Wednesday June 6, 2007 6:40 am Lethbridge Sunrise 5:26 Sunset 21:34 Hours of daylight: 16:08

A. Morning Musings

6:40 am It is +11 C with a high forecast of +13 C.

Here are the news.

CBC Headline: Hundreds of B. C. Homes On Flood Alert

Swollen rivers in northern B.C. have hundreds of residents on alert Wednesday morning, after rising floodwaters forced evacuation orders for dozens of homes late in the night. This looks like it might get much worse.

Canadian Headline: see above

Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Truck Driver 'Apologized' After Train Collision

THE truck driver involved in the Kerang train crash that has left 11 passengers dead was found at the scene apologising minutes after the impact. This was a horrific accident but stretching the headline for a second day seems only to add to the horror.

B. Actual/Notes

6:45 am Rain is forecast for much of the day. This may be a good day to engage in some Learning activities.

10:10 am I have finished reading Lee Iacocca's book, "Where Have All The Leaders Gone?". How to make a few notes about this? One idea would be to use a mind mapping approach, but the book had a rather free-floating structure (i.e. no structure). I will begin by capturing a number of good quotes and then see if I can reorganize them into a structure.

• "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage?" [p. 3]
• "Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damn Titanic." [p. 3]
• "And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew." [p. 5]
• "Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller?" [p. 5]
• The 9 C's of leadership:
  • Curiosity - "... if a leader never steps outside of his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale." [p. 6]
  • Creative - "be willing to try something different." [p. 6]
  • Communicate - "facing reality and telling the truth" [p. 7]
  • Character - "knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing." [p. 8]
  • Courage - "Courage ... doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down ... and talk." [p. 8]
  • Conviction - "You've got to really want to get something done." [p. 9]
  • Charisma - "... the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire." [p. 9]
  • Competent - "... surround yourself with people who know what they're doing." [p. 10]
  • Common Sense
• "So here's where we stand.
  • We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
  • We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.
  • We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
  • Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy.
  • Our schools are in trouble.
  • Our borders are like sieves.
  • The middle class is being squeezed every which way." [p 12]
• "Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire." [p. 13]
• "Here's what management is about: Pick good people and set the right priorities." [p. 15]
• "For my entire career, I always kept a hot list. I updated it every week. I always believed that you should be able to write down your top priorities on a single sheet of paper. If you can't state a priority in fifty words or less, you're in trouble." [p. 23]
• "For the next year your job is NOT to pass any new laws or spend any new money. Your job is to evaluate what you've already done." [p. 31]
• "Here's the best advice I can give anyone who wants to ace retirement:
  • Count your blessings
  • Don't disengage from life
  • Figure out what will make you happy
  • Hang around with young people
  • Live the hell out of your life - now
  • Say your prayers. [p. 253]

The list is fine. I don't see what is to be gained by creating a mind map.

C. Plan

Immediate
Literature	Complete reading "Where Have All The Leaders Gone? " by Lee Iacocca	2 hr
	Begin reading "The Navigator Of New York" by Wayne Johnston	3 hr
Later
Technology	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Read & make notes for chap. 4 from "Macromedia Dreamweaver 8"
	Learn how to attach a digital camera to my spotting scope
	Burn backup of images onto DVD
Mathematics	Read & make notes on The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems
	Continue reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman
	Read "Symmetry" by David Wade
	Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1
	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
Model Trains	Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama
	Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt
	Continue assembly of coaling tower
	Purchase DCC system
History	Begin reading "Maya"
	Read Watson "Ideas"
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"
	Begin reading "How Are We To Live?" by Peter Singer
Literature	New York Times easy crossword puzzles
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go"
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals
Learning	Review week's pages each Sunday
	Review all pages for the month at the end of each month
Technology	Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006
Model Trains	Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software
	Install DCC on model train layout
GO	Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level
Drawing	Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper).
Mathematics	Continue to play with mathematics.
Literature	Continue to read Literature
Bird Watching	Continue to engage in bird watching activities.

D. Reflection