At least the sun finally came out, and with it a cooling wind began to blow which helped to bring down the humidity levels that’ve grown all the more annoying these recent days. I was shocked when seeing the ground fog even heavier than it was yesterday morning. What’s up with that?
I had to take an early morning trip out to our infamous Menard’s before work to pick up several things I was in need of. For some reason, I’ve never been a fan of that store, and since more of our lumberyards carry all the less items, and certainly compliments of Menard’s monopoly, nearly all of us are forced to shop there unless we make a trip up to Home Depot in Albert Lea.
What I really don’t like, is how they’re constantly changing sections around to where you go there expecting to find exactly what you want in a particular aisle, and wouldn’t you know it, they’ve got what you’re looking for moved into another section. I did find out later the reason companies do that switching around all the time, is to force their customers to do more shopping while searching for an item they particularly went there for. Clever.
Later this morning I placed a call to a dear one because she’d been popping in my head lately, and upon answering, she mentioned how just this morning she thought about calling. We had a good chat about our City’s real estate market conditions, and where we think things may be headed. We also talked about the “victim” mindset of those who have to bash others in order to pull everyone else down to their levels. It’s no wonder our young are all the more glued to their smart phones with their interactive chat forums. Perhaps that’s just one more reason people aren’t keeping their yards and homes presentable due to all those wasted hours spent with their noses glued to one or more screens. Believe it or not, there are even some Realtors with two screens in front them.
Perhaps I’m a bit old-fashioned when believing it’s better to be doing something active and productive, rather than being passive-resistive. When I say resistive, I mean exactly that, because when trying to get people to do their jobs in a normal manner, you often find them being resistive, and simply because you’re asking them to pay full attention to their work. No matter what anyone says, multi-tasking is lost productivity no matter how you look at it.
I would wager to say there are about five people I personally know who crank out an immense amount of quality work, and the reason they’ve become so proficient, is that they barricade themselves in their work spaces and allow little or no audio or visual peripheral distractions.
Over the centuries, the most notable work was done by those who quietly worked alone with no distraction. My belief is that the mind opens all the more when fully focused on a given job at hand, and I’ll freely wager there are very few in our workplace that could take being alone in a room for eight or more hours a day without interruption.
Unfortunately, our society is growing all the more dependent on noise and visuals to where I think many would be ready to climb walls if their cell phones were taken away and all the audio-visuals turned off. It almost sounds like a detox doesn’t it. Well, I’ve read more than once that cell phone addiction is in the top three. If you don’t believe me, do your research.
An older couple stopped by my office today asking about a place nearby to store a vehicle. Unfortunately I knew of nothing, but I did invite them to have a seat so we could talk about their needs. After telling me their story, I was all the more convinced I couldn’t help them.
We somehow got on the subject of where they’re originally from and why they’re here in Mason City. To my delight they shared a number of stories regarding the two years they spent in Germany from 1958 – 1960. What interesting stories they had to tell about life in Europe at that time.
It came as a surprise to them that in my younger years, having traveled a great deal as well as visiting countries they’d been in. They did return to Europe several times after that, and mentioned how quickly they’d progressed.
The one thing we shared in common, was our refusal to go on any pre-planned tours because of how much more interesting our travels were when taking each day as it came. I smiled and said, “It looks like we took routes that if we’d been there at the same time, we would’ve created a full circle of Europe between us.” They assured me they had other stories to tell, and with a wink, I promised to share a few more of mine as well.
After they left, I was shocked to find they’d been at my office for well over an hour, and thank goodness for my looking, because I was nearly late for my last appointment. Not to worry, I’m always up for a good real-life story.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Experience which was once claimed by the aged, is now claimed exclusively by the young.
