Tea with McNair

• comes the morning

1.29.12 / 6:50 am, Colorado Springs *

First light of the first day of a new week. Brisk weather is here, but no storybook white winter here at 6,500 feet above breath-ability.

With a new day, a new week comes new opportunities to discover, learn, create, assist, contribute, complete, begin . . .

Can we do all those in just a week, or even in a day.

Yes.

We can each bring light, color, and (like the weather here) add our own brisk insights and inventive individuality.

The world is a different place with you in it. The only question now is, How different will it be a week from now because of the choices you make, the actions you take.

Start today with a new picture or piece of art on the wall of your work space. Turn your desk, drawing table, reading chair to face the window—the view. (Do not face the door, the next distraction.)

Don't wait for life to happen to you. Be a catalyst, a cause, not merely a reaction.

You can be the big bang in your universe.

Make a difference, today. The world needs you.

• then there's this ...

On this day, 30 January, in 1969 was the last time the Beatles played together. It was a live concert on the roof of the ASpple Records building in London. Also today, happy birthday, Gene Hackman (1930).

* Photo of Colorado Springs by McNair with iPhone 4G (Cropped, but not Photo-Shopped)

• why blog? here's why

I have been setting aside time everyday (almost) to learn. Sometimes I read from my stack of dog-eared magazines; my ever-growing portfolio (big, hard folder) full of stuff torn from newspapers (Wall Street Journal, NY Times, "oosah today", and the town broadsheet of whichever city, berg, or hamlet I am visiting or passing through); my stack of six to ten books I am "reading" (mostly non -fiction), plus a few minutes of online learning.

The online stuff is a combination of websites and articles I have saves to "Read Later" using Instapaper.com. I almost always watch a TED video and will "search" for yet another bit of wisdom, how-to, humor, or inspiration from some of my favorite "teachers."

I also have a growing email "READ" file where I save: Michael Hyatt, Fast Co., (and their Co. Design Daily newsletter), Seth Godin, and from my friend the Wizard (Roy Williams) his MondayMorningMemeo.com. I also get blogs and email posts from various friends.

I cannot read it all, but as my friend Susan Kennedy (aka the author SARK) taught me: A good book can be read only a few pages at a time and bring inspiration and value to our lives.

So here's video from today's learning hour and two of my favorite gurus—Seth Godin and Tom Peters—talking about the value of blogging.

I totally concur.

I hope to pass along some of the gems I discover and learn in more frequent (and maybe even shorter) posts here on the old Tea blog.

Then there's this ::

Happy Birthday, Ben Franklin

(17 Jan 1706 - 17 April 1790)

[ Right :: Click to enlarge and read great Ben Franklin quote No. 687 ]

• 'twelve - - already?

Doodled while waiting for my dinner at Blue Star, Colorado Springs. Delish!