11 Cowboy Axioms

I had a very vivid dream remembering visits to my relatives' Farm/Ranch in SD.  When I woke up, I scribbled down these notes and then refined them a little today before posting: 

• Milk Cows do not understand "I could not get to you today"
• "Well... OK, I guess" is Cowboy code for "you have to learn you're wrong sometime"
• If a Cowboy does not answer, it does not mean he did not hear what you said
• Cowboys leave their ego at home; cattle are shorter and dumber but there's a lot more of 'em
• Only the Cowboy knows when he did the job right; their father's only say when it is wrong
• Separate your butt from your brain; Cowboys think ahead but do what needs doin' now or end up doing more than they think
• Nothing helps a cowboy learn like a broken finger, rope burn or a cow kicking you in the chest
• Agree or argue until you do. Not doing so is offensive at best and dangerous at worst
• No bad day, argument, shouting match or other such thing can outlast the happiness of sitting down to a meal together
• Teach the next generation even in the intensity of the harvest or branding season. You may not be around the next year to teach them
• Everything you have is yours for a short time and then only if you willing to work HARD every single day to keep it

Spring planting, harvest, calving, branding, fixin' fence, fighting grass fires, building chicken pens, slopping hogs and, of course, milking cows. I appreciate these memories now more than I did then.

  

Thanks to all my Mom's relatives and especially my Grandpa, Walter Dale Miller, Uncle Randy, Aunt Mary, Uncle Rick, Aunt Karey Aunt Renee and all my cousins who put up with the "city kid." sometimes.

The Democratic Dismantling of The American Dream

"It's called The 'American Dream' because you have to be asleep to believe it." -- George Carlin

I am sorry to have to post on this but it in unconscionable for me not to communicate my feelings on the loss of the American Dream. Though there were some like Madoff who broke the law, mostly Americans gave it away through the democratic process. Leaders were elected, allowed to be corrupted by ego, power and greed and then manipulated public opinion through carefully constructed media messaging.

Summary

I believe Americans have not felt enough pain (like in the Great Depression) to regulate the fundamental structure of financial services and bring back the middle class. 

The best we can hope for is Elizabeth Warren and others with the integrity the brains or both to interpret enacted reforms to the most extreme. That appears unlikely; given the stack of lawsuits and lawyers that will be thrown at them by investment banks.

Our situation will not improve until taxes are raised on the super-rich, entitlements are cut, people feel the pain and the middle-class returns. If the super-rich threaten to leave the country; make em prove it. And maybe somewhere along the way we re-learn how to produce things and not consume.

The History

• 
  
  1929 The Crash of 1929
  At first people blamed the government for that crash too (are you listening Tea Partiers?). But now we know better it was manipulation of buying on margin (equivalent of credit)
• As Joe Kennedy said, he "knew it was time to get out when he received stock tips from a shoe-shine boy." The implication of this is that every sucker that could be taken for their money however small the amount, had it sucked out of them. 
• 1933 Glass-Steagall Act - kept the economic growth in check through separation.

Jimmy Carter

• 1979 "In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose." --Jimmy Carter. -7/15/79 

Ronald Reagan and George H Bush

• 1987 Wall Street The Classic Rationalization of Greed
• People were promised all things from Reagan if we jest believed in supply side economics ("trickle down" or "tinkle on" depending on your perspective)
• Instead the super rich (top 1%) grew until they could not stuff their pockets anymore; the "shoe shine boy" had bought a $500K home . The super-rich bolted and the middle-class fell apart. Source here 

Bill Clinton

1999 S. 900: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act - Open up the gates of greed.

George W. Bush

• 2001 Bush asks Americans for "continued participation and confidence in the American economy" linking consumerism to an American duty instead of a choice
• 2003 S. 811: American Dream Downpayment Act - get people to borrow well beyond their ability to pay
• 2003 H.R. 1: Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 - Prescription drugs, largest unfunded entitlement in history… more than Medicare itself at time of enactment
• 2003 War of choice in Iraq that was supposed to be in part paid for by Iraqi Oil revenue
• 2005 S. 256: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 - but make it harder to go bankrupt http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/04/bankruptcy_column.html
• 2006 The Smartest Guys in the Room Enron: A one Company manifestation of greed
• 2006 Maxed Out - the masses are duped into a false sense of self-worth being associated with consumerism
• 2008 I.O.U.S.A. - more blind consumerism to the point of total financial insanity
• 2008 H.R. 1424: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 - And then they ask to get bailed out to continue the abuse. Like giving drugs to the addict

