I ran across this article on Alltop from the NPR.  It is crazy thinking about jobs that have come and gone.  I would rather imagine that many of us know people that actually did some of the jobs of the past.  Milk man, bowling pin setter, copy boy....click on the link to see some of the others. 

http://holykaw.alltop.com/how-innovation-obsoletes-jobs

Doesn't it get you to thinking about what jobs of today will be gone tomorrow.  There are so many things that continue to change with the advent of technology.  I was actually thinking about this just the other night.   I remember a friends family growing up that had a little movie shop where they rented out the original VCR's and VHS's.  When the first DVD's came out, they were sunk.  Now, today, I don't know very many people who don't go to a Redbox or utilize Netflix or even On demand options from cable and satellite providers. 

I've recently run into a manager from Blockbuster Video.  Her store is closing down.  I believe in the next few years, we will not see the brick and mortar versions of video stores.

Doesn't it beg the question, what other jobs will be lost in the next few years as technology continues to make us obsolete.  Does it make you wonder what you could do to protect yourself and your future.  Is there truly a position in the world that has true staying power?  What do you think?

The movies you say.  Never been a huge priority in my life, yet it is something that is a simple family outing that we can all enjoy together.  That being said,

"Have you seen these crazy prices lately?"

KayCee and I have upped our movie allotment quite extensively over the last year.  We have now gone to two movies this year as opposed to the 2 movies the prior 5 years of our married life.  I have to tell you, the last movie KayCee and I went to was at Cinetopia in Vancouver, WA which was nice.  You can order dinner and watch a movie all at the same time.  Big comfy leather chairs (you can actually order an adult beverage if you choose), ottomans to throw your feet up, you know, a great date night for an old married couple.

Lets talk about the outing the other night.  I have to tell you, it was very enjoyable and my commentary to follow should take nothing away from that.  The scenario, 4 kids, 2 adults, missed the matinee time, yet we really wanted to get the kids to a movie.  Not all of the "kid" movies play in the evening.  As we roll up to the theater, we thought, worst case, we will go to Alice in Wonderland, little adult for our kids, five, three, three, and two are the ages of our children.

So, worst case comes on board, the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland (in 3D no less), which as you may or may not know, a more dark version than the way I remember the book.  Where am I going with all of this you may ask, we stroll up to the ticket counter, 2 adults and roll off the ages of our children, and baboom......That will be $61.00.  Are you kidding me.  The family behind us with one child actually giggled a little bit when the ticket salesman said, "Because he is two, we normally charge, but I'll let it slide" and still it was $61.00.....that was with one of our cute kiddos getting in free.

Of course, whats a movie, with out the snacks.  Medium popcorn, bottle of water, nachos for Rhyan our oldest, and of course a box of those scrumptious cookie dough bites.  Another $21.75 on snacks, and the movie begins. 

I'm just wondering, if anyone knows the answer to this question....Is the movie theater business incredibly lucrative, or is the Hollywood industry so incredibly overinflated at what they believe their people to be valued at that in an attempt to have a nice family movie night, it now costs the average person a full days wages to attend? 

Of course, it is by choice that we partake in the experience, and as well, if people simply quit supporting the escalating fees, it would force a change and make it more affordable, but it isn't like we are creating world piece or solving health care reform here.....its simply a movie!

Do you remember the Smashing Pumpkins song, about Today is the greatest.....Do you think that everyday can be great.  I heard something other day that I believe could be instrumental in creating the best day each and every day.  It is a quote by John Wooden, former coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team.  He says, "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." 

That is quite brilliant.  Is it the idea of ying/yang, optimist/pesimist, glass half full/half empty.  Yes, I would rather imagine.  Each and every day, life will happen.  Each and every day, how we look at that life that happens is a choice.  At the end, we can choose if today is the greatest day!

