Bob Lefsetz on Yosemite and Being Who You Want To Be

I love reading bob lefsetz (see below for links and attribution). Every post/email he does is a story with meaning. It always resonates. Check out the below on Yosemite:

Title: Yosemite
By: Bob Lefsetz

Fuck this!

That’s what John Muir said after being blinded in an industrial accident. A file pierced his eye and he thought his vision was history. But after a month in a darkened room, his vision returned and he walked from Indiana to Florida.

I know, I know, that was a hundred years ago. More, actually. But that’s not the point. The question is, are you working with your head or heart? At some point you’ve got to stop being who your parents want you to be and start being who you are.

I hadn’t been to Yosemite since 1973. Not much has changed. That’s how it is with the physical world. It outlasts us. We’re just a blip in time. We think we’re forever, but despite all the hosannas, even Michael Jackson’s music will soon be forgotten. It’s not human nature, it’s Mother Nature!

Yosemite is an amusement park of the mind. Rather than going on rides, being turned upside down by mechanical contraptions, you look at the landscape and your mind does somersaults. How did this happen? It’s hard to imagine a glacier that creates Half Dome, and how can El Capitan be almost perfectly vertical?

At the visitor center near Yosemite Falls there’s a bit of cell service. But you get no e-mail on your BlackBerry, you’re disconnected from everything deemed important. You’re placed in natural perspective. We’re here for such a very short time. What do we want to do, what do we want to accomplish?

Money won’t help you if you’re hiking in Tuolomne Meadows and it starts to rain. Rich people get no better view from Glacier Point than poor. In Yosemite, we’re all in it together.

On a nature walk behind the Ahwahnee Hotel, the ranger told us the John Muir story. It’s stuck with me. It’s shown me that those Americans not on the cover of “Us”, not featured in the “Forbes” 500 are not losers, but in many cases winners. Money is not the only priority. You need it to live, but how much?

Would you rap if there was no Biggie, no Jay-Z?

Would you play the guitar if there was no Eddie Van Halen?

Would you be in the music business if David Geffen hadn’t made all that money?

If not, give up. Please. You’re hurting yourself. And you’ll leave no lasting mark.

But if you need to play, don’t lament that you’re not a millionaire. The music should be enough. If you’ve got a roof over your head, if you can pay the bills, you’re on the map. Affecting a coterie deeply is more important than being a momentary comet, burning brightly and then flaming out.

So don’t do what you should do, do what you want to do. Even if your chosen field is not perceived to be a road to riches. Who knew all those chefs would become stars on the Food Network? Who knew you could make a career in extreme sports? Who knew gaming would outstrip both music and movies in revenue?

I’m not saying to forgo an education. Fundamentals are important. Only by establishing a foundation do you have a place to build.

It’s time to establish your own independence. To make your own decisions. So when you’re on your deathbed, surrounded by loved ones who will soon reach their demise also, you’ve got no regrets.

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Jackson

It was setup as a regular dinner with friends: Dave and Jen King, Mike and Kelly Agnich, and our hosts Stephen and Amanda Houghton. After watching some of the Oscar’s, we sat down to eat. Stephen and Amanda made a toast, and asked us to be Jackson’s godparents. It was a pretty incredible moment that I didn’t expect at all, and I was so happy, honored, and excited at the opportunity to take care of Jackson and to be a part of such an incredible family’s life.

The Houghton family has become a part of our Sunday morning tradition over the last year or so as we started to regularly attend a local Presbyterian service. We’d meet for cafe service at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (9:30 am if we’re feeling energetic, 11 if not), then head to grab a bite to eat, and then during football season we would watch some Packers or Cowboys (or both) football and hang out with a very sleepy Jackson at the Houghton abode.

As my previous post on rituals talks about our church ritual, I won’t revisit the role that my return to religion, as slow and cautious as I’ve made it, has played in my life over the last year or so. But it is definitely a fact that we wouldn’t have had this opportunity without it.

As for the history of godparents, we learned a little bit about that too thanks to the Houghtons. Here’s some info on wikipedia, but suffice it to say that Stephen and Amanda expect us to play an active role in helping to shape Jackson’s values as he grows up, but also to help them as a couple. Our number one duty, of course, is to love Jackson (check).

What an honor for Krista and I! And what responsibility! I’m a little nervous at my marked inability to remember birthdays (can we get Jackson on Facebook? That would help), but pretty confident in my ability to help shape his values (in a positive way). But as with all things, I’m sure we’ll learn as we go along, but we’ll do our best, we promise! And if we falter, we’ll have the Kings and Agniches (well, Kelly anyways) to help keep us in line.

With that note, here’s a dedication to him with probably the most memorable song from Krista and my trip out west from Boston-by Johnny Cash. Here’s to Jackson!

Moving from Blogger to WordPress

I spent a fair amount of time tonight moving from Blogger to WordPress as I’ve helped Krista setup her blog on WordPress and realized just how superior it is to Blogger.

I already love it. WordPress is just so much easier to use than Blogger. Sure, I just paid $15 for a year of custom CSS control so I can make my font large enough for everyone to read it, but that’s worth it to be on the cutting edge of technology. I always felt like Blogger was clumsy, and now I feel like I’m driving a Ferrari (but with some limitations that can be unlocked with $$).

At some point, I will setup my own hosted version of the blog. I have already pointed www.mcnodoze.com to this blog, so that’s a first step I guess.

Good night!

Iko Iko I-nay Jock-a-mo feen-o and-dan-day

Krista and I were driving Sunday, listening to the radio, when an old, catchy song named “Iko Iko” came on the radio. It was the original version of the song that I remember from my sisters. Then, the radio station skipped into two more versions of the song performed by two different bands, one of which was the Grateful Dead.

Of course, when I got home, I immediately looked up the song and bought the album, by the Dixie Cups, on iTunes. It happens to also have the “Going to the Chapel” song that I recall my sister Jessie listening to about 50x per day for a couple years (she was always a huge oldies fan, oddly enough, while Heather loved alternative and chick music like Indigo Girls, Cranberries, etc.)

It’s a pretty cool story, as told on the Wikipedia entry about the song. For those of you too lazy to click, apparently the band just started singing the song and playing on coke bottles during a break, and meanwhile, they were being recorded by one of the studio engineers/producers. It was a song that the ladies in the group knew from their grandparents, and is a song with deep history in New Orleans (the song was originally written in the 50s by a man named James Crawford, entitled “jack-o-mo”.

There’s something about history, and something in particular to me about southern history, that feels like it has a lot of texture and depth. Krista and I noted this when we were in South Carolina over break and had the chance to spend a few hours in Savannah. For some reason, Wisconsin just doesn’t seem to have the same feeling of deep history (probably because it wasn’t even a state until 1848.

I then happened on this video, which intrigued me as a potential reggae remix of the song. But instead, it was the same “The Belle Stars” version from Rain Man, but with a couple girls dancing to it. I looked at the comments, which said “That skinny girl is way way better. So good that you dont even notice other one”, so as they danced, I kept watching to see what they meant. And sure enough, the skinny girl has some SICK dance moves. I watched the whole thing.

Best video of my life

I watched this video over and over last night, and it never ceased to make me laugh. There’s something about babies and puppies that makes them unstoppable together.

In particular, I love how Sofia tries to grab Mo’s ear aggressively, and Jess fiendishly encourages her but doesn’t quite let her get a strong grip. So funny. Thanks for uploading to youtube for me, heath!