December 31, 2004
The creek is running bank to bank. First time in about two years. Looks magnificent. Went down with the dogs this morning after a fast bike ride. Then walked the dogs late this afternoon and met my neighbor J.D. on the road. He asked me if I saw the kid on the ATV doing about sixty down our road yesterday. I said no, I didn't. J.D. told about how the kid spun out and came back at J.D. head-on, and J.D. had to go off to the side of the road to avoid a collision. Then J.D. smiled and said, "I'm glad I didn't have my shotgun with me." I nodded my head and said I suppose the kid on the ATV should be even more glad, even though he doesn't know it.

See, that kid should be thankful this New Year's Eve, for what he didn't get. And that goes for all of us. Sometimes you have to be thankful for the problems you have, because they beat the problems you could have, but don't. For instance how'd you like to have had a fancy beach house in Southeast Asia? Or, imagine being on a dream vacation last week and arguing with your Indonesian landlord, "Listen, Buddy, the brochure shows the cottage right on the beach. I want to be upgraded right now, right on the beach, or I'll sue your ass!"

I've been that guy. We all have. Be careful what you demand. And speaking of that, I started reading that book Karen Robertson gave me, Growing A Business by Paul Hawken, and his first chapter is "Be Careful, You May Succeed."

Hawken maintains all businesses have problems (and always will) and that basically problems are opportunities in drag. And:

"A mess is a pile of opportunities in drag."
—Paul Hawken

So Happy New Year! And I hope we can all appreciate what we didn't get and did't want in 2004.o