

• The best way to see a new city is to run a marathon in it. (Half marathons are good too.) Spokane, I salute your beautiful city.
• I swear, the next race I run I will train for the last miles as much as I train for the first miles. (I think I told myself this after my last race too.)
• Do not fear the hills.
• It takes about a quarter mile to go from cold and underdressed to hot and overdressed.
• Hey race organizers; how about taking a ten cent piece of chalk and drawing a line on the sidewalk where the finish line is. Do the same for the starting line too. And get a gun or honk a horn or make some sort of loud noise to indicate the start of the race.
• More volunteers stationed in the last third of the course please. More cheering spectators would be good too. It's lonely near the end.
• It sucks when your watch battery dies at the starting line.
• Not knowing the time did not really affect my pace.
• Not knowing the time gives me less to think about while running.
• Who in their right mind thinks that watermelon is a good flavor for a sports drink? Are your really trying to make me barf mid race?
• In the latter portion of the race I asked all the volunteers I passed if I was winning. Some of them said yes, some of them said no, I don't think any of them found the question as amusing as I did.
• Some people run funny. How is it possible to move forward at a run while holding your knees together and throwing your feet out to the side? Also, dude, don't shuffle your feet. Pick your foot all the way up off the ground and then put the heel down first and roll across the ball of your foot and launch with your toe.
• I finished this half marathon in half the time of my last marathon back in 2003. Not bad for being under trained and having a nasty cold.
• Sorry girl right behind me at the finish line, but there was no way I was going to let you pass me in the last 100 yards of a race.
• Extra special thanks to the girl at the race start that directed us to the empty public toilet just out of sight from the hundred person long line for the port-a-johns.
• The next day I had almost no pain at all. That is good clean living right there.
• If you are ever passing through Coeur d'Alene, Hudson's is the best damn hamburger joint anywhere.

Labels: Coeur d'Alene, half marathon, hamburger, list, marathon, race, run, running, Spokane, time, training

Posted by: Montana Jones / 6:00 PM 2 comments