Twenty Years

My mentor gave me some very valuable advice the other day. But let me start with this, if you don’t have a mentor, you need one. It is absolutely beneficial to start a relationship with someone who has years of experience in your field and a large array of networks. He/She is also going to guide and teach you a lot about life and your career. All over lunch, once a month? Sold.

You want to surround yourself with people who you respect; you want to learn from the best and to mature quicker than your peers so that you get the promotion and the raise quicker then everyone around you. Mentors are instrumental in making this happen.

Plus, the baby boomer generation dominates these positions that hire people, train people and then fire people. They also make all the money and make all the decisions of the company that you work for. They like to take the younger generation under their wing and show them a thing or two over a stogie or brewski. So it’s pretty simple. Get a mentor or two, and get to know them well.

Anyways, my mentor gave me this valuable piece of advice. He said that I should write down my career goals, put it away in a safe/filing cabinet and always work towards them. As cliché as this sounds, it makes perfect sense.

Twenty years from now, when I’m at the pinnacle of my career, where will I be? What will I be doing? Where will my kids go to school? Will they be Notre Dame, Boston Celtics and Arsenal fans as well? What will be the newest Arles family tradition?

As I write this list I need to be as realistic as possible. I mean sure I’d love to take over for Richard Branson as the CEO of Virgin, or become the Editor-in-chief of GQ, but I really doubt that either of these is going to happen, Black president or not.

So what do I want to do in the next 20 years? Well, let’s just say that perhaps I have already written out this document and stashed it away nice and safe, so here’s a little sneak peak, or an appetizer if you will.

As much as I respect non-for-profit work and pro-bono work, I have an obsession for money. Yes, I’m evil, as I’ve been told. So, corporate America is my goal. In twenty years I want to be at the head of my Public Relations/Marketing department for a successful corporate company.

I would love to be a free-lance journalist, because this is now blossoming into my new found passion. I love history and culture, so if I could contribute to travel publications or historic publications that focus on cultural issues, then I would be a very happy man. I mean if Dhani Jones can host his own show as a “travelling journalist,” then I’d hope I could contribute somewhere. (I actually really like the show: Dhani tackles the globe, on the travel channel).

I also love the restaurant business and have always dreamed of owning a restaurant. Now sure, this might be a far stretch, but I think it could be made a reality if carried out the right way. Most of you know that I’ve always wanted to open up a “Sandy’s,” in fact some of you have even bought me shot glasses from various cities that read “Sandy’s bar, Panama City Beach,” or what not. Sadly, as you can infer from the picture, I will reluctantly have to come up with another name. A high-end Italian restaurant known for a relaxed environment, bright ambiance and great live music is a start, but I’m sure finances and location will determine that when the time comes.

As most of you know, I have a great love for coaching. I’ve coached soccer at the club and high school levels and have loved every moment of it. Sports have always been my outlet and since I can’t play them on a competitive level anymore, (Pick-up ball at a church on Thursday nights really doesn’t count, and beer pong seems to have lost its once glorified enticement), coaching is the next step. This is something I want to stick with and continue to do, even when I have kids.

I foresee Pamela teaching at an elementary school, but I hope that in twenty years we can fund a side project for her. She has always dreamed of having her own bookstore that also caters to younger kids and offers special classes to them. As teachers have wide open summer and Christmas breaks, this is an ideal project for her and I hope that it will be established by then.

Dream big? Yes I do. There are a lot of other stupid things that I predict for my future, like owning a beautiful house that has a urinal in every bathroom, or being able to travel to a different country every summer. But those are all irrelevant at the moment. I also don’t care where we live, as long as it’s a bigger city, that is pretty diverse and where the weather isn’t horrible all year long. So yeah, that might hint at a wave goodbye to Indianapolis.

This is just a little sneak at my future goals list. I’m sure it will change a lot in the time to come. But it’s a start. I highly recommend it to everyone. Most of you already have a mental note of your dreams and goals, but I think that putting it down in words really helps you to think constructively and directly about it.

Anyways, twenty years from now, hopefully I would have accomplished some of these, and perhaps one night over drinks at Sandy’s (or whatever its name will be), one of you will pull this blog post out for me.

Bow Wow Wow... Translated - "I'm a dog, I like being dirty, don't put clothes on me"

Some of you might not know this, but I serve at Texas Roadhouse four nights a week. I love the restaurant business and despite the over-dramatic servers, the hill-billies from Noble-tucky (Noblesville) who love to infiltrate our Fishers restaurant, and even the older whiney people who still think 10% is a stellar tip, I love serving. I really do, especially at Texas Roadhouse. It’s a fun atmosphere, it’s very laid-back, and they even play country music all the time! Haha, just joking, I still loathe country music.

Well, the reason for this blog post is due to a recurring incident that simply aggravates me, tickeling my sense of justice and global awareness just a tad bit the wrong way. I have this wonderful couple that eats at Roadhouse frequently, and they usually ask to sit in my section. They are great people and tip extremely well, which is always a bonus. But it’s what the lovely trophy wife does that sickens me. She always orders a 12 Oz. Fillet, cooked medium, which for you non red-meat craving cavemen, is truly a great cut of meat. Extremely lean, a choice cut, cooked to perfection, it is obviously a very expensive steak ($27.99 to be exact). For my Brittish readers, that’s 18.41 Pounds, or 1,390 Rupees for my Indian faithful.

