It’s ~10:15am and the mall opened only moments earlier.  I note that the parking lot is unusually empty.

I need a cable.  I’m told I need a VGA adapter cable to project my presentation materials at HCC via my MacBook Pro.  I checked online but couldn’t figure out exactly what I needed and thought a quick trip to the Apple store would mean instant satisfication for next week’s classes.

I’m an Apple fan… I talk about Apple a lot.

But, I’ve never purchased anything from the Apple store.  To my advantage, I married an early adopter (smart guy) that researches, purchases, sets up and maintains all of my fun electronic goodies. He’s amazing at this… so, I’ve never purchased anything at the Apple store even though I own many of their products and speak of them often.

My experience at the Apple store has me thinking…

Although the mall just opened and the parking lot was seemingly empty, I found the Apple store to be beaming with eager consumers ready to hand over their credit cards in exchange for the latest and greatest shiny gadgets.

I just want a cable, so I head over with my 3yr old daughter and ask the guy in the blue shirt standing near the end of the store.  He’s holding an iPad and quickly looks up to nonverbally inquire about what it is I want.  He tells me quite simply that this area is the “technical area” and someone would assist me soon.

I stand there.

I stand there some more, with my 3yr old getting anxious in the stroller.  She had been promised a carousel ride and wasn’t happy about the unexpected stop.

I start listening and hear all about the wonder of Apple products and how much they improve our lives by their seemingly limitless capabilities and shininess.  They are pretty.  The herd thinks so as well.  It’s written all over their faces.  For these sales people, it must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

I smile.

I stand there some more.

It’s 10:45am.  I’m not smiling anymore.

I visually check the accessory shelf to determine if I can just make a quick choice, but I don’t see anything referencing “VGA”.   I do notice some pretty cool iPhone cases though.

It’s 10:50am and I pull over a guy in a blue shirt as he’s heading to the “technical area.” The guy with the clipboard had been standing there the whole time, not oblivious to my increased impatience.  He has an important job though… protecting the “technical area.”

The guy I flag down helps me out but finally walks me over to an iPad conveniently docked by a MacBook Pro.  He continues to talk of the “magic of Apple” in that I only need to select something on the iPad to be in a queue for an associate.  I’m confused and somewhat shocked that I had failed to notice any cash registers before.  OK…

It seems that if I want to “buy” this cable I now have in my hand, I need to wait for an associate using this “magic” system of no cash registers.

It’s 11am.  I flag a lady down in a blue shirt and ask if I could just make a quick purchase of the cable.  She says she doesn’t have the equipiment but will return in a moment.

The nice lady returns several minutes later and asks me for my name and other information.  I indicate again that I would just like to “buy” the cable and be gone.  My 3yr old was now obviously ready to escape the confines of the stroller and was only moments away from ripping the store apart.  These gadgets were of no interest to her since we have them at home.

I’m told that I won’t receive a receipt without providing the requested information.  I’m OK with this and am released from the store with the $29 cable to proceed with my day.  It’s 11:10am.

Time for the carousel…

“The practice of mindfulness will increase the quality of our learning & also improve the quality of our life.”

Amazon recently recommended a book that I couldn’t resist… Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness With Children.  Plum Village looks like an amazing place… amazing!

I’ve made it through most of the book and find it to be one of those books that you savor and go back to.  The first page sums it up best:

“May this book help you plant the seeds of mindfulness in the garden of your own life & in the lives of the children you nurture. And may you, your family, your school and your community reap a rich harvest of peace, contentment & togetherness.”

I’m not drinking any Kool-Aid or singing Kumbaya or anything, but if you really think about those words, it’s quite tempting.  In all seriousness, the book is great and offers some realistic things (tools, activities, etc.) you can do for yourself and others to really focus and connect with things around you… And, I translate that into success. For me, I find being mindful fuels my drive for whatever it is I’m doing.  And, it inspires me and gives me the kick in the butt I sometimes need to make changes and continuously improve.

Being mindful (aware of the moment) seems very easy, I know.  But, I assure you it’s one of the most difficult things to actually do.  For some, it comes naturally.  For the rest of us, it’s about being too busy or otherwise distracted from truly being in (and appreciating) the moment.

“You cannot transmit wisdom & insight to another person.  The seed is already there.  A good teacher touches the seed, allowing it to wake up, to sprout, and to grow.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Spring semester at HCC starts tonight, and I’m excited as always.  I’ll be teaching Intro to Business, Principles of Marketing & Principles of Management again… each one of them, good times!  My most significant suggestion for doing well in my class is to always be engaged and know what’s going on.  Rather than focusing on the long-term objective of scoring the credit hours, enjoy the moments in class when there’s an opportunity to learn new things.  Here’s to a great semester!

Sidenote: Another great book targeted to kids but great for all ages is Thinking Tools for Kids.  From fishbone diagrams to affinity exercises, this book simplifies key quality and decision making tools with fun examples and useful templates.  

Dorie Clark has me thinking about a recent blog post in which we’re asked to stop doing five things this year.  They’re totally reasonable, and I’m going to do this.

1) Responding like a trained monkey – I am an admitted “send-receiver”… I feel the need to check my email and respond to things at completely unreasonable times.  I think I can handle a simple once per hour check.  What can’t wait an hour? Anything urgent is going to notify me via iPhone anyway, right? Can I do the same with Facebook? That’s kind of asking a lot!

2) Mindless traditions – I’m already there… sick of the mindless and just need some creative inspiration and action!

3) Reading annoying things – I won’t get rid of The Economist print subscription, but I have cleaned up my Google Reader and think I have my stream of information well organized and condensed.  Also, Luke had recommended podcasts for the commute to HCC, so I’m thinking this will be a great way to multitask and even reduce my number of annual speeding tickets. (Note that also checking emails once per hour will likely improve my driving success as well)

4) Work that’s not worth it – I really need to give up the HOA this year.  I gave up one last year, but I keep hanging onto this responsibility because I feel like it’s my civic duty.  But, I’ve come to realize that HOAs are powerless to government legislation and people are going to do whatever the hell they want to anyway.  I do love the other members and our CAM though, so it makes it hard.  I’m keeping all the other stuff! It doesn’t take that much time, and I get enjoyment from being busy.

5) Making things more complicated than they should be – Been there, done that!

The ASQ Audit Division did an excellent job with this.. Really…

Referenced Link

In the short-term, at least, I’m not so sure how well time is treating humanity.  At the end of the year, there are always these summary videos of activity that I watch and wonder about.  This year, I had an interesting observation.  The Google Zeitgeist 2011 summary reflects the realities of what went on this year.

But, the FaceBook and YouTube data seem to indicate that people just don’t care about what’s actually going on.  We’re looking at things like Nyan Cat and worrying about what celebrities are doing (Charlie Sheen blew away Hurricane Irene in FaceBook updates).  We simply don’t seem to dedicate any true mindfulness regarding how we can contribute to making the world better.  It’s almost as if we think about it, introspectively, but don’t follow-up in our conversations and actions as they relate to others.  Are we afraid to be too serious?

I worry about us sometimes.  And,  I ask myself… what can I do?

UPDATE: I turn on the television to see CNN’s Morning Express covering the YouTube top videos of the year.  However, instead of pointing out the obvious, they instead decided the newsworthy thing to do was to add their own interpretations of the Talking Dog. The follow-up story was “Santa monkeys around with chimps”… no joke.