Fast:Forward Farther

Part II of II

Which One? – During the wrap-up meeting to conclude an engagement with an engineer client, their boss shared a technique his mentor used when someone offered a contrarian viewpoint: “Right now are you using engineering or opinioneering?” I like that.

Quick Change – In October, our son married a wonderful woman that he – wait for it – met in kindergarten. She moved away after fourth grade and they only crossed paths a few times. Fate brought them together again and they quickly fell in love. Best of all, from my seat, she has a two-year-old boy, so we became instant grandparents. Then more good news came this month: there’s a future member of the family arriving in August. Life is filled with surprises.  

Bad Picture – Obviously, we were excited to send Christmas cards to share photos with our family and friends. Kathy created them online and the box arrived at our doorstep on December 16, perfectly timed to address envelopes the following day for on-time arrival. When she opened it, I heard a gasp, then: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Seems the printer mistakenly sent us another family’s order. Which, of course, begs the question, who received our cards? – and – was this a one-time mistake or did many families have a similar ‘WTH’ moment? 

Just Believe – After many years wandering the pigskin wilderness, our beloved Texas Longhorns made the College Football Playoff. As we have attended nearly every home game since 2013 – being part of a tailgate team that feeds upward of 150 people – this is a magical time. It is also filled with sadness. Our good friend and tailgate partner Brian passed away in April following a brief illness, then just before the season, retired Texas Sports Information Director Bill Little died at age 81. In 1988, Bill told me I needed to meet the new media person in the Southwest Conference office. I did… the next day. We married 17 months later. I’m unsure what will happen on January 1 in the Sugar Bowl; however, I know we have two friends above who will have their Horns Up.

Easy Approach – I always end this with a suggestion for a worthy charitable cause. Throughout 2023, I took a different approach to giving. While I always believed food servers deserve 20% tips for their hard work, I upped that to 30% and more. Seems a good way to skip the overhead of nonprofits and give directly to those who need it.

Finally, as always, a quote about the importance of the season: “She was so busy doing Christmas, there wasn’t time to experience Christmas.” ~ Lori Copeland

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Season’s Greetings. May 2024 be special for your family, may it bring Peace to the world… and continued success in all things. 

The noise started whenever our CR-V hit 40 mph. Thump-Thump-Thump. It’s my wife’s car, so I drive it only occasionally – and usually with us having conversation or ‘E Street Radio’ or ‘College Sports Radio’ playing on Sirius XM. Thus, when she told me, several times, there was a problem, I said, “It’s not that bad.” Of course, I had purchased an inferior tire compared to what we always had, so there might have been a slight bit of hidden defensiveness in my response.

Months passed… then a year… and finally it became so loud that even I admitted something was amiss. So I showed up at Discount Tires one Friday morning when they opened. After explaining our situation to the young man helping me, he said, ‘You bought these more than a year ago, so I don’t have the authority to do anything.’ He walked over to his manager and spoke to him. The manager came straight to me and said, ‘Let’s to take a look.’

On the walk to our car, I told him what happened and suggested that he drive it to see for himself. He checked the tires, asked me to turn the wheel in each direction and said he didn’t need to drive it. We went back inside and he asked, ‘What would make this right?’ I told him: “I want to go home and tell my wife it’s resolved and that there are Michelins on her car.” He said. “How about I give you our best price, plus a $250 credit on these?”

Listened well. No excuses. Problem resolved.

Forty-five minutes later I got in my car and turned on to the access road. Thump-Thump-Thump. I wasn’t angry… just frustrated. So I called the friend who works on our cars, explained the issue and dropped it off at his house. He tested and said the bearings on the front left were bad.

New tires. New bearings. New silence.

From now on: only Michelins… and always, always, always address a problem when it arises. 

With kids heading back to school, I’m reminded of that perennial favorite first week assignment: “What I did on my summer vacation.” Many youngsters will respond: ‘We went to Disney’ or ‘I learned to ride a bike’ or ‘Stayed at grandmas’. In our house, however, we experienced something for the first time in 25 summers living here.

There is a crepe myrtle outside our circular laundry room window. In May, we noticed a robin building a nest… and soon sitting inside it. From our upstairs window we saw two blue eggs, so it became a daily ritual to regularly check on the soon-to-be chicks. After a couple weeks, as expected, there were two tiny heads tilted upward with mouths wide open – and momma would return frequently to feed them. (Two things: hatchlings are stranger looking than expected; and, you mean that’s how baby birds are fed?)

After a couple more weeks, the little ones left the nest and were hiding in our bushes, occasionally flying around the yard. It was a great experience to witness.

But wait. There’s more.

Who knew red-breasted females lay eggs more than once a year? Well, they do… and by July we embarked on a second journey – this time with one more settled in the nest.

Soon there were three little babies with mouths open… and we checked on them each morning until the day they tumbled out of their safe space. The past few weeks, I’ve watched with paternal joy as the family of ‘my birds’ hop around outside my office window. When winter comes and they fly north – or whatever robins with a two-year life expectancy do – I’ll miss the little ones and their momma.

So that’s what I did this summer.

The end.