Tag Humor

What I Did Last Summ….er Last Week

Michael 14 Comments

Like I don’t have enough to do this week, now I have another chore to complete. Our favorite South African American has decreed all those working for the government will report today what they did last week or face the consequences. I suppose that means being confronted with the bright red chain saw some third world dictator, err some foreign dignitary gifted him. Considering I work and pay taxes I take that to mean that I work for the government, so I will comply and not face the consequences.

Monday I did 8 hours reviewing charts then work on the first draft for next week’s Uplift post and did the final proof on last week’s.

Tuesday I participate in a morning program even though I said last year (at about this same time of year even) that I was through with morning speaking engagements. After that I took some personal time and went grocery shopping. (The “fresh” asparagus looked like it had come from a can and the eggs are still expensive. (Why is that Dingy Donny? I thought you were going to fix everything in Day 1.)) ( putz)

Wednesday I spent the day doing ROAMcare work including Moments of Motivation for March and selecting last week’s flashback post for Friday. I also did my part of the review for what will be this week’s Uplift post. In the evening I spoke at a venue so far out there that I swear the GPS got lost. At one point Siri told me “Take the next left, I think. If you see a barn with a cow painted on its side, you’ve gone too far.”

Thursday was another chart review day and in the evening another meeting. And yes, I told myself no more 3 programs in one week, but that will probably go the same way as the no more morning speaking.

Friday I did laundry and housework because I picked up a shift at the pharmacy on Saturday and I was running out of clean socks and- never mind.

Saturday I worked, but you already know that.

Sunday I went to church and to lunch with my daughter. (He won’t care about that but somebody has to pray for us and it’s not going to be  the “D.C.Christians.”)

I hope that meets with his approval. I wonder what Dimwit Donald’s list looks like. Monday, golf, Tuesday golf, Wednesday yell at Maine governor, Thursday golf, Friday tanning booth.)

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Clearly I’m working too hard.  Need to slow down. And wouldn’t you know it, there is an Uplift post that can help!

In last week’s Uplift, Life in the Slow Lane, we revisited our plan for daily resolutions and how they can keep us centered and present to ourselves. You should take a look.

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

The best times, etc etc

Michael 10 Comments

It’s that time again, one of the best times of the year. It’s Oscar time! Specifically, the month before the actual awards are awarded. I don’t care much who wins this year’s Academy Awards. If anything, I may pay attention to the the cinematography or writing awards, but in general, this year’s winners have a long time to ferment before I’ll open them for a taste.

If you are a regular reader, or even a slightly irregular one, you know my golden age for movie watching coincides nicely with the golden age of movie making. I have made that same assertion at this same time of year several times. If you pop over to the “Search My Blog” page and type “Academy” in the search window, you will be rewarded with several posts to read about my preference for the older movies, particularly at this time of year.  Naturally, that won’t stop me from asserting that same assertion here.

In addition to what you”ll read in any of those past posts, I also think part of what makes the older movies the better choices, is the same reason why so many other older things, are just generally better. I’ll use some of my own experiences.

For well over 40 years I worked in hospital pharmacies, both non-profit and for-profit. When I started, healthcare was a terrific career choice, specifically for me, but for many others. And a well-respected field of endeavor. Today, not so much. The people working it are questionable in their dedication for excellence in providing care, and the people running it are not at all questionable in their disdain for providing care.

Here is what I believe happened.  When I began practicing hospitals were run by doctors, pharmacies by pharmacists, and drug companies by chemists and biologists. We made people well and made a respectable living. Sometime in the 1990s, hospital and pharmacies and drug companies decided to swap out the professionals from their corporate offices and replace them with “business people.” Dedication went down because they had no stake in the history of the professions. Quality went down because quality is expensive and that didn’t fit with the “increase the bottom line at all costs” narrative. Care went down because nobody needed to care anymore.

Without getting further into that diatribe, that’s what happened to movies. In the 20s to the early 60s, actors acted, writers wrote, directors directed, and producers produced. They were good at what they did. They had stables of people to draw upon, and they enjoyed what they did. And they did what they knew how to do. There are some exceptions, but it became prevalent in the 60s that people  wanted all the control so they started writing and directing and producing their own parts that they acted. Movies became pet projects rather than works of art.

