Wow, what a great topic, y’all! Who, I ask you, hasn’t learned something from the smaller-sized versions of ourselves? Even if you don’t have kids of your own, there’s plenty to learn from when we were kids ourselves, right?

Anyhoo – a big ol’ Yeehaw! is in order for the participants in this month’s groupwrite project: What I Learned From Children. In fact, we had [updated] 18 entries this time around! (sound of crowd cheering enthusiastically)

So take a look at the list below, in which all the entries are listed in the order in which I found ‘em. Do yourself a favor and drop by each writers’ site and start a conversation, why don’cha? You’ll be glad you did.

• What I Learned From Children, by Stephen Smith at …words
• Join the Action! by Kevin Martineau at Shooting the Breeze
• Six Lessons Learned From Children, by Deb Brown at Need a Little Advice?
• What I learned from children, by Todd Jordan at The Broad Brush
• Why – the Most Valuable Word in Business, by Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc.
• The tale of the bird, the boy and the big brave steps, by Emma Newman at Post-Apocalyptic Publishing
• What I Learned from My Children: Simplicity, by Meryl at Meryl.net
• What I learned from children, by Paul Merrill at Shiny Bits of Life
• Write, Produce and Direct Your Own Destiny Program(ming), by Jeanne Male at Job Life Architect
• Living Here and Now, by Ulla Hennig at Ulla Hennig’s Weblog
• What I Learned From Children, by Geoffrey Philp at Geoffrey Philp’s Blogspot
• What I Learned From Children, by George Angus at Tumblemoose.com
• What I Learned From MY Children, by Karen Hanarahan at Best of Mother Earth
• What I Learned From… Children, by Stephen Smith at …words

And of course, here’s a few more from yours truly:

• Getting the Wrong Impression, by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings
• Christmas Day, 2009, by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings
• Jump With Joy! by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings
• The Day I Went Flying, by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings

I’d like to thank all those who participated this month, and hope you enjoy some of the wild, weird, and sometimes even whacky stuff that goes on here at the Zone. Don’t forget to drop by next month for another exciting episode of As The World Turns What I Learned From….

And of course, a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!

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I don’t know about you, but chances are fair to middlin’ at least some folks developed at least one or two false impressions about you (or your business) at some time in your life, right? Hey, it happens. Sometimes folks just flat out misunderstand what you said – or meant – or did – and the lines of communication get all snarled up like a fishing reel that’s gone haywire.

Hey, it’s bad enough when your customers get the wrong impression of you or your business. At least when you have a relationship with your customers, you might (at least, hopefully) get the chance to explain.

But what about when your customers give others the wrong impression? What the heck can you do then?

Bus Driver for Hire

Back when I was a starving student at Texas A&M, for spending money I drove shuttle buses around the campus. I’ll tell ya; that was one great job: flexible hours, good pay, and when you got right down to it, pretty easy work.

Probably the hardest part of the job was navigating through the sometimes narrow streets on campus. Generally speaking, that wasn’t too bad a problem – unless, of course, some bonehead parked their car where it shouldn’t have been. Many’s the time I wished we had a handy, er, dozer blade on the front of the bus. But I digress.

Anyway, one day my supervisor asked some of us if we wanted to earn a little extra income by working on an upcoming Saturday. Naturally we all perked up at that – until, that is, we heard what the job actually was. The task, he told us, was to drive the local Jewish elementary school’s children (about 200 or so of the little darlings) from College Station to downtown Houston. Turns out they had arranged a special showing of the stage version of Fiddler on the Roof for the kids, and the best way to get ‘em all there was using our buses.

Well, let’s see… on the one hand, the mental image of driving to Houston with 50 or so screaming elementary kids on my bus for approximately 3 hours – each way – was, well, a mite daunting. (For those of you familiar with the drive, what would normally take a little more than an hour-and-a-half or so would take at least twice as long for this trip because rules required us to drive no faster than 50 miles per hour.) Still, after due consideration, the lure of that extra spending money convinced four of us to finally throw caution to the winds and say, What the hey!

