the globe rover

Denver, CO

This video along with the twelve tenets below were posted by Tony Robbins for motivation in 2008.

They are simple and powerful.

And for me a perfect resolution for the New Year.

1. Live a life of service
2. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you
3. Be kind
4. Be remarkable
5. Seek unity
6. Strive for wisdom
7. Be grateful
8. Think critically
9. Be brave
10. Be humble
11. Be creative
12. Be present

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

Lilburn, GA

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Denver, CO

From IMDB.com:

INTO THE WILD is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

For anyone who read the book or is just interested in a good film, this is an excellent movie. I am usually quite hesitant to see a movie that is based on a book as the plot is usually modified enough to make it not enjoyable to me (there is something about being able to create your own images that I love about books). But this movie was clearly an exception.

After years of discussions and then many months of negotiations, Sean Penn and Christopher McCandless’s family came to agreement about the details of the film and began to work on putting the words to the screen. Their work is admirable in ensuring that the film would be something Christopher wanted produced as well as keeping to the real and accurate story (despite some of the negative depictions of the parents).

The story as state above, is a movie based on the journals written by Christopher McCandless (self-dubbed “Alexander Supertramp”) who after graduating got rid of all his material belongings and set out to discover the US through his connection with nature. The stories are a combination of interesting, inspiring, sad, heart-warming, and heart-wrenching tales. Christopher’s search for his connection and place in the world is something that many of us can relate to although he was an extremist to some degree.

There has been many debates as to whether Christopher was downright not prepared (to not do any research to know the risks of his Alaskan adventure) or just unlucky. Whichever one it was, Christopher set out on an adventure that many people only dream of doing.

The narration of the story is interesting told partially from his sister’s perspective (she and Christopher were quite close despite the fact that they didn’t speak during the entire time he was gone). And the intertwining of the family and what they went through with Christopher’s “disappearance” along with the other characters that Christopher met along the way provided great insight into the person Christopher was.

This is a moving story that I highly recommend (either book or movie as they are so closely aligned). The adventure seeker in me resonated with some of what Christopher sought to experience. And his foresight to keep a journal provided the rest of the world an opportunity to come along on his journey.

Brussels, Belgium

From Amazon.com:

Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love is a hauntingly beautiful novel about two characters whose lives are woven together in such complex ways that even after the last page is turned, the reader is left to wonder what really happened. In the hands of a less gifted writer, unraveling this tangled web could easily give way to complete chaos. However, under Krauss’s watchful eye, these twists and turns only strengthen the impact of this enchanting book.

The History of Love spans of period of over 60 years and takes readers from Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to present day Brighton Beach. At the center of each main character’s psyche is the issue of loneliness, and the need to fill a void left empty by lost love. Leo Gursky is a retired locksmith who immigrates to New York after escaping SS officers in his native Poland, only to spend the last stage of his life terrified that no one will notice when he dies. (”I try to make a point of being seen. Sometimes when I’m out, I’ll buy a juice even though I’m not thirsty.”) Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer vacillates between wanting to memorialize her dead father and finding a way to lift her mother’s veil of depression. At the same time, she’s trying to save her brother Bird, who is convinced he may be the Messiah, from becoming a 10-year-old social pariah. As the connection between Leo and Alma is slowly unmasked, the desperation, along with the potential for salvation, of this unique pair is also revealed.

This book came recommended by a friend in my book club as one of her top five books. After finishing the book, I can conclude that it did not disappoint. Although it probably did not move into my top five books of all time, it is a great read and an absolutely beautiful story.

The story is an intersection of two separate lives connected by the words of a book focusing on the history of love. The first story is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Alma (significant name) who is desperate to find love and a cure for loneliness for her mother. Her Mom is translating an old book on the history of love that might hold the key to finding that cure.

The second key character is Leo Gursky who is trying to survive a life filled with constant reminders of the love he lost after being forced to leave Poland as a young man. Leo’s only comfort is his old widowed friend from home that lives upstairs. Their daily connections and “checks” to ensure one another is okay is literally the key that keeps the two of them alive.

Leo thought the book was destroyed. Alma is searching to find Leo. Their paths are connected without knowing why. Through a long list of connections and chances, the two manage to meet. And discover how their lives are intertwined and how love continues to live.

Truly a beautiful story of life and love and human connectedness.

I highly recommend this book!

Brussels, Belgium

From Demille’s website:

Welcome to the Custer Hill Club—a men’s club set in a luxurious Adirondack hunting lodge whose members include some of America’s most powerful business leaders, military men, and government officials. Ostensibly, the club is a place to relax with old friends. But one fall weekend, the club’s Executive Board gathers to talk about the tragedy of 9/11—and finalize a retaliation plan, known only by its codename:Wild Fire.

That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is found dead. Soon it’s up to Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield to unravel a terrifying plot that starts with the Custer Hill Club and ends with American cities locked in the crosshairs of a nuclear device. Corey and Mayfield are the only ones who can stop the button from being pushed, and global chaos from being unleashed…

This book choose me on my recent trip to Europe as I had finished my book and one of my friends had just finished this one. Demille clearly accomplished writing a thriller that is an easy read and one that captured me enough to finish it in two days before leaving Brussels.

The story is based on an undercover government operative that would create a retaliation (nuclear bombs) against any country that makes a first attack on the US. This operative known as “wild fire” is discovered by two married agents (one police and one FBI) that assign themselves to a case of a missing fellow agent doing a routine assignment of observing a retreat in the mountains. The three agents are all part of the post- 9/11 team assigned to terrorism.