I love food, and I love splurging on food. So buying an expensive steak is not a problem to me. My problem is that she always has a take home box given to her as soon as her food hits the table. She then, like clockwork, portions roughly three-fourths of her steak into the take home box and then commences to nibble at the remaining meat. So where does this three-fouth portion of mouth watering fillet go to? Why yes! It goes to Wrigley, her beloved little Shih Tzu.

This is what irritates me. There are millions of children starving across the globe, dying from malnutrition by the second, most of them have never had the joy of tasting a fillet, and yet here is a $21 (roughly) portion of steak tossed at a dog! I wouldn’t be upset at this if it happenned after she realized she was full, but no, this is a pre-planned act of madness!

Dogs are beautiful animals and I can’t wait to own my first home inorder to have a yellow Labrador (Pamela wants a little dog but I can’t stand them). But I’m sick and tired of hearing all these protests about animal abuse. They are animals, they are prey, it is a simple equation. Darwin’s survival of the fittest and theories on evolution have us at the top of the food chain, and I’m sorry but all other species are secondary.

Have you seen the infomercial that Sarah McLachlan endorses? It streams “In the arms of an angel” in the background while Mclachlan asks for a simple donation of “18 dollars a month, or just 60 cents a day to provide medical care, food, shelter and love to animals in need.” The first time I saw it, I thought it was a hoax, like a sadistic SNL skit. But no, it was an honest, real infomercial.

I think the BCSPCA (Brittish Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is an honorable charity. But I think it goes too far to ask for monthly donations to provide medical care, food and shelter to animals. Not dying children in Somalia or Bangladesh, but animals in Northern America. They even have water-puriying systems for cats and dogs. Seriously? Third World Countries don’t even have clean water sources, their sewage runs right into their city wells and hence we have typhoid, cholera and hepatitis!

According to the Bread ForThe World website, 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes every day. That’s one child every 5 seconds! And here are organizations trying to provide medical care, food and shelter to animals. Come on, Am I the only one infuriated by this?

No, dogs don’t need purified water, no they don’t need 40 dollar sweaters on them. No animal needs that, they are fine the way they are.

Instead of trying to doll up animals, how about we focus our attention on the real needs of the world, and start with world Hunger. Because providing animals with medical care is just lunacy. What’s next? Spa’s and day cares for animals?

All Those Small Things

The Mini Marathon took place this past weekend. 35,000 people registered for the race, just like the past seven years, making Indy the proud host of the largest running event in Northern America. Since I’ve been in the States, I’ve known many people that have successfully, and unsuccessfully, completed the race. Every year I tell myself that it’s a great idea for me to run the race and that “next year, I’m going to do it.” Sadly, I’m always still in bed when the first Kenyan streams through the ribbon and the last, strong-willed, chubby Aryan stumbles across the line.

But I really admire every one who takes part in this event, because I know that it’s really a great feat to accomplish. I’m a huge fan of goal-setting in general and think that it’s a great idea. I mean if Donald Trump has a large section in his autobiography on simple goal setting, than it has to be worth looking into right?

Trump talks highly about fasting for a week, or staying away from a simple luxury for a while. It’s all about building up self-control, and about knowing that you can control your every whim and fancy. I think that having a good grasp on one’s habits and routines is extremely important. But for some odd reason, I always seem to wrestle with this concept of “goal setting.”
I mean how many of you have really kept your New Year’s Resolutions? Yeah, sadly not I. This whole ordeal of making a goal, setting it on a pedastal and humbly working your way towards it, is it really worth it?

I think it is. But my point and argument is that instead of running hard from January till May for this marathon, shouldn’t one just run three miles everyday because they really want to be in shape, and not just because they hope to complete the marathon? This way the marathon just becomes another run in the park right? Because otherwise, as we all know it, most people who ran the marathon are back on their couches, eating their Lays and I’d bet they haven’t gone on a run even once this week.

So Instead of setting idealistic goals, shouldn’t we wake up every morning with the “hey – I’m going to do this!” approach? I might be getting ahead of myself here, but you know that I’m not a crazy optimistic type, I’m not trying to save the world or save souls, and I’m definitley not a morning person.

I’m just thinking that instead of doing things for an incentive or reward, how about we disprove Pavolov’s theories on Classical Conditioning, and do things because we realize that they are worth it and that sacrifice is the biggest asset. Sure, goals are great, but don’t let them be counterproductive, strive for the best benefit and work hard at it.

Just the other day I was networking at Starbucks. An old friend who is now a CEO of a very successful company basically said “My biggest advice is to be ready to meet anyone anywhere and to impress them.” This really hit me hard because it’s good advice for everyone. Don’t wait to play your hardest only when scouts are around, don’t only be on your best behavior when the In-Laws are in town and don’t only be in your best shape when the Marathon starts. Do all of that everyday. As much as I despise Eminem, his line “opportunity comes once in a lifetime, Yo,” really does make sense. Gosh, I wish every kid I’ve ever coached would read this. Well hopefully they do. Anyways, what are your thoughts?