Archive for the 'Sidewalk Series' Category

Guest Post at “What Would Dad Say”

The other day my buddy GL Hoffman sent me an email inviting me to be a guest over at his site, What Would Dad Say. It just so happened I was right in the middle of writing yet another Sidewalk Series post, and coincidentally enough it just happened to fit right in with the general theme over there.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to escape the box for a bit.

What’s it about, you ask? Well, it’s about this tree…

Oh, and I give you 5 things I learned about job hunting in today’s world. (Along with a story, of course. What would I do if I couldn’t tell stories? I’m tellin’ ya; my head would probably explode!)

Hey, why not jump on over the GL’s place and take a look? And don’t forget to say “Howdy!”

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Photo: Need a Little Help, by Robert Hruzek

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2 responses so far

We Have a Winner!

Today is the day we all find out who the winner of our first-ever What I Learned From… Contest (sound of crowd cheering) and I’m tellin’ ya folks, the excitement is building!

First I’d like to thank a fellow Bubba, Mr. Chris Garrett who, completely out of the blue, Tweeted me a while back and kindly donated 5 copies of his and Darren Rowse’s book, Problogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income. What a guy!

So a big ol’ tip o’ the Middle Zone Stetson to ya, Chris!

Now, before I announce the winner, once again here’s a list of the entries (mine were left out because, well, you know).

  1. What I Learned From a Sidewalk, by by Nancy Kourmalis at Treasures of Darkness
  2. Taking Time to Notice What is Around You, by Jackie Cameron at Jackie Cameron – Coaching and Communication
  3. What I Learned From… a Sidewalk, by Linda at E-flections of an Educator
  4. Lessons From the Top of the Stairs, by Terro at Plum Duff
  5. What I Learned From a Sidewalk, by Chris Dawson at cdawson
  6. Shakin’ What You Got, by Rich Bordner at Pugnatious Irishman
  7. Move, move… You’re Stepping on My Sidewalk, by Meryl Evans at meryl.net
  8. What I Learn From the Footpath, by Kristin Milton at On the end of my rope
  9. A Gift From Our Driveway, by Jean Browman at Cheerful Monk
  10. What I Learned From a Pavement Conversation, by Joanna Young at Confident Writing
  11. The Writing on the Sidewalk, by Ulla Hennig at Ulla’s Hennig’s Weblog
  12. Pounding the Pavement is One Tough Way to Sell, by Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc.
  13. Sidewalk Surprises, by Karen Swim at Words for Hire
  14. What I Learned From a Sidewalk, by Paul Merrill at Paul Merrill
  15. What I Learned From a Sidewalk… sortof, by Karen Hanrahan at Best of Mother Earth
  16. What I Learned From a Sidewalk, by Jon Swanson at Levite Chronicles
  17. Take a Walk? By Deb Brown at Deb Works
  18. Sidewalk Lessons, by Annie at Hope42Day’s Blog
  19. Lessons From a Sidewalk: Form Without Function – Message Without Meaning, by Luke Gedeon at Luke Gedeon
  20. The Dark Side… Walk, by Randal W. O’Rourke at Pinhole’s Blog
  21. What I Learned From a Sidewalk, by Annalyn Jusay at Ajay’s Writings on the Wall
  22. Writing Lessons From the Sidewalk, by Terry Heath at Terry Heath
  23. Affirmation of Faith, by HS at On the Horizon
  24. What I’ve Learned From the Sidewalk Adventures, by Scott at The Ever-Changing Thought

Now, you’ll notice the list is numbered now, right? So, to choose a winner, I went to www.random.org, set up a random integer sequence, pushed the button (sound of drumroll), and -

The winner is NUMBER 4: Lessons From the Top of the Stairs, by Terro, who writes at Plum Duff. (You can see the winning number by clicking on the image on the left there.)

Congratulations, Terro! Drop me an email with your mailing address and I’ll tie your copy of the Problogger book to my trusty carrier pidgeon, Ralph, for a very special delivery!

