World: Small and Larger

I took John - who apparently calls himself Terry - and his wife Diane, home near Howard and South Lake Drive to a street that is two blocks long.

Terry used to teach reading to fifth graders in MPS. He started talking local history and I told him I'd heard about a guy that wrote a book due out early this December about the Town of Lake. (Check with the Tippecanoe Library for details.)

“Yeah, that's Ron Wilson.” Terry said.  “He was a student of mine.”

Small world.

The next day I meet Kris and recognized the street name on the slip of paper I'm given.

“I can probably drive you right there without any help. I went there yesterday with John and Diane. He was a school teacher for MPS.” I said.

“I didn’t know Terry’s name was John.” Kris said in surprise. “They live across the street for me.”

Kris is graduating from UWM with a degree in urban geography.

“Welcome aboard.” I said. “Never heard of urban geography.”

We talked about Milwaukee park land and green space, socialist mayors in Milwaukee, cemeteries, Doors Open Milwaukee and, what was once known as, the Town of Lake.

I do not collect or even notice all the paradoxes that pop up. The small world / larger world is one that haunts me. It probably does not even rank on the official list.

 

Gussie the Clown

I met Gussie the Clown late last week. My first clown ride ... so to speak. She was dressed in her Housing Authority, day-job clothes, but still, wow, Gussie the Clown, balloon sculpturing, parades, fun and games.

I wonder about the time line overlap between her job and her side-job. Did she become a clown to relieve the pressure of the day job?

Gussie does not do many birthday parties. She says the expectations are just too high. She does work with a group at Family Day Games in Miller Park.

Her group from Waukesha is giving lessons in clowning soon. I asked her to send me the link. She said they have a Facebook page and she’d email it to me. I’ve not seen it yet. I did a little - unsuccessful - search. Busy weekend.

We talked about fun and games and the general lack thereof. Most of us have given that up by the time we’re in third grade. Fun and games is just not worth it for all the whining and moaning by authority figures.

I guess if you want to be a clown you’ll have to try harder than I did. It’s not all fun and games.

Thirty-five Countries Plus

On Friday last, Maria, the nanny from Nicaragua, came into the service drive and remembered my name BEFORE she saw my badge. I was impressed.

Then I checked my list and saw that I had forgotten to enter her country in my count. And then I saw that I had also forgotten to list Brazil. It is the home country of Claudio, the chemist, from Carmex.

Here is the list to date. See if you can find the word that indicates more than one country.

Albania, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Hmong, India, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, South Vietnam, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Zambia.


Gratefully, I am traveling the world right here in metro Milwaukee.

Another Great Gratuity

Here are a couple of mini-notebooks you can keep in your pocket, so you will never have to risk not being able to record “that brilliant thought” that just came to you. Enjoy, Ron. 
P.S. I enjoyed your blog site.

Among the coolest
gratuities ever.

When Ron got seated in the shuttle I saw he had a sketchbook and pen on his lap. Away we went.

“Are you going to get anything done at home while you’re waiting for your car?” I asked.
“Yep. I’m popping up the tent camper; cleaning it out, getting ready for a little time off.”
“This time of year most folks are putting their campers away for the winter.”
“Well, I just finished up a seven month project and this is the time I have.”

It turns out he’s a software engineer specializing in user interface. He makes programs easier to use. He runs his own firm. And, when he was young, his father was a offset litho printer. He remembers.

We talked about clients, deadlines, expectations and the beautiful, wild fairyland of Peninsula State Forest in Door County Wisconsin. Mmmm ... down time.

Anyway, I asked him about sketching. He uses that book to think with. He did not show me anything. It’s more of a think book. I told him I understood that.

Hence the gift he sent along to me with the afternoon driver. I really wished we’d had more time.

...
The problem is you think you have time. ~ buddha
Be kind now. ~ david

Anti-Stress Swag

We generally have standard teller counter banter. It sometimes includes chat about gear. For instance, she took her 4s to iOS7 with no problems. That’s encouraging. I was waiting for someone to tell me that.

