On Par: 3 Lessons Learned from the Masters

Birdie. Eagle. Bogey.  Many birds of a feather flocked to the Masters this weekend, and they certainly enjoyed the triumph of Phil Mickelson's 3rd Masters victory.   While some flocked to golf's most elite event hoping for a comeback kid to lead the pack,  I was struck by the progress of a lesser-known competitor, KJ Choi.

KJ Choi is the first Korean golfer to earn a PGA Tour Card, and the first Korean to score a PGA win.  Other than that, or the logo of a favorite company upon his lapel, you probably never noticed him. But KJ has always had a special place in my heart.   When I worked at the sports marketing behemoth IMG, I drafted press materials and marketing headsheets for the golf agents who represented KJ. 

I smiled as he posted a 4th-place finsh at 11 under, tied with Tiger Woods.  Here's the lessons I learned from KJ today:

• Its going to take some time and some practice on the greens.    It was over 7 years ago that I worked for the sports agents who supported KJ's career.  I'd bet no one had heard of him then, and even today, to many, he was merely Tiger's playing partner. Over the long run, a lucky birdie or two does not define a PGA career. Its years of practice, focus, and slow growing momentum to refine your game.  The same goes in life...careers...relationships...friendships. 
• Your bench has more depth than you could ever know.   KJ Choi never knew that there was an unpaid PGA Golf intern who pieced together powerpoint presentations of his career and analyzed his left versus right profile shots for optimum attractiveness.   In the same way, its all too easy to be unaware of the cheerleaders who are rooting for you.  Your bench is stacked with those who are fans of your life.  You see some of your fans each and every day, but never forget that there's special ones, who in their own way, are cheering you on from afar. 
• You can move mountains if you try.  KJ Choi was a teen powerlifter who could squat 350 pounds as a 13-year old.  Who knew?  Maybe what you're pushing for isn't where you'll eventually end up.  But, its the effort that makes you stronger along the way. 

KJ Choi has had 3 top-5 finishes in his last 4 events and has career earnings of over $20.7 million dollars.  Talk about defining the perfect job as "getting paid to do something you love."  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I love, but in the meantime, I'm always ready to tee off on something new. 

Butter Me Up

For nearly every day of the week, the 6pm hour is completely ordinary.  Its a gateway to the usual tasks of a pedestrian weeknight evening; its a threshold that leads you only to laundry, cleaning, class work or maybe a few of your favorite shows.  (Well, from time to time, we all throw a night out on the town in there.) 

But the 6pm hour on Friday is different.  6pm on Friday is a high-speed on-ramp to over 60 hours of complete freedom. Each and every week, somewhere in this exact time frame, my expectations for the weekend take root.  A few ideas germinate, and by the time 7pm rolls around, activity has already begun to blossom.  
I've got some Tall Orders for this weekend.  As I drove home after work, my first thought was, "Do I have enough butter to get through the weekend?"   Don't let that be cause for concern;  I harbor no secret food fetishes.  Rather, I've got biscotti, cookies and maybe even some fresh pasta on my agenda for the weekend.  I've also got a Tall Order for a long run on Saturday.  And a long nap following my long run.  But first comes a night out on the town Friday night, and the opportunity to sleep in the next morning.

The 60 minutes from 6 to 7pm on Friday are my favorite part of the weekend. They're a Tall Order all their own, where the potential of the weekend itself eclipses the sum of all of the activities I'll undertake.  

Have you got a Tall Order for the weekend?  I'll let you know how mine turn out....

ps- don't use margarine in your baking.  go for the real thing.

Stressed Out? Let's Bake!

Right now there are homemade blueberry muffins in the oven.  A recipe from a Williams Sonoma cookbook that I've just cracked open.  And muffins are just the first item on my list to bake tonight.  I've also got dough for two stromboli rising on the counter;  they'll be stuffed and rolled with Boar's Head Black Forest Ham, Pepperoni, Salami, Provolone, Mozarella ("muutz-a-rella"), and Romano.  And, as I stopped at the market after work, I couldn't help but drop Anise Seeds (for Biscotti), and Almond extract into my cart as well.

People always ask me if I prefer to cook or to bake.  Baking wins every time. Hands down. My love of homemade, baked goods stems from my Mom, Godmother, and Grandmothers.  I'm a cookie snob and can tell the difference between a good "crumb," whether the batter or dough has been over-mixed, and if the leavening worked properly.  I know how to brown a butter pastry to a deep golden tone, and how to pipe royal icing with the best of the at-home bakers.

Baking is unique because its based on a chemical reaction.  You start with a combination of precisely measured ingredients, you impart heat & time, and your reward is a product in an entirely new form.  Baking changes things.  It changes ordinary flour, sugar and butter into sublime shortbread cookies. (And those Shortbread cookies were absolute show-stoppers at my wedding reception. Thanks, Mrs. Joseph!).

