I had the opportunity to spend some time catching up with an old friend this past weekend. The kind of friend that just makes you smile to think about knowing that they’re out there doing their thing. Sometimes life can be a bit like being in Shawshank prison, and you need friends like Andy and Red to keep calm, carry on, and find hope in the darkest of hours.

From The Shawshank Redemption…

“I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think its the excitement that only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a very long journey whose conclusion is uncertain….

…I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams…

I hope.”

Thank you for being my friend.

Glee is doing alot of this, but so are folks like A.C. Newman…

The MTV generation will appreciate this one…

In no particular order…

Settlers of Catan

The Laughing Buddha Yoga Studio Charlotte

ReputationDefender

Kindle

Paperback and Hardback books

Rico Rodriguez & Sophia Vegara

Lady Gaga

Blogs: www.wonder-lust.com ; www.cousinfrommars.blogspot.com

Katy Perry

Russell Brand

Katy Perry & Russell Brand

Twitter as a news feed

The Millennium Trilogy (Steig Laarson)

Blake Lively in The Town

Ainsworth (26th between 6th & 7th)

The Old Fashioned (the drink, South Park fans)

Glee

Augusta National Golf Club

Wild West 2.0 (Fertik/Thompson)

Taylor Swift

NY Palace Hotel

“Who Says” (John Mayer)

Learned Optimism (Dr. Martin Seligman)

Team Coco

IPad

Will.I.am

Cafe Monte, George’s Brasserie, & The Terrace Cafe Charlotte

LinkedIn

Lobby Lounge @Ritz Charlotte

Amelies

Ce Lo Green

Butler basketball

San Francisco Bay Area

Rediscovering Kenny Rogers

Anything with Tina Fey or Ricky Gervais

The Beatles on iTunes

Steelers 3-1 start

Salesforce.com Dreamforce

The Golf Club at Rancho Santa Fe

One of the things that I’m most thankful for in 2011 is my exploration into    yoga. Growing up as a red-blooded Texan, I never envisioned that yoga  would be something that would become such a big part of my life.

This June I started going to the Laughing Buddha in Charlotte, NC (www.laughingbuddhanc.com) to 2-3  times per week. The first 6 weeks or so were pretty grueling. I’ve generally  been a relatively inflexible person, and I’d emerge from a 60 minute class looking like I’d jumped fully clothed into a swimming pool.

As the months wore on, I developed more stamina, to the point where I was  able to focus on the breathing and mental aspects as well as understanding  and engaging with the asanas. I’ve also enjoyed picking up new music  along the way.

The effect has really been fairly transformational. I have more energy, I’ve  trimmed up a bit, and I think it has also been relaxing and  productive to my mental focus. I really think there is something to the mind-body connection.

I even hit up the Haute Yoga on Christmas day here in Rancho Santa Fe. My first experience into true hot yoga,  it about made my heart explode –  but I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to all my friends at the Laughing Buddha! Namaste.

-DSR

I had the opportunity to spend some time this week at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco last week. To set the tone for the keynote and for the conference, the opening presentation was set to Will.I.Am’s new single “Own It”. Will.I.am was in the audience, and even weighed in on the benefits of cloud computing, which, while a bit surreal, I think drove home the pervasive nature in which technology continues to disruptively change the way we live and work.

I’ve been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas (I’ve got a Feeling, etc), but have been struck lately by the continuing theme of optimism and impact in BEP’s and Will.I.Am’s music. “Own it” is a call to action for ‘tomorrow leaders’ and ‘high achievers’. Unlike much other popular music, it does not focus on wealth or celebrity as an aspirational outcome. I think its focus is more geared toward generating positive change, having high impact and perhaps (maybe a stretch) social responsibility.

No doubt the folks at Salesforce spent a good deal of time thinking through the approriate theme music for Dreamforce. I thought it was spot on. (Stevie Wonder and Neil Young were also performed throughout the week)

What Benioff has done in creating a culture of energy and innovation at Salesforce is impressive. I am pleased to see the young leaders in the industry gaining recognition through the innovative companies they have created ; and incenting the next generation of Americans to admire them not for their celebrity, but for what they have created and how their companies have focused on being good corporate stewards.

We need more leaders like the Benioffs, Page & Brins, Zuckerbergs, Dorseys, Fertiks and Tripps of the world that continue to inspire followership in our country (and globally)  in education, collaboration, and stewardship.

We also need more music from Will.i.am.

-DSR

Watched this last night to kick off the holiday season. I love the multithreaded stories that are all connected by one or two degrees of separation.

Bill Nighy’s performance as Billy Mack is brilliant.

Add Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Ronan Atkinson, Kiera Knightly, a fast paced script and score, and you come pretty close to perfection.

From Love Actually:

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world,

I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.

General opinion makes out that we live in a world of hatred and greed

I don’t see that.

Seems to me that love is everywhere.

Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy but it’s always there.

Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives,boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers,none of the phone calls from people on board were messages of hate or revenge,they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”

(queue Bill Mack singing “Christmas is All Around Us”)

Happy Holidays.

 

Picked up this book after a leadership training class in October. I was a bit skeptical at first, but its more of a research psychology book than a self help book. His essential theory is that Achievement = Talent + Desire + Optimism, and that optimism can be learned by changing explainatory style (how you explain both positive and negative events).

The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault.

The optimists think about the misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to one case.

Seligman’s research spans from child development, to politics, to team sports — so it makes for an interesting read for a wide audience.

Just finished re-reading Undaunted Courage, the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition.       Ambrose’s books on WWII — D-Day, Citizen Soldiers and others are classics, and all worth re-   visits in any book list.

A few excerpts:

Lewis family crest: “Omne Solum Forti Parri Est”

translated

“All earth is to a brave man his country”

“No American has ever surpassed Jefferson, and fewer than a handful have ever equalled him, as a friend, teacher, guide, model, leader, companion.”  – On Thomas Jefferson.

“He was exactly what Jefferson wanted him to be; optimistic, prudent, alert to all that was new about him, and able to describe the flora and fauna, the native inhabitants, and the skies above with scientific measurement. His health was excellent. His ambition was boundless. His determination complete. He would not, could not, contemplate failure.”  – On Merriweather Lewis.

“His fixed rule was to assume that the road ahead was good, until proven otherwise.” — On Merriwether Lewis

Seems like a good rule to me.

I had the opportunity to hear General Petraeus speak at a World Events Council of Charlotte yesterday, and was extremely impressed.

He mentioned that “nothing matters more to the troops than to know that they are appreciated by their citizens”.

He mentioed that the war in Afganistan is not one that you “kill or capture your way out of”, but alluded to the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afgan and Pakistan population.

He was asked whether he would run for president, and deflected the question by quoting the Lorrie Morgan song “What Part of No Don’t you Understand.”

That’s probably the right answer when your current boss sits in the Oval Office.

Perhaps he’ll change his mind at some point in the future.

-DSR

I’m sad to see the Winter Olympics come to an end. Team USA did the country proud — Lindsay Vonn, Sean White, Apolo Ono, USA-1 Bobsled, and the Hockey Team were definite bright spots.

USA winning the medal count certainly exceeded expectations.

Congratulations to Team Canada in the ice hockey.

International Sporting competitions allow us to set our differences aside and compete together in a common interest — something we don’t do enough of…..

We’ll bid the Winter Olympics a fond farewell….bring it, World Cup.

Oh, and I liked the Team USA flatcaps in the closing ceremony. Nice touch.

-DSR