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Becoming Captain Kirk

/ Gracetopher Kirk / 3 Comments

or;

What Dragon Boating Taught Me About Leadership

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I don’t know about ducks, but at least I’ve got my dragons in a row.

Leadership is terrifying, but it’s important to face ones fears because it is through challenges that we grow. And so in an effort to face my fears, I was learning the ropes so I could be stand-in Captain on the Tuesday after Easter.

Well also it has to do with the whole broken back issue. I cannot paddle yet. Will not be able to until very near the end of the season I expect. I thought I’d try tilling this year, but it turns out the till is quite a bit heavier than I expected it to be, and overall I was only barely able to control the boat. It was agreed after that that I really shouldn’t till. And if I can’t till and I can’t paddle, then the only place left for me is at the front of the boat. But I’m still so new to dragon boating! This is only my second season, what if I don’t remember enough of the things to say? What if I mess up!

Well I messed up. And guess what? Nobody was mad. It was a simple enough mistake really, I didn’t cause any permanent harm to anyone. And in the process of making a mistake and being corrected, I learned something about leadership.

My mistake was in focusing on myself and the words that I had to say to practice calling a racing start rather than focusing on my paddlers and the pace that they were setting themselves. I may be the one calling the shots, but I’m not the one making the shots. The paddlers themselves make the shots, I just announce them.

Leadership is not about forcing anybody to do anything, leadership is about seeing people’s strengths and helping them use those to the best of their ability. Leadership is helping everybody move in sync. Leadership is facilitating what others create.

 

How to Not Install Your Dishwasher

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  1. Please do not try to replace your dishwasher without disconnecting the electricity first.
  2. You might want to turn off the hot water.
  3. Ok really you might want to turn off all of the water.

My back is broken, I’m not currently the best person to ask if you need help replacing your appliances, but my station wagon is helpful for transporting things. And Aunt Esther taught me how to fix the dishwasher we got for free off of craigslist, so that was cool. We managed to get the old dishwasher detached from the counter, and then we tried to turn the water off so we could disconnect the old dishwasher. Key word tried. I even pulled the handy-dandy WD-40 out of my car to help the attempts.

Decisions were made. An attempt was made to unhook the old dishwasher without first turning off the water… Which ended in a flooded kitchen. But then as my cousin’s outside calling the landlord and the plumber and my aunt is practically swimming under the sink, I see sparks.

Sparks! Oh shit! Aunt Esther I really think you should get out of there… How could I have forgotten to make sure the dishwasher’s electricity was turned off? Water+electricity=BAAAAAD

All I can say for myself is that I was more along for the ride on this particular adventure. And that I turned off the electricity as soon as I realized it was still on. And that while I was at it I managed to turn off the hot water, leading to a) less water spewing into the kitchen and b) non-scalding water spewing into the kitchen. Both of which made it a lot easier to finally get the new dishwasher connected and therefore end the flood.

Moral of the story: take the proper precautions when replacing your dishwasher or you might just end up sitting in your cousin’s apartment drying the carpets with a hairdryer.

 

Dear Mother Nature

/ Gracetopher Kirk / Leave a comment

Yes, I do realize that it is now July, but does that really give you license to turn on the broiler??? Why all of a sudden do I have to sweat my way through the day? I didn’t sign up for this sauna.

Yes I did live in Iowa for 10 years, and yes that heat was worse because it involves even more humidity… Yes perhaps that means I shouldn’t complain, I did after all have it worse four years ago. That’s the problem though, it has been four years since I have spent an entire summer in the Midwest. Plus, there’s a reason I have refused to be back there during the summer – As it turns out, I don’t like the heat.

In conclusion, yes Mother Nature, I do realize that it could be worse, so please don’t punish me for complaining, but if you don’t mind keeping days like today to a minimum, I would be very much obliged.

Sincerely,

No-the-rain-doesn’t-make-me-melt,-but-the-heat-just-might

Back on the Horse

/ Gracetopher Kirk / 2 Comments

It’s been nearly a year now since I’ve posted here. I’m sure you were just hanging on my every word and haven’t known what to do with yourself when I stopped posting. My excuses are as follows: I created this blog intending it to be a travel blog, so as soon as I was back in the US, why would I keep posting? I didn’t post during my last couple of weeks in Europe either though, and that was because my English was deteriorating the longer I spent speaking nothing but Spanish and Basque… It got incredibly hard to write anything intelligible in English (even in my own personal journal, after about 6 weeks almost everything is in Spanish).

I’ve been back in English Speaking regions for a while now though, so I think it’s safe to subject you to my writing once again, and even though I’m not traveling, I’m not one to sit back and let adventures pass me by. So I’m back on the horse. I can’t promise I’ll write every day (I am after all working full time and have an hour long commute), but I think I could manage once a week.