If you want something good, have the professionals who want to do it, who have experience doing it, who know the good and bad of doing it just do it. It works with healthcare. It works with cars, it works with running a country. (I had to addd that – come on now. DEI caused a plane crash? Sheesh)

Back to the movies. From now until awards night, my favorite TV network, TCM will play nothing but Oscar nominated and winning movies. All day. Every day. Some even written, directed, produced, and performed by other than old white men.

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You know when else is the best of times? February! It’s not only Groundhog Day month, it is also when love is in the air. Do the right thing and spread your love to everyone, even strangers. We talk about that very thing in this week’s Uplift post, All We Need is Love, Part 2. It’s all natural, requires little effort, and makes big differences. Check it out.

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

Questionable Behavior

Michael 20 Comments

I know we are entering only the second full week of the new year, but I already have questions.

I undecorated from the Christmas season, redecorating into the winter décor (yes, there is a difference) Saturday and Sunday of the weekend. This was one of the few years I did not add to either of my ever-growing collections of nativity sets and nutcrackers (and if you are wondering (and I know you are) yes, I have a nativity set made up of nutcrackers, or nutcrackers in the shapes of a nativity set). Still, somehow, when all was said and done, I had no room in the inn for one iteration of the Holy Family. How does that happen? (By the way, the difference is snowmen.)

In the continuing story of the faithful companion Jingle the Dog, he is doing well enough, continuing with his chemotherapy. He was still getting his normal amount of exercise, walking a couple miles a day and leaping onto any piece of furniture that afforded him a good look of the outside world. Somehow (there’s that word again), he managed to pinch a nerve in his remaining shoulder. So, the daughter is now dealing with a dog with one missing front leg and one inoperative front leg, and was told to not let him walk or jump for 5 days. Has anybody ever kept a dog from not jumping?

Last Thursday I posted about the BBC Music video of “God Only Knows,” the mind-blowing compilation of “32 artists and groups mingling their distinctive styles into a single beautiful performance.” I’ve played that video several times, clocked the link to identify the participants, and wondered how they pulled this off. How did they?  Never got a good answer to that, but I did find an interesting behind the scenes video. (No, I don’t get referral fees from them.)

Oaky, my brain is happier now. I haven’t gotten any answers. But at least the questions are out there now. That’s something, isn’t it?

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Isn’t it time to consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

Shopping Math Again

Michael 9 Comments

I’ve written a couple of times about shopping math problems. They started here. If you have a minute, bounce over there and refresh your memory. I’ll wait.

Back so soon? Now you have an idea of what I faced again, not once, but twice last week, the one week in the year when I really want to give my brain some time off. I mean I had already gone through a harrowing experience trying to decide if a wine bottle gift bag that comfortably holds a 750 ml wine bottle, will it accommodate a 32 ounce emotional support water bottle. (It doesn’t and it won’t.)

I was in the pet supply aisle of the local super-duper market (one notch below mega-mart) trying to determine which doggie doodoo waste bag offering was the best buy. It brought back visions of those toilet paper math fevers I used to experience. (I’ve since rid myself of the need to do toilet paper math shifting to Who Gives a Crap mail order toilet paper. Good stuff and I don’t have to figure out nothing because it’s on auto-order) (Not an ad but if they want to thank me with a complimentary case or two, I have closet space.)

But back to the bow wow bags. I could get 120 bags for $15 or 270 bags for $14. Something didn’t seem right there. Did the cheaper bags have holes in them? On the other hand, at better than a dime a bag it seemed like a lot just to hold you-know-what. Here’s 4 rolls of 15 for $7 and they are compostable. That seems important considering what’s going in them is future compost. What about the purple ones? Their cheaper still but wait, they’re 2 rolls of 25. Hmm…

Why did I ask my daughter if she needed anything at the store? It’s her dog. Let her figure out toilet paper math for canines. But she was doing dog math of her own. And when I finally settled on a leash attachable dog waste carry-all (the multicolor, compostable, unscented 4 rolls of 30 for $8), I was asked to help settle her current conundrum.