Thanks for joining us this month, y’all! Next month, yet another copy of the book will be given away (I’m gonna keep goin’ until I run out of books), so be sure and drop by on the first Monday of the month!

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12 responses so far

All Entries: What I Learned From a Sidewalk

Howdy, y’all!

A big ol’ yee-haw (sound of yee-haw!) and a round of applause (sound of applause) for all you wonderfully talented and incredibly fine-looking writers (my story and I’m stickin’ to it!) who joined us for this month’s slightly unusual group writing project: What I Learned From… a Sidewalk

Yup;  I admit it may have been a tad more of a challenge than usual; after all, you might have had to exercise a brain cell or two for this one! (Just kiddin’, y’all!) But I truly do appreciate you sharing your stories (and more importantly, your lessons learned) with the rest of us. For this month, we had a total of 32 entries! (sound of crowd cheering enthusiastically)

Hey, don’t forget this month’s WILF is a contest, too! That’s right; I’ll be drawing one lucky winner from all the entries (except, of course, mine) who will receive a copy of Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett’s book, Problogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income. (Tune in tomorrow for the winner!)

Now, for your edification you’ll find each and every entry listed below (in no particular order, other than it’s how I found ‘em). Do yourself a favor and check ‘em all out. Heck, why not do something really out of the ordinary – why not drop by the authors’ blogs and start a conversation, why don’cha?

You just may be glad you did!

And last, but hopefully not least, here’s the Sidewalk Series entries to date from yours truly:

Y’all give yourselves a big hand, my friends; once again you’ve outdone yourselves! As always, a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!

Don’t forget, y’all -drop by tomorrow when I’ll announce the winner of a free copy of Problogger! And then plan to join us next month for the next What I Learned From… project.

What’s the topic going to be, you ask? Well… now that would be tellin’!

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10 responses so far

The Path Not Taken

[Note from the Proprietor: This is one of an ongoing series of posts called Scenes From a Sidewalk. Want to know what it's all about? Follow that link to read the series introduction.]

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Today’s thought is a short one – I think. (Hey, you never know with me!)

OK, so I was moseying along my sidewalk the other day, mindin’ my own business, when lo and behold, I come across this side path (see the photo below). It’s different from the more permanent sidewalk in that it’s simply a gravel path – albeit a nicely groomed one. I dunno; somehow the use of gravel rather than concrete suggests it’s merely an alternative instead of the recommended way to get where you’re goin’, if you get my meanin’.

Whenever you run across an alternative path, it raises some serious questions, doesn’t it? Do you take the less-than-perfect path? Where will it lead? Is it risky? Why is it not made of a more permanent substance? Does that suggest it’s not the, y’know, right way? Which way do most other folks go? And a multitude of others.

(OK, I know it’s just a short path across a lawn. Try to work with me here, won’t you? I’m exercisin’ what’cha might call my poetic license, serial # 92-B39ZC, issued by the State of Insanity.)

The Road Taken – or Not

Have you ever taken an alternative path in your life? I have. Sometimes I freely chose to go in a different direction. Every now and then I had it, um, thrust upon me, if you follow me. Sometimes the path led to a, well, less than optimal situation. Other times, I ended up in a far better place than I had envisioned at the beginning.

The thing is, each time a choice is made, then opportunity comes along with it. It’s up to us to make the most of it, whether we chose that particular course – or not. It ain’t always as easy takin’ the clean, concrete, well-marked path as you would think. Sometimes, the less-travelled path is actually the better one – for you.

In any case, I’m just sayin’, y’all; there may be opportunity out there, if you’re lookin’ for it. But if you don’t take the alternative course – if you continue to cling to the nice, neat path that was created for you by someone else – you may just miss it!

Is it time to take a risk?

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Photo: Gravel Path, by Robert Hruzek

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Note from the Proprietor: This is also an entry for this month’s What I Learned From… groupwrite project. If you’d like to join the fun, just click on that link and read all about it. Everyone is welcome – you may even win a free prize!

