When Was The Last Time I Was Here?

The view from my seat.

Thursday was another late night in the city as the entire office (at least those not on vacation) headed to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the Enterprise Awards. While I would much prefer spending the evening with my family at home, it is an evening that only comes around once a year and it offers many of us a chance to catch up with those with whom we rarely have a chance to run in to during the course of our usual week. For me, it is also the event when I can personally thank the person who introduced me to my current employer two years ago. Thankfully the night was uneventful and I didn’t have any encounters with potholes on my way into the city!

I have never been one who has enjoyed driving in the city and I really don’t care much for cities in general (of course, there are exceptions to every rule which has been evident in previous posts).  As I circled around the block and into the parking garage I tried to think about the last time that I had been to the convention center. Unable to think of the event, I corkscrewed up to the 5^th level and found a space in close proximity to the 13^th Street elevator.

As I got out of the car and began walking to the far end of the floor, I joined a couple of other people also wearing tuxes. As we chatted during our decent to the ground level, out the doors, and made our way down the sidewalk it was an interesting twist on what is usually a common occurrence for me. As it turns out, they were the ones headed to a lodge meeting while I was off to some other event. So we parted ways at the entrance to the Grand Lodge and I waked a couple more blocks and into the main lobby of the Convention Center. This is when it hit me… I hadn’t walked through those doors since Fan Fest right before the 1996 MLB All-Star Game. Wow, nearly twenty years.

The networking before the awards dinner was the usual affair with many of us catching up with various companies from the area and reconnecting with those we met last month during Philly Tech Week. Before we knew it (partly because it took so many of us to get into the city and find parking), we were heading up the escalators and finding our seats. While I preferred the venue from last year (Valley Forge Casino) the format for the evening made much more sense combining the awards with dinner (although it would have been nice to have an option other than salmon).

As most awards programs do, the evening ran quite a bit longer than expected and we didn’t start clearing out of the building until well after 10pm. Overall, there were come really interesting companies, nice acceptance speeches, a great recognition ceremony, and a couple of people that should never be asked to speak publicly again (they should have had the music ready for some of the acceptances like at the Oscars). But, we all parted ways having reconnected for an evening and hoping to stay in touch a little more over the next year. At the very least, there are a few more people that I will be certain to say hello to next year at the next awards banquet.

Taking A Few Minutes Before Preparing For The Next Meeting

Today I am taking some time to relax and only making a couple of calls and sending a few emails. It is a day when I am able to enjoy what my lodge was able to accomplish last night by reading the overly gracious notes from the district deputy and my fellow brothers from the lodge. All the work came to fruition and the results were far beyond any expectations I ever thought of placing on the meeting. It truly was a great night.  

The night that we had been preparing and scrambling for over the past couple of months finally came and went without a hiccup during the evening. While we had a few setbacks during the weeks leading up to the district visitation and I had to take on a few more duties than I had planned on doing, the brethren came together and made last night a success. Being the first such meeting since becoming Secretary (the last visitation was my first meeting as a mason) I was incredibly nervous but over the past year I have come to find that even when things don’t go to plan we all come together as a lodge to make things happen. There has been no clearer example than that of last night’s meeting.

I spent the morning finishing up and revising the minutes and the rest of the day getting some projects done for the office (nice relaxing day off) before getting on a conference call in the early afternoon. After a quick shower and trips to Staples and the post office, I got to the lodge just before 4:00pm with a number of things that I had to do to prepare. While I knew exactly what I had to do, time seemed to be spinning around the clock faster than any other day that I could remember.

While I was able to greet a few brothers as they walked through the door and spoke to a few brothers as I helped to carry in the meal for the night, I didn’t really have much time to converse. Throughout the day, with brethren scattering about the building, I climbed and descended more stairs than I had in the past few weeks combined. Before the meeting ever started I was already beginning to tire. Of course, not having time to eat dinner didn’t help the situation either. After a few last minute scrambles, the meeting was set to begin.

Much like the earlier passing of the day, the meeting was a blur but thankfully I was prepared for every moment with copies of every piece of paper, document, and record needed. Additionally, the shirt that my cousin took care of for me was received with both great surprise and appreciation (mainly because it was something that would be used and not another mug or keychain). There were many moments to remember and ones that I will forever be proud to have been a part of.

However, the moments that will stand out for me or the rest of my life are the moments during the meeting when my fellow brothers took the floor and made speeches during which they thanked me for what I had done for them. While those moments were greatly appreciated and I am glad I could help in some small way the credit should really go to the lodge for what we have accomplished and to those individual brothers for putting forth the effort to ensure their recent success and recognition. It was certainly a night to remember and a night they we can all take pride in being members of this fraternity and of our lodge.

Oscars In Need Of Polishing

I don’t know about anyone else but the Oscars seem to have lost their appeal to me. I remember in the past turning on the awards program in the early evening and watching completely through until it is done. Last night, I just couldn’t keep the channel on and found myself flipping back and forth but, mostly, watching other programs especially when I was working on my computer.

Maybe the lack of the appeal is as simple as not being familiar with many of the movies that are out in the theaters (and not having seen many of the movies from the previous year). That would also explain the reason why I tend to enjoy the Golden Globes more as there are television programs honored during the night. But, even those are a little lacking as nonfiction programming is pretty limited in their exposure.

One thing I have noticed with all the programs in recent years is the effort to relax the structure and atmosphere during the long program. This year, however, things seemed forced. Even more than usual. The pizza order and the Twitter selfie while entertaining, it didn’t seem like a natural moment and somewhat interrupted the flow of the evening.

That might be the least successful aspect of the program as some of the skits pulled the program in a completely different direction making the transitions to other presentations awkward. Flow, whether in an awards show, sitcom, or ‘reality’ program, is an incredibly important factor to keep the audience engaged. Especially those on the fence such as myself. When the flow is off the channel is changed.

What seems to have been lost in many of these programs, and also talk shows when I think about it, is the use of language. Too much focus is now being placed on the skits and antics of the hosts and the use of words is lacking. This may be the biggest hindrance to the ability to transition. The turn of phrase, introduction, and intelligent quips are all but absent from the scripts. Having a great script also enhances the natural spontaneity of the acceptance speeches.

Of course, the awards are the focus of the night but the dialogues, monologues, and exchanges between presenters shouldn’t be afterthoughts. Writing can and should carry a show. Why should the Oscars be any different? Why should any awards show be any different? Personally, I would be more apt to watch all the way through if they invested the time and energy into writing a strong ‘script’ which carried the program from beginning to end. Even if the performances aren’t the best, the writing should make up for it not antics and skits.

A Long Weekend With Meaning

Today we celebrate Labor Day. Well, really, let’s be honest. No one is celebrating a holiday to honor the blue collar laborers. In fact, most of the people who have to work on this holiday are the ones that this day is supposed to honor.

This is why I just wanted to take a step back and share with you a little bit about the holiday. First, a little overview as to the purpose of Labor Day as written on the Department of Labor’s website:

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country… Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886.

From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Slowly the movement took hold and crossed the country until finally it was declared a national holiday. Don’t you love the irony from the very beginning when it took a bunch of guys in suits and sitting behind desks in order to pass a holiday that honors the people that, up until that point, were coerced to place their votes in favor of the party that would be most beneficial to their employer. Remember, the formation of this day was long before the sale of Carnegie Steel in 1901 and the dissolution