Build a bridge...

It is amazing to me that in the short time that I will be inhabiting this earth the amount of joy one can strip from life. Small victories are the key... I mean, just hold a door, greet someone with a smile, or just seek somebody out whom you haven't seen or talked to in a while and you immediately feel energized. What is life if not to be fully engrossed in the art of interaction. I love to try to thank everyone I see on a daily basis in a small way just to see their reaction... It's funny, but my time in Jersey has provided some interesting responses. Yesterday I was at the deli getting some thin sliced pastrami (drool) and swiss so I could make myself a sexy hot sandwich, and every time the "deli-master", or what ever the proper term may be, initiated conversation, I responded in a uber-polite manner... This kat, I think, thought I was high. He just smirked and responded "OK?"... At the end of our transaction, I offered my hand for a handshake and a thank you... When did normal human interaction become such a lost art... I think he thought I was an asshole. Amazing. Then again most people I meet I feel think I'm an arrogant fool. My grandfather taught me this art very well, and I feel that the practice of humanity has been lost somewhere. I care so at times I can be blunt, does this make someone an asshole? I don't know... We can all be a bit judgmental at times I feel, myself included. I am more turned to the darkside by those that practice a disrespectful nature on a regular basis... I'm never going to be liked by every person I meet, but it doesn't mean I don't care... I was given wonderful tutelage by an excellent grandfather on how to "be"... I have a small example that just happened to me today...

    I reached out to a sales rep today, just for a few simple questions I wished to be answered... It turned out this rep was in the midst of a very unfortunate personal matter and when it was explained to me through text messaging, I became very emotionally distressed... Why? I have very little interaction with this person, I am not privy to anything in their personal life, and I am just an Assistant, I don't even deal with said person... So why? Because... because I have an attachment to this person on a professional and respect-bound basis... Literally, I welled up and my heart hurts for "my friend"... This is what I like to think "personal investment" is... To attach yourself to those directly or indirectly in your life... Invested interest in people and the humanization of every aspect of life... The highs with this practice are HIGH, an the lows are low, but as Chuck Palahniuk says in his book  Invisible Monsters:

"The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open."

You have to have a little faith in humanity, or you're just a fool... One day somebody will risk it and make me a leader of men on a golf course.... To those people I say: "I won't disappoint you." 

We thrive and prosper due to the fact we can interact on such a high plain of cerebral existence. It's what makes waking up each day the greatest feeling in the world. I have a whole other chance to see what the day has to offer.. We all have the penchant to be assholes, and I'm not perfect in any way....

"Perfection is unattainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -Vince Lombardi

I love you all, my friends... Work hard, Play hard, Love hard.....

It rubs the lotion on it's skin**...

I just want to start this one by explaining a excerpt from my first installment. I had made the comment that to be successful in Hospitality, you need to be an verbal artist. Not that this statement isn't true, its just flawed. To clear up the vaigeness of this statement, I wish to put depth to it. "Personal Investment". I been bringing my kids to work with me on occasion, since my Hannah was a little bean, and recently she has described my interaction with patrons and coworkers as GENUINE. She puts it that I seem truly happy to interact with everyone, and take interest in their personal lives. This is true. I tend to make it a point to learn names and at least 2 things about that person. I feel it connects me on a deeper level and allows me to better serve. Which is a good spring board into the true "meat" of this post... Motivation.

How do you properly motivate and inspire those around you to do the things you need from them. I have found, as I'm sure most have, that there is no clear cut answer. Torture? Favoritism? Apathy? Unreal expectation? Putting them in the bottom of a well? 

Turf is the easy part...

     When the average person hears about the golf course maintenance professional, I'm pretty sure they mainly think of Bill Murray from Caddyshack ( top 10 best movie all-time)...

     Unfair? Not really. You have to be a little twisted in the head to do this job. But what most people should know about the serious turf professional, is that we are basically personal trainers for grass. I'd like to say doctor, but you'd have to delve deep into the pathology arena of the scientific world to latch on to that label. Though educated in the physical and chemical needs of turf, we are there to keep the plant healthy, vibrant, and growing. But growing grass is the easy part.