You recall Jungle, her canine companion of the recent cancer diagnosis and front leg amputation. He’s doing as well as he can be but is beginning new drug therapy which like all things pet related, costs more than what everyone I know spends on their children today. Anyway… the question was does she spend $X on a bottle of 15 tablets, a 5 week supply  from a mail order pharmacy who doesn’t take her dog’s insurance (yes…) but will reimburse her 50%. Or should she spend $1.75X on a bottle of 30 from the local pharmacy, who take her insurance but her copy is $1.2X. Then we also took into consideration that the mail order pharmacy will take gift cards that she can buy at the local super market and get shopper points that will turn into discounts totaling X/10 that she can use to buy dog food (or dog waste bags if she wants a really really large number of them.).

We never did come up with a good answer to that question and decided to use the mail order pharmacy because it involved the most steps so by logic it had to be the right choice.

All things considered, it was nice to do something together for an afternoon.

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Are you looking for ways to spend time with loved ones. The new year is a good time to resolve to do just that. You can join in with us at ROAMcare as we prioritize sharing  our most positive moments with our loved ones. Read how we’re doing that in the latest Uplift.

 

The almost annual Christmas movie review

Michael 2 Comments

Welcome to the almost annual Christmas movie review! This year, the non-Christmas Christmas movies.

Did you know that some group out there surveyed the entire country about their favorite non-Christmas movies that are set during Christmas time. I know it was the whole country because the nice people on the TV news desperately searching for filler material found this report and it included a map of the U.S. noting each state’s favorite. I assume they mean the movie most commonly cited by the survey participants in those states, but “they” said the state’s favorite so let’s go with that.

Surprisingly, none of the favorites included “The Poseidon Adventure” which I think is a dandy Christmas-set non-Christmas movie even though it’s really set on New Year’s Eve. That counts as the Christmas “season,” right? The most often mentioned movie was or is depending on how current this information is (filler, remember), is “Mean Girls.” Only one state named “Die Hard” as their favorite which is where it belongs. Err, in the Christmas-set non-Christmas movie category, not just in one state. Although as a Christmas-set non-Christmas movie it’s really not that good. So there’s a tree it in. Big freaking deal. If the line had been written as “Yippie ki yay fella” it would have disappeared 3 months after its release. Anyway, the second most cited movie was/is lGremlins.” I suppose that’s reasonable.

But that was them. This is me. And naturally, I have my own ideas, just as I did in the most recent almost annual Christmas movie review when we discussed (haha, when I told you), the best Christmas movie ever (i.e. my favorite that year), I will lead you gently to the most Christmassy Christmas-set non-Christmas movie.

It’s quite amazing how many such movies there are. For some reason, the first that comes to mind is “When Harry met Sally,” although, like Poseidon, that leans more to New Year’s. And then that makes me thinks of “Ocean’s Eleven,” the good one (aka the original) which also is set mostly on New Year’s Eve. But with all the planning that went on, you know there was a Christmas tree and presents exchanged upstairs in Mr. Acebos’ living room.

A good choice that is, but there are other Christmas-set non-Christmas movies from the golden years of cinema. Let’s look at some of them.

For those who can’t imagine Edward G. Robinson in a Santa Suit there’s “Larceny, Inc.” from 1942. If you watch it, you will still have to imagine him thusly costumed because he wears a regular suit in it all the way through, but the action does take place during the Christmas shopping season.

Another possibility is 1946’s “Lady in the Lake.” I wrote about it a few years ago and mentioned that even though the opening credits of the movie were presented in a series of Christmas cards, Christmas carols provided the background music, trees and wreaths are prominently displayed, and one scene even opened with a recitation of Dickens “A Christmas Carol” playing on the radio, the Philip Marlowe mystery definitely is not a Christmas movie, merely another Christmas-set non-Christmas movie.

But my favorite Christmas-set non-Christmas movie from those olden, golden years is “The Thin Man,” the Hackett and Goodrich adaption of Dashiell Hammett’s mostly fun murder mystery featuring Nick and Nora Charles. The story begins some unspecified time before the end of the year that I contend was around Thanksgiving, and concludes with them on a train heading home where they disembark on New Year’s Eve, encompassing the entirety of the Christmas season. How much non-Christmassy can you get.

