The Little Red Book of Wisdom

I just finished Mark DeMoss's small, but inspiring The Little Red Book of Wisdom. Twenty-three short chapters address wisdom related to one's own personal and professional life. DeMoss frequently shares wisdom from his deceased father as well.  It's not a get rich quick or self help book. It's just a book on wisdom - how God plays a huge part in everything we do.

From the website:

"Everyone, it seems, wants wisdom in life. But too many people seem to think wisdom somehow is reserved for the best-educated, highest-paid, and most powerful among us.

Well, I believe wisdom is available to all of us, regardless of age or stage of life, and this little book shares three ways we can get it.

If life is ultimately defined by decisions we make—where to go to school, whether to marry,
where to work and live, how to spend money, and so on—wisdom, or lack of it, drives these decisions. So how do we get it?

The Little Red Book of Wisdom is comprised of 23 short chapters of insights on wisdom for your professional life and your personal life. Full of illustrations, the chapters address wisdom related to life and death, technology, honesty, integrity, wealth, listening, letter-writing, deathbed regrets, the workplace, even alcohol, among other subjects.

This book also challenges much “conventional” wisdom of today. Work harder to get ahead? Not so, according to a chapter titled Work Less, Think More. Wonder where all these “self-made” millionaires come from? Read A Turtle on a Fencepost.

You’ll read about famous people like Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, and golfer John Daly. You’ll also read about some wise people you’ve likely never heard of, like Lamar Lussi, a one-time school janitor; John, a missionary to Hong Kong; and Cecil “Red” Benton, a deceased auto mechanic.

Don’t concede wisdom to other people; grab hold of it and let it guide you through your

daily grind, informing decisions large and small. Wisdom is for all of us."

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Coming Up

Hopefully, once we got this moving thing under control and school finally lets out, I'll be able to post some more -

Coming up in....

Parties and Pictures:
Alec's 12th birthday party
Nicholas 12th birthday party
Bob's birtday
St. Mark Derby Day
Emily, Rebecca and Kathy at the Legends Game

Norton's News, Notes 'n' Nonsense:
Updates on the new house
Updates on my job hunt
Kids riding their bikes
Jim and Diane visit
St. Mark Middle School Play

My Catholic Reflections:
Emily's First Holy Communion
Gifts of the Holy Spirit Series
Fruits of the Holy Spirit Series
Favorite Catholic Podcasts and Videocasts

Principal's Pokes and Ponderings:
Family Fun Night II: Aloha Style
Reflection on my tenure at Madison County Alternative and Day Treatment Programs

Alternative High Schools: Models for the Future?

A very concise and informative paper explaining how alternative high schools came into being, where they are here, and what the future may hold.

From the abstract:

They're found in crumbling inner city buildings, in strip malls, in old school buildings and within existing schools. They have optimistic sounding names like Capstone, Crossroads and Learning Enterprise. They have varied financial and educational arrangements. And they are popping up all over the landscape, mainly urban but also suburban and rural. What are they? They are small alternative high schools.

Read the entire article here.

For once, blame the student - Yahoo! News

A good story by Patrick Welsh. He's a writer for USA Today who used to write for the Washington Post on school reform:

Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack of funding, poor teachers or
other ills. Here's a thought: Maybe it's the failed work ethic of todays kids.
That's what I'm seeing in my school. Until reformers see this reality, little
will change.

Read the full article here.

Schools at risk to lose dynamic teachers | www.azstarnet.com �

Schools at risk to lose dynamic teachers www.azstarnet.com �

My Second Chance

As some of you may or may not know, I returned from St. Joseph's Hospital yesterday afternoon after a 48 hour surreal experience involving two hospitals, one blocked artery, one stent and many many prayers. I tell this story to once again illustrate the power of prayer and of God's healing touch.

About 4:00 pm Monday, I was leaving a meeting at Madison Central High School, walking to my car and my chest started to ache. I had felt this earlier in the day, but not to the degree I was feeling it in the parking lot. I sat, relaxed and it went away. I went back to my school and by the time I got into my office, I felt the pain again. It was similar to a pain I felt 18 months earlier, which prompted me to get a "stress echo". Those results said I was healthy - overweight and out of shape - but my heart was healthy.

