Fall Colors

This weekend I went hiking close to Smithville Lake, Missouri and got a few pictures of the fall leaves. I also took some pictures of the stunning fall colors in North Kansas City, MO.

Master Your Money

Master Your Money by Ron Blue
Ron Blue's "Master Your Money" is a very good resource for learning to manage finances from a pure technical perspective as well as from a Biblical basis. He shares well honed financial expertise grounded in years of professional financial planning and accounting practice.

The book walks through the basics of determining where you are financially and then developing goals and intermediate steps towards reaching those goals. Fundamentals of budgeting are covered with attention given to increasing cash flow margin to allow for funding of long range goals such as paying off debt, making investments, starting a business, paying for children's college, and giving away large sums of money.

While Mr. Blue definitely takes the approach the debt should be minimized and very thoroughly evaluated before even considering, he does not take quite as extreme an approach towards no debt as Dave Ramsey. He also offers a bit different perspective on term vs. whole or variable life insurance.

A couple sections of the book which I found to be outstanding were the discussion on giving and estate planning. He offers lots of wise counsel on what to think about when developing a plan for passing on assets to the next generation. His insight on giving and going through a process of prayer to determine what God would have the person give is excellent as well.

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Vibrato

Vibrato is kind of like ketchup. Used well it enhances the song. Used too much and one forgets that there's a tasty burger underneath.

Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writers Life

Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer's Life by Michael Greenberg

This autobiographical book from Greenberg provides entertaining and insightful vignettes from his life as a writer and the lives of those he interacts with. The book is composed of bite sized four page essays which are each enjoyable in themselves. This format allows the reader to proceed through the book in short five minute intervals if desired. At the same time, each section is well written enough to cause the reader to press on to the next story since "it will only take a few minutes" and after reading in this manner, one invests an hour into the book, never intending to have read for so long.

Greenberg is a skilled writer and clearly well read without giving an ostentatious air. Each essay reads like an article from a literary magazine or something along the lines of a New Yorker essay. Unless you possess an extensive vocabulary, you may want to keep a dictionary close at hand. In some essays there were a few words that I needed to look up to determine the precise definition. However, this is not overly cumbersome and helps to enrich one's vocabulary.

A theme which is present throughout but not so much that it dominates the essays is his Jewish heritage. It was interesting to learn his perspective on how his heritage has influenced his family life, identification with immigrants, career, and reflections on the world. Throughout the book, we meet interesting characters from his life and get a feel for being a writer living in New York.

If nothing else, his book is a good lesson for those considering a career in writing. Greenberg seems to constantly observe the world and people around him, taking notes to include in stories and articles. This provides a rich stock of material to draw from as a writer. Some interesting stories he shares come from various side jobs he held such as being a waiter, taxi cab driver, and cosmetics salesman. It's apparent that writing as a profession can be done financially but those aspiring to be the next great novelist, would do well to read Greenberg's account and the sometimes difficulty of procuring gainful employment despite being a skilled writer.

I enjoyed the majority of the essays and recommend the book for those interested in hearing from a professional observer of the world and his life in the writing profession.

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Powell Gardens Flowers

Over Labor Day, I went to Powell Gardens which is about 45 minutes east of Kansas City. They have lots of nice flower gardens as well as some agriculture exhibits.

H1N1 Rap

With this blog post, The Wisdom of Dre celebrates it's 300th post.

The video speaks for itself. Fun stuff.



Remember, wash your hands.

Power

Everyone wants power in some measure, whether a lot or a little, for selfish or selfless reasons, for good or evil. Seek to use that which is given, wisely.

Bag of Money

A bag of money picked up on a recent trip to the Kansas City Federal Reserve. They have a really nice exhibit set up telling all about the history of money in the U.S. as well as present operations and you even get to see some of the workers in the money sorting/counting/shredding room. They've recently implemented some robots as well that help with moving money from place to place. Their names are Huey, Duey, and Louie.

Make Love, Make War

Make Love Make War by Brian Doerksen

In this book, Brian Doerkson, a worship leader and song writer, walks the reader through the process of writing songs and the stories behind some of his songs.

At times, there can be a tendency for church gatherings to want to sing happy clappy songs but Doerksen shares about the importance of also singing about the sad and difficult times in life. He shares some of the rough spots in his own life such as having two special needs children as well as professional disappointment and some of the songs that came out of those times.

There can be a false sense of infallibility that audience members sometimes associate with pastors and worship leaders. The reality is that they are real people with some of the same issues that those "in the pew" deal with. It is nice to read an account of a leader who is willing to open up some of the tough scenarios he's dealt with in his own life.

As a song writer myself, I was encouraged in the creative aspects of writing and actually wrote several songs while reading the book. One tip Doerksen offers is to keep a journal or some place to store ideas whether or not you're able to complete an entire song at the moment. He gives examples of ideas that he's come back to later to include in a song. Another idea he offers is to co-write with others to help give a different perspective or break through a spot you're stuck at in writing.
He challenges the reader to be willing to take musical risks and not always feel that he or she needs to follow a set pattern. Another crucial element is to ground a song in scripture and to even include scripture within the song. He also provides encouragement to write from a genuine place and to not try to necessarily write songs for the masses. Some of the great songs we sing today started with the writers by themselves pouring out their hearts before God.

This book would be good for songwriters, those interested in learning more about the song writing process, or those simply interested in learning more about what it's like to be a worship leader on a day to day basis.

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Watkins Mill

A recent field trip consisted of a visit to Watkins Mill the last standing woolen mill from the 19th century. In it's heyday the mill produced tons of fabric and employed around 40 to 50 people at a time. It was all run by steam engine which was wood fired. An elaborate system of pulleys, belts, and rods throughout the mill powered a bunch of different equipment designed to transform wool from just off the sheep to something that could be used for fabric.

The mill was 4 stories tall and employed men, women, and boys. During that day, depending on the role, a person could make a very good wage as compared with traditional agriculture jobs. The pay rate was anywhere from 50 cents to $3 per day depending on the role with the exception being those involved in weaving who were paid 3 to 9 cents per yard. The skill level also corresponded to some degree with social class as a direct result of higher pay.

It looked to have been a very dangerous place to work and would be an OSHA nightmare today. People regularly lost fingers or were otherwise injured by the equipment. You could allegedly hear the mill from 2 miles away. On the day that I went it was around 80 degrees and I was sweating inside while not doing any strenuous activity so I imagine it would have been very hot, noisy, a tough work back in the day.









Carding
Loom

Spindles


Wood powered engine
Checkers in the store
Store


Barn nearby

Going home after a hard day's work
Watkins Mill
Some of the local workers