Just Plain Bill

Six blind men and an elephant

This old fable came to mind as Brett, a friend of mine, was viewing Oakland’s beautiful Lake Merritt from the deck of our 17^th floor apartment. While he had walked, run, and cycled the 3+ miles around the lake probably over a hundred times, he felt he was “seeing” the lake for the first time from this overhead perspective.

To refresh one’s memory of the fable, six blind men were arguing about what an elephant looked like to them. One only touched the tail, another the ear, still another the tusks, and so on until each of the six were correctly describing what the elephant “looked like” or really felt like – and yet collectively, they were incorrect.

As I age, and hopefully grow in wisdom, I continuously remind myself to stop and look at the “big picture”, the so-called view from 10,000 feet (or the 17th floor), when addressing a problem or looking for a different way to accomplish something. Both Brett’s observation and the six blind men and an elephant fable have served to remind me to do just that. 

Just Plain Bill

The Good Life*

I don’t know if you’re like me, but every once in a while I either click on a link or open up a long-forgotten email and then all of a sudden I’m on someone’s distribution list.

That’s what seems to have happened as I receive emails from Jonathan Fields on a regular basis entitled The Good Life. When I opened the first email from Jonathan over a year ago, his blog featured a video that lasted around 40 minutes – an in-depth interview of a thought-leader. Initially, I was hesitant. It seemed too long a time for a blog piece, yet the time literally flew by as I watched it and I was inspired to do what Seth Godin would define as “my art.”

During the past year, I’ve been inspired, motivated and moved to action by much of what I’ve seen – and I highly recommend that my family and friends consider investing around 40 minutes to be impacted accordingly. Just sign-up for Jonathan’s blog and give it a try.

I’ve been blessed with my own “good life”, and I wish upon you the same. I invite you to open this link, and take a brief, 4-minute test drive through some pretty incredible statements concerning what the “good life” means to a group of professionals.

*Good Life Project™ is a movement. A set of shared values. A community. A creed, bundled with a voracious commitment to move beyond words and act. First, as a manifestation of your soul. And then as a quest to have the adventure of a lifetime, and to leave the world around you changed. 

Just Plain Bill

“Happy Birthday from ESPN” - Say what?

Imagine my surprise to receive a happy birthday wish from ESPN, especially since I have not had any Internet or print communication with ESPN. On second thought, maybe I did when I downloaded the ESPN app for my iPhone. But, I know I never included my birth date!

I know we’ve been deluged with news and a high degree of outrage about the National Security Agency spying on all Americans, but I draw the line at an entertainment company knowing my email address and my date of birth. I find the whole scenario – this whole information gathering – unacceptable.

Overreacting? Perhaps just a tad, but this experience really drives home that nothing about me is really private – well, almost nothing! If I were decades younger I imagine this would bother me more as I’d have decades ahead of me of information gathering by others about who I am, what I do, who I know, who I talk with, things I buy, opinions I have about lots of stuff – and so on. Would I then be more “careful” or proactive with the collection of “me”?

In closing, I’d like to thank ESPN for their birthday wish – even though the disclaimer below orders me to “… not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.” Their loss, as I’m sure they, like me, would enjoy receiving a sterile wish about the most important day of my life.

“Not your birthday? We fumbled. Help us get it right. Call us at 1-888-549-ESPN.

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Just Plain Bill

I wanted to use my own name for my new email address –  and it’s already in use. 

How could that be?

I believe I read somewhere that we all have at least one exact twin in the world. I also considered that there was probably someone who had my exact name as well. I can see that could be true for some of the most commonly spelled names, but my name, DENYER, is somewhat unique.

While researching the origin of DENYER, I’ve learned that it’s evolved from the word meaning “ten asses”.

Now at first glance, that might be seen as a negative or derogatory meaning, but with further research, I learned that “asses” were an early type of currency. So, my name is worth 10 times that of someone’s name that is worth only one ass!

So, imagine my next surprise when I started to set up a new email account using my first and last name. I entered bill.denyer@gmail.com and was informed that name was already taken. What? How can that be?

Once I got over my shock, I selected an easy to remember version of what would have been my email name - bill.denyer007@gmail.com. I now stand ready to take an assignment in the name of James Bond, if called upon.

So what about the possibility of my exact twin? I’ll leave that for another day and perhaps I’ll receive an email intended for my twin. We’ll see what additional surprises 2014 will bring!

(Now I’m wondering which one of us would be the so-called “evil twin”…)