What’s This Got to Do with Beer?

By now you’re probably wondering just what the heck this image of assorted beer bottles has to do with this story. Hey, I’m glad you asked! The fact is, whenever I remember this particular day, it’s the only thing I can think of.

That’s because, for the entire 3-hour drive from College Station to Houston – and then again for the entire drive back – the kids sang what I consider to be the Worlds Stupidest Song: “99 Bottles of Beer”! Just in case you’ve lived under a rock your entire life and have never heard it (congratulations!), it goes like this:

99 bottles of beer on the wall,

99 bottles of beer –

You take one down,

And pass it around –

98 bottles of beer on the wall!

98 bottles of beer on the wall,

98 bottles of beer –

You take one down,

And pass it around –

97 bottles of beer on the wall!

97 bottles of –

Well, you get the picture, right? No kidding, y’all; they sang the entire stupid song down from 99 bottles to 1 – and then started over again. And again. And… again. I’ll tell ya; by the time we arrived at the Music Hall in downtown Houston, I was sorely tempted to let ‘em out – and then leave ‘em all there! Yeesh!

While the kids were inside watching the show, we four drivers found a coffee shop to hang out in. As I sat there, silently contemplating the trip back (with no small amount of dread), one of the other drivers finally broke the silence and asked, “Did your kids… uh, sing any songs on your bus?”

That was when the awful truth was revealed: it wasn’t just my group, but all of ‘em were singing that stupid song! What gives with that, we wondered. Just what the heck were they teaching those kids at that school, anyway?

Getting the Wrong Idea

After about 3.5 nanoseconds, though, I realized it wasn’t really the school’s fault their elementary-aged kids seem to have a fixation on, well, beer. Hey, kids are kids; they’ll do all kinds of things you won’t expect. Nature of the, er, beasts, if you follow me. And I reflected a moment or two on how easy it was to think of the school as bein’ the problem.

It’s really funny sometimes just what kind of impression your customers give of you, isn’t it? I mean, when you get right down to it, that’s something you really don’t have too much control over. Oh, sure; you can do your best to influence, mitigate, or even try to direct the conversation – but when you get right down to it, they’re pretty much gonna do what they’re gonna do.

If you were the principal of this particular school and just read this story, what would you be thinking along about now?

So the question is, how do you handle it when folks get the wrong idea about your business. Or even worse – what if the wrong impression is all about you?

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This is my entry for this month’s “What I Learned From Children” groupwrite project. Hey, you’re welcome to join us – all you have to do is follow this cute little link and read all about it!

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Howdy y’all, and welcome to the first Monday of February! As many of you know, the first Monday of the month always marks the official kick off of our monthly groupwrite project, “What I Learned From…”.

A Little History

Did you know the WILF project has been a (more-or-less) regular feature here at the Middle Zone for almost three years now? Yep; since May of 2007!

Since then there have been 29 editions with 805 entries, on every topic under the sun, including two of my favorites: WILF #11 (What I Learned From Odd Jobs – 43 entries) and WILF #23 (What I Learned From Adversity – 35 entries). Of course, the record for most entries still goes to Blogapalooza ’09 (What I Learned From 2008 – a whopping 128 entries).

Anyhoo – I’m inviting you to join hundreds of others who have participated in projects over the years. It’s really easy; all you have to do is write a post (or you can use an already-written one) that illustrates something you learned – and that has to do with the topic du jour.

This month, the topic is:

WHAT I LEARNED FROM CHILDREN

So the questions you have to ask yourself are this: Have you ever learned something from your children? From someone else’s children? When you were a child yourself? When a friend or acquaintance was a child? When you were standing next to a child? (Like I said, even related to the topic is good enough to qualify.)

How To Participate

All you have to do is send me the link to a post that fits the topic. It can be either new or an existing post, but it has to be from your own blog. I’m accepting entries from now thru Sunday, February 7^th.