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11 responses so far

Squished!

[Note from the Proprietor: This is one of an ongoing series of posts called Scenes From a Sidewalk. Want to know what it's all about? Follow that link to read the series introduction.]

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When facing worry, fear and doubt; run in circles, scream and shout!

- A “less than optimum” formula for facing troubled times

First of all, lemme just say, er, sorry for the, um, slightly disgusting photo there. But it IS something I found on my daily trek on the sidewalk… Besides, it speaks volumes to me (not that I’m in the habit of, um, listening to dead insects… or dead anything, for that matter).

Anyhoo…

Show of hands: How many times have you ever felt like the unfortunate little critter in the photo here – when life has turned around and pretty much flattened you like a big ol’ ten-ton bag of steaming donkey poo? Yep; thought so. [Note from the Proprietor: I assure you, the use of donkey poo and its implied political commentary was entirely accidental! But I think I'll leave it.]

Hey, I know what it’s like; I’ve been there too.

A Thankless Job

About 8 years ago, I spent an entertaining three months on a project in Taiwan. Then upon my return, I worked for the same company at their office in Dallas, Texas for yet another three months before it finally ended. (When you’re a contract employee, in some ways it’s a thankless job because getting laid off is the usual way a project ends. In a way, you sorta get immune to it after a while, although it’s never exactly fun.)

Now, whenever that sorta thing happened, I’d immediately switch to “job search mode”. You know what I mean, don’t you? Update resumes, make phone calls, pestering everybody in contact your network – you know; throwin’ all the usual things up against the wall to see what sticks. To my surprise, though, instead of a few days off, followed by a new job – my, er, “utilizationally-challenged” days began to stretch out into weeks. Gradually, weeks turned into months, and the months (sound of despondent sobbing) turned into – you guessed it – years.

I’m not kidding folks, it was almost 4 years to the day when I picked up my briefcase (er, figuratively speaking – I don’t normally carry a briefcase to work) and headed back to work again! And trust me when I say, that was a loooooooonnnnnnnnggggg four years!

I’ll tell ya; countless times during those years I experienced more than my fair share of confusion, frustration, aggravation – not to mention quite a few other -tion’s as well. And more than once I felt exactly like our little buddy la cucaracha up there.

You know, the problem with this sort of feeling is – it often leaves you thinkin’ you’re the only one in the whole world. You know what I mean, right? The “poor me” pattern. The “why does this hafta happen to me” malaise. The “nobody knows the trouble I seen” sob story.

No doubt about it; bein’ on the receivin’ end of life’s unpleasant surprises is a sure fire recipe for self-pity, self-doubt, and loneliness.

Oh, Woe is Poor, Poor Me!

There once was this guy named Elijah. (Hey, that sounds like the start of a limerick, doesn’t it?)

Now, this guy was a relatively unique individual – an Old Testament prophet. He was a crusty ol’ fellah, and probably wore your typical prophet’s robe cut from rough cloth since he lived out in the wilderness. His job was to proclaim God’s word boldly and with fervor in the face of the bad guys – I mean, he was pretty much the epitome of what folks thought of when they thought of the word, “prophet”.

One time, while confronting a particular evil king and queen (Ahab and Jezebel – history tells us they were the absolute worst ones ever), he challenged their entire priesthood of the false god called Baal to a sortof “wild west” showdown, just to prove who’s God was the Real Thing.

So Baal’s priests built an altar – then Elijah built an altar. They put a sacrifice on theirs – and he put one on his, too. Then just for the heck of it, he had them pour water all over his altar’s wood to make it impossible to burn.

Then the priests prayed to Baal to call fire from heaven and prove their worth. (This is from 2 Kings, Chapter 1, in case you’d like to check it out.) Alas for them, nothing happened. (Musta had a wrong number?)