Under Obama

• Rubin left us Summers and Geithner; like vultures on the carcass of American economy
• Feb 17, 2009 Inside the Meltdown
• March 24, 2009 Ten Trillion and Counting
• May 9, 2009 The Madoff Affair
• June 16, 2009 Breaking the Bank
• October 20, 2009 The Warning
• Nov. 24, 2009 The Card Game
• 2009 Most difficult to stomach - Capitalism: A Love Story
• 2009 David Walker (I.O.U.S.A) spoke to Milliman in March 2009. I asked him the following question: "Your premise is our nation has lost its way and overspending. If so, why not advocate balanced budgets and entitlement cuts to the point we sink into a depression. Would that not be the fair thing to do in the eyes of our children?" On the contrary, Mr. Walker felt TARP and some stimulus spending was necessary in this situation. So even one of the biggest believers in restrained spending could not face the idea of really going without. And the deficits keep on rolling
• Mind over Money - The need to change from Rational to Behavioral Economics and institute reform.
• 2010 And now Financial Regulation emasculated: S. 3217: Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010
• Volcker "People are worried, and should be"
• World's wealthy sitting out while the carnage roll on
• Resolution of Key Issues on Financial Regulation
• http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12697/64796
• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/politics/26regulate.html?_r=1&hp
• In my opinion, and that of 4 out of 5 Americans see the financial regulation about to be passed as terribly ineffective.

As for me….

Through some bizarre twist of fait I am a part of and benefitting from financial services work. Thankfully Milliman is intensely focused on business ethics and doing the "right thing" not the what makes the most money; those are not always the same thing.

I appreciate and work very hard in my job and give money and time to as many causes as possible. Of all the lines on my taxes, Line 17 (charitable giving) is most special; far more important than Tina and I's AGI.

My future is to demonstrate to my kids how to:

1. Reduce consumption
2. Maintain a skeptical awareness of their ego
3. Recognize media messages fueling consumerism
4. Travel internationally
5. Live frugally, simply and in peace (God willing)

25 Best War Movies

Every history buff has their favorites; these are mine based on

1. American involvement (admittedly my optic)
   
2. historical accuracy
   
3. the sacrifice of war
   
4. brotherhood of soldiers
   
5. quotable lines
   

Pre-Civil War

1. The Patriot - (2000, Roland Emmerich) (Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Joely Richardson)
   
2. Dances with Wolves - (1990 Kevin Costner) (Kevin Kostner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene)

   Civil War - 1861-1865
   

3. Glory - (1989, Edward Zwick) (Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman)

   WWI - 1914-1918
   

4. All Quiet on the Western Front (1979, Delbert Mann) (Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine)

   WWII- 1941-1945
   

5. Battle of the Bulge - (1965, Ken Annakin, WWII) (Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw)
   
6. Tora! Tora! Tora! - (1970, Richard Fleischer, WWII) (Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten)
   
7. Patton - (1970, Franklin J. Schaffner, WWII) (George C. Scott, Karl Malden)
   
8. The Big Red One - (1980, Samuel Fuller, WWII) (Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine)
   
9. Memphis Belle - (1990, Michael Caton-Jones, WWII) (Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz)
   
10. Saving Private Ryan - (1998, Steven Spielberg, WWII) (Tom Hanks, Edward Burns)
    
11. Band of Brothers Miniseries - (2001, Tom Hanks et al) (several)
    
12. The Thin Red Line - (1998, Terrence Malick, WWII) (Sean Penn, Nick Nolte)
    
13. Flags of Our Fathers - (2006, Clint Eastwood, WWII) (Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford)

    Vietnam19 63-1974
    

14. The Deer Hunter - (1978, Michael Cimino, V) (Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep)
    
15. Apocalypse Now - (1979, Francis Ford Coppola, V) (Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, M. Brando)
    
16. Platoon - (1986, Oliver Stone, V) (Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen)
    
17. Full Metal Jacket - (1987, Stanley Kubrick, V) (Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin)
    
18. Hamburger Hill - 1987, John Irvin) (Dylan McDermott, Steven Weber, Courtney B. Vance, Don Cheadle)
    
19. We were Soldiers - (2002, Randall Wallace) (Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Sam Elliott, Greg Kinnear )