So just to review…

1. Write a post (or send me the link to an existing post) on your blog with a link to THIS POST (uh, the one you’re reading now). By the way, feel free to be as eloquent (or concise) as you like.
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! Then on Monday, February 8^th, I will post the entire list of entries right here at the Middle Zone; 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, dig into your archives, and get to it!

[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, February 7th 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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Howdy y’all!

Hey, in case you’re wondering about the slow week here at the Zone (I’m assuming that’s true – if it ain’t… please don’t disillusion me!) it’s because today’s my birthday and I’ve sorta been layin’ low on purpose.

Don’t you worry ’bout a thing, y’all; I’ll be back on Monday with the kickoff to our next What I Learned From… groupwrite project! See ya then!

In the meantime, I think I’ll have another slice of that cake…

p.s. If you think I did this just to fish for compliments, why I’m shocked – simply shocked you would even suggest such a thing! I would never do that. No, to be honest, I was fishing for presents! Just send your cash or checks to – ouch (sound of blunt object hitting back of head)

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Have you ever wondered what the future holds?Hey, join the club, Bubba; sooner or later we all do. It’s sorta like wondering what’s behind this big blue door.

Well, wonder no more! For those of you who may have been wondering what happened to our monthly What I Learned From… groupwrite projects, I’m pleased to announce I’m kicking off the first one for 2010 on next Monday, February 1! (sound of crowd cheering enthusiastically)

The topic will be (sound of drum roll) … What I Learned From Children

Now, for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the deal:

If you’d like to participate, all you have to do is write a post (or link to an existing post) that addresses the topic. Something you learned from, because of, or with the topic du jour (which in this case is, of course, children). Post it on your blog by the project close on Sunday night at midnight, CST (-6 GMT), Feb. 7. Then send me an email with the link (so I don’t miss it). I’ll collect them all and post them right here at the Zone on Monday, Feb. 8.

It’s a great way to have some fun, gain a few links, discover other writers both new and old (hey, who you callin’ old?), and maybe even learn a thing or two. Plus, you get to join the hundreds of entries already submitted for past WILF projects!

Please give some serious thought to joining us, won’t you?

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A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to y’all!

Welcome to the final post here at Middle Zone Musings for the year 2009 – and what a year it was, I’ll tell ya! Thrills, chills, spills – and that was just at my house! Heaven only knows what happened at yours!

And hey, who knows what amazing things are in store for us next year?

I want to thank all the wonderful folks who have participated, commented, or simply dropped by the Middle Zone this year. A big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya, and thank you from the bottom of my ol’ Texas heart!

Well, here’s the final results from this year’s annual What I Learned From 2009 groupwrite project. We had only 14 entries this time, admittedly a far cry from the 138 entries y’all contributed in last year’s Blogapalooza. But that’s just okey-dokey with me; I’m just honored y’all chose to squeak some time out of your holidays to participate. Really!

I asked y’all to write a post at your own blogs, listing your best, or favorite, or most outrageous (or whatever) posts of the year 2009, then send me the link to your round-up post. So here’s the list of entries, in no particular order. Do yourself a favor and check ‘em all out, y’all; there’s some great writers here:

• The Best of BeAllergyWise Blog for 2009, by Monique Attinger at BeAllergyWise
• The Best of BeAllergyWise News for 2009, by Monique Attinger at BeAllergyWise
• My Most Conversational Posts of 2009, by Brad Shorr at Word Sell
• Old and New Tricks and Issues – What I’ve Learned From 2009, by Alina Popescu at Words of a Broken Mirror
• A Year’s Worth of Posts, by Geoffrey Philp at Geoffrey Philp’s Blogspot
• The Best of Brawise, by Monique Attinger at Brawise
• Favorite Posts of 2009, by Meryl Evans at Meryl.net
• My Essential Lines from 2009, by Joanna Young at Confident Writing
• The Reward of Finding…, by Nancy Kourmoulis at Treasures of Darkness
• What I Learned From… 2009, by Lillie Ammann at A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye
• Picturing My Way Home, by Joanna Young at Joyful Jubilant Learning
• What I Learned from 2009, by Karen Hanrahan at Best of Mother Earth
• 2009 Life’s Lessons Learned, by Sheila Glazov at Sheila Glazov

