What books and movies have you experienced lately?

Always interested in knowing what others have enjoyed.

Here are mine.

Books

• The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom—great perspective inducing parable in classic Albom style
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power-a much deeper appreciation of the man…and what made him special. Any politician (and that’s all of us) will appreciate his savvy.
• Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew Into a Global Hotel Company--nothing earth shattering here, but a great “back to basics” book from a guy who knows a thing or two about building a business (Bill Marriott)
• The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling - A friend of mine sold me on this hard. He claimed it changed his life. I really wanted it to change mine…but it fell flat for me.
• What Keeps Leaders Up at Night: Recognizing and Resolving Your Most Troubling Management Issues-the NFO got this for me out of the library and though I didn’t finish it, it did give me some great ideas. Managing the careers of other people is a big responsibility…and I have a lot to learn. A lot.

  Movies

• About Time-it was a late night flight back from Denver, but this one had me choked up. I need a lot of reminders about what is truly important in life. It’s an area of weakness, I am afraid.
• Flight- I’m a big Denzel fan and I found his character to be riveting. A strong movie about what it takes to look hard at ourselves…and what can happen when we don’t.

Working through…

• Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman. Deep stuff. Makes you think fast, but reading is slow because there’s so much involved.

What books and movies have you experienced lately?

Always interested in knowing what others have enjoyed.

Here are mine.

Books

• The Time Keeperby Mitch Albom—great perspective inducing parable in classic Albom style
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power-a much deeper appreciation of the man…and what made him special. Any politician (and that’s all of us) will appreciate his savvy.
• Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew Into a Global Hotel Company--nothing earth shattering here, but a great “back to basics” book from a guy who knows a thing or two about building a business (Bill Marriott)
• The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling - A friend of mine sold me on this hard. He claimed it changed his life. I really wanted it to change mine…but it fell flat for me.
• What Keeps Leaders Up at Night: Recognizing and Resolving Your Most Troubling Management Issues-the NFO got this for me out of the library and though I didn’t finish it, it did give me some great ideas. Managing the careers of other people is a big responsibility…and I have a lot to learn. A lot.

  Movies

• About Time-it was a late night flight back from Denver, but this one had me choked up. I need a lot of reminders about what is truly important in life. It’s an area of weakness, I am afraid.
• Flight- I’m a big Denzel fan and I found his character to be riveting. A strong movie about what it takes to look hard at ourselves…and what can happen when we don’t.

Working through…

• Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman. Deep stuff. Makes you think fast, but reading is slow because there’s so much involved.

End of an Era: No more nanny

In reality, we probably waited 1 year too long in deciding that we didn’t need a nanny for our kids, but that’s beside the point.

The other day was the last day where she worked for us and she had been working for us for about 7 years.

We’d had our moments, as any employer-employee relationship would, and certainly toward the end, when I started to question the value in my mind, the emotions changed, but when she left for the last time, I got nostalgic and even a bit choked up.

Now, I’m not the most sentimental or emotional person around, but when she left, I had two realizations.

The first-the kids are growing up. You know that, of course, but sometimes the reminders are jarring.

Second-and more powerful-was a profound sense of appreciation for her efforts. For many years, she was an instrumental force in caring and nurturing these babies into the children they have become. She had reinforced the NFO and my values and served as our proxy.

When they look back on their lives, they may not remember her, but it’s pretty powerful to think about how important she was to their lives.

I am feeling a true sense of gratitude for her efforts…and, yes, I wrote her a note to tell her so.

The End of College as we know it…

I’ve been talking about this for a while and one of my favorite thinkers, Clay Shirky, has summarized it beautifully.

“As long as you don’t give it to Hamas”

In one of the more surreal conversations I’ve had recently with a cab driver (here’s how I do it), it ended with my saying, “promise me you won’t give your tip to Hamas.”

Getting into the cab in San Francisco, I began a chat with the driver.  Eventually, I asked him his country of origin, to which he responded, “Palestine.”

“Here we go,” I thought.

You never know exactly how to handle this situation.  You don’t want things to get uncomfortable, but you don’t want to back down either.

Of course, at this point, I hadn’t tipped my hand so I had to wait for the right moment…if at all.

He told me that he was actually born in Jordan and lived his entire life in Amman. 

Then he asks me if I’ve ever been to Jordan and I told him that I had been to Petra. He replies that he might go there in a few weeks when he takes his son to visit his family in Palestine, but they live in Jerusalem.

“Have you ever been there?”

“I have, but I would call it Israel.”

He smiles knowingly.

“So, before we get into a long discussion, let me ask you this: Do you think it is possible to have peace with a two states? One that is Palestinian and one that is Jewish.”

His answer. “Since you put it that way, I would say no.”

“And I would agree with you,” I said.

So, from there, the conversation moved toward mutual understanding and respect.

I understood that the Arabs who left Jaffa, Haifa, etc. will never give up.

And he, I think, understands that Israel isn’t the same as the middle of Montana for Jews.

And we both realize that no solution is possible.

So, I said, “I guess it comes down to….can the Arabs kill the Jews or can the Jews prevent the Arabs from killing them?”

And he basically nodded.

It was really a great conversation and, on the other side of the world, it would have gotten heated (possibly) or not, but when we pulled up to the airport, I said.

“I’ve really enjoyed the conversation and I think you’ve earned a nice tip, but promise me you won’t send it to Hamas.”

“I will give it to my son. And promise me that you won’t send money to buy tanks to shoot Arabs.”

“Well, if the Arabs stopped trying to shoot Israelis, we wouldn’t need tanks.”

He gave me my suitcase and we shook hands and then moved into the hug. (we really need a word for that)

One of those only in America moments, I suppose.

On Nicknames and Call Signs for Naval Aviators

Long time readers of my blog will know that I take nicknames very seriously. I consider it a high art form. 

A non-negotiable for me is that you should not be able to figure out what the name of the person is from their nickname.

A perfect example would be “Magic” Johnson. You have NO idea what his name is from his nickname.

For more on that policy and how it has impacted my kids, see here and here respectively.

So, it is easy for me to say that I was in heaven when I learned about the call signs of each of the pilots on the USS Vinson during my recent embark (for more posts, see here and here. Background here).

While none of them were named “Maverick” or “Iceman,” we did run into “Big Tuna” (he’s really tall) and “Beast Mode” (he’s form Seattle). Even the Captain of the ship, named for his red hair, was called “Torch”.

Commander Lee, who I gathered is a pretty devout Mormon was called “Dud” because of his relatively clean-cut lifestyle (compared to most naval aviators) as in “Dudley Do-Right.”

And all of these call signs are embroidered on their flight suits and, in many cases, written on the planes themselves.

One that made me wonder was a plane for Capt. P.J. Singh whose call sign was “Schwarma.”  I have no idea but I would guess that because of his surname, he is of Indian origin and, consequently, he might be a vegetarian…which would make it a great one.  Either that, or he really likes Schwarma.

Twice I saw two different Capt. Hermans with the call sign “Pee Wee,” which were probably the weakest of the bunch.

No matter what, I was glad to see the high art form of creative names applied with such diligence in the Navy.

And one thing, which I’ve long advocated, you can’t give yourself a nickname. It is chosen for you by the group…and you accept it with grace.

Now the question is: Why do you think call signs/nicknames are such an important part of naval aviator culture?

Add a comment below.