Think Tank: A glimpse into my future...

Monday, November 21, 2005

A glimpse into my future...

The floor and walls of the lodge were a beautiful knotty pine stained a rusty yellow. The patina of the walls showed stability, strength, and the affectations of a bygone era. The lodge served as an executive retreat for an ammunition company that is probably one of the largest employers in the town and has been in existence for over eighty years. The chandeliers were made up to look like oversized shotgun shells. I was there as an invited guest to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the birth of one of the company's executives and former mayor of the county seat (he died in the mid 1980s). I was there to be introduced as the Executive Director at my new organization. Yes, I got the job.

I won't officially start until December 19, but I was invited to this function by one of my new board members and the pressing of flesh started immediately. I was bombarded with the names and associations of a dozen high rollers and influence peddlers. In short, this was not my crowd. But this is going to be a big part of my job as near as I can tell. Meeting people, getting them to like me and my organization and making them feel like they are as important as they want to be.

I'm really nervous about all of this. I could fail in spectacular fashion. I guess we'll see soon enough.

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

101 accomplishments in 1,001 days

1) Build an easel for Khan.
2) Add a partner to Served With Taste.
3) Attend a high school baseball game.
4) Start a Roth IRA.
5) Fly a kite.
6) Put shelves in closet for LPs.
7) Train Duke to lay down after being “shot” by phaser.
8) Have a dinner party.
9) Read another Tom Ripley novel.
10) Bike on the Midtown Greenway.
11) Create a piece of decorative art.
12) Buy a book on framing and matting.
13) Catch a fish.
14) Visit Lake Minnetonka.
15) Go to Hamline for a sporting event.
16) Make breakfast in bed for Ms. stu.
17) Read a management book.
18) Buy a four-drawer filing cabinet.
19) Watch Citizen Kane.
20) Go to church on a day other than Christmas or Easter.
21) Read Goodrich’s History of Anoka County.
22) Write one of those Christmas newsletters.
23) Eat sushi.
24) Call John Christianson.
25) Do a project from Make.
26) Ice skate at Milwaukee depot.
27) Rent a canoe.
28) Visit Fort Snelling.
29) Visit the Alexander Ramsey House.
30) Visit the Oliver Kelley Farm.
31) Visit Gibbs Museum of Pioneer & Dakota Life.
32) Enter a project in a county fair.
33) Make a soufflé.
34) Put a folding shelf in the garage.
35) Go camping for at least one night.
36) Exercise for twenty minutes before work for a full week.
37) Rough sort the First Ave. archives, create a finding aid and return them to DEMO.
38) Use one of my many massage gift certificates.
39) Do twenty pull-ups.
40) Take a 360 degree panoramic photo of my block, preferably with freshly fallen show.
41) Test drive a Honda Fit.
42) Find a new dentist and go in for a cleaning and checkup.
43) Make a birthday cake for someone other than Ms. stu.
44) Paint the northeast bedroom.
45) Go to the farmer’s market with Ms. stu on a Saturday morning.
46) Increase the memory and hard drive on the desktop computer.
47) Rip all of the CDs into iTunes.
48) Make MP3s of all the seven inches.
49) Make MP3s of all the local music.
50) Take an overnight trip to Stillwater.
51) Go cross-country skiing.
52) Buy a new outfit for Ms. stu for no special reason.
53) Visit New York during the holidays.
54) Attend a vintage base ball game.
55) Get a new set of woods for my golf clubs.
56) Play a round of golf in addition to the annual family golf tournament.
57) Play tennis three times in four weeks.
58) Plant something in the garden.
59) Go on a picnic.
60) Have dinner with my grandmother.
61) Take my parents out for dinner.
62) Attend a Minnesota Thunder game.
63) Get a passport.
64) Write a thank you letter to Bob Newhart.
65) Get a facial.
66) Ride the light rail.
67) Go to a Twins day game during the work week.
68) Go to the top of the Foshay Tower.
69) Sing karaoke.
70) Make a bench for the living room.
71) Add a new dinner dish to my repertoire.
72) Make cider.
73) Make veggie jerky.
74) Use the router.
75) Buy a new dark suit.
76) Donate $100 to a charity.
77) Make a dish with morel mushrooms.
78) Make a dish a dish from Sportsman’s Kitchen Fish Cookbook.
79) *PERSONAL*
80) Get a Pat Neshek t-shirt.
81) Watch Chinatown.
82) See Mount Rushmore.
83) Collect a box score for every game from the Twins’ 1967 season.
84) Get a Minnesota Twins Topps team set for each season from 1975 to the present.
85) Create a Dogster account for Duke.
86) Do fifty consecutive pushups.
87) Bring my car in for the “maintenance required” light.
88) Clean the basement.
89) Have a lobster dinner.
90) Collect 50% of the old Susstones catalog.
91) Make a hallway mirror/coat rack.
92) Watch Rope.
93) Read a book on sustainable living.
94) Learn more about dog racing, specifically the life of race dogs.
95) Visit Canada.
96) Go see a play.
97) Go to the opera.
98) Sleep in until noon.
99) Buy a Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers album.
100) Send Eleanor a card.
101) Rent a paddleboat.