Great Wood Box Clipping About Business

My Dad used to work for the Lumbermans Association right out of law school. I said earlier he used these clippings in speeches he gave at various association functions like conventions and fund raisers. I'm sure at a Lumberman's convention this joke would bring the roof down. I can see it, my Dad had the balls to pull off this joke in front of a thousand suites in some hotel grand ballroom in some far wawy city.

It reminds me of my brothers favorite movie line. He just used it the other day when we were visiting. Its from Tin Cup. Costner's character is lying in bed with his girlfiend and he says, "Sex and golf are two things you don't have to be any good ta to enjoy." Big J cracks me up!

I am a New Man a.k.a. Dumb Dumb Daddy yO

This is a little embarrassing, but if it can help any of my ageing friends, so be it!

So I have  lot of health challanges. Nothing I can't handle, but I now have a deeper understanding of chronic conditions now that I have a bunch of them. I'm not complaining. I'm sharing. I'm sharing two of them because maybe it can help one of my good friends who are also facing middle age.

Testosterone

It’s not the best of times when your urologist doesn’t even want to say it out loud. “Testicular Failure” she had written it and pointed to it. Do you know what this means she asks? It means you’re low on Testosterone, you are at 200 and “normal” is 300 to 1,000.

How could this be? Me. Low on the man hormone. No way. I have kids. I have sex. This can’t be right. I am manly if I do say so myself. Come on throw me a bone.

What did you say that made me suggest we test you? I said, “I feel older than I should be. I am not the man I used to be. I’m weak.” OK OK.

So I’ve been getting a Testosterone shot every two weeks for about three months now and have been confirmed “normal” and I must admit that the results are anything but!

Call me a new man! I’m still 45. BUT I AM STRONG and I’m not tired all the time! I’M NOT OLD!!!

Thyroid

Seventeen years ago something similar happen to me when my thyroid decided to go super hyper active on me and Grave’s Disease almost did me in.  Prior to diagnoses my brother said our mother wants to know if you moved to Aspen to die of aids? I said I don’t think I am dying of aids, shouldn’t be dying of aids, but since I was so sick again I would go the doctor to find out. I got a blood test and took a serious personal inventory. I had lost 60 lbs. was on my third case of bronchitis this year, had the shakes, sweat profusely, my hair was falling out, and was having trouble keeping up with my two jobs. I was also seldom sober.

Dr. Mass said I got good news and bad news. You are HIV negative! But your Thyroid is higher than I‘ve ever seen. If this is Graves we are going to have to radiate your Thyroid and put it out of service. You will then take a supplement for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I was young and I was dumb. At 6’ 3” 205 lbs. I was still strong. I was not fat for the first time since college! I was going to heal my Thyroid. That didn’t work out so well for me. I remember I was on a favorite hike with a few good friends. We were going up to Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs and I couldn’t make it. Half way up I got really weak and my strength never came back. I saw fear for me in the faces of my friends. When I went back to Dr. Mass I was just under 150 lbs. and suffering from another nasty respitory infection. I asked for that radiation thing and she said she was afraid I may have waited too long. I said too long for what. Too long for you to recover. I was too tired to argue.

So I made it to my appointment the next morning at the Aspen Valley Hospital’s Nuclear Medicine Department to receive my single massive dose of radioactive iodine in a single giant horse pill. For the rest of the year I felt like Superman!

So I take a Thyroid pill every morning and a Testosterone shot every other week and for the second time in my life I feel like I can take on the world! If you’re a man and not feeling like the man you used to be, test your hormones. I did and it changed my life, twice.

Newest member of the family Emma Kippling Keith October, 2011

PEPI!

Pepi

We had just moved to Potomac and was shopping at Tysons Corner. My Dad, brother and me found this beautiful Springer Spaniel in a pet store and my Dad said we could get if our Mom agreed. We ran to find her and brought her back to the pet store. The Spaniel never got a look because Pepi was in the cage above. As my sister and mom were cuddling her and holding her in their palms my Dad said, "That's it boys. Unless you can take her away from your Mom." It was obvious that some things were just meant to be. Pepi was one of those. She look a lot like this little guy. She was a baby toy fox terrier. Best little dog ever!