The investigation into the missing agent leads married agents John and Kate to uncover a boys club made of up of leading officials from the US government. There are plenty of twists and turns as to who is involved, what there level of involvement is, and what the plans are for pursuing wild fire.

Demille created a story that leads the imagination to wonder about what the potentials are with governement agencies and the power they have to influence world events. Definitely an interesting and quick read.

Denver, CO

From Gruen’s website:

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie.

It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

The book is a combined view of one story told from both a first person perspective and a reflection of a story as seen by an older man who once lived that life. The combined writing from current state and reflection is an interesting mix and makes the book more complex and insightful.

Jacob is a boy in college with a bright future ahead of him. But everything changes when his parents are both killed leaving him with no family and no “home”. His parents had mortgaged everything they had in order to pay for his very expensive vet program at an ivy league school. After realizing this, Jacob loses himself and ends up walking out of his final exams and into the woods to figure out his life.

By chance, Jacob hops a train which ends up being a traveling circus. And through a series of trials and chances, Jacob becomes the circus vet and finds a new home and meaning in life. But life on the rails with the circus is hard and proves to unravel a struggling life filled with hardships for young Jacob. But through all the trials, Jacob finds love and friendship both through the animals and the most unlikely characters from the circus.

The animals are a major part of the theme and focus around Rosie the elephant who is adopted into the Benzini Brothers circus from a defunct circus. Jacob is the key to unlocking the secret of how to work with Rosie and what her talents truly are. There is also a special connection between Rosie and Marlena the equestrian star (the object of Jacob’s affection) although Marlena’s husband does not approve.

The story follows Jacob through these experiences with the circus told from both the first person as well as his reflections as an older man living in a nursing home with failing memory. Life in the nursing home is filled with endless days and sporadic visits from his family. The only bright spot in his long days is looking forward to seeing the circus that will be coming to town.

The book concludes with an unexpected link between the circus that is coming to town and the life Jacob lived with the circus years ago.

Truly a well written book based on plenty of actual accounts from past traveling circuses and the animals that were a part of them. A great read for any animal lover and anyone who finds interest in different storylines.

[A book club selection.]

Denver, CO

From Amazon.com:

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl’s imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called “Logotherapy in a Nutshell,” describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity’s life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man’s deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Frankl’s logotherapy, therefore, is much more compatible with Western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated, and very human book. At times, Frankl’s personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. “Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is,” Frankl writes. “After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”

I decided to read this book after I heard it recommended by a self development guru that sung it’s praises as one of the most influential books.

Frankl has an unusual presentation of life in the Nazi concentration camps during his confinement in four different camps including Auschwitz. The ultimate story is not about the tragedy and terrible suffering that Frankl had to endure. Yet the book is about how suffering cannot be avoided and discovering how different people cope with that suffering.

Frankl devised a theory known as logotheraphy that surmises that our primary drive is not pleasure (as believed by Freud) but rather the pursuit of meaning. That search for meaning is what attracted me to the book. The first half focuses on the concentration camps and some of the differences between those people that survive (partially due to searching for meaning and trying to find purpose in their experience) versus those that don’t (people that have given up hope). The second half of the book is detail about the theory of logotherapy. Although fascinating, I found myself having to reread parts to grasp them (it is written in a very scientific manner).

Overall, the book is a very interesting read and provides great insight into why some people overcome tragedies and why some people do not. This is definitely an inspiring read about living.

Denver, CO

From Cecelia Ahern’s website:

Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry.

Childhood sweethearts, they could finish each other’s sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other.

Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry’s death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He’s left her a bundle of notes, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed “P.S. I Love You.”

As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing - and being braver than ever before.

Life is for living, she realises - but it always helps if there’s an angel watching over you.

After seeing the preview for this movie I remembered that I had bought the book on a trip to Ireland (I love to buy books by local authors during travels and this one was recommended on one of my business trips while living in London). My preference is always to read the book before watching the movie and thus, I set out to read the book quickly before the movie comes out late December.

The book is a very easy and quick read. It is definitely a “chic” book filled with heart wrenching and tearful tales of Holly’s life after the death of her husband Gerry. In the book, he leaves her a note per month for the remainder of the year (he passes in February and leaves ten notes to take Holly through December). Each note is a challenge for Holly that will help her move on with life and rediscover herself. The notes are funny, inspiring, and tearful. It’s a beautiful way for someone to help their loved one move on in life without them (the idea started with Holly and Gerry and their best friends).

I really enjoyed the book although it made me cry throughout (both happy and sad tears). I look forward to seeing the movie even though much of the plot is changed (the movie takes place in NYC rather than the original Ireland setting). A feel-good story of how to overcome challenges and tragedies in our lives and rediscover our individuality.

Denver, CO

I am devastated to learn that there has been another mass murder by a mad gunman that shot many people (killing at least nine and injuring many more) before committing suicide.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/05/mall.shooting/index.html

This is happening too frequently in our country.

Isn’t there enough tragedy in our country without more self-infliction.

When are we going to get serious about gun control. REALLY serious.

I know there are plenty of arguments for guns. But getting them in the United States is way too easy.

When is enough going to be enough?

My heart and prayers go out to the families of the victims from today’s shooting.