And of course, there’s my own entry. It was a mite harder than usual selection the criteria for this WILF. But after much anguished soul-searching, I hit upon this gem of a topic: My “least linked to” posts of 2009 My Most Profound Lessons Learned from 2009:

• A Prolific Profusion of Profound Profundity. Or Something. by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings

Now, y’all have a happy and safe finish to the year 2009, and as always, a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!

See ya next year! Yeehaw!

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[Note: This is my entry for this year’s final groupwrite project, What I Learned From 2009. Care to join the fun? See the note at the bottom of this post!]

I’ll tell ya; it was tough picking the posts to highlight; there’s just so many choices! And deciding the selection criteria was a bear, too. For awhile, it was a close call between “Most Ignored Posts” and “Posts Least Linked To”.

But after much soul-searching (not to mention long hours minutes scanning this year’s posts) I finally decided to call this collection:

My Most Profound Lessons Learned From 2009

• The Perils of Pumpkin Bread (December) – Why it’s always important to include every ingredient in a recipe. I’ll tell ya; it was an aggravating morning – that yielded a valuable lesson!
• The Dangers of Sitting Still (November) – Sometimes you have to see the buzzards circling to realize you may be in danger, y’know? I’ll never sit still again – at least, not out in the open like that!
• Jump With Joy! (October) – Whatever you do, do it with enthusiasm! That’s what I learned from a summer camp, a little kid, and a trampoline.
• Better Pay Attention! (September) – Sometimes there’s plenty of indications that danger lies just ahead, y’know? Sadly, we often don’t pay enough attention to all those little signs. Just sayin’.
• Upwardly Mobile (August) – Reflections on the perils of being upwardly mobile. Sometimes the apparent scariness of the situation is not really all that big a thing. Maybe it just takes – doin’ it.
• What To Do When You Mess Up – Bad (July) – A bit of self-confession here. On occasion, admitting you have a problem is the first step to getting it solved. Or something.
• Exploring New Horizons (June) – A business trip to a small town in Utah led to some very interesting insights that can apply to pretty much anywhere you happen to be – if you’ll just look.
• Moseyin’ Around Downtown Chicago (May) – No doubt about it, attending SOBCon’09 taught me quite a few things about community. But outside of the conference, taking the time to wander around downtown Chicago early one morning was a wonderful bonus. Come walk with me, won’t you?
• The Trouble With Trouble (April) – Without a doubt, the best lesson I’ve ever learned from facing adversity. I’ll admit; it doesn’t make it any easier. But still, there’s comfort in knowing…
• School of Hard Knocks (March) – I just want to go on record here: no matter what conclusion you may come to when you read this one – I still blame the hat! One reason I wear a cowboy hat and not a baseball cap these days.
• From Here to There (February) – Musings on the path often convoluted paths we travel in life. Take it from me; you may not always end up where you thought you would. But then again, you might! Still, it’s the journey, not the destination, that’s interesting.
• What I Learned From Blogapalooza 2009 (January) – Here’s a few things I learned after running last year’s end-of-the-year extravaganza, Blogapalooza 2009. I’ll give you a hint: it’s all about the power of the invitation.

Well, that’s about the size of it, y’all! 12 posts chock full of, well, sumpin’ anyway. But then again, maybe that’s for you to decide, ain’t it?

Hey, here’s to a great finish for 2009!

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[Note from the Proprietor: Hey, you’re invited to join us for this final groupwrite project of the year 2009! Just click on this link: (What I Learned From 2009) and read all about it! Also, I’ve decided to leave it open a bit longer, so I’ll be accepting entries through Sunday, December 27! Lots of time left!]

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