Comedian George Carlin died earlier this week and, for well over forty years, he was one of my favorite stand-up comics. Notorious for his famous “7 Words” routine, which tackles the sensitive issue of censorship, Carlin had a gift for pointing out the foolishness of censoring swear words. That “7 Words” routine got him in a lot of trouble, and I don’t really understand why. He could make us laugh at all of our bizarre circumlocutions, our euphemisms, our spin, our jive. In doing so, he laid bare the hypocrisy and/or ridiculousness of censorship. Arguably, some forms of censorship are advisable, but Carlin felt that society had gone too far in curbing free speech, and he used irony and sarcasm to poke fun at those who would protect us from ourselves. Indeed, he was the nemesis of the Moral Majority, and he and Jerry Falwell must be having a wonderful time debating the issues of free speech in heaven.
I’m reading a book right now entitled “Get Smarter” by Seymour Schulich. A friend handed it to me the other day, I think she was trying to give me a subtle hint. I assumed that this was another one of the eight million self-help books out there, but, as it turns out, the book is quite entertaining. Mr. Schulich, a self-proclaimed gazillionaire, spells out his advice for success in amusing and simple terms. I am a big fan of both amusing and simple. Much of his advice involves things I’ve heard before, and seems to be in synch with the Warren Buffet “less is more;” philosophy. Buffet, one of the wealthiest men, or perhaps the wealthiest man in America, doesn’t live in a palace, he doesn’t fly in a private jet, and he is in most ways not an extravagant man. Schulich speaks about the pitfalls of power, and two of the big ones are ego and drugs. He talks about the benefits of what he calls reciprocity; the give and take if the business world. Shauna employs the theory of reciprocity in every facet of her business dealings. Shulich tells a funny (allegedly true) story about Buffet going to a place of ill-repute in Nevada (maybe the Chicken Ranch … where “The customer always comes first”), and, while he was having a drink at the bar, one of the call girls came up to him and said “For $200 I’ll do anything you want me to”. Buffet looked up from his drink and said: Good … come over and paint my house”. Hee hee.
While Zimbabwe weathers her human rights violations, election scandals, and political storms; while the Midwest braces for more rain, and the Mississippi River continues to rise, busting levees and flooding communities (it’s rained almost every day in June up here in Burk’s Falls); while the “I” word (inflation) spreads across the global economic community, fueled by the high price of oil and the fallout from extensive real estate foreclosures, and while the Democrats and the Republicans mobilize for the big U.S. presidential election, Shauna and I are reaching the end of the decision-making phase of our log home project. Last week, we picked out most of our appliances and, after several modifications, including to the re-positioning of one fireplace, we have done about all we can to design this house. While much remains to be done, and while the pace seems at times to be excruciatingly slow, the house is, in our estimation beautiful and almost exactly what we’d envisioned. Thank you Thornton Group! Yesterday, I went over to the site to take pictures of the progress and, really for the first time, I could picture the finished product. They’ve begun to stain the lake side of the house now, and it is coming alive. They just started the stone work on one of the two fireplaces (which was reclaimed from the old cottage). As well, much of the interior wall covering is now up, and soon they will install the interior windows. I have refinished nine windows, salvaged from the old cottage and, like the reclaimed fireplace, we hope they will be a subtle reminder of the old incorporated into the new. Everybody asks the same question: “When will the house be finished?” We don’t know, but we know one thing. I’m sure the builder is as eager as we are for it to be completed. I know it will all be worth it in the end.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I’m reading a book right now entitled “Get Smarter” by Seymour Schulich. A friend handed it to me the other day, I think she was trying to give me a subtle hint. I assumed that this was another one of the eight million self-help books out there, but, as it turns out, the book is quite entertaining. Mr. Schulich, a self-proclaimed gazillionaire, spells out his advice for success in amusing and simple terms. I am a big fan of both amusing and simple. Much of his advice involves things I’ve heard before, and seems to be in synch with the Warren Buffet “less is more;” philosophy. Buffet, one of the wealthiest men, or perhaps the wealthiest man in America, doesn’t live in a palace, he doesn’t fly in a private jet, and he is in most ways not an extravagant man. Schulich speaks about the pitfalls of power, and two of the big ones are ego and drugs. He talks about the benefits of what he calls reciprocity; the give and take if the business world. Shauna employs the theory of reciprocity in every facet of her business dealings. Shulich tells a funny (allegedly true) story about Buffet going to a place of ill-repute in Nevada (maybe the Chicken Ranch … where “The customer always comes first”), and, while he was having a drink at the bar, one of the call girls came up to him and said “For $200 I’ll do anything you want me to”. Buffet looked up from his drink and said: Good … come over and paint my house”. Hee hee.
While Zimbabwe weathers her human rights violations, election scandals, and political storms; while the Midwest braces for more rain, and the Mississippi River continues to rise, busting levees and flooding communities (it’s rained almost every day in June up here in Burk’s Falls); while the “I” word (inflation) spreads across the global economic community, fueled by the high price of oil and the fallout from extensive real estate foreclosures, and while the Democrats and the Republicans mobilize for the big U.S. presidential election, Shauna and I are reaching the end of the decision-making phase of our log home project. Last week, we picked out most of our appliances and, after several modifications, including to the re-positioning of one fireplace, we have done about all we can to design this house. While much remains to be done, and while the pace seems at times to be excruciatingly slow, the house is, in our estimation beautiful and almost exactly what we’d envisioned. Thank you Thornton Group! Yesterday, I went over to the site to take pictures of the progress and, really for the first time, I could picture the finished product. They’ve begun to stain the lake side of the house now, and it is coming alive. They just started the stone work on one of the two fireplaces (which was reclaimed from the old cottage). As well, much of the interior wall covering is now up, and soon they will install the interior windows. I have refinished nine windows, salvaged from the old cottage and, like the reclaimed fireplace, we hope they will be a subtle reminder of the old incorporated into the new. Everybody asks the same question: “When will the house be finished?” We don’t know, but we know one thing. I’m sure the builder is as eager as we are for it to be completed. I know it will all be worth it in the end.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2008 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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