Comfort Zone

May 18, 2013

A Lesson from Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3Last weekend, I saw Iron Man 3 with Georgette and two of our daughters.  Iron Man 3 is the seventh installment of the Marvel Comic Universe of movies that includes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers.  The lead character in the Iron Man series is Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), a self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist.

February 3, 2013

Too Sick and Lazy to Write

LazinessI haven’t been feeling well for the past couple of days.  I finished writing my meditation on the sin of sloth yesterday, and all I want to do right now is go home, take some Advil and decongestant, and get some sleep.  My head is clogged up, my eyes are watering, and I’m having chills.

September 15, 2012

Is There Opportunity In Humiliation?

Over the past year I’ve gotten to know a young man who works at a local restaurant.  (For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to call him Rusty.)  I see Rusty at least once a week when I pick up something to eat at the restaurant.  Rusty is a devout Christian.  He’s 36 years old, married, and has three children.  He works hard, is honest, has a good attitude, and appears to get along well with everyone he comes into contact with.

August 25, 2012

Engaging In Conflict

A client (I’ll call him Joe) recently agreed to do some home improvement work for a couple.  Joe called me after he was almost finished with the job and told me that the couple was accusing him of not doing the work in accordance with their agreement.  Although he had an initial proposal that was signed by the couple, they had changed the plans a few times and added several new items to the original proposal.  Unfortunately, Joe didn’t have any of the changes or additions in writing.

May 12, 2012

A Mother’s Day Bill of $262,080

Earlier this month, Georgette and I attended a recital for our five-year-old granddaughter Kathryn.  The recital was at a local church in Peoria and opened with six girls who were all the same age as our granddaughter.  The girls played their tiny violins with their teacher leading them.  Their performance lasted about three minutes and consisted of playing repetitive music exercises.

January 14, 2012

A Resolution To Commit Suicide?

During the 1980s and 1990s, I had the great fortune of working with Herman Heilman, a commercial and industrial real estate appraiser.  I was introduced to Herman by my Uncle Tony Couri.  Herman and Uncle Tony were good friends who went back a long way – Herman was born in 1904, and Uncle Tony was born in 1912.

January 7, 2012

A Dilbert Resolution

In last week’s article, Habit Gravity & Escape Velocity, I told you about a New Year’s resolution I imposed upon one of my teenage daughters last year.  The resolution was for her to make her bed every morning immediately after waking up.  In the article, I provided one of the primary reasons most people don’t keep their resolutions – they fail to develop the new habits that are necessary to follow through on the resolutions.  I also provided a formula that can be used to help facilitate the development of new habits.

December 31, 2011

Habit Gravity & Escape Velocity

Georgette and I still have three daughters living at home with us – Mary (20), Christine (17), and Teresa (15).  Although Georgette has asked all three of the girls to make their beds every morning, only one has consistently complied with her request.  The other two daughters have expressed various reasons (excuses) as to why they can’t seem get the job done every day, such as, “I don’t have the time” or “I keep forgetting.”

May 28, 2011

Mean, Mighty & Deadly

With the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden, we heard a lot about SEAL Team 6, the group of young American military men who swooped down on Bin Laden’s fortress, did their dirty work, and then disappeared into the night.

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