opportunities

Born Free

mikemjensen Uncategorized, Useless Observations Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

I attended a naturalization ceremony for a staff member today.

It’s the second time that I’ve had the pleasure to do so.

I remember having similar thoughts the last time but this time my thoughts were a little more defined and specific.

The group of new Americans numbered around 120. They represented 47 countries and every continent but Antarctica.American-Flag-in-the-Sun (1)

The main speaker was a well-known local news anchor and reporter. She has left television news to pursue her own on-line magazine. She only went through the naturalization process just last year. She shared the story of her family coming from Iraq to Sweden and then eventually landing in the US. Her father is now an engineer and runs his own business.

The MC also welcomed five of the new citizens to speak. A few of them struggled to express themselves in English but they were each proud to try. All five told of their happiness to now be a citizen and the feeling of having endless opportunities and possibilities for them and their families.

I take so much of this for granted. It made me feel like a slacker for not trying harder. And yet pleased and relieved that I live in a place where at forty-nine years of age, my future is still nearly limitless.

An employee used to tell me a saying his daddy taught him.

“I used to complain about having no shoes, until the day I saw the man with no feet.”

I realized today, I have feet and shoes. And always have.

Now get to stepping.

 

NaNoWriMo: 26,909/50,000

Day 266

Maybe Your Baby Ate the Dingo

mikemjensen Useless Observations Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

Did you know that Netflix was offered to Blockbuster for $50 million dollars?

In the early 2000’s, Netflix hoped to be purchased by industry leader Blockbuster to help take it into the future. Unfortunately for Blockbuster and fortunately for us and Netflix, they passed.

I understand that Blockbuster felt that their data suggested that mail-order video rental was not what the customer wanted, let alone streaming. 56K modems were already as fast as the internet could deliver for most people. Movies online was fanciful. The shopping experience and the chance meeting with friends and neighbors were what that people wanted.netflix-blockbuster-slice

Blockbuster didn’t see the future. They lost. Netflix did once they looked past Blockbuster and they won. At least for longer than Blockbuster. Other challenges and challengers now threaten Netflix.

I doubt that had Blockbuster bought Netflix, Netflix would be the same company as what we see today. If they struggled to decide whether to buy the baby company that when left to its own devices would eat them; then I doubt they would have done the things that made Netflix the industry leader.

We the consumers won because Netflix offers to us a better service than Blockbuster ever would have. I miss the video stores, but then again, I don’t. Picking out movies from the couch is a luxury I would not give up now.

I have my own dinosaur ways of doing things. Some might think a blog is a thing of the past. I constantly ask myself if the things I do is because it’s the best way to do them, or is it just the way I’m doing them.

Do what’s right now and know that right may be different tomorrow.

Or, don’t let the baby grow up and eat you.

 

Day 194