My 500 Words

It was a little after noon on a Wednesday and I was getting ready to leave for the week. I double checked with the attorney covering my Thursday morning hearings and I had managed to clear my Friday calendar. It was a long weekend come early and I was looking forward to spending the time with my son on a Scouting camp out. It's worth it to have a job just to be able to relish in the joy of leaving the job behind. All the way home I was figuring out the final plan for the trip. The complication for our activity is that months ago we purchased tickets to the Paul McCartney concert here in Salt Lake City. The show is Thursday night and the camping runs from Wednesday to Saturday. There was never a decision to be made; we would be coming home for the concert. Adam lobbied to just stay home and go up Friday morning but his pleas never had a chance. We needed to go up with the group and get the connections forming. I never like to be the latecomer to the campsite because you miss the...

In the bottom of the ninth we needed three runs to win and advance to the next round of the playoffs. It wasn't going to be easy but the heart of the order was due up to bat and hope was appropriate. After Matt earned a lead-off walk, everyone put on their rally caps and the chatter in the dugout began in earnest. One run wasn't going to help so there was no small-ball calls coming from the coaches. We were going to have to hit our way to this win because their pitcher wasn't about to give up seven walks. After Leroy hit a double to the gap, Matt scored the first run and we felt like the game was there for us to win. Leroy was quick and he stole third without a throw after a pitch in the dirt. The count was 2-2 and from Joe's perspective it was so far inside that he fell back avoiding the pitch. He was shocked when he heard the call for strike three. Our mood went from jubilant to angry but determined in a moment. With one out Gary stepped to the plate and on a 1-2 co...

The other day one of my children referred to someone as a toady and I had no idea what they were talking about. My sons explained that a perfect example of a toady was Grover Dill in one of our favorite holiday movies, "A Christmas Story." We have watched this show at least dozens of times and probably more since we in no way limit its viewing to the Christmas season. None of us could actually remember his name off the top of our heads so we turned to Google, ran a search and quickly had our answer. As I was reading through the post highlights one particular fact jumped out at me; it turns out that the casting company had originally selected the actor who played Grover Dill to be the bully in the movie and Scut Farkus was supposed to be the toady. Apparently on the first day on set, the director took one look at the two boys and immediately switched their roles. Now, few bullies are as well known as Scut Farkus and our family, at least, couldn't come up with the name Gr...

When I returned from Spain I had no money to my name, no car to get around and I really needed a job. I had planned on returning to work with the title company where I was employed before my two year mission abroad. I optimistically assumed that there would be a place for me when I came home. That wasn't the case. I wasn't picky and began networking before I even knew what networking was. I told everybody that I could think of that I was looking for work and I personally contacted anyone who held a hiring position. I had an uncle and a cousin who each owned their own businesses and a neighborhood friend managed a branch of a large regional bank. My brother worked for a restaurant and he set up an interview for me with his boss. Good fortune was on my side. My cousin had a temporary job for a month and a half, through the Christmas season and I had a nearby friend who worked the same shift. That meant that even though I had no car, I had a ride. When I also got the job at the ...

A few of us from our school jazz band put together a combo for the talent show. In this performance we were not just going to stay behind our music stands. Each segment of the song had a soloist while the others maintained the background rhythms and harmony. We were able to run around on stage forming mini-combos as one soloist finished and another began on a different part of the stage. Based on the reactions from our rehearsals we were sure our energy would be contagious with our friends and classmates. One of our good friends, David, was on the stage crew and had synchronized some cool lighting with our music. He also set up all of the spotlights to highlight the soloists and he was prepared to follow our choreographed positions and movements. It might have looked spontaneous but almost every part of the performance was carefully planned. When we came to our final rehearsal David said he had a final surprise for us but he wanted to keep it a secret. He simply insisted that we stay...

Four years ago during the World Cup final the Spanish National team earned the championship trophy after enduring and surmounting a vicious and brutal team from the Netherlands. Ostensibly the 22 men were playing the beautiful game but that was only true in name only. The overt physicality of challenges by the men in orange who were playing out of position, led to dangerous plays that not only threatened, but inflicted injury upon their opponents. When the Spaniards proved triumphant their fans felt that sense of universal justice fulfilled. It doesn't always happen that way but when it does those ebullient yet sublime emotions of ultimate equity simultaneously energize and calm the soul. When right prevails in such an obvious way on such a global scale it's easy to jump to the conclusion that others will see the rewards from fair play and conform their behavior and adopt a just approach to competition. The problem with that conclusion flows from the perceived reality of the ...