Rothacker Reviews

#Trust30: 15 Minutes to Live

There has never been anything on earth more important to me than family. So with my final fifteen it is to you I speak.

My life long partner, do you realize that we've lived twice as long together than we did with our own parents? I'll confirm shortly what I suspected all my life, that the Big Guy had intended us to be with each other since the beginning of time. It's been natural. Thank you for your love and commitment. And thank you for the time and dedication that you've put into raising and teaching our daughters. One day, because of you, they will show such devotion to their own children.

To my girls, the greatest lesson that my father ever taught me, was to love and respect my Mom. When you look back on your own lives one day, I hope that you will say something similar. The time, care and love that your Mother has devoted to you is the reason you are the strong, self-sufficient women that you are today. As you move on in life remember to strengthen your body, soul, heart and mind. Always strive to improve. About the books...sorry :-)*

*My books have stood sentinal over my soul, they've been my friends and they've been my island. They've also been a place where I've written messages to my girls. To ensure that my girls don't toss my books out when I am gone and to at least give them a chance to read my notes, I've placed cold hard cash between their bindings. I have a lot of books.

Today's prompt

#Trust30: Trust Yourself

You are standing in a grassy field that runs toward a cliff. The sun shines down on thousands of people gathered around the cliff's edge. But this isn't just any crowd. These are hipsters. These are coolio's. These are the funky clothes wearing, coffee shop drinking, blog writing, smart phone welded to the hand Twittering superstars. And they are launching themselves off of the cliff, freefalling to a messy demise on the jagged rocks below.

Wanting to blend in for a closer look, you place the hand carrying your cup of Eight O'Clock coffee behind your back and move forward. Yep, the hipsters are cliff-dying. Do you trust the little guy inside your head telling you to back away from the cliff? Or do you set sail for the ether?

According to the Domino Project, Ralph Waldo Emerson tells readers to trust their intuition rather than conforming to the will of the majority in his book Self Reliance. I think I like Ralph. I think I like the Domino Project crew for using Ralph's work to inspire a thirty day writing challenge. I think I'll give it a shot and try to figure out where I am now and maybe work on a direction for my future.

Whenever I think about taking the lid off and looking inside, I am forever reminded of something that Fred Purdue said:

When you turn over the rocks and look at all the squiggly things underneath, you can either put the rock down, or you can say, 'My job is to turn over the rocks and look at all the squiggly things,' even if what you see can scare the hell out of you.

I have a hunch I'll be seeing some squiggly things this month.

Interested in confronting some squiggly things yourself? Join in! Check out the hashtag #Trust30 to see what others are saying at Twitter.

Confounding Cultural Anthropologists

Rosemary and Carla went to Ohio about four years ago, leaving me to fend for myself. After thirty-four years of domestication under Rosemary's tutelage, I can handle myself with some degree of sophistication around the house - except for cooking. I hate to cook*.

My diet that week consisted of frozen dinners, salad and canned Spaghettio's - cold. One evening in particular I was beyond hungry. So I tore into a can of Spaghettio's with such vigor, a few missed my mouth and ended up on my shoe. A week or so went by before I noticed. By then the tasty little remnants had hardened and fused to my shoe.

In a couple hundred years anthropologists will be digging around a landfill** and come across my shoes. What will they think? Was it a design thing? Was it a spiritual marking? Was it a way to store food to be eaten later? Was it Spaghettio's advertising? Was the shoe wearer a brand enthusiast? Will they Google their inquiry and wind up back here? Would they, could they, ever imagine the shoe's owner is constantly reminded between the difference of doing something for one's self and doing something for others, by the fossilized specks of pasta he carries around?

*I later found out that the hate to cook thing was only for myself. When I was no longer able to work, Rosemary went back to the workforce. I couldn't let her beat her brains out all day and then come home to cook. So I did what I had to do. Suddenly and to my surprise, my hate for cooking dissolved that first day. A combination of her liking what I cooked and the relief that she didn't have to, was all it took. Now I enjoy cooking for her. But I still hate to cook for myself.

**The landfills are on a neighboring, inhabitable planet.

A Book for your Life and Career

  Life After College by Jenny Blake.

Very seldom do I write about a book before reading it in its entirety. When I do you know I'm pretty excited about it. 

On the top of the back cover of Jenny's book it reads:

Life After College. Is your portable life coach. Congrats, you've graduated!

Stewie Griffin can deduce that Life After College is being targeted to recent college graduates. I believe however, there is another group of people who can benefit from Jenny's sage advice just as much. And, after I tell you a quick story you'll come up with a third audience as well.

I had the privilege of receiving an advance copy of Penelope Trunk's book, Brazen Careerist. Penelope knew that I was (and still am), insanely interested in Gen-Y.

After reading Brazen Careerist I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. I discovered that there was a group of people out there who could benefit as much if not more, from the best career book written for Gen-Y'rs. Baby Boom managers. Suddenly I felt like James Bond as I wrote a few articles for this older generation and explained how they could get un-perplexed, un-frustrated and un-agitated with this most promising generation by reading Brazen Careerist and trying to understand them first.

That group of people who Life After College is a veritable treasure chest full of wisdom and knowledge? High school juniors to college seniors. Students have the opportunity to reflect and prepare for life after college without the pressure of finding a place to live, finding a career-related job that's meaningful and finding one's self while staring at a mountain of college related bills and trying to figure out a way to manage their money.

I recommend students use Life After College as both a compass and a journal. The high school junior has a minimum of six years to soak in Jenny's messages on:

• Life
• Work
• Money
• Home
• Organization
• Friends & Family
• Dating & Relationships
• Health
• Fun & Relaxation
• Personal Growth

The advantage that I enjoyed with Brazen Careerist is the same one students can use with Jenny's book. When we look at something through a different lens, that subject matter has a tendency to become stickier. It allows us the freedom of exploration and the opportunity to experiment with connections. By the time the student graduates and is ready to apply the contents of Life After College, she will have a huge edge on those who graduate and say, "Hello world, it's nice to meet you. Where should I send my resume?"

I will have more to say about Life After College in a formal review, but I can see already it's one of the best books around for the college graduate.

That third audience I spoke of earlier? Baby Boom and Gen-X managers.

One other reason that I feel confident in recommending Jenny's book (without reading in its entirety) is I've been reading her work at the Life After College Web site for quite some time and Jenny's message has always been consistent. Consistently appropriate that is.

Note: I received a copy of Life After College from Jenny's publicist.