Doughs and batters change during the baking process in one of two ways.  Either a leavening agent gives off Carbon Dioxide causing the your baked good to rise.   Or, the cold butter cut into your pie crust or dough gets hot enough in the oven to let off steam. As that steam rises, something strange and magical happens. Your Result: golden, flaky layers that will change your day.

Yes, I like baking because it lets off steam.   Baking melts away my stresses and worries, and leaves me with a sweet treat to share with someone I love. And it leaves me in a better state of mind than the rest of the day has.   I've had a smile on my face all night as I've putz'd around the kitchen.  Tuning up my Kitchen Aid stand mixer; choosing between biscotti recipes to try, and even contemplating getting the Pizzelle iron out this weekend. 

Do you want me to make you some biscotti? I've been mailing biscotti to lots of out of town people lately.  Send me an email with your address and favorite flavor.  The momentary distraction, and baking at 350, couldn't make me happier.

Help for a Hoarder Like Me

The secret rituals of my double life are not what you'd expect.  You might never guess it, but I am a Hoarder. The fixation, the obsessiveness and the compulsion that comes with hoarding starts with breakfast and continues all day long.  But, at least its not junk and clutter that I hoard.   Its recyclables. 

There's something about that rounded triangle on the bottom of a plastic carton that strikes my fancy... is it a #2 plastic?  Or even better... a #5?  After I enjoy my morning Kashi cereal mixed with yogurt, I meticulously rinse the yogurt cup and leave it next to the sink, ready for the recycling bin.  Pop cans go there too.  I even recycle my contact cases when I swap out to a new bottle of solution. There's no such thing as a small step when it comes to saving the environment.  

There's a few things that are problematic about my Green Hoarding Habits.  Primarily, many will argue that the actual act of recycling (the truck, the workers, the recycling plants) probably has a bigger carbon footprint than the benefit of recycling the materials collected.  Who knows?   All that's important to me is that I feel like I'm doing my part to help out; that somehow I am stopping the degradation of the environment, deforestation, and abuse of natural resources.  Oh yes, every time I save a pudding cup and a Diet Dr. Pepper can, the world becomes a better place.  

The other problem with my GHH disorder was set off by the Wine incident.  I used to fill our blue recycling bin to the brim!  Cans, Bottles, Glass, all ready to be reincarnated and repurposed for the better.  Except for the first time I came home to find my empty recycling bin and a bowling-pin-arrangement of empty wine bottles in the driveway.  They could have told me that they don't take glass rather than broadcasting to the Bible Belt that I prefer reds to whites.  A few weeks later they took our recycling bin away.  As it turns out, no one on the street has one anymore. They collect recycling one street away from our house, but not on our street.   This has only exacerbated the hoarding issue.

Now I bag my recyclables, and then wait until the time is right.  When I finally have enough bags in the garage, I start out for my 5:30am run a little early and deposit 1 bag per house in the neighborhood one block over. I used to do this at night, but it embarrassed Paul and he thought someone might call the police.  Who are the gonna call? Captain Planet? 

The only help for a Hoarder like me is a company like SunChips.  They recently introduced packaging that is completely bio-degradable 4-6 weeks after you throw it away.  How cool is that? Yes, it takes away the sheer pleasure of recycling, but I think its a great move on their part in terms of responsibility.  It also is a very strategic complement to their core branding strategy.

Bravo, SunChips!  A small GreeK restaurant in Orlando is the only horse in second place at this point.  Upon closer inspection of the straws that came with our drinks, I found that they were made out of corn by-products!   Pretty cool. Straw Chewers, beware.  As I played with the straw a bit, it was very brittle and easy to shatter.   If you have questions about SunChips, go ahead an call their 1-800 number. Apparently it says that "there's no such thing as a silly question." 

Take a Picture, it Lasts Longer

Have you ever heard of Kevin Connolly?   Until I caught a few minutes of the XGames and the mono skiing event, I hadn't.  I can't even say I knew there was such a thing as mono skiing.  But, once I looked up, I coulnd't break my gaze.  Connolly is not your typical ice-luge XGames skier.  As you'll see from the picture, he was born without legs.

The last few heats of skiers flying down the icy mountain luges hadn't been all that exciting, but this guy was.  Connolly raced against 2 other mono skiers, each with their own physical challenge.  Right off the bat, one guy took a huge spill, hit his head and broke a piece of his equipment.  Then it was just Connolly chasing the guy in first place.   He didn't win, but he did capture my attention.  

