Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Thoughts and prayers

Got a call this evening (UK time) that my father-in-law's been admitted to the hospital with encephalitis today.  The next 24-48 hours are critical to determine whether he'll beat it or not.  I'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers for him and our family.

United's helped me get an earlier flight back so I'll be there Saturday night to do whatever I can do to help.

Meanwhile, I'll keep my mind busy by posting a couple of things I intended to post last night.

Thanks in advance for good vibes and such.

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Another day of London bombings

A couple of days ago, I posted about how odd it felt to get on the train across the tracks from the Finsbury Park mosque. On Thursday morning on the way into London, I was on the same platform and decided to take a picture to show it to you (the red arrow in the picture points to the dome of the mosque).

Later that day, there were 4 more bombing incidents in London. That made it challenging to get around for quite some time, but my colleague and I diligently stayed focused on our lives in the midst of the chaos, taking cabs all over the place to get around the fact that the Underground was shut down. Here is a picture I took with my phone from one of the cabs - I picked it because of the great slogan on the side of the cab (click the image for the full view).

We managed to keep our appointments for the rest of the day, and were even on time or early for them (no easy trick since the addresses were scattered all over London).

Terrorism is barbaric and infuriating. I think it's the ultimate in cowardice.

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Now if I can just find Diagon Alley...

By the time my colleague Chris and I finished our dinner meeting last night in West London, things were beginning to get back to normal again. We took a bus to King's Cross Station, and he snapped a shot of me just before I disappeared through the doorway to Platform 9 3/4 to board the train to Hogwarts.

This was around 11:30 Thursday night, or "half eleven" as they say it around Platform 9 3/4. Click the thumbnail for a full view. Hermione says "Hello."

Oh - and if you look carefully, you can just make out the Purell hanging from the handle of my laptop bag. I posted on the wonders of Purell for frequent travelers a while back.

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A sobering reminder

Today, I rode the train into

London

for some meetings.  One of the transfers I made was at

Finsbury

Park

station.  While standing on the platform, I could see the top of the mosque they raided recently and found a cache of weapons back in 2003.  This is the same mosque that’s been linked to other terrorist activities in the past (the shoe bomber Richard Reid used to go there, for example). 

Certainly made for an odd feeling getting on the train, particularly amidst the announcements about service disruptions due to the July 7th bombings.

Britain is strong and won't be broken, that's for sure.

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Now, discover others' perspectives

A short time ago, I posted my review of the book “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” in which I said I wasn’t all that excited about the book. 

My friend Skip Angel had an entirely different experience with the book, as detailed in his excellent post, “Only the Strong Shall Survive.”  He’s also suggested I go back and read the book’s predecessor, “First, Break All The Rules.”

I then received an email from Dick Richards who offers a different, but complementary, set of tools for determining your strengths, style, etc.  His blog has information on “discovering your genius” and he offers a program for “career clarity” and “leadership clarity” which look intriguing.

To paraphrase a famous saying, “Opinions are like blog posts…everyone has one.” In this case, however, I’m happy to say I do want to look at other people’s.

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