I had the opportunity earlier this year to go to Rwanda in Africa.  It was an awesome trip and all went well on the way over and while I was there.  The folks I went with, the folks I stayed with, and I all got to do some amazing things and got to see some of the beauty and simplicity of a developing country in one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

I haven't written here for a while. There is no real reason, I just haven't thought of things to write about and haven't taken the time to write. Topics seem to pop into my head and percolate and then I have somethting to write about. Sometimes there are dry spells between percolations.

My wife and I are planning to move soon. Our house is for sale and we have a contingency contract on another house in the same town. Preparing to move is stressful. I have to do all those chores that have been backing up. You know, all the maintenance and repair items that I wouldn't do for us, but that I must do in order for someone else to buy the house. That's a hard concept for me to figure out.

I was listening to a radio program the other day that was talking about childhood obesity and problems related to it. The gist of the program was that there are lots of things we can do, things that might seem unrelated to childhood obesity, which can help solve this issue for a lot of kids.

My wife and I watched Apollo 13 last night. She had never seen it (we’re not really big movie watchers) and I got excited when she chose it at the movie rental store even though I had seen it. It’s an awesome movie that shows the greatness of American ingenuity and teamwork. It also showed the greatness of a leader who is secure in his leadership, who makes decisions, and who empowers his workers to provide key input to his decisions.

I’m very thankful, on the 4th of July for living in a country where I am free to write what I choose without fear of recrimination. There are many places in the world that do not allow citizens to speak their mind in public forums. We’re fortunate to be in America where we are free to express ourselves.

Every thing we do is the result of a choice. Do you believe that? Some people think and say that somebody or some thing ‘made’ them mad or that they lost their temper because something that happened ‘made’ them mad. In our litigious society we tend to blame others for our actions. We seem to thrive on law suits that are no more than the blaming game; we want to blame others for our poor or just plain stupid decisions. It’s McDonalds’ fault that I spilt my coffee all over myself and burned my legs. How dare they make is so hot! The examples can go on and on, and the sad part is that they are all true examples and not just made up stories.

My previous blog talked about vision and how companies must not only have a vision, but must stay focused on their vision. Failing to focus on the vision causes disillusionment and confusion in the workforce and leads to results that are less than desired.

The Bible says that without vision the people will perish. Most companies, large or small, have vision or mission statements. Vision statements are not all that hard to develop and they usually sound really good. There are lots of buzz words we can put into our vision statements. Our vision statements can say that our companies can be ‘proactive’, they can be ‘empowering’, they can be ‘dynamic’ and on and on, but the hard part is living up to these vision statements.

It’s hurricane season. The guys at The Weather Channel are loving it because they can do their best to convince us that a 65 mph tropical storm is a near disaster and that we should watch their channel 24 hours a day to stay updated on the storm’s progress.