I called Kathy and told her I was going to swing by and pick up my insurance card and go by Pattie A. Clay's ER to get it checked out. I drove to the hospital and told the admitting nurse I was having chest pains. I was immediately taken to the back of the ER where they took my blood pressure, temperature and insurance information. The pains subsided before I got to the back of the ER.

Over the next 3 hours, they poked me for blood, prodded me for tender spots, and padded me to the EKG machine. They found that I was relatively healthy. Blood counts were fine, EKG was normal, cholesterol was a little high. By that time, however, they contacted the cardiologist I went to 18 months ago for the stress echo, and he recommended I stay the night for further tests.

I hadn't had anything to eat all day and by the time I got settled in my room, it was 10:00 pm and I was starving! The cafeteria had closed, but the nurses found a frozen dinner and warmed it up for me. As I was bringing the first bite to my mouth, the nurse walked backed in and said he just got word I was to be on a clear liquid diet. So they substituted the lasagna for orange jello. It was the best jello I ever had!

The next morning, my primary doctor came in at 5:00 am to let me know that my heart enzymes were a little high, I had very likely suffered several mild "MIs" and they wanted to do a heart cath to see what was going on. I agreed. My cardiologist came in about 7:30 am and told me that he thought I had some blockage in my right artery. They wanted to order a heart cath and if they found anything they could put a stent in at the same time. I agreed to be transported to St. Joseph Hospital where they could do both if they needed to. Plus it was a move to a Catholic hospital.

They took me by ambulance to St. Joe's where I was taken to the HISSU (Heart Institute Short Stay Unit). I waited for about three hours until they finally prepped me for the heart cath. Depending on what this new doctor found (my cardiologist was not in Lexington that day) a few things could happen: they could find nothing and I'd go home that evening; they would find some blockage which could be relieved with a stent; or they would find enough blockage to warrant open heart surgery.

Once they put the heart cath in, they began looking around. What they found was no blockage in the right artery, which the EKG mistakenly found - instead they found what my cardiologist would later call a "Widdowmaker".

A "widdowmaker" is a 99% blockage in the left artery coupled with a blood clot. The cardiologist said if I had ignored the chest pains a day earlier, I'd surely be dead right now!

He was able to clear the blockage, dissolve the clot and put the stent in. The rest of my arteries were OK and there was no damage to my heart! What a miracle!

I spent the next 12 hours lying on my back, not moving my leg, and not raising my head. A small price to pay for how fortunate I was!

I am convinced the outcome would have been different if it weren't for the prayers of my family, friends, and Church community. Not at any time was I ever nervous or concerned. I was very relaxed (even before the drugs) and calm because I knew I was in the Lord's hands. It is an amazing feeling to have!

My second chance at life begins now. My life changes now. I'm going to eat better, (no more 4-Ways) exercise more and stress less. And continue praying!

Teen Kills Dad Over Failing Grades

He won't have to worry about his grades anymore....

A 15-year-old boy allegedly killed his father, then set their home on fire because he was afraid his father would find out he was failing some classes, prosecutors said.
Ryan Watts was charged Friday with murdering his father, 50-year-old John E. Bruner, who was initially believed to have died in the fire earlier this week. He was charged as an adult.
Watts was arrested Wednesday after an autopsy determined that Bruner died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the fire, Santa Clara police said.
According to court documents, Watts told police he took a .45-caliber handgun from a safe in his father's bedroom and stashed it in his room shortly before the killing.
Court documents allege he shot his father in the head at close range Monday, then set the body on fire because it was too heavy to carry to the backyard, where he had planned to bury it. Watts hid the gun and went to Taco Bell before calling 911 to report the fire, the documents said.
Watts' parents apparently were separated, and he had been staying at his mother's home since the fire, police said.
If convicted, Watts faces life in prison. He is not eligible for the death penalty because he's a juvenile.
Watts is expected to enter a plea during a Dec. 22 court appearance.