That’s all folks!

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The holidays bring a sense of generosity and togetherness. We can maintain this spirit throughout the year.  Small acts of kindness create a caring and enthusiastic world.
If you think that’s profound, you should read the rest of Do Unto Others. You know, life is life lived alone

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Dreaming what to become

Michael 7 Comments

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been collecting some remarkable tidbits of wisdom (wisbits?) from of all places, the Internet. Someone said (and I’ll qualify this that it is a reputable somebody and was published somewhere reputable, but I’m comfortable in my chair and don’t feel like searching for the citation, but trust me, it’s a valid point) someone once said only 85% of what’s on the Internet is true, and nearly 100% of that is in legacy news sites, or traceable to same. Which if you’re even just decent at math means most of what we’re exposed to is crap. Or possibly plagiarized crap. But there is some interesting crap out there.

One of the non-cited things I saw, that I’m really tempted to believe, is that in the 1980s, A&W tried to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder by releasing a 1/3 pound burger at a lower price, but it failed because people didn’t want the “smaller” burger, even if it was cheaper.

That might be what led Oxford University Press to declare “brain rot” as its 2024 word of the year. The term is defined as “mental decline caused by trivial material.” See, to me, that in itself is somewhat rotten. The mental decline isn’t caused by trivial material. That’s what we used to call recreation. “Let’s take time off and do something non-consequential, something trivial!” The mental decline we’re experiencing is caused by people accepting what they read as fact. But hold that thought.

A different word was selected word of the year for 2024 by that stalwart of unpublished publications, Dictionary.com. They named demure as this year’s word of the day. Of course demure took off this year when some Tik Tok celebrity (really?) started using it in a way that didn’t match the definition. Sort of like when someone wants to sound “educated” at a cocktail party (youngsters, ask your parents) and explain how the new red light at the corner will assuage traffic. Anyway, we now have a word of the day everyone thinks means very mindful when it means shy, modest often affectedly so, or coy, and its origin is a state of calmness at sea.

Remember that thought we held 2 paragraphs ago. That’s where I wrote that I read OUP selected Brain Rot as its word of the day. Plug in “brain rot” to your favorite search engine and it will say it’s the Oxford University Press 2024 word of the year. Now just for fun and giggles, do the same with “demure.” Yep, it will come back as the Oxford University Press 2024 word of the year. 85% right seems high. By the way, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is polarization. That sounds right.

Leaving single words behind, here is a string of words from one of the Today Show social sites attributed to Michael J. Fox. “If you don’t think you have anything to be thankful for, keep looking. Because you don‘t just receive optimism. You can’t wait for things to be great then be grateful for that. You have to behave in a way that promotes that.” There’s an 85% chance he actually said that. Personally, I don’t care if that isn’t what he said, that’s a good thought.

I could end it with that but here’s something from a nondescript post that should be on all our walls. “We dream what we wish to become.” I wish we’d all become less brain rotted.

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Not everyone can be exceptional and have the word of the year culled from one of your TicToc posts, but everyone can take pride in the exceptional qualities they possess. Even the most average of people have the most remarkable moments.

We took an above average swipe at those who feel being average is no better than having failed in the latest Uplift, Life on the Curve. You can read it on average in about 3 minutes.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

This I found out last week

Michael 8 Comments

Trees and apples

You remember last week I wrote about teens’ level of and interest in news literacy. Most consider content presented by celebrities, podcast host, and social media influencers as legitimate as legacy news sources. I wrote, “they [the surveyed teens) are three times as likely to trust TikTok over their local newspaper, and nearly half of those surveyed said journalists do more harm to democracy than good and that news articles are no more trustworthy than other online content creators.” One in five, 20%, are likely to believe whatever is out in front of them in the guise of “news.”

Today’s teens are offspring of those in the cusp between Millennials and Gen Z, the latter particularly social tech savvy. Enough so, it makes you wonder, how far from the tree did those apples fall.

