Chris Anderson: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
(*****)
Marcus Buckingham: Now, Discover Your Strengths
Great read! Consider this my "Book of the Month"! (*****)
Jacob Slichter: So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star : How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful Of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer's Life
For aspiring musicians who think they want to become professional. (*****)
Jim Collins: Good to Great : Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
For those wanting to build and lead their organizations with excellence. (*****)
In celebration of Valentine's Day I'd like to simply share a few recent pictures of my beautiful wife. Erin is more than I could have ever asked for in a wife - beautiful both inside and out. Every day with her is Valentine's Day. I love you, babe.
(Photos by Jessica Lewis.)
My birthday was Sunday (Happy Birthday to me!), and - if you read my last post - my wife and I were on our way home from Chicago where we saw the musical "Wicked" (here's another picture from downtown Chicago late at night). Our original plan was to arrive in Nashville at 3:45pm, go home, bake a cake, and open my presents. Well, as they often do when one flies, things didn't go as planned. We arrived in Memphis at 12:30 only to discover that our 2:40 flight to Nashville was canceled and that we would have to wait until the next flight out... at 7:45pm.
So we spent my birthday afternoon in the Memphis airport watching football, walking laps around the terminal to work off our ice cream, and just hanging out together. It was definitely not what we were planning, but we were together - and that's all that mattered.
We got to bed by 12:30am after getting home at 10pm, opening presents, and hanging out with our roommates. A great start to another year of my life... with my wonderful wife by my side, everything is possible!
I surprised Erin with an early Christmas present on Saturday morning. I woke her up at 6:00am and said, "Rise and shine! You've got 45 minutes to pack a bag for one night - we're leaving." When she finally figured out that I was serious and not simply talking in my sleep (which I do on a fairly regular basis), she crawled out of bed like the good sport that she is and got packed up.
We drove to the airport in Nashville where the lady at the ticket counter somewhat spoiled the next stage of my surprise weekend by calling out my name AND destination while putting on my bag tag. Off to Chicago we went - but for what Erin didn't know.
We arrived to snow in Chicago via Detroit and found our way to the hotel, where we received an envelope at the front desk. Inside were two tickets to the musical "Wicked", the "untold story of the witches of Oz", a show Erin has been wanting to see for years, We had about an hour to rest and get changed before we hopped on the train and found our way downtown, where we ate dinner at a cute corner cafe before heading in to the theater and finding our seats.
The show was spectacular - the songwriting was clever and the story enticing. It was the second performance of the day for the cast and orchestra (they do a matinee show on Saturdays), but we couldn't tell at all. The vocalists were strong, the sets fantastic, and the choreography thrilling. We found ourselves sitting on the edge of seats most of the night afraid that we would miss something. Well worth the trip... although the events of the following day gave us reason to second guess ourselves... (Come back tomorrow for "...the rest of the story"!)
Happy Thanksgiving, America!
My wife and I had our Thanksgiving dinner last night at our place and invited some friends over. Erin did a fantastic job preparing the meal along with a friend and we enjoyed a wonderful evening full of food and games. It was a great day, even if it was a day early. Here is a quick list of SOME of the things I am thankful for in no particular order:
What are some things you're thankful for?
I came across this little table in a magazine the other day and thought it was cute and rather telling of where we've come as a society. This is a comparison of some of the things dads used to pass down to their kids and what they are expected to pass on today.
Then: how to toss a football
Now: how to complete a pass in Madden NFL
Then: how to tell time on a watch
Now: how to check the time, voicemail, and ringer volume on a cell phone
Then: how to use a hammer and a screwdriver
Now: how to use TiVo and the universal remote
Then: how to read a newspaper
Now: how to get instant headlines from news websites and blogs
Then: how to write a letter
Now: how to use emoticons on an email
Then: how to change the oil, charge the battery, and replace a flat tire
Now: how to kill time waiting for the tow truck to arrive
I'm back. I'm sorry it's been so long... I took a rather impromptu, not-completely-intended hiatus from blogging for the last week and it's been rather nice. I've really just been trying to get reacquainted with my wife this last week since we returned home from an intense 6-day work trip (she travels with me, but that sure doesn't mean we see much of each other each day!), and it's been great.
So when I told her this morning that I needed some time to post a blog, she said, "What are you going to blog about? Why don't you tell them about your life? Don't they want to know who Normal Rockstar is?"
Well - it's rather presumptuous of me to assume that you DO want to know who Normal Rockstar is, but I guess I'll write the post and you can tell me in the comments if you NEVER want a post like this again. This may actually be interesting for some of you as you've recently become readers and haven't really figured out who the guy behind the blog is yet.
Yesterday was Canada Day (July 1st), and although I wasn't able to be home in Canada, my wife and her family helped me celebrate the day in style. For starters, we slept in (you know you're getting old when "sleeping in" means getting out of bed at 10am!) which was wonderful because the day before was a long day as we participated in the wedding of my sister-in-law. Then we took the boat out on Lindbergh Lake (up in western Montana) for the afternoon. 
What a glorious day we enjoyed - here is a picture of my father-in-law and I being towed behind the boat for a while. After a beautiful lazy afternoon of fishing, tubing, swimming, eating Ketchup chips, and sharing limited edition maple Oh Henry chocolate bars ("Red and White in every bite!") we headed back home for steak and Nanaimo Bars (click here for the recipe). It was a wonderful day - I felt honored that my American family members would take the time to help me celebrate the creation of my home country.
Erin and I are on our way back home to Nashville today after having spent nearly a week up in Canada with my family. I've been focusing most of my time on hanging out with my family and on doing my part in consuming all the goodies mom made for our visit. Here is my last Martha Stewart moment as I give you another recipe from my childhood:
Butterscotch Confetti Squares
I could eat these all day. There's no baking involved and only 4 ingredients... what more could you ask for? Believe me - you can't have just one. These show up every time I come home - and I never complain! Click here for the recipe.
That's it - time to get packed up. If you try any of the recipes I've given you over the last couple of days, I'd love to hear how they turned out and what you thought... Happy eating! I guess I'll need to post about running next week so that I'm not responsible for significant weight gain in my readership...
As I said yesterday, I'm home spending time with my family and not too focused on blogging this week. However, I do want to share a number of recipes with you (am I becoming Martha Stewart or something?!?) of goodies that were staples during my childhood. To this day, anything that involves chocolate and peanut butter is a winner in my books... we traced the following treat back to a recipe book from 1984.
Krispie Roll
My family did a lot of camping when I was growing up. With 4 kids, trips to theme parks or staying in hotels every night were not options... far too expensive. So we spent a lot of time in campgrounds tenting, or floating down rivers in canoes. We enjoyed the outdoors together as a family - I wouldn't give those times up for anything. One of the regular treats on these trips was the Krispie Roll. It was very easy to pack, really didn't need to be refrigerated, and kept for days on end. Try it out - I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed!
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