Author: Randy Friesen

Randy Friesen is a business strategist, manager and educator based in Vancouver, BC. He is also a husband and father. He loves the creative process and is active in creating art and music.

Categories
Be The Best.

Dan Cloutier, Chris and Be The Best

Goaltender Dan Cloutier with the Vancouver Can...
Image via Wikipedia

I was doing some filing today.

Yah, I know.  Great times.

In any event, I stumbled across a file that had some drawings from Max and Chris.

I just had to share this one.  Dan Cloutier and Be The Best maybe don’t sound like they fit anymore, but he had his very best years as a Canuck goalie and the kids loved him.

Max and Chris spent hours drawing these guys.  I think Chris was 9 or 10 when he drew this one.

Notice Pronger taking a slapshot and Cloutier flashing the leather for a great save…(even if it looks like the puck is going wide…)

But then I saw the title, ‘The Best in The Business’.  This wasn’t something we talked about.

He was already relating the success of Cloutier as an NHL goalie to being the Best in the Business.

Not quite, Be The Best…but some early signs of what was to come as he strove to realize his own goals.

Notice the artist’s signature in the lower right corner.

The Best in the Business.

Be The Best.

Love it.

Categories
Be The Best.

Another lesson in perspective.

I got another lesson in perspective from a very reliable source.

Scrabble
Image via Wikipedia

My iPad Scrabble game.

Yah, that’s right.  I said it, Scrabble.

I was involved in an intense fight with my arch nemesis, the iPad computer.

We were locked in a tough duel and I was determined.

I stared at my tiles for 2 minutes, then 4 minutes, then my screen went grey.

I refreshed and stared again.

I couldn’t see an option.

Then I hit the reshuffle button.

Same letters.  Exact same, just different order.

There in front of my eyes was the obvious solution.

This has happened again and again.  Just changing the perspective was the key to getting the solution.

There’s been a lot on perspective lately and one thing I’m learning is to hit the reshuffle button and then look at the letters again.

Same letters, different approach, solution.

Interesting.

 
Categories
Be The Best.

When the going gets tough…

When the going gets tough, the tough make decisions.

Have a great week!

Categories
Be The Best.

Happy Birthday Christian

19 years.

We thought about tonight many times.

The dinner we would have at the Keg.

The first official beer together.

The waiter doing the obligatory id check.

The laughs we would have.

Tonight I’m not laughing.

If you ever have a problem that you think you can’t face, you can.

If you ever have a mountain you think you can’t climb, you can.

If you ever think that getting mad at yourself solves a problem for others, it doesn’t.

I wasn’t planning on being this direct tonight, but after spending  a bunch of time thinking about it and at Chris’ wall, this is the only place to go.

If you are needing help………..REACH OUT!

If you are in pain….TELL SOMEONE.

If life’s issues have you overwhelmed, PLEASE let someone know.

What can appear as a solution, is a complete lie….a complete and total lie.

I’ve had many (young people especially) let me know how the BE THE BEST theme helped them overcome and persevere.

I would encourage anyone reading this tonight to keep believing.

And yah, that goes for the writer too.

Chris…we love you so terribly much.

How I wish I could share a beer and prime rib dinner with you tonight.

Dad.

Categories
Be The Best.

Walk a mile in his socks.

I started this blog in July, but was one of those that got abandoned along the way.

Maybe a good thing, because I got a few more months out of several pairs of socks.

Chris played lacrosse as you know and the ‘adrenaline’ brand of socks were quite the rage in 2009/2010 and I believe are still very popular today.

They are thick, comfortable and designed for athletes. (yes, you can insert your own joke here about why I would be wearing them…)

For the past 21 months I’ve used them as a default slipper and ‘sock with jeans post work’.

We had found one pair, then 2, then 3 and eventually the 4th.

As you can see from the pic (taken this morning), I’m still stretching out the 4th pair, but we’re on the last threads…literally.

I’m not sure the pictures show it clearly, but each sock is worn right through at the heel or toe and they are done.

Anyone got a creative idea for used clean and washed but worn out socks other than sock puppets?

Many of Chris’ items have been donated or are with friends, but there was something about those socks.

I’ve walked a mile or two in them and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Categories
Be The Best.

Old school meets new school.

English: Apple iPad Event

Every Christmas I look forward to a few days of non work time that I can use to work.

Let me explain.

With a very busy schedule there are many times when I don’t get the chance to just think or explore or let an idea lead to another idea or just experiment.  One thing that I’ve found helpful for me is to use technology to push my own boundaries and that learning can lead to further creativity, new ideas and…wait for it…additional perspective.

So, this year’s Christmas ‘project’ was iPad exploration.  I’m in love with this thing.

However, technology can come with a cost.  There’s a learning curve and so when I got an iTunes gift card I dutifully loaded it into my laptop account and the next day proceeded to download some other apps and music on my iPad and realized a credit card had been billed although a credit should have remained from the iTunes card.

Old school thinking: I probably loaded the card up wrong, so I better find the card now in the kitchen garbage from 2 days ago mixing nicely with the other garbage outside.  Yah, that was fun, but after a little CSI rubber glove investigation, I found it. When I reloaded the card info, I was told the card had already been used.

What?

Newer school thinking: Actually think through the scenario and begin to dig deeper.  Could there be a technology problem and solution?  As it turned out, I had created a second Apple ID and although the devices were syncing together, they were accessing iTunes with different ID’s one of which had the gift card credit still on it and one that had a credit card number on it.

After 30 minutes of invoking the humbling ‘wife can you help me clause’ in our marriage agreement and some interesting searching through online tech chat sites (not), we discovered and fixed the issue.