Must Be Fall! Bring on the Snow.

More Wood Box Wisdom form Mark Twain

The fall colors have been so beautiful and inspiring. Hope it's enough to sharpen my imagination and allow an improvement in judgement!

Some wood box wisdom about fear.

My Dad wasn't afraid of anything or anybody. I know because I asked him. What are you most afraid of? He scoffed. "Fear is a waist of time! I haven't been afraid of anything in a very long time, but fear will keep you safe. So when I feel it I trust it."

I use this daddyoism frequently with my girls. Do it. I say, "Fear is a waste of time!" they respond with, "BUT IT WILL KEEP YOU SAFE!"

Carol and Brent's going away party at Gem and Doc's in 1983

Carol and Brent moved to L.A. shortly after this picture. They lived in Manhattan Beach. I think this was the spring of my junior year of high school. We look good. My Dad looks good. He is about to face some serious health challenges. He is about two years from his first angioplasty to clear blockage in his coronary artery. He looks heavy and jovial. Jay looks dapper as always in his suede bucks. We're both wearing Polos. Carol looks great and Brent looks ready to conquer the world (and he does). My Mom looks great, we are all so tan. We all have poofy hair. We looked pretty good back in the day! Our little family.

A clipping in honor of my three day sales meeting in Denver next week.

The truth hurts.

"I never let my schooling interfere with my education."

How true!

My favorite Mark Twain quote is, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education." I think this because tomorrow my schooling will interfere with everything in my life. I start my ninth out of thirteen, six week courses with University of Phoenix on line. I'm trying to get my MBA and it's turning out to be way harder than I thought it would be.

Recently I've been doing a lot of extra training and testing at work because I have been placed as a whole portfolio representative and have had to train and certify on three new drugs. Pfizer is where my education starts and my generous employer is sponsoring my schooling as well! Pfizer gives me access to an extensive library of training books on cd for the many hours I spend driving the 1,000 miles a week it takes to cover the Western Slope of Colorado. This education has been priceless. Most recently of note, Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" and "Blink" have changed the way I look at people and myself. Covey's "The Four Principles of Execution" fundamentally change the way I organize my week and manage my territory. With wildly important goals (WIGs) for guidance and managing the Whirlwind of getting my job done. Jack Welch's "Winning" has been great career advice from an experienced mentor. I took, "The Stregthfinder2.0" strengths assessment profiler test and followed that up with reading "How Full is Your Bucket" and have since started maximizing my strengths and making my shortcomings irrelevant. My boss makes strengths based management his mission. I listened to, "Who Moved My Cheese" and "Peaks and Valleys" and it helped give me barrings and insight into my own motivations.

I now steel myself to take Operations Management in Technology four nights a week and then some. Between school, Pfizer and being a dumb dumb daddyo I may have less time for posting my father's "Wood Box Wisdom" but I will try because it has been so enjoyable.

Wood Box Wisdom...now is our time.

It is my time to be the best dumb dumb daddy-o ever.

"Carpe diem all diem long!" Phineas and Ferb

"That one your gonna wanna remember forever."



Kayla Marie Keith 7/10/2002

This is the day I officially became a dumb dumb daddy-o. Prior to going to the hospital Suzy and I had some time to kill, so I made about a dozen sandwiches. I remember her making fun of me for making so many. It was a long hard labor for Suzy. It was way harder than I ever thought it would be. Kayla got stuck. Twice we almost had to go with C-section after loosing her vitals. They screwed a device into the top of Kayla's head to monitor her vitals and on it went. After about ten hours of struggle, the doctor brought out the vacuum, thankfully we had seen it during our hospital tour. It still looked like some sort of mid-evil torture device, but with it the doctor was able to manipulate Kayla's head past Suzy's pelvic bone and out she came! Our doctor let me cut the cord. Kayla had a big bruise on her forehead from hitting it on the exit and a cone head form the vacuum, but otherwise was in perfect health.

Shortly thereafter, Suzy said she was starving and asked if she could have one of those sandwiches. Sorry honey, Kayla's Dumb Dumb Daddyo ate them all.

What can I say. I'm a nervous eater.