National Handshake Day

The Morning Show is the blog companion to the podcast audio

  Hey!  OK, taking a break from the deep life thoughts today, and here's something fun for you:  It's National Handshake Day!  I googled this to look into it a bit.  The instructions on how to observe are:  Shake the hand of at least one person you normally wouldn't.

  SWEET!  Who's with me?  Let's shake on it!

  Gonna be like a politician, and shake everyone's hand today.  What a fun thing!

A Room Full of Mirrors

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

 Here's some Hendrix read as overly dramatic poetry: "I used to live in a room full of mirrors, all I could see was me.  Well I take my spirit and smash my mirrors, now the whole world is there for me to see."  WOW MAN, that's DEEP!

  We were talking last week about how many great teachers are running around the world.  It can be difficult to see them, though, especially if you're like me, and spend a lot of time in a room full of mirrors.  I work hard at being good at several things:  music, teaching, and speaking.  These things have become part of who I am, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse.  The mind is an absurd neighborhood sometimes, houses of thought standing haphazardly around cul-de-sacs that should be throughways of logic.  For some reason, until recently, my "musician" label was a mirror that prevented me from seeing who I was talking to.  I'd hold it up, measuring my skill against theirs, often completely unrelated.  I know it sounds silly, but as I gradually realized that their talent at say, art, didn't diminish my particular skill, I was able to put down the mirror, and see them...and WOW there are a lot of seriously talented people walking around, experts in so many fields, and often willing to share their knowledge and love of what they do.  The more I look, the more I find, and the more excited I get.  So long, room full of mirrors!

The Mechanical Mindset

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

  Hey there, and welcome to The Signalman show!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  OMG...that stupid mower.  I'm working on fixing this cool old 1971 John Deere mower, and I think it should be called a "Dear John" instead.  I broke it again.  It's yet to mow the whole yard.  However, by the time it's all said and done, it will mow the lawn, and get me material for an entire book on philosophy and patience.

  If I had to pick a breed of dog that accurately reflects my personality, unfortunately, my mother was right...it's not a boxer, or a pug...but a poodle.  "You're fussy like a poodle" she retorted when I insisted I wasn't akin to that fancy dog.  I've turned a lot of wrenches in my life, and have learned that there's a balance to the poodle side, and that is what I call The Mechanical Mindset.  It asks "what is the solution?" instead of "OH NO OH NO IT'S BROKEN CAN IT EVER BE FIXED IN A MILLION YEARS I SHOULD BUY A NEW ONE."  Shifting from "can it be fixed?" to "how can it be fixed?" is empowering indeed!

 For example:  I'm painting around the house, and one of the doorknobs fell apart.  It obviously went back together, but how was a bit puzzling.  I sat there and like the Grinch, puzzled until my puzzler was sore.  Now it's working, and I'm entirely too smug about it.  My students should expect a show and tell of the doorknob..."Now, let me tell you about something called "The Mechanical Mindset".  Hopefully a squirrel doesn't show up.  I am a poodle, after all.

Business and Heart

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

  Hey there, and welcome to the Signalman show!  Well, today was the day.  I gathered the tarps, packed up the final odds 'n ends, chased all the guitar picks down, looked out the window one last time, and dropped the keys to my office off in the deposit box.  I drove north, and turned off Old Washington Road for good.  

  I've recently moved my guitar teaching practice to my home studio, closing out 13 years in Waldorf, MD.  It's taught me a lot about running a business, and, the thought of the day - business and heart need not be unrelated.  We usually think "professional" means dressing boring and never having a long knife too far away.  "It's nothing personal, it's just business."  I've acted like that at times, and been on the receiving end of it as well.  And sometimes we all carry it farther, making the business actions personal in a bad way.  That's a doozy of a bad hop to field, and often counterproductive in addition to being mean.  But today, there was one final affirmation of a good business lesson from Old Washington Road.  My room was painted.  There was another renter lined up.  All the business was taken care of.  I had said thank you and goodbye, and started to walk down the hall. My kind landlady called out that she was going to miss me.  This small gesture of friendship and appreciation was a fitting final lesson that we can make the bucks, run empires...and to quote Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol...make mankind our business.  