Why am I telling you this?

Years ago, before iPads and iPods, I told myself that if I could learn ONE new technology item every year and really try to master it, I could continue to learn and grow and push both my efficiency AND effectiveness levels upwards.

For example, one year spending a couple of hours trying to figure out my OLD cell phone and actually program in speed dial numbers was an incredible help.

Today it’s the iPad and the investment of a few hours of initial frustration (some of it self-created!) is part of the learning process that I look forward to every Christmas…just a couple of days where you can relax a little, dig through some garbage and learn some new tricks!

I wish all of you a very meaningful, productive, and inspiring 2012 with many BE THE BEST moments!

Looking forward to sharing those as we go.

Categories
Be The Best.

The picture and the painting.

I wrote about Christmas Day and my trips to the cemetery.

At 9am, a gentle fog floated on the open field.

With so many places closed on Christmas (and rightfully so), I was so thankful for the Township staff and contracted staff who faithfully open the gates and keep the grounds so immaculate for families of loved ones.

In the afternoon a giant ray of sun pushed past a blanket of cloud and lit the late day winter sky with the brush strokes of a master painter.

At just over 21 months, I still can’t say I understand the picture.  I’m not sure if I’m holding the painting upside down or if I’m looking at a portrait or a landscape.

I’m gaining some understanding however that this painting we call life is a combination of brush strokes, paint colour and the elements all combining to form an image we see here and I believe one that will only be fully understood when we see it from the Painter’s perspective.

I’ve written many times about perspective and still am learning.  Remember the TV show featuring painter extraordinaire, Bob Ross.  Love that guy.  Here’s a video of him doing a painting with time-lapse.  Whenever I would watch Bob paint, I would get squeamish at about the 75% complete mark when he would plop down a big blob of paint on the canvas.  No….!!  This will never work.  Moments letter, the ‘blob’ becomes a beautiful tree or something providing depth to the entire scene.

I had never watched Bob Ross in time-lapse before tonight, but that was very interesting.

You saw the potential ‘issues’, but they vanished in seconds as the master painter directed the creation.

Then more quickly than humanly possible, you saw the transformation of a bit of paint on canvas turn into a masterpiece.

I can’t say I understand the painting we’re a part of.

But…I do think I’m gaining some perspective that we’re actually in one and a Master Painter must be continuing the work.

Categories
Be The Best.

Maximus Prime

Ok, I’m getting a little tired of the Prime theme.

This is the last one.  And this post doesn’t have anything to do with the title Maximus Prime or any other Transformers really…hmmm, that may be a good idea for tomorrow.  No, that’s it, I’m done with Prime.

This blog has been around long enough that I’m having to reread some of the stuff I wrote a year ago and compare notes.

I had forgotten about writing the post on our stockings last year and how those silly scratch and wins were a part of our tradition, and of course again this year, if you read the blog a couple of posts back.

In the spirit of seeing where things were at during our first Christmas, here’s a link to the stocking post from Christmas 2010.

Stocking Post – Christmas 2010

Categories
Be The Best.

Emily in prime time.

If you haven’t picked up on it, I’m trying to use the word prime or prime rib in every Holiday post this year…

So….you may have seen the video of the prime rib from Christmas Eve and my little niece Emily munching away.

She taught me a few more things.  Just before we sat down you can hear her saying, ‘I want to see, I want to see’, as her Mom was filming on the iPad with the big visible screen.  You can see as the height of the camera drops, revealing a different perspective…a different viewpoint.

Emily’s Mom Selena, told me a very cool story about just that; perspective and the ‘view’ of a child.

The name Chris (not our Chris) had come up in a conversation and Emily had piped up quite matter-of-factly stating, ‘My Chris is in heaven’.

Yes he is Emily…yes he is.

And then she went on playing.

I love the eyes of a child both literally and how they ‘see’ what many of us miss.

It’s a different perspective on many levels.

Categories
Be The Best.

The other side of prime rib.

Yup.  Smoked prime rib was my Christmas 2011 highlight.

But there’s another side of course.

I was at the cemetery twice on Christmas Day.

Once at about 9 am where I checked on Chris’ wall, ensured his stocking was still there and rolled up a lottery ticket and put it in.

I can’t remember when it started, but that’s how traditions go.  For years and years, I’d put scratch and wins in all four of our stockings.  It was just a little silly fun and part of the tradition was the mocking and jousting that would occur as we all grabbed the nearest coin and tried our luck.

The cemetery had a beautiful calmness to it as a low fog drifted over the far end of the field.

Dozens of new flowers, wreaths and memorial trinkets had been placed recently and you could see how busy the cemetery was going to be on Christmas Day.

When I went back later in the afternoon with AC, it was time to take down the stocking and we scratched the ticket when we got home.  A total zero.  We laughed.  Might as well continue with the same luck on the other side in regards to the lottery!

And yes as we began this tradition years ago, we would take the opportunity to remind the boys that having a bit of fun was ok, but the Government is the big winner of the lottery game and they were much better off to work hard and save a few bucks!

The later visit to the Wall was after a windstorm that kicked in with a vengeance late Christmas morning.

We’ve seen that kind of wind before and imagine Chris and Dylan and their new gang surfing on the silver lining of those clouds.

So many people make the cemetery a place to be on Christmas Day.  I never even thought about that before.

So many people like the dear Reichelts are managing through their very first Christmas without Dylan here in human form.

We all don’t want to think about it and we’re the same.

We so wish Chris could have had some prime rib.

We’ll do that again on the other side.