Finally, after several hours of this nonsense, Elijah prayed to God, and not only did fire come streaming down from heaven to his altar, it also consumed the stones of the altar, the water, Baal’s priests’ altar – and by the way, all of Baal’s priests, too!

Now, you’d think, with this kind of affirmation backin’ you up, you’d have a little confidence in your God, wouldn’t you?

Oddly enough, it didn’t – quite – turn out that way!

Immediately after this truly eye-popping event, Queen Jezebel got so angry that she turned several shades of red, then threatened the life of our hero Elijah (you know, the same guy who just totally, er, toasted the Queen’s private army of priests) and what did he do? Stand up boldly and call her out? Stride up to her and slap her silly? Spit in her eye?

Well… uh, not exactly! Instead of standing up to her, he turned and ran for his life, hiding in a cave as far away as he could get. Then he cried out to God that he was the only one to suffer as much humiliation as he, and to please take him to heaven now, thank you very much, so he wouldn’t have to face that evil whack job Jezebel!

Well, I don’t know about you, but that just seems too weird! Here he was, the genuine, bona-fide winner in the “my God is bigger than your god” contest, and this is how he acts? I mean, c’mon!

Well, God let Elijah stew in his own self-pitying juices for awhile, then told him that, not only was he not alone, but that there are over 700 others “out there” who followed God – and that he should stop feelin’ so sorry for himself. In other words, “You ain’t alone, Bubba, so get up off your sorry butt and get back to work!”

You’re Not Alone!

The fact is, no matter how you feel, you’re really not alone. And I wasn’t either. All I had to do was – turn my focus outward instead of inward in order to find other folks just like me!

Understand, now, I don’t mean, “there’s lotsa other folks sufferin’ like you are”. No, what I mean is, there are others out there with whom you have something in common – now go find them and see what you can do for ‘em!

The truth is, when I spend time thinkin’ about my own woes, well, it’s a sure-fire way to end up depressed. But when I focus on others – be the lovely Mrs. MZM, my friends, or whoever – hey, as long as it wasn’t, y’know, all about me, then things started lookin’ up.

Oh, don’t get me wrong; it still took four years to get another job. It’s just that, once I learned to think about others instead of myself, the time just somehow passed quicker. Amazing how that works – but there it is.

I’m just sayin’.

Bonus Round

p.s. For some strange reason, the idea of an actual limerick somehow stuck in my brain for a few days, and lo and behold, one actually materialized! So as an added bonus, I give you…

Elijah’s Limerick

God spoke through a guy named Elijah
To Ahab, said, “Just can’t abide ya!
I’ll call down the fire;
Roast your priests on a pyre;
And you’ll know, when I’m done, Who’s the Higher!”

(Note: To make it rhyme properly, you have to use a distinctive New York State accent. The words “fire”, “pyre” and “higher” are all spoken like this: “fi-ah”, “py-ah”, and “high-ah”.)

Hey, I never said it was a good limerick.

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Photo: Squished! by Robert Hruzek

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Note from the Proprietor: This is also an entry for this month’s What I Learned From… groupwrite project. If you’d like to join the fun, just click on that link and read all about it. Everyone is welcome – you may even win a free prize!

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30 responses so far

What I Learned From… a Sidewalk

Yee-haw, y’all; hey, it’s that time of the month once again here in the Middle Zone! No, not that, ya big galoot! Nope; it’s time for this month’s edition of What I Learned From…

And this time I have, right here in my hot little hands, a FREE PRIZE for one lucky participant! (sound of crowd cheering) But… you’ll have to read the whole post for details.

OK; unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ve probably noticed the ongoing series of posts here at the Zone I’ve titled Scenes From a Sidewalk, right? Well, to tell you the truth, when I first began, I figured there’d be only a few posts come out of it. Well, guess I should have had a little more faith in my ideas, y’know?

