I’m not bah humbugging the Christmas holiday or anything this year. This, however, takes some of my (I hesitate to say) joy away. “SCROOGE!!” – they shriek. Noooo … my new outtake on life is that of calm serenity. My “need” to sarcastically point out all that is wrong as opposed to everything that is great and wonderful honestly still exists, however it is diminished. So with this I’ve decided to scratch my annual Christmas letter because if I can’t be the harbinger of doom and all things unfortunate, then just forget it … suffice it to say, no-one noticed last year when I didn’t put out a letter. (On a similar note – a can of mixed nuts exploded when I tried to open them in my office today … thereby scattering a healthy blend of cashews and pecans throughout my entire office. Awesome. calm serenity now … calm serenity now …)
There has been a ton of goodies (which should be called baddies) around the office. One ball thing I ate this morning had a middle that tasted like cake batter. Seriously freaking good. Who comes up with this stuff? I decided on Monday to open my freezer and toss unhealthy food. (It was more of a decision as opposed to action … it all is still there, I can’t waste food.) The thought is good though. If we go through life thinking good actions, the probability that something will stick is pretty good. (“The road to hell is paved with good intentions, you know?” … Thank you, I know and that doesn’t help.) A resolution for next year is to achieve 50% of my good intentions.
One of my intentions is to have courage and confidence to be honest. It is not that I intentionally lie, it is the classic “Iowa nice” thing that keeps me from telling people their teeth have the “proverbial spinach” in them. The real reason behind this is that I want to be the example so someone will tell me the truth. Whether it is “you laugh weird” or “you run like Herman Munster” or “your lack of focus is rude” … I need to hear and process other’s perspectives of me if I want to be a better person or at least come across as normal. So if you see me doing something weird or odd, point it out to me, and I’ll do the same – as nice as possible.
Merry Christmas!
-Steve Simonin, President & CEO
