HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND TOM!






Today Tom Dodd turns 65. As I told him yesterday, that means his health insurance costs drop and my taxes go up as he joins the Medicare program.



I don't mind at all. I'll gladly pay more taxes to keep Tom healthy!



I've known Tom for a little under 20 years but I've known him well since 1995 or so. And I worked side by side with him early in this decade. He is, without a doubt, one of the more interesting people I know.



He is a cowboy, through and through. But he is also an intellectual. He loves the dictionary, unlike me he uses perfect grammar, never has a dictionary far from sight, loves studying in-depth things like the Greek Classics, does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle in a flash, is actually getting very good at playing golf and started an extraordinarily successful IT consulting company but has enough sense to let someone else run it completely as he knows she will do a better job than him at this. And he loves his kids, his son-in-laws and his grandkids the way you are supposed to love them.

Tom’s significant other, Michelle, is a saint. And Tom, to his credit, treats her like a Queen. I love you Tom, but Tom; I could NEVER live with you!






But while the above things that describe Tom in terms of what kind of a person he is, they don’t describe his values and special characteristics that make him who he is. I could easily list 65 in honor of his birthday, but I might not get people to read that far. So, I will list half that many since Tom acts (and probably believes) as if he is only 32 and a half years old.

Interspersed in this list are some photos of Tom.

1. Tom is one of the most honest people I know. He would never, ever, cheat anyone out of anything.

2. Tom is a zealot about the importance of process and loves to drive things like Project Management down into an organization. In business, he believes there is a right way to do everything and there should be no deviation.

3. Tom is the most disorganized person I know. I recently went to a wedding where he forgot to pack either his shoes or his pants-I don’t recall which. Please refer to number 2 above to see the paradox.

4. Please refer to #3 above and let me correct it. Tom had someone who works for him pack his suitcase (his ranch foreman I think) and they forgot to put in the missing items. I’ve never known anyone who has someone pack their suitcase. But I understand why.

5. If you are Tom’s friend, he would lay down his life for you.



6. If you are a Democrat he feels bad that there is something in the wiring of your brain at birth that caused what he believes is a genuine defect. I am certain he actually prays for folks like that.




7. He has wondered about my wiring for letting Andrea date (let alone marry) someone who likes Bill Clinton. And he thinks Cris is a wonderful person so he doesn’t believe me when I say she likes both of the Clintons.




8. Tom is as generous as they come. He holds an annual rodeo at his ranch, spends thousands of dollars of his own money to bring in the top Cowboys so he can donate the proceeds to a small town Volunteer Fire Department that needs it. If he gives a friend a bottle of wine as a gift, it is more likely to be a Chateau Margaux than a Mondavi. If I asked Tom to give $10,000 to a really good cause I know he would do it without hesitation. He cares about the downtrodden.

9. I was with him in Singapore in a park and they were raising money for something that neither of us had heard of or understood. He gave them $100. See number 8 above.

10. I was with him in Singapore in a Batik store and he bought almost everything in site, prompting him to then go buy a suitcase and paying FedEx an exorbitant sum to ship it home. The owner of the store loved him. So does the recipient of much of the clothing-see #27 below-same recipient as #10 and as in the photo below!




11. Tom loves being on a team. He would rather let someone else be the President of his company so he can go run an IT department just so he can be part of a team of people he enjoys.

12. Tom has a ranch and two other beautiful, magnificent homes. He will let any of his friends just come and move in and stay as long as they want and then he will worry about whether or not he has stocked them with the kind of food and wine the person likes.

13. Tom is tough. He still rides horses and ropes-the stuff that many 30 year olds can’t do. I would not want to be on the wrong side of Tom if there was a fight.



14. Tom was educated as an engineer and worked for NASA. He really is a rocket scientist. Please refer to number 3 above.

15. Tom washed his passport in the wash machine and despite my pestering and insistence, he never “got around” to getting a new one resulting in me using all of my persuasive skills to get him through Customs in Thailand, Singapore, India and the United Arab Emirates.