Since then, it’s sorta taken on a life of its own. Every day some new thing catches my eye, generating lesson after lesson! As a matter of fact, I’ve got a whole slew of posts just cryin’ to be posted! (And I’ll tell ya; all that whinin’ and cryin’ is startin’ to get to me!)

Then my friend Joanna Young made a really intriguing suggestion. (Probably while she was munching on the wrong end of a pizza. But I’m over that, Joanna. Really.) I’ll tell ya; it was as if the clouds suddenly parted, a bright light shone down on me from above, and the angels started singing!

Her comment: This might make a great What I Learned From… topic! So I says to myself, Self, let’s do it!

So that’s your topic for this month’s project!

What I Learned From a Sidewalk

You know that old saying about taking the time to stop and smell the roses? Well, that’s the idea behind this month’s project.

I want you to think about the places you go, the people you see, and the journeys you take every day. Do you go… down the stairs? … down the street? … down the hatch? … down the tubes? Hey, I want to know what you discover on your trip down the figurative sidewalk. (OK; I know not everybody calls a sidewalk a sidewalk. Some folks, as Joanna pointed out, call it pavement. Go figure!)

Or maybe where you live there’s no concrete at all, but beaten paths. Hey, it could even be a hallway or corridor or in your workplace, a frequently-driven route to the grocery store, or whatever! The point is, on a common journey you take often – maybe even every day – there are lessons to be learned all around you!

So, I want you to pick a spot, stop, and take a genuine, in-depth look around you. (And PLEASE don’t do this while you’re, y’know, driving!) Now, pick something that just sorta speaks to you. Is there something; some scene, object or incident that catches your eye? Does it tickle your fancy? Remind you of something? Spark a lesson or example of something interesting?

OK, now all you have to do is write a post about what you learned from it!

New for WILF! FREE Prize This Month!

As I mentioned up there at the top, I have a fresh, totally new, and guaranteed unread copy of Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett’s book, Problogger to give away (with thanks to Chris Garrett for the generous offer of several promotional copies). Hey, if you’ve ever considered tryin’ to make a living as a blogger, this is a must-read, y’all!

So, just to make this month’s project more interesting… one lucky and randomly-chosen participant will win a free copy! (sound of crowd cheering) (Don’t worry; if you don’t win one this time, there’ll be more over the next several months!)

Here’s How to Enter

Hey, you know the drill. Like I said; you can pretty much write anything you like, as long as it illustrates a lesson (or lessons) learned. Be specific. Be non-specific. And, since I never impose a restriction on length, be as eloquent as you like. But most of all, be yourself – and write something!

The contest is open from now thru Sunday, March 8, at midnight (that’s midnight to me, which is GMT-6 time), so write your post(s) (yes, you can enter more than once!), and send me the links! I’ll post the entire list of entries on Monday, March 9, and I’ll announce the winner of the Problogger book on Tuesday, March 10.

And let’s not forget the details…

  1. Write a new post (or more than one) on your blog with a link to THIS POST (uh, the one you’re reading now). As I said, feel free to be as eloquent (or concise) as you like. C’mon; show off for us!
  2. Send me an email (rhruzek@sbcglobal.net) containing your name, the title of your post, and the permalink of the post. (To make sure I don’t miss it.)

That’s all there is to it! Next Monday, March 9, I will post the entire list of entries right here at the Middle Zone, so be sure and drop by to check ‘em all out.

As always, we have just two simple rules around here:

  • For the sake of the general blogging audience, please keep it G-Rated. (Also please note: this is a request, not a demand, since after all it’s your blog and you can do what you want. Fair warning: I can choose to link to you or not.)
  • Be nice.

All right, ladies and gentlemen; you know what to do! Grab the writing instrument of your choice and start writing!

[Note from the Proprietor - I realize it takes a little time to write your entries, but would you mind too terribly not waiting until midnight on Sunday night, March 8, to notify me? Sometimes it can be difficult to get them all compiled by Monday's 6 am post time! I surely thank you, and as a token of my appreciation - have yourself a cookie!]

