HR Rocks. So proclaims the button I picked up at the annual convention of the Society for Human Resource Management. The button was being passed out by the O.C. Tanner Company and attached to a piece of cardboard that had the following printed on it: People create People invent People discover People dream People build…
Read moreAs Much As It Pains Me . . .
Where I work, we feed our employees lunch every Friday. If we don’t bring something in, we will often barbecue hamburgers, hotdogs, and bratwursts for everyone. Frequently, we will provide ice cream treats as well. The other day an issue came up that involved some unknown person or persons, hiding ice cream bars in the ice…
Read moreMeeting the Mouse at the Crossroads
For the last ten years I have lived at the Crossroads of the West—Salt Lake City. The other day I found myself at the Crossroads of the Word—Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. As I looked up at Mickey Mouse, standing on a globe atop a giant tower proclaiming that you are at the Crossroads of…
Read moreUniversity of Oregon Mascot Revealed To Be A Sleestak
Ever have one of those days that start out pretty ordinary, only to have your world turned upside down by something you ran across in a magazine? Kind of like that J. Geils Band song Centerfold, where some poor guy finds out his high school sweetheart happens to be a centerfold model for a “girly”…
Read morePhoto Op
For me, meeting an accomplished writer is like meeting a celebrity. I have this thing for writing and therefore admire those who do it well or are accomplished in the craft. In the last month I have had a couple of opportunities to meet some great writers—Don Yeager and Lee Benson. It is always fun…
Read moreThe Essential Extra
I was a factory worker in Russia on November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Actually, I wasn’t even born yet. But the other day I had an opportunity to be an extra in the television show Granite Flats. The scene in the episode being filmed was taking place on that…
Read moreCall Me a Flake
I like the idea of being a professional. I like it more than being a flake, which according to my way of thinking was participation in fields that involved anything smacking of right brain use—artist, actor, writer, dancer, painter, illustrator, etc. Well, call me a flake now because in February I took acting classes. I had…
Read moreToilet Paper As Writing Paper
I have asked myself many times when it comes to my dreams, am I really willing to do what it will take to get there? You have probably read or heard the following quote by W. H. Murray. It’s quite inspirational and a bit romantic. (It also misquotes Goethe but hey, it is still a…
Read moreI Blame You Robert Kirby
I did something that I am not sure I should have done. I asked how I could help out at my local chapter of the League of Utah Writers. I think I am the President now, or something very close to that. There was no vote taken. In about five seconds, I was the new…
Read moreReading Glasses. Oh, Crap.
It has come to this. Reading glasses. I know that for many of you reading this, glasses have been a part of your life for years, if not from childhood. This has not been my experience. Only in recent years have I started to notice it is harder to focus on small things, like the…
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