Interesting question.   I came across the following article and I believe it to be pretty much right on.  In essence, it says money DOESN'T buy happiness.  However, read it, then seem my comments at the end and see if I'm very far off in my conclusion.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-nature/emotions/happiness/being-happy/can-money-buy-happiness.htm

According to a popular credit card company, there are some things money can't buy. The Beatles would put love on that list. Other people might add intelligence or talent. But surely happiness could be had for a cool one or two million dollars. After all, what person doesn't feel a surge of positive emotions upon finding a $20 bill on the sidewalk or at the thought of winning the lottery? If only you had a bit of extra cash to throw around, you could quit your job, buy an island in the Caymans and relax on the beach for the rest of your days.
But psychologists and economists who have studied the relationship between money and happiness paint a different picture. According to them, you'd likely grow tired of your cabana in a matter of years. You see, people have an astonishing ability to adapt to all sorts of situations, and while that can be a good thing if you get locked out of your house during a drenching rain, it also means you'd quickly grow accustomed to a life of affluence. A shiny red Jag and new house in the Hamptons would be great for a while, but after a few days or weeks, their newness would wear off, and you'd go in search of the next best thing. Even surveys of lottery winners indicate that their initial joy at hitting the jackpot wears off in just a few months [source: Brooks].

The one place that money and happiness are significantly linked is when a person is unable to afford to meet their basic needs. There is an appreciable difference in levels of happiness between those below the poverty level and those above it. Homeless people in Calcutta, for instance, score a mere 2.9 on a 7-point scale of happiness, while multimillionaires in the United States rank themselves a cheery 5.8. Once people pass that poverty threshold, though, the money boost tapers off; Inuits in Greenland and Masai ranchers living in Kenyan dung huts are just as happy as the high-society Americans [source: Begley]. So while the Warren Buffetts of the world are indeed more content than beggars on the street, they're not a whole lot happier than people who herd cattle for a living.
Such data may leave all you lottery-playing hopefuls out there feeling rather dejected. But don't lose heart just yet -- there are more effective paths to happiness than hitting the jackpot. For starters, you may want to rethink quitting that job of yours.

First thing I noticed, is the huge discrepancy from the people who just get by or at the poverty level of 2.9 out of 7 compared to 5.8 out of 7 for affluent.  The sampling groups and information are so far off that it makes no sense to me.

They speak of the Inuits in Greenland and the Masai in Kenya as being just as happy as the affluent in the United States.  I believe that whole heartedly.

Lets take a look at that from a different angle.  Perhaps in our day to day life.  In the United States we are constantly bombarded by items that we want as opposed to items that we need.  The news, internet, and magazines always remind us of the things that are available but we simply can't afford.  When people live in a society that is not based on consumption and vanity to the extent the US is, it would be much simpler to feel like "I have it all." 

It is the concept of you don't know what you don't know.  I can tell you, we have been fortunate to have a lifestyle where money wasn't an issue for us.  During that time, the stress levels were nonexistent and I would say that lack of stress would be a high determining factor as it relates to happiness.

Without money, our choices are limited, our world begins to shrink, and we live with what we have.  Both are fine, as we have talked about, and in my opinion, if money can create options in your life that would enhance your current ability to enjoy your life, then to me, happiness could go up.

For people who do not desire anything different by choice, it would be very feasible to see a similar level of happiness to someone who has the options that money can bring.  At the end of the day, as with everything, it boils down to choosing to be happy with what we have, or not. 

 The following blog presents some very good conflict resolution.  In my opinion, a true leadership has the ability to seek to understand before being understood (From Covey) and based on that, conflict resolution can be such an empowering process.  So, the simple question is, in your leadership ability are you putting gas on the flame, or are you putting water?

http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/employeemanagementcolumnistdavidjavitch/article205490.html

So what positive steps can leaders take to minimize the negative aspects of conflict?

1. Realize that conflict is natural and happens all the time. 
2. Stress the positive aspects of conflict; just because tension arises, the world is not going to collapse. In fact, if handled well, conflict often leads to innovation.
3. Realize that conflict can be handled in a positive way that leads to personal and professional growth, development and productivity.
4. Encourage others to bring up conflict and differences. Allowing them to fester inevitably encourages them to erupt later, usually at a most inopportune time.
5. Identify the root cause(s) of the conflict. You can't begin to unravel the potential negativity in conflict and look toward progress until you determine the source of the issue.
6. Look at the issue from all sides. Inspect the positive and negative factors that each party sees to fully comprehend what is at stake.
7. Devise a complete list of actions to address the issue; ensure that each party believes that he/she has had input in the final product or decision.
8. Decide on the step that best addresses and resolves the issue. Again, all parties need to see that they have had input into this step.
9. Agree on whatever next steps are necessary to implement the mutually agreed-upon action.
10. Review the process that you used to arrive at the final decision, hoping to implement a similar successful plan when negative conflict next arises.