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“Sidewalk” image created by Spell With Flickr

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30 responses so far

Cut!

[Note from the Proprietor: This is one of an ongoing series of posts called Scenes From a Sidewalk. Want to know what it's all about? Follow that link to read the series introduction.]

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As with most of our professional office buildings these days (at least, the ones here in Houston), the entrances to ours are festooned with neatly planted beds filled with a veritable plethora of colorful flowering and decorative plants. Let’s see… there’s an interesting hedge covered in cute little pink thingies, some decorative cabbages, lots of those colorful flowers we call snapdragons… and rows and rows of irises.

To be honest, I truly enjoy seeing these colorful reminders of God’s creativity as I mosey back and forth on my favorite sidewalk. But what’s most interesting is watching how they slowly transform themselves over the seasons. In the spring, of course, you can see the biggest bounty of color. But other seasons have their own special characteristics as well.

One day, though, I was faced with something of a shocking discovery. As you can see from the photo here, all my beloved irises had been ruthlessly chopped back to a nub. I’m tellin’ ya; I was deeply offended! Now what spawn of Satan would do such an unspeakable and coldhearted act?

(Sorry ‘bout the quality of the photos this time – for some reason I couldn’t seem to get ‘em any better, even using Piknik. Ah, well.)

Oh, the Humanity!

OK, OK; by now I can hear those of you out there with even a semblance of a green thumb shouting at me through the computer screen, “Don’t worry about it, ya big galoot! It’s normal practice to cut irises back each spring!”

Yeah, I know. But still… whackin’ those poor, tender little darlin’s down to a nub seems so, I don’t know, heartless, doesn’t it?

Ah, but that’s the secret, isn’t it? The fact is, when you cut ‘em back like that, they turn right around and grow even bigger and bushier than before! Ironic, don’cha think, that the worst possible thing that you could do to a plant – whack it down to the ground – would actually, y’know, be good for it.

So…

I was sitting at my desk the other day, contemplating those irises, while waiting to hear whether or not I still have a job to come back to. It’s not an easy way to spend your day, I’ll tell ya. And, I’d wager that a significant percentage of other folks out there may even be facing the exact same thing.

Hey, I feel for ya, my friends; I really do. I’ve had this happen a time or two before, and I know how hard it is.

But I’ve discovered, over time, that quite often times like these can actually lead to even better opportunities – opportunities you may have completely overlooked if you’d stayed put. I know it sounds crazy, and it certainly isn’t something that most of us look forward to. But it’s true, nonetheless.

The Question of the Day

The whole key, I believe, is to be resilient. Of all the abilities you could possibly have these days, I personally think that’s the one that’ll get you farther than practically any other. Especially in these days and times. And (now listen to Dr. Bob here, y’all), I can tell you from experience; being resilient will help you weather any storm, survive any trial, and bounce back from any setback.

Resilience is the one personal characteristic we should all develop as quickly as we can. Hey, you never know; you might just find potency you never knew you had; new ways to bloom that just weren’t there before.

Take those irises, for instance. I continued to watch the pathetic little chopped-off fellahs as I walked by them every day. But you know what? The next day, there were already bright green shoots popping up all over the place. Within a week, the new growth had already reached several inches high.

Two weeks later (in a dramatic appearance rivaling the giant beanstalk growing from young Jack’s magic beans), not only were they back with a vengeance, but the little boogers were already bloomin’ up a storm! (Click on the photo and take a closer look at the photo if you like.)

Now that’s what I call resilient!

So… are you resilient? That’s the question, isn’t it?

Um… shouldn’t you be thinking about your answer right about now?

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Photos:

Cut!, by Robert Hruzek

Growth Spurt, by Robert Hruzek

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Note from the Proprietor: This is also an entry for this month’s What I Learned From… groupwrite project. If you’d like to join the fun, just click on that link and read all about it. Everyone is welcome – you may even win a free prize!

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22 responses so far

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