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BETTER LISTENING SKILLS FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be.
How hard is it to pay attention?
You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher.
I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra.
Maybe we need more of that? Instead we get more of this:

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RETURNING REVERENCE TO IT’S RIGHTFUL PLACE

There’s a scent of reverence in the air, of returning reverence after a long pause.
It started in my doctor’s office where I’d been called to sit on a panel with others.
One of the others was Roy Pittman, one of my personal heroes.
The next time I saw the doctor he told me he was surprised at the way I acted, that I showed reverence to Coach Pittman.
If I did, I didn’t know it. What I remember is feeling awe-struck. Maybe it’s the same thing?
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NBA CHAMPION CROWNED, AGAIN

Becoming an NBA champion is a lifelong goal for every basketball player in the world.
The best want to play the best, beat the best, to tell themselves they’re good enough.
It’s that along with contracts and money and fame.
All of that goes along the wayside when you stop playing in ninth grade like me, or in high school.
Do I blame the coaches that I didn’t become a star, a substitute, or even a benchwarmer?
Noooooo, but . . .
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CLEAN LIVING FOR A QUIET LIFE

Clean living is an art form, and like all art it takes practice.
Yes, we’re talking about practice.
It takes practice to talk without a particular tone, without too much edge.
Do that and you may have a productive conversation.
Go ahead and save the tone and edge for people you don’t know, who don’t know you.
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I READ THE NEWS TODAY OH BOY

The news today is all about world events.
News organizations deliver it every day with the same hype and urgency.
News hounds consume every detail and load it onto the pile they carry in case someone asks them ‘what’s up?’
That’s when you brace yourself for the headlines as if they’re coming from an anchorman. Or woman.
That’s the big news story you NEED to know.
The small news, the stories that make us step back, come out another way.
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toughen up

MILLENNIAL SELF CARE = SELF RESPONSIBILITY

  You know it’s not pledge week when NPR rags millennials about ‘self-care.’ Instead of pledging money to them, they’ll buy an ‘experience’ instead. Cue Jimi Hendrix? Gracy Obuchowicz says it’s more than just social media that has pushed millennials to the forefront of the self-care discussion. “Our generation has seen enough,” she said. “People […]

CANCER EDUCATION, PAIN MANAGEMENT, LIQUID OXY

I am a sore throat expert. It’s a benefit of neck cancer education after I graduated from treatment. Of all sore throats in the history of sore throats mine was the worst, said everyone with a sore throat rated above an 8.5.

Neck Cancer: Part of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer

  OHNC, for oral, head and neck cancer sounds more like a government agency, as in “let’s meet at the OHNC building and go from there.”   Except no one wants to go anywhere near OHNC any time. Speaking from direct experience, No One Wants To Go There. Any Time.   But here we are. […]

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boomer years

WINTER REFLECTIONS, TIME PASSING

  Can we still complain if the snow doesn’t last for months and turn a nasty brown?

BABY BOOMER PARENTS DO THE RIGHT THING

Wrong versus Right for baby boomer parents. The old days, the ‘good old days’, had a few rules. One of the first rules baby boomers learned at home was My Way or the Highway. This rule usually came up when young boomer felt cheated and wanted to straighten a few things out. And it usually […]

THE GOOGLE FACE OF PORTLAND WHEN YOU’RE NOT LOOKING

What Outsiders Don’t See On The Front Page. Live here long enough and you know Portland is more than the next eastside trend, like bewildered 30-somethings riding bikes and having kids. So much more. Stephen Colbert pumps for Powells Books. LeBron James rolls with Nike. Anthony Bourdain shouts out for Pok Pok. They point to […]

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buckle up

Fighting Chuck Palahniuk, And Portland Inertia

    I didn’t have anything to prove by fighting Chuck Palaniuk, but I did with the fight against inertia on a Sunday where the NFL was on TV and Wordstock was happening on the park blocks. It was a good day to do nothing and there was plenty to back up doing it.   […]

VIDANTA EARLY BIRD MEETS THE MIRACLE CREW AT BURGER CUSTOM MADE

    Every Five Diamond resort has a miracle crew, the people who make it all happen day after day, and make it look so easy. You have to look hard to find them, or be a Vidanta early bird.   This crew was busy setting up, busy like a NASCAR pit crew. Professionals one […]

SUPERIOR ARIZONA AFTER APACHE TEARS SEARCH

    One of the most impressive rocks I’ve knocked out of a rock wall? Apache tears.   Just another rock until I held it up to the sun for my own solar eclipse.   What’s going on in there? See through rocks in Superior Arizona.

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