An effective leader is willing to address spoken and unspoken negative tension and helps transform it into positive, productive tension that leads to increased understanding of the issues, the parties involved and the final outcome.

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David G. Javitch, Ph.D., is Entrepreneur.com's "Employee Management" columnist, an organizational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Newton, Mass. With more than 20 years of experience working with executives in various industries, he's an internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and consultant on key management and leadership issues.

I don't know about you, but I must confess that I was never introduced to the science of success as I made my way through the traditional schooling methods.  I will also tell you, that I was a very good student as I finished high school, in fact finishing in the top 10 of my school, which doesn't say much, but I didn't put much effort into it either.  As I entered college, where there was no one telling me I had to go to school, the lack of effort really showed.  Not knowing what I wanted to do when I grew up (funny right) I did the usual.  Take a couple of these classes with a sprinkle of those, and at the end of the day, hope that I figured out what it was I would be doing with this so called life.

Well, I can tell you, that method didn't work out so much for me.  I headed down a path of education to earn a degree in chemistry.  You realize, chemistry, for me, was not interesting, not exciting, not enjoyable, you get it, right.....I did it because I took 5 credits of chemistry between general chem and chem lab, and in my world, it was all about getting it over with as quickly as possible to move on to the next phase.

As you may know, that is probably not the best method for success.  In my opinion, if you can't get passionate about something, you will never rise to the top.  Now, with that being said, I also believe that you can be passionate about your integrity, a job well done, a sense of accomplishment.  For me, in the world of working as an engineer putting chemicals on glass that may or may not work to excite little electrons to illuminate and make a small tv screen.  Yeh, I couldn't get excited about that....not even a little bit.

I have to tell you, that working for a company that closed its US based operations was probably one of the most significant things that has happened to me in my life.  It forced me out of the box.  You know, the box that we live in.  The box that says my life is just great, I make just enough to cover the bills, just enough to do a few extras, I have just enough time to live my life and go on vacations, you know, the just box.

Well, when someone carves a window into the just box, and a world outside is opened up, everything begins to change.  Should just be good enough?  In my world, just was not good enough.  We are all put on this earth for whatever reason, but it is not for just, it is for living in complete greatness and fulfilling our life with abundance.

The crux in the matter, each person definition of greatness and abundance is different.  My idea and your idea of an abundant life could be completely different.  Isn't choice a beautiful thing.  So, success to you and to me for knocking a wall in the proverbial just box and letting a light of infinite possibilities shine in on you, on me, and all of those who simply open their eyes and realize there really is no box.

To be perfectly honest with you, this week has been an absolute blur.  If you remember, I had committed to many things this year as far as new years resolutions, and in the last week, every single one, from push-ups, to blogging everyday went the way side. 

I would like to think that I was immune to the ups and downs of life as I tend to be a very even kealed person, but for some reason, the last week just knocked me on my butt. 

We had a major event last week, and it was going very smoothly as far as the planning stage until at the last minute, it sold out.  In the last 4 days before an event with 1035 presold tickets to a venue that could accomodate 988 people we decided to add another entire event.  Now, obviously that would seem to not be that big of a deal, but I think last week the stress to maintain a high level of energy, good attitude, and all around attitude of "yep, this thing is going to go off without a hitch" when in my mind I was thinking, please oh, please let everything go smoothly.

To top it off, I had a number of people that were working me over for information on the event that was not pertinent, and in my attempt to be gracious, I took on a bit more effort than I should of.

All in all, a week that sucked the energy out of me, allowed me to have a moment of weakness and drop off the band wagon for my new years resolutions.

It can't just be me that has the occasional up and down, thinking holy crap, how does it all come together, and how do we all fit in this place, and is our purpose sound, you know, midlife crisis crap!

I did have a birthday on Sunday, which I suppose with my family history, I technically have approached the mid point of my existence.  That is for a future topic for sure.

Does anyone else have these occasional lapses in an otherwise pretty solid structure?

Oh yeh, the Dark Tower reference you may ask.  I used to play the Dark Tower when I was 7 or 8 years old, and the tower used to make this menacing song when a bad turn was about to be had (At least that's how I remember it).  The menacing song, thus indicates a menacing week that unfortunately, like Dark Tower lets you know as you are in the moment, by the time I realized I was in it, I already was recognizing it was time to fight my way out of it!