His name stayed with me, so I looked him up.  He's a champion skier, a world-traveling college graduate, and a photographer.  The more and more I read about him, I saw that there was a common thread woven into all 23 years of his life.  He has always been stared at.  Being frank, I can understand why.   Americans, and humans in general, just aren't good with deformity, or really anything that makes someone or something different than the accepted norm.  But, in his short 23 years, Connolly has accomplished a lot. As I read the online review of his book Double Take,  one thing caught my attention:

Connolly also shares his memories of an important, defining moment: when he decided to use photography to gaze back at the people who stared at him. “Each photo was a miniature catharsis,” he writes, adding, “Finally, I was able to find my own use for that stare, and it felt good.”

What an awesome way to find purpose through the challenges that life throws at you.  It wasn't a matter of ignoring or overcoming the stares.  Of course some were rooted  in pure human curiosity, and I'm sure some were rooted in ignorance and malice.  But through photography he found the wisdom to channel that energy and make it his own.  Wow.











(Photo courtesy of www.sjeesonline.com/storieslatestnew.html)

A Victim of the Laws of Physics

Sir Isaac Newton had it easy... of course what goes up must come down. You could say the same of Benjamin Franklin and his shocking discovery of electric currents.  And these cursory mentions of major discoveries wouldn't be complete without Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity.   Sometimes the most fundamental laws of nature are the most obvious ones.  

But, at this point I'm plagued by another law of physics...the law of interia.  Inertia is the notion that objects in motion will tend to stay in motion....and objects at rest will tend to stay at rest.  Unless said object is acted upon by an outside interfering force, the path upon which the object... or person... treads will remain the same.   A friend of ours once suggested the possibility of "Relationship Inertia,"  a type of dating limbo where the no one's boat gets rocked by any sort of current...emotional, physical or intellectual.  The path is set, and without an outside force, will not change or develop.   Do you think she stayed with that guy for very long?  I think she exerted a force of her own on that relationship.

But, to be fair to Inertia, to dwell on its ability to keep objects in a state of rest would be unfair.  You've got to acknowlege its powerful force and ability to grant momentum & progress as well.  I'm working on turning the tables on inertia and making it work in my favor.  A lot of this is having the courage to turn off the TV and go do something instead!  Putting my thoughts on paper, working a confection or baking project, reading, writing a business plan...something to catapult me over this quarter-life crisis where I feel like inertia is getting the best of me.  

So, here's Step One.   I'd like to share with you a weekly memo entry from the Wizard of Ads.  The Wizard is Roy Williams, noted marketing & advertising consultant, author, creative mind, small business coach and modern day philospher.   I have followed him more and more recently.

The Wizard wants you to learn about the power of the elbs.   Elbs are exponential little bits. Its the power of the elbs that's going to help me turn inertia and all of the laws of physics in my favor (ok, so I still trip alot, but grace and poise are another issue).  As The Wizard says...

"When daily progress meets with daily progress, it doesn't add;  it multiplies."

   I think the elbs apply to everything.... nutrition, exercise, work ethic, procrastination, and kindness to others.    So, go click on this brief read about the power of the elbs. 

What little bit are you going to make happen today?

A Tall Order for the New Year

As the New Year approaches, I can't help but be swept up in the romantic notion that somehow, as the clock strikes midnight, we'll all be granted a Tabula Rasa on which we can rebuild ourselves, our experiences and direction for the new year. As if new doors are ready to open at any moment to make this year different and better than the one before. A chance to start over. To get back on track. To really make something of myself. But...I'm not here to lecture with the typical "New Year's Resolutions" post. This year I'll..... [insert lofty goal or significant lifestyle change here].

Waiting for the clock to strike 12 and for a change to happen is pretty arbitrary. As if the balloon drop is laced with fairy dust with some character-altering quality. Overall, I'm prone to this type of romanticism quite throughout the year. When it comes to my birthday, I harbor a secret expectation that this year...that being 27, 28 or 29, will somehow feel different and special compared to the year before. That the passing of one specific day has the power to alter how I feel about my place in the world. I remember a gradeschool fieldtrip to a Cleveland Playhouse. One of the thespians instructed the audience that every time a castmember uttered the phrase, "Something strange & magical is about to happen," we were to all slowly crescendo to a drumroll, thus heightening the anticipation of a magical event about to unfold. Something strange and magical stuck with me.

I have a secret, unspoken expectation that that something strange and magical will happen with nearly every experience and activity I have. Its my own self-imposed "Tall Order" that I'm going to change the world and impact lives...even every time I bake a batch of cookies. Did I not say that I get swept up in high expectations? So here I am..ready to share my Tall Orders with you....and all the lessons I learn along the way.

Is something strange and magical going to happen to you in the New Year?

PS- I can't leave without a toast of Champagne. Its my absolute favorite. May your bubbles & dreams always rise to the top.