Musings from the Middle

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: A Small World

By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 10, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

When a small world forgets how to feel small.

In Orlando for conference.

I love Disney but wonder if their profit motive has outgtown their commitment to reasonable customer service.

Disney employees still wish you a “Magical Day” (after getting your name, address, phone number, credit card number and expiration date and thanking you for participating in the short customer service interview after the call), don’t get me wrong.

But I believe I have seen ant farms more logically and efficiently organized and easier to navigate than Disneyworld seems to be these days.

And I don’t want to sound like Grumpy. It’s still a magical place. If you don’t mind feeling like an ant inside an ant farm that was built by people who didn’t spend enough time asking themselves, “Will the ants like it?”

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: €]>

By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 9, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

This is the new texting symbol I just invented.

I haven’t decided what it means yet. And may not even get that far.

But I do feel like it looks pretty cool and seems like it could mean something. And I think I am even going to use it.

I mean, who cares what it means?

It’s just texting. Right?

LOL ; <> GTG €]>

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Saturday Morning Prayer

By John Y. Brown III, on Sat Jun 7, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Saturday morning prayer

“God, thank you for all you have given me; thank you for all you have taken away; and thank you for what you’ve left behind.

Please give me the strength and guidance to do Your wil always.

And Lord, even though this may seem a little off-topic, if you would help me get a good parking space at the mall this morning, that would be really great. Totally Your call and just mentioning as kind of an afterthought. Just something to think about.

Amen.”

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Kentucky in Springtime

By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jun 6, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Kentucky in late springtime is about as beautiful a place on our planet as you can find.

Especially early to mid-morning on a mild but sunny day when the foliage seems to be in 3-D and bubbling over itself.

Kentucky, at this time of year, feels like a sublime combination of an upbeat John Cougar Mellencamp song that is an old favorite coupled with serving as irrefutable proof of God’s existence.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle; Right On Schedule

By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jun 5, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Right on schedule. (More or less)

I just bought some “big boy” dress pants and a jacket that make me feel like The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.

True, I am going for more of a “big boy” look than I have in the past.

But the really exciting news is as I am closing in on turning 51 years old, I actually feel like a bona fide grown up man about 49% of the time now.

And that is a personal record.

But the other 51% seems to have the momentum today.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Cyclist Warning

By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 4, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Warning:

There are cyclists all over the roads today. I am not sure what is going on but think it is like when birds migrate South each year in massive formations–except people are doing it now.

They apparently are travelling South for the summer and are on bicycles instead of flying.

Warning because they aren’t as coordinated or organized as the birds but there are about as many of them.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Happy Birthday to Me!

By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 3, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Birthday thought for the day (Or reflections on what it is like to be 51 years old.)

Get old!

Seriously.

Not because it beats dying. Although it does. (But not by as overwhelming a margin as most people assume.)

But rather embrace the slogan “Get old” because….and this is where we get our snark on: “New and Improved” will never be better than “Old and Indifferent.” And “Young and Dynamic” is just a nice way of saying “Clueless and Unfocused.”

Just think about it, if you are young anyway.

If you are already old, you may be on medication that affects your short term memory and be unable to think through a complete thought. If that is the case, just smile knowlingly, like we do with other things we don’t understand but don’t want others to know we don’t understand. It’s very important we older folks at least keep up appearances. Trust me on this one.

In fact, if you remember nothing else from this “Thought for the day” post, please remember that part–too keep up appearances. In fact, write it down –especially if you are on medication that affects your short term memory– and leave it in a prominent place so you can see it often.

===

I am just overwhelmed with so many nice birthday wishes and kind comments and want to thank each of you for taking the time to say something to me on my birthday.

It means a lot. Thank you.

I have tried my whole life to always be nice to people. I was warned by friends, “Nice guys finish last” and “People confuse niceness for weakness.” Andd before I met my lovely wife Rebecca, I had my own table and a running tab in the proverbial “Friend Zone.”

But it all worked out –in fact, better than I could have ever hoped and despite concerns I would “nice my way” into oblivion.

So if you are like me and worry you will always finish last or be viewed as weak or simply harmless, there is some truth to that–but only a little. And it gets better as you get older and people begin to prize pleasantness over posturing.

So keep being nice anyway. Eventually a good woman will appreciate you and others people, also eventually, prefer working with nice people. And best of all are your birthdays on Facebook. For an entire day it will feel to you like “nice is the new black.” Don’t miss out by giving in to your inner-jerk. Stay nice.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Small Pleasures

By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 2, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Things I couldn’t have predicted about myself 10 years ago:

One of the highlights of my day today was going to Target to buy underwear for myself. And finding a really good deal on a package of 6 pairs (instead of just 3).

I am not sure how this happened to me.

And I swear I never saw it coming.

But there I was in the checkout line at Target, bargain underwear in the bag, and feeling like the Universe was a generous place.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: The News

By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 30, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

If you listen carefully to the news every morning you can’t help but notice it sounds about the same every day.

Some sports scores, somebody goes to jail, a corporate acquisition, some political races, an overcast outlook with temperatures going up and then down, an odd fact and a human interest story about someone we don’t know getting a nice break.

I don’t even need to listen.

If we can put a man on the moon, you would think the people making our daily news could mix it up a little with what they do each day that is newsworthy.

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Two guys talking about marriage…

By John Y. Brown III, on Thu May 29, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET

Friend: “My wife and I have been married for over 40 years now. The bottom line is there are certain small things about my wife that I will never be able to change. And I stopped worrying about them. And there are things I do that irritate her that she will never change –and she has stopped worrying about them. And we have a really good life together.”

Me: “Rebecca and I have been together 27 years. I know you are right about accepting certain things about each other that have been that way since we met.

But part of me hates to give up so easily after just 27 years.”