The Pew Research Center may have taken the measure to that answer. A survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults revealed one in five Americans (a familiar number?) regularly get their news from social media influencers, 77%of whom have no affiliation, or background, with a media organization.

Fly now or pay later

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian says the incoming Trump administration will be a “breath of fresh air” for airlines, a sentiment echoed by Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan. The airline industry in general is hoping the incoming administration will roll back rules requiring automatic refunds after canceled flights and requiring airlines to advertise the full price of fares, including mandatory fees and taxes. They were most vocal about relief from advertising the full price to fly, claiming that will confuse consumers by giving them too much information. Clearly they are confusing consumers with the nominees for the incoming administration. 

On a personal note

My small appliances are rebelling. The toaster doesn’t, the spice grinder doesn’t, and only 3 out of the 4 digits are complete in the number display on the microwave. The most frustrating is the toaster. It doesn’t except when it does, and then inconsistently, so inconsistently that I can put two pieces of bread in and get one warm piece of bread and one piece of charcoal back. The entire rest of the world will be lining up in front of all the Walmarts and Targets or sitting with fingers poised over “add to cart” in the hopes of scoring a huge deal on 78 inch OLED TVs, robot vacuums, and new computers come this Friday, and I’ll be looking for deals on a toaster. It just isn’t fair!

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Time again for a shameless plug for the latest Uplift blog post. That’s the one where we encourage you to be thankful for the things that are working out so well. Hmm. Maybe I should be more thankful for my toaster after all.  Take a look at Give Thanks for All That Is Broken  

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

 

The very last, Last Minute Voting Guide

Michael 7 Comments

Greetings all. I see some of you out there are still undecided. How that can be I don’t know but all the major news media say there is still a chunk of folk who can’t decide for whom to vote. Here’s some help for you.

First – If you find reading sentences with the word “whom” in them difficult, please do not vote.  You are too stupid but may be suited to keep the line of intelligent voters straight and free of stragglers.

Second – If you find yourself saying, “I don’t know if I really like him/her/it,” remember, you are NOT voting for a best friend or someone to take you home after you made a fool of yourself at the local watering hole’s Halloween Party for Drunk Adults. You’re voting for the President of the United Frigging States of Goll Darn America. Act like it.

Second and a Half – If you find a political advertisement too outrageous to believe, don’t believe it. Remember, we’re voting for President. Leave creativity balloting to the Oscar and Emmy voters.

Third – The President’s job description includes important things. A clear understanding of and ability to articulate the issues is essential.

Fourth – If you find reading sentences with the word “articulate” in them difficult, please do not vote. You are marginally less stupid than those heretofore mentioned.

Fifth – If you find reading sentences with the word “heretofore” in them difficult, please do not even go out on Tuesday in case your stupidity rubs off on intelligent voters.

Bonus Tip – Please review this previous post. If the post reminded you of anyone, then you know what to do. If it made no impression on you at all, please do not vote. You are way too stupid. Period.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled commercial.

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Here we are again. That place where I say go look at the latest Uplift blog post. We’re confident you’ll like this post about self-confidence.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Extra, Extra – It’s Candy Corn Day!

Michael 9 Comments

Hello, everyone. Today’s special post is released in honor of Candy Corn Day! The world’s most perfect food. I know. I said so. I’ve written about candy corn a lot and I think all of them were referenced in last yea’s special post. So I’m reporting most of it here, and give you a break from today’s political lies and insults.

Yes, let’s talk about Candy Corn! You will notice I capitalize the candy and the corn because it’s clearly worth special recognition. And I’ve given it just that. Over the years I’ve written about Candy Corn nearly as often as I have about guns in airports. (But nowhere near as often as Groundhog Day. I have my standards you know.) I think my favorite was this one, Why did the turkey cross the road? You know it must be good because it doesn’t even have Candy Corn in the title. Admittedly much of it recounts my adventure when I was stopped from proceeding up the road by a flock of wild turkeys (the non-alcoholic kind). But Candy Corn makes a surprise appearance toward the end. You should give it a read if you haven’t, or a re-read if you have. Take note, it was written in 2000 when we were being advised to keep our family holiday extravaganzas on the minimalist end of the banquet spectrum.