    Gulf War 1991
    

20. Courage Under Fire - (1996, Edward Zwick, Iraq'91) (Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan)

    Somalia 1993
    

21. Black Hawk Down - (2001, Ridley Scott, Somalia) (Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett)

    9/11
    

22. United 93- (2006, Paul Greengrass) (several)

    Afghanistan20 01
    

23. Jarhead - (2005, Sam Mendes, Desert Storm) (Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal)

    Iraq 2003
    

24. Road to Haditha - (2007, Nick Broomfield) (Elliot Ruiz, Yasmine Hanani, Andrew McLaren)
    
25. The Hurt Locker - (2009, Kathryn Bigelow) (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo)
    

raig D. Burma

Dear Scott—                                    May 14, 2010

 

My heart leaps for joy as you approach the accomplishment of being confirmed in the United Methodist Church. The commitment your Mom and I made at your dedication is one important step closer to being fulfilled: to bring you up in the way and teachings of the Lord.

 

I am a Christian because with Him my life goes better. That does NOT mean that it always goes "well." Our family has had our share of ups and downs. But through it all, whether mountain top or deep, dark valley, I have never lost my faith in God. And if ever I was tempted to, I needed only to look at you to see that of my own (or Mom and I's) doing , we could not have created such a beautiful being as you, Scott.

 

You are incredible. I love the way you step out of the shadow of being "a twin" and create your own personality that is all SCOTT!. I love how you are able to shake off the "Jason's little twin" and help people to see how unique and interesting your are without ever being disrespectful of Jason. I loved watching you run the bases with each homerun in 2006; so fast that I had to bat you first for fear you would pass other runners on the bases! I loved watching your leadership in football: always yelling "Watch the ball. Watch the ball" struggling to say it through your mouth guard. And now to see your incredible accomplishments on trumpet… WOW what a kid!

 

I love how you have embraced your Christian instruction; always taking good notes in church and being able to relate those concepts throughout your life. I hope you always turn to God and the Life of Jesus as the one and only source for all the answers to any questions.

 

I remember so many times when you and Brian would dance along side each other, part doing your own moves and partly looking at of the corner of your eye to see what the other was doing. I hope it continues that way. "Dance" your own dance in life but keep an eye out for each other and be there to help Brian or Jason. I know you will.

 

Finally, remember that the more I revolve around this world, the more I realize it does not revolve around me. Humans are unique in assigning blame to others, nature, objects and even God for situations we create. All in defense of our ego. But blaming others takes away our power to build a bright future through our own good choices.

 

I hope you read Romans 12, my favorite chapter of the Bible. "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18

 

Love always,

 

Dad

 

May 14, 2010

Craig D. Burma

 

Dear Brian –                                         May 14, 2010

                                    

My heart leaps for joy as you approach the accomplishment of being confirmed in the United Methodist Church. The commitment your Mom and I made at your dedication is one important step closer to being fulfilled: to bring you up in the way and teachings of the Lord.

 

I am a Christian because with Him my life goes better. That does NOT mean that it always goes "well." Our family has had our share of ups and downs. But through it all, whether mountain top or deep, dark valley, I have never lost my faith in God. And if ever I was tempted to, I needed only to look at you to see that of my own (or Mom and I's) doing , we could not have created such a beautiful being as you, Brian.

 

You are amazing. I love the way to are willing to help anyone immediately, completely and enthusiastically. Whether sticking up for your stepbrother/sister when the teenage boys attacked you with the airsoft guns, or helping football players up off the ground, I always see your empathy for others coming through. I loved watching your towering homeruns sail to the fence in 2006 baseball; followed by your incredible unassisted triple play at pitcher among hundreds of other outs. God has given you precious physical strength and talent. And along with that, God has given you a wonderful creativity and writing skills. …WOW what a kid!

 

I hope you remember you can only do so much and have the right to grow up before you take on adult responsibilities. Your Mom and Chris, Tina and I have the experience to solve our own situations. You should not worry about them. You will have plenty to deal with when you are an adult. Be patient.

 

I remember so many times when you and Scott would dance along side each other, part doing your own moves and partly looking at of the corner of your eye to see what the other was doing. I hope it continues that way. "Dance" your own dance in life but keep an eye out for each other and be there to help Scott or Jason. I know you will.

 

Finally, remember that the more I revolve around this world, the more I realize it does not revolve around me. Humans are unique in assigning blame to others, nature, objects and even God for situations we create. All in defense of our ego. But blaming others takes away our power to build a bright future through our own good choices.