Otherwise, we don’t really have time four five six much else, she’s usually thirty-seven, thirty-eight, counting, ninety-nine, one hundred, money.

One day recently she asked me five simple marketing questions. Apparently I passed the test. For my participation I received a stress ball. I squeezed it once to see if it works. It’s fine. I’m very relaxed. See?

I mentioned my blog. I’m more than just a guy handing over money. I have a life ... et cetera. She thought she’d like to see her name on the internets. Hi Tonya!

That’s all we can say. Banking and privacy. Nothing more to see here, folks. Move on along.

Comfort and Dignity

Yesterday I met a hospice nurse team coordinator. She does not usually sit bedside with the patient and family but she has and would again if she lost her current job. Every death is unique and many can be given comfort and dignity.

She lost a brother a year ago. And it was only the day before I met her that she went and picked up his final belongings. There was nothing there of personal value. It’s all going to Goodwill. It was still very difficult. Making the trip. Going in the house.

And I lost a brother a year ago. So we talked about death, dying, religion and spirituality. We covered the cultural taboo and denial of death. And neither one of us cried.



I recommended Falling Upward by Richard Rohr. She made a note of it and thanked me.

On the upside she has a two week old granddaughter and has taken this week off to be with her daughter. How lovely. Life goes on.

And, so today her car is done in the body shop. I pick her up. We are glad to have met one another. She’s already ordered the book from the library. It’s in Bay View. She’s in Bay View. She hopes to get the call. She says she's ready for a new idea that will help her move on.

“Normally,” she says, “I’m not this chatty. You’re easy to talk to.”

Well, I think to myself, I practice.

Art, Science, Yoga

Art, Science, Yoga

Tuesday I met Matt from Fernwood Montessori. Basically he teaches science, but more about systems and sustainability. He’s working on food systems now. We talked about the program and I offered up what little I know about it. My wife was looking into teaching Spanish there and we read up on it. His sister was in a very good school as a young student and he was not. He noticed the difference and that moved him to teaching.

They have a partner school in Japan and it amazes him how similar our two cultures actually are. We did touch on the reactor at Fukushima particularly as it relates to sustainability.

He does get to bring in experts and take the kids to some fascinating places. I asked him if he thought I could get a pass into his classes. He laughed just the right way. There’s a guy I’d like to talk to again.

Once again I met Mr. Bhatt from India. I asked him what was new and exciting since we met a year ago. He couldn’t think of anything. I asked again in another way. Ah, well, he’s in charge of deploying a new SAP something ERP Software System at Johnson Controls. I wish I could take notes in the van.

And gingerly I wondered, even in all the varied cultures in India, if people learn to meditate at a young age. He did not answer that but did say the Baba Ramdev is a successful and revered man that teaches yoga. He has many schools in India, a new one in the UK and coming soon to America.
Many of us here see yoga as simply moving the body. There is more. Ramdev apparently went to an international cancer hospital in Houston and impressed the socks off the doctors. That’s not exactly what he said but that’s exactly what I’m telling you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdev

I also met my first working artist yesterday and I forgot to congratulate him on that. I usually welcome people aboard and shake their hand. He and his wife moved from Chicago. He’d been an art handler for museums and galleries and Milwaukee doesn’t support that level of activity. Happily, his wife makes enough that he can pursue his art full time.

We talked about balancing the creative life with the mundane aspects of running a business. He does have an agent that books showings but he still does his own accounting, website and such.

And, it was his birthday that day. Bob Jones, Artist. BobJonesArtist.com

Finally I am looking for a position whereby I can weave these stories into the marketing department and marry these faces to a dealer and brand. There are wonderful people buying and servicing their cars and I get the pleasure of finding out a little bit about them in a non-sales sort of way.

I was hired for a job and have turned it into so much more, at least for me.
One of my jokes lately goes like this. “This is the kind of job I’d do for free ... and if you saw my pay stub you’d see how close I am.” We all laugh.

Laughing is good.


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ShuttleDave.blogspot.com