It was 2014 when Candy Corn got its first starring role in a RRSB blog, Children of the Candy Corn, when I mentioned the many things you can do with it, culinarily speaking. My favorite is still Candy Corn and Prosecco. And it was 2018 when in Corn, Sweet Corn, I expounded on Candy Corn’s claim to being the perfect food even though most autumn offerings push that nasty old pumpkin spice on everything and everybody.

And there you have it, a special ode to that special corn. Happy Candy Corn Day!
I now return to you regularly scheduled insultfest.

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Next slide please

Michael 11 Comments

Last week was a strange one for me. I nearly posted a blog everyday filled with rage about the various goings on that are going on and how or why people don’t, or perhaps can’t see it. Instead, I’m going to post a treatise on presentation software and trust me, you will be better entertained by it.

But first, a rage release. Today, October 28, 2024, is the sixth anniversary of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the deadliest antisemitic attack on U.S. soil, when 11 members of 3 congregations sharing space in the same building were murdered by a radical who only a year ago finally was convicted of 63 crimes of violence stemming from that incident. Five years to bring to trial and convict a man who admitted to the shootings. Yet today, not only do we not have saner control over weapons of violence, we hear people wanting to be high ranking government officials and local dog catcher level officials accuse opposing candidates of being too dangerous. Really? If you want to read my feelings about the heinous acts committed at the Tree of Life you can go back and read the posts No Exceptions and No Exceptions Still!

And now, the treatise. No, not treatise. That suggests a long, formal, systemic discussion of a topic. This is just going to be long. Let’s call is a disquisition. Yeah, that’s better. And now, a disquisition on presentation software.

First, some history. (Hmmm. Maybe it could be a treatise.) (No. we settled on disquisition. No turning back now!) I do a lot of talking. Some of it I’m front of (willing) audiences. Rarely am I behind a lectern. I’m usually one more to wander about on stage, unencumbered by any connection to a video accompaniment to my words

It was not always like that. At my first ever professional (or perhaps ”professional”) presentation, I could not move any farther than 2&1/2 feet from the designated speaker area or the wireless remote control would be out of range of the projector holding the slides that (hopefully) illustrated the points I was (hopefully) making.

Yes, slides. Those same things that Uncle John and Aunt Jane pulled out after Thanksgiving dinner to show you all they did on their vacation from last August when all you wanted to do was go downtown to see the parade and watch Santa come to town. Oh those slides were so difficult to deal with. Umm. The presentation slides, not the vacation slides. The vacation slides you simply slept through. Anyway …

Oh, those slides were so difficult to deal with. When I was teaching, the college had an entire section of their AV department who would take our presentations whether for class or for an outside lecture that we saved into a floppy disk and do whatever magic they did to get them converted to slides. Provided we gave them a 4-6 week lead time on when we needed them, and ideally for class slides, that we have our disks to them a semester in advance. I can’t count the number of times I said in a lecture or at a conference, “now this information is just a little out of date but …”

When I “graduated” (hehe) from the college and moved on to my job in staff development for a for-profit company I also graduated to computer generated slides and the then latest and not quite greatest thing, webinars. Our company had locations in 46 states. We were one of the first to embrace distance learning and I was in charge of it. To make a long story short (I know…too late), it wasn’t the best of things to be one of the first to embrace.  You know all those things they say will work a lot better once they get the kinks out of? I was the “they” doing the de-kinking in that thing.

Eventually, the technology caught up with the desire and computer generation presentations whether live in person, live online, or recorded became as professional looking as the professionals behind the information presented. All at about the last time I ever used “slides” with a presentation.

I had and still have nothing against visual aids in a lecture. I merely moved on from that. In the last 10 years I gave one presentation accompanied by slides. The others have been more of a straight stand-up style like a keynote or after meal remarks, freed from worry over whether my words match whatever is projected on the wall behind me. And as such, I’ve quite lost touch with, and likely my touch with, presentation software.

As fortune has it, next week I am doing a short presentation and have been asked if I would please bring slides and handouts. Oh where oh where are those AV guys now?

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And now we are at the place where you typically see a blurb about the latest Uplift blog post. In that post we tell a story about telling a story.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.