Busy in Boise

This was a busy week. On Monday, I flew to Boise, Idaho. Back in the 80's and early 90's when I would travel to Boise, I just did not like the place. Even four years ago when I was there for a conference, I wasn't very impressed. Other people would rave about the city and I just didn't get it.

Now I've been to Boise three times in less than three months and I have to say that I am so impressed with the area. I think it might be my favorite city in the Northwest now. It's pretty easy to get around, there's stuff to do in town, there are lots of natural resources and, perhaps most importantly, good restaurants are all around.

I was in Boise trying a new initiative for OIT. I arranged for four faculty to come to the city as well, built around a reception I planned at the Professional-Technical Center for the Boise school district. The P-Tech Center and the Black Eagle IT Center are where all the Boise and Meridian schools send their kids for shop and computer classes, as well as some other things, so it's a natural fit for OIT.

Well, the reception itself was kind of a bomb, though it was no one's fault. The school district, especially the district's counseling coordinator and the tech center's industry liaison, could not have been more cooperative. With their help, we selected what appeared to be a good date and sent multiple invitations to the science and math teachers, as well as career counselors, in the area. I'm not sure that we could have done a whole lot better even with 20-20 hindsight.

Fortunately, I was also able to set up times at various schools for each of us to go into classrooms and make presentations about various career fields or college in general. Between the five of us, we got to introduce 750 to 800 students to Oregon Tech over the course of four days. I also had some productive meetings with some career counselors in the schools.

On Wednesday, I got to have dinner with Jeannette's brother Jared and introduce him to Fuddruckers and hear about how he broke his arm snowboarding a few weeks ago. After several flight delays Thursday night, I spent Friday in Portland in planning meetings with colleagues from PNACAC. I always enjoy working with Todd, Teri and Ralph . . . hardly seems like work, even when we are struggling with tough issues.

I got home last night at 11 PM. Tomorrow at 11 AM it's back on the airplane, jetting off to Chicago for a few days. Thirty-six hours after I get back from that trip, I'll be back on board, heading to Denver. Whew.

Photo courtesy Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hard to Believe

It's hard to believe that it was a year ago, on January 25, that we found out that our daughter was Nan Cai Jing, living in the Maonan Social Welfare Institute in Maoming, China. All we had at that time was her name and a few simple statistics. A day later, we also had this little photograph:


Now, a year later, she's watching TV and playing with her brothers, eating us out of house and home, and has the entire family wrapped around her finger. Hard to believe.

Quote of the Week

“The faculty or administrator who says, ‘Harvard and the University of Chicago don’t market’ is sadly misinformed. Harvard has more than 650 people working in its advancement and marketing communications offices. The University of Chicago has 250. These numbers represent a significant investment that would not be made, nor sustained, if it did not return value to the institution.”

- Unknown

Starting the Day with a Nap

For whatever reason, MelodyJoy has been waking up earlier and earlier in the morning. Today, she started stirring around 6:40 AM . . . not a good thing on a Sunday. So Jeannette crawled out of bed to keep her quiet and let the rest of us sleep. When I got up about an hour later, I found them both snoozing on the couch in the living room . . .

Quote of the Week

“Tragically, Christian people who do not know what the Bible teaches too often employ harsh rhetoric and engage in nasty culture wars in a way that repels those who most need to hear our message. They will never listen if they think we hate them. . . . . A little consistent wholesome modeling and costly servanthood are worth millions of true words harshly spoken.”

- Ron Sider

My New Tie

This is just for my mom and dad. Everyone else can go browse Amazon.com. Thought you'd like to see the tie you gave me for Christmas. I wore it yesterday for my speaking appointments at Mazama High and it looked great with my yellow shirt and navy pants. Thanks!

A Birthday Gathering

Beth and Sophie Lyman,
Jeannette and MelodyJoy,
Jennifer and Myah Gordon

Yesterday was my birthday. In addition to being sung to [1] while in the shower, [2] at church and [3] prior to opening my gifts, my birthday coincided with a little potluck dinner at Paul and Beth Lyman's house, where I was serenaded once again. The occasion wasn't really to celebrate my aging but because the Gordon family was in town from Oklahoma. The Gordons traveled to China at the same time as the Lymans and us to pick up their Myah. Bob and Tanya Morgan came, too, with their kids (including Brenna, the first China baby in our circle of friends) but we didn't manage to get any photos that were good of everyone.

A Personal Mission Statement

As the president of the Pacific Northwest Association for College Admission Counseling, I have to write a "president's letter" to lead off each issue of the organization's newsletter. Since we have been considering a new mission statement, in the latest edition I wrote a little about that process.

At the risk of stating the obvious, I said that a mission statement focuses an organization’s energy and clarifies its purpose, according to http://nonprofit.about.com. It helps us set priorities. When faced with a decision, we can ask, “Does this fit with our mission?” We often are presented with various opportunities that appear attractive and if we aren’t careful, we can flail about, trying all kinds of new things that are not central to our reason for being. Our decision-making will be more strategic and sensible if we have and follow a mission.

Almost as an aside, I also asked if readers had ever considered writing their own personal mission statements. Borrowing from an article by Janel Radtke, I suggested that they take some time to consider these questions:

• What are the opportunities or needs that you exist to address? What is your purpose?
• What are you doing to address these needs or opportunities? What is your business?
• What principles or beliefs guide your work? What are your values?

Answering these questions in a sentence or brief paragraph or even a short list of bullet points can help you know where your time should be devoted, avoid burn-out and perhaps even lay out your career goals.

True confessions: I haven't done this yet myself, but I probably should. I've thought, too, about the idea of writing a mission statement for our family, either just with Jeannette or involving the boys as well. Then again, that's probably a little too touchy-feely for me . . .

Quote of the Week, MLK Edition

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Week

"Do we listen with the intent of understanding? Or with the intent of replying?"

- Stephen M.R. Covey

YOU are Time's Person of the Year 2006

Time magazine declared a couple of weeks ago that its Person of the Year for 2006 was “you.” There were a number of interesting articles, including one playing off of Andy Warhol’s prediction that someday everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. (The author noted that with the advent of blogs, MySpace, YouTube, etc., it is more likely that “everyone is famous to fifteen people.”)

My reaction, like that of many Time readers, was that the editors had kind of copped out and that there were many other, better choices they could have made. I got an e-mail today from an old friend and colleague, Don Nagle, who is now working in Mexico. He passed along the following commentary about Time’s decision, written by Dennis Wadley of Bridges, a missionary with Hope International in South Africa, giving a different perspective about Time’s decision:

"The magazine cover features a sheet of mylar that reflects the reader's own image, and the feature article, entitled 'Power to the People,' celebrates the new media age that focuses on individualism in the extreme. It has given us MySpace, YouTube, MyYahoo, MyWay, MyStuff, MyNews, and a myriad of other me-centered sites. And there is the iPod on which to play MY music (which tells me 'I can do anything I want any old time').

"There is 'my' fashion and even hamburgers 'my way.' The pop culture today is all about Me and anything-goes toleration of evil, and it is a sign of the times. The Bible prophesied this generation in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

"'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.'

"This is a miraculously perfect description of the content of MySpace or YouTube, and it was written 2,000 years ago. Jesus is coming to catch His Bride away before the Great Tribulation.

"Are you ready?"

Like Dad, Like Daughter

Quote of the Week

“A faith that hasn’t been tested

can’t be trusted.”

- Adrian Rogers