16. Tom works for companies and may not ever get around to turning in his expenses for reimbursement.

17. Tom was going to go get a replacement passport in India. We were in the back of a car and he pulled out this long jackknife and told me he was going to take it with him to the Embassy in case he ran into any terrorists. I almost fainted. I have no idea how he smuggled it through Customs. I convinced him this was not a good idea.



18. Tom loves to play golf and I believe he has really improved-of course he is the one that told me that, but I believe him.

19. Tom is fun to mess with. I love to get him with someone who thinks Hillary is the Virgin Mary and watch them drive him up a wall. I always regretted not stealing his dictionary that he always had sitting on his desk as he loves words, their origin and their meaning. He would have sworn it was a leftist conspiracy.





20. In Dubai, our driver told the two of us that there weren’t a lot of Americans that went to Dubai. Tom replied that it wasn’t a surprise given that it was an Arab country and what happened on 9/11.

21. See number 20 above. It was the only time I have ever been really afraid when traveling because the drivers’ response to Tom’s comment was “Oh, we don’t believe 9/11 really happened.” I was in the front seat and I turned to Tom and mouthed the words “Tom, don’t even think about saying one more word.” Actually, that is the polite version.

22. One of the biggest accomplishments of my life was talking Tom into going to an Arab country with me. I’ve always admired him for that as I know it wasn’t easy for him and he had a wonderful time.




23. Of course, he almost burned down the Hyatt hotel because he started a fire in his room by plugging too many plugs of the wrong voltage into the wall and promptly falling asleep.




24. Tom’s values and ethics are rock solid.



25. Tom can fall asleep easier than anyone I know. At a fancy dinner in Mumbai, with the CEO of a very large company hosting us, Tom was at one end of the table (the head of the table at that end) and the CEO was at the other head of the table. Tom kept falling asleep with his head on the table. As each course arrived, they would wake him up, he would take a bite and put his head back on the table and fall back asleep.




26. I would trust Tom with my family, my money and our lives without reservation.




27. Tom dropped over $25,000 worth of jewelry he had purchased off a baggage trolley onto the floor of the airport in Chicago and didn’t notice it was gone until someone pointed it out. In fairness, he had jet lag.





28. People say Tom is stubborn and won’t change. They are wrong. Once, many years ago, I wanted to have someone join our team that Tom absolutely could not be in the same room with. When I told Tom I was going to do it he told me it was a huge mistake and everything he didn’t like about this person. I looked at him and said “Tom, I am asking you to give this individual a chance. I want your support.” He said he would do that. They are now very close friends and Tom has said that he completely misjudged this person. Tom’s behavior in this example is the behavior of a real man and a real leader and I admire him so much for that.


29. In the middle of the lobby of one of the most exclusive hotels in Rome, I watched Tom open his suitcase on the floor in front of everyone and I realized that he didn’t know what to pack so he had just grabbed about two dozen shirts and pants and, still on the hangars, tossed them into this suitcase. That day, only the 2nd or 3rd day of our trip, he had decided he didn’t need any of them and handed the suitcase and contents to the concierge and told them to ship it back on an airplane to his ranch.




30. Tom gets motion sickness very easily. He mentioned that to me after we had paid $300 and right before we arrived at a place where we were going to ride 4-wheel drives up and down the sand dunes in the Arabian Desert. We rode a camel instead. And then we sat in the desert, and as the golden sun slowly sunk below the horizon, and most of us were gorging ourselves on Bastilla, Chicken with Lemon and Olives, couscous and mint tea while the belly dancers gyrated around, I looked around for Tom and he was lying in the sand, sound asleep.






31. Tom treats his Mother the way you are supposed to treat your Mother-without exception.

32. Tom loves his grandkids. They call him Popsicle.



32.5. Tom is a person whose friendship I truly treasure.

So, Tom-Happy Birthday to you. Thank you for so many memories and I am so happy that you have agreed to go with me next month to Bolivia. We are going to have a wonderful time. I hope you enjoy some of these photos from our trip together around the world and our trip to Italy, but Tom, please, please, please-when we go to Bolivia remember you must have your passport!