 

I hope you read Romans 12, my favorite chapter of the Bible. "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:18

 

Love always,

 

Dad

 

 

May 14, 2010

Memorial Day - Flower Recipients

Each Memorial Day I send an a remembrance flower arrangement with a patriotic theme and a ribbon with the word "HERO" on it to each of the following heroes:

 
 

WWII - Navy Gunners Mate - Robert Olson

Lot311,Sect,26Grave3

Crystal Lake Funeral Home

3816 Penn Ave N

Minneapolis, MN 55412

612-521-7619

SOURCE: Call Bachman's Flowers in MN 888-222-4626

 
 

Korean War - Air Force Capt. Troy G Cope

SECTION 76 SITE 1542

CAPT US AIR FORCE

WORLD WAR II, KOREA

Dallas Ft. Worth National Cemetery

2000 Mountain Creek Parkway

Dallas, TX 75211

214-467-3374

http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1

http://www.koreanwar.com/TroyCope.htm

 
 

Vietnam War - Marine Cpl. Douglas Duane Janssen

Garden of Memories

2901 Douglas Avenue

Yankton, SD 57078-4841

(605) 665-3645

http://www.sdvietnamwarmemorial.com/janssendd.htm

 
 

Iraq War - Army Staff Sgt. Juan M. Solorio

Sect 26, Grave 264A

Dallas Ft. Worth National Cemetery

2000 Mountain Creek Parkway

Dallas, TX 75211

214-467-3374

SOURCE: Call our Milliman default dallas florist

http://militarytimes.com/valor/army-staff-sgt-juan-m-solorio/704825/

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Flock added as social media aggregator

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Getting the Recipe in Project Management

People (IT people in particular) are generally willing to narrate how they would do something "if they were going to do ____________"

 
 

If you get them talking about it and in the zone of thinking through, then you can shift into the scribe mode and document the recipe for success.

 
 

Turns the imagined into actual by "actions to be taken by (whom)_________ and by (when)________."

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Craig Burma's Declaration of "Lessening Dependence" on Email

 
 

Background

Since my first email on Prodigy in 1988, email has grown as a percentage of my daily life. Like greenhouse gasses, email grew slowly and invisibly over time in the sources from which email came and the impact has increasingly had on my life.

And like global warming, I believe my misuse of email has had a negative impact on those around me by requiring them to read, file, detach, respond to, archive and search through the mountain of information I have communicated through emails.

Craig Burma's Declaration of "lessening dependence" on Email

I declare email is failing as a tool in the advancement of my career. I admit better, more effective collaboration tools can be used for many of the things I have been trying to accomplish through the misuse of email. Specifically, I will no longer use email to….

 
 

mindlessly distract me from the importance of project work	I will use www.rescuetime.com to monitor the time I spend getting through email. No more than 2 hours per day
manage my daily tasks	I will intentionally prepare a daily plan at the end of each day for the next day. I will intentionally consider whether to alter that plan based on any one email and note if I do.
invite comments, ask for consensus, or edits on a document	I will use meetings and WebEx meetings to collaborate on them and then edit and post results
send "FYI" emails and cite sending people an email on any subject	I will state a clear action for the reader and a suggested timeframe for a response (other than ASAP which is implied)
store historical records of who said what and when	One Note with conversation records; or a notepad
send normally recurring data to a set email group	Instead I will use Sharepoint or other collaboration tools that store files and send notification emails.
volley a task assigned to me to another simply to cross it off my list	I will own the task until another agrees it is not mine to complete.
engage in verbal jousting with people I disagree with	I will call them and take the issue head on including any escalation of an issue for discussion.
write long diatribes or procedures, or policies, or historical recordings of past events.	I will limit all emails to 160 characters or less using Text Tally http://www.harmonyhollow.net/ttally.shtml and copy them into email responses.     For reference, 160 characters looks like this: "I want to see how many characters it takes to type 160 characters. It is about this long and I believe it takes about 2 minutes to type a response and send back."
alleviate my responsibility from taking further action to ensure any deadline is met.	Project deadlines are up to me and my ability to get them done; not my ability to click "send." No one has ever questioned how good I have been at doing that. :-)

I believe I am at the early adopter edge of a positive change in my career that will dramatically improve my ability to communicate and collaborate in ways surpassing any false sense of productivity I believed I gained by blasting out emails.

P.S. WOW did I have a tough time posting this out WITHOUT emailing it to a bunch of people. That's step 1!!!