Thank you, Waldorf!  And thank you, A.  

The Awards Show

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

  Good morning, and Happy Friday!  Seems like I say that a lot...man, the weeks sure go by fast!
Welcome to the show.  I was in Wal-mart yesterday...more returns.  The mower battery wasn't right.  I tried not to be "that guy", but I was, in my weird obscure T-shirt, plunking a dirty lawnmower battery down on the counter, and wondering why I couldn't get a full refund.  The lady took care of it, but took a minute to get through my thick skull.  I got the new one, walked back, and wanted to say something nice to her.  "How's your day?" is so lame, and suddenly I remembered a Dale Carnegie bit about compliments.  "You must be really good at logistics" I said.  "Oh, well...I try."  "Funny you should say that" a guy in line chimed in, dressed in only what could be described as High Walmart Fashion. (It was pretty epic.)  "She's really good."  The lady had an earned smile on her face for a legitimate recognition of a talent, and suddenly, the trenches of the return department seemed a bit more human.  It was awesome!

  I am recognizing that most everyone I meet is worlds better at something that I'm learning, something that I appreciate, or something that I admire.  It's been fun to realize this, and point it out to them.  I need a backpack full of trophies, so I can have a traveling awards show.  We're gonna talk a little more about this idea next week, as it turns the world into not only a friendlier place, but a classroom.  For now, have a GREAT weekend, and see what talented people you meet!

100!

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

Good morning, and welcome to the 100th episode of the Signalman show!  AND, the first day of summer.  MAN, what a day!

  Wanted to say "THANK YOU" for listening to this show!   It's been fun so far, and we're just getting warmed up.  In particular, I've enjoyed the opportunity to interview such a rockin' crew, with an especially wide range of views.  The division online and in person seems to be getting worse by the day, and I see an increasing need to address it.  I should specify, though.  Difference in thought isn't a problem, but the intolerance to it is, poisoning friendships at best, and in extreme cases, condensing into actual lead, the trigger fingers as blind as their owners.

  So, we can talk, we can listen, we can disagree with respect, and we can learn. It seems like it's all we can do, but perhaps, like doing pushups, the simple, basic, everyday is the way forward.  It's not fancy, but let's see what happens.   In the next 100 episodes of the show, I'd like to host more interviews, with an even broader range of topics and views, and listen to more people.  I could use your help.  If you have any suggestions of people you'd like to hear on this podcast, be it yourself, a friend, a local political or religious leader, or anyone you admire...please let me know!  Let's get 'em by.  We all have work to do.  Let's make it a summer of listening.

  Thanks for 100 episodes!  And Happy Summer!

Triumph!

The Morning Show is a blog companion to the podcast audio

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!  The forces of mediocrity were defeated on Friday evening in Washington.  Christoph Eschenbach took the conductor's podium in front of the National Symphony Orchestra, raised a baton, and smashed the idea that enthusiasm was reserved for clowns.  He dealt a crushing blow to the smirk, the scoff, the tepid answer of "can't complain."  The people tried not to cough in the concert hall at the Kennedy Center, but only about half succeeded.  That didn't stop Eschenbach, though.  He threw thunderbolts at the timpani, winding up his hands like a relief pitcher with an strange delivery, uncorking lighting, this boss of Zeus, the CEO of Thunder, inc.  He swayed in the perfume of the strings, wafting the sound so sweet you could smell it,  his hands like a baker, and deftly conducted a hundred person choir with his fingertips as a clockmaker tunes the gears in an ancient and honored timepiece.  It was a farewell concert, and Beethoven's last symphony...how fitting.

  The rest of us just watched, our jaded wings unable risk flight.  And here this orphan of World War II, who didn't speak for a year after his father was killed until some blessed soul asked him if he wanted to play music, this slight man in a crisp suit who waved life with his hands, he...he showed us a way.  I awoke the next morning, and remembered the good news.  The forces of mediocrity were defeated, at least for 74 minutes in the humid city of Washington.  The crowd only let him offstage after every hand in the building ached with the applause of five encores.  Bravo, sir.  And now, about that way you showed us...time to think about that.