HAPPY 9TH ANNIVERSARY TO CRIS AND GROVER

Nine years ago today, on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in rural Virginia, Grove and Cris stood in the wonderful crisp outdoor air of that fall day and became husband and wife. Little did they know that nine years later they would have the photo above taken on the steps of their new home in Arlington with two great little guys, Landon and Wes, sitting on their laps.

Isn't it amazing the roads that life takes us down?

Congratulations to you both and Happy 9th Anniversary.

Love, Papi

ATLANTA HAS CHANGED AND OTHER WEIRD THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD




Saturday we went to the newly built BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha temple in Lilburn, a suburb of Atlanta. It is incredible and the size of a large castle. Made out of 4,500 tons of limestone from Turkey, 4,140 tons of Italian Carrara Marble and 3,065 tons of Indian Sandstone, the 34,000 carved pieces were made by 1,500 Indian Craftsmen working at 26 different sites in India, most in the Rajasthan area that I visited about a year and a half ago.

Click on othe photo above to see a larger image of it.

The admission is free but you do take your shoes off as you do at the holy sites in India. I had on shorts, as well as some of the Indian men visiting and so they gave us sweat pants to put on over our shorts.

The star attraction is the beautiful Mandir, a place of tranquility and spirituality. I would love to go back and sit and meditate there and I will some day.

I put this on my Blog because I think it clearly shows the multi-ethnicity of the Atlanta area, a long road from Atlanta’s roots as the heart of the Confederacy.



Yesterday we went to the Oakland Cemetery, one of Atlanta’s oldest, for their annual Sunday in the Park Festival. They open the Mausoleums and they had a fashion contest from Atlanta’s Gone with the Wind period. They had music, carriage rides and even The Varsity , arguably Atlanta’s most famous eatery, had a wagon selling their famous food.

You just feel the Old South as you walk through this beautiful cemetery and it case you don’t feel it; there are lots of people and monuments to remind you.







There is a section for Atlanta’s first Jewish burial ground



And even an area (this is for you Lee) reserved for the British, although back in those days I thought they were still mad at us or vice versa. For sure the Thomas and the Botham families have put that little skirmish in the 1770’s behind us!




Margaret Mitchell is buried there along with legendary golfer Bobby Jones (not to be confused with my friend Crazy Bobby Jones) whose gravies surrounded by golf balls and the patch of grass in front of it is landscaped like a putting green. I think it is a little weird. I hope they don’t make the grass look like an insurance policy in front of my grave.




There were also some interesting photo opportunities, like the one below of some of the graves with the original, long abandoned, Coca-Cola bottling plant in the background and the photo of the Karwisch family with the description in stone (wife, sister, etc) of how each were related.







But, returning to my theme of how much Atlanta has changed; one of my favorite photos was this juxtaposition of this old, old cemetery with some of Atlanta’s 2007 skyline behind it.





Speaking of old, on Wednesday I spent a fun evening with four other members of our senior management team at the first company I led as CEO. From left to right, Kathy, Jeanne, Alan, Bill and the oldest one of the group. We ate Persian food and drank good wine until we were ready to pop and Bill mistook a chunk of butter for a chunk of cheese he put in his mouth, only to be exceeded by him reaching to put his arm around Alan in the attached photo and instead, he put his hand into a very hot candle and spilled hot wax all down his hand and arm and my shoes.




Okay-change of subject. Alice, since I know you are more faithful about reading my Blog than about checking your emails, I thought I would thank you here for your thoughtful gesture with Freedom From Hunger after My Posting last week.

And then there is Avis Car Rental. I arrived in Chicago on Sunday, September 30th at 6pm and rented a car. I returned it at noon on Tuesday, October 2nd. They wouldn’t let me check it back in and told me I had to go to their rental counter as there was “a discrepancy”.

Telling me what I have to do has never been a successful tactic with me so I just got on the bus and flew back to Atlanta. As I was on the plane I noticed they had given me a piece of paper like a receipt, but it said to go to the counter and had the words:

"EXCESSIVE MILEAGE"

on the receipt. I called Andrea Currie, my wonderful assistant and asked her to figure it out.

It turns out they showed that I had driven 3,287 miles. In less than two days. I calculated that I would have to drive at 78.26 miles per hour the entire time with no stops for gas, pee, food, sleep or drink.

Do you think they may have a little problem with their computers?

"MILWAUKEE AND CHICAGO"

I was in Milwaukee and Chicago the week of the 24th of September. I had not spent any time in Milwaukee in several years, but for five years, while living in the friendly metropolis of Short Hills, New Jersey, I spent 3 nights a week in Milwaukee on business. Every week. Cathy loved being alone with all the open, friendly, welcoming and warm hearted people of New Jersey.

So, I had to be there this time for a Freedom From Hunger meeting early Monday morning so I flew up Sunday afternoon, bumping into old friends who were on the same flight and that was nice.

When I got there the day was picture perfect, not something one finds more than a few times a century in that part of the world. I went out for a short walk and ended up walking for two hours.

Of course, one of the first things I saw (after all, this is Milwaukee) was this Usinger’s Sausage. Building. If you want some good Wisconsin sausage, go there. One look at the sky in this photo and you can see what a beautiful day it was.




Milwaukee is filled with great architecture that is worth walking around and looking at when it is not snowing six inches an hour and of course, their beautiful new museum that looks like a departing ship sailing into Lake Michigan.














But, the most exciting part of visiting back in Milwaukee again was that I got to see Heaven once more.

I went to Heaven every time I was in Milwaukee all those years and I miss Heaven so, so much.

Heaven in Milwaukee is also known as George Webb’s, across from the Hyatt where I would always stay.





It is not exactly an upscale restaurant, especially in this particular part of town. In fact, the one time Cathy was in Milwaukee and I talked her into going, we had to pay when we ordered (we were sitting in a booth) because after 7pm the door is locked until sunrise and you have to pay in advance before they will cook your food.

But what food it is! It is the only place I have ever been that makes better hash-browns than Waffle House.

So, after my walk, I went to George Webb’s, salivated longingly over the menu I had missed so much




and because I was in Heaven, I made a Novena of four orders of hash browns, two orders of bacon, two orders of raisin toast, large pink lemonade and could hardly walk out of there an hour later. But damn it was good!

As I waddled back to the Hyatt I noticed a plaque inside the hotel that I had never seen in all the nights I had stayed there. It was in this location on October 14, 1912 that there was an attempted assassination attempt on Teddy Roosevelt. The good news is they missed. But the bad news would not have been that bad since he would have died across the street from Heaven.




After my Milwaukee pilgrimage to George Webb’s, I spent two days at the Chicago Global Donors conference with some colleagues from Freedom From Hunger. It was a wonderful time to meet so many people who are dedicating their lives to help others.

After the dinner the first night I was going to walk back to my hotel so I decided I should stop first at the bathroom at The Chicago Club where the conference was located. I walked into the smallest bathroom I have ever been in other than an outhouse and when I walked in, I walked smack into a fire hose.




Of course, no surprise to those who know me, I screamed. It was so, so orange that it was terrifying. Now in looking at the photo, wouldn’t you agree that having this huge orange blob hanging right by the door so that it almost reaches out and grabs you when you innocently enter to pee is a really dumb thing to do?

After that incident I walked down Miracle Mile and snapped this photo of some woman whose reflection was in a long pond. It was pretty cool.




As I was almost back to the hotel, I came across something that was a little strange-it was either a chrome doughnut or a recently arrived spaceship. It was very interesting but I was tired so I snapped the photo and went to bed and didn’t get to see either the filling ooze out or the aliens step out.



Any of you that started reading this post and managed to get to the end realize that I really had nothing worthwhile to say today but I was sitting in a Doctor’s office for a couple of hours waiting for Cathy to get an epidural and I had all these photos so I decided to share them with those of you who are bored and have nothing better to do.

After having now reviewed all I wrote above it is clear to me that I need to put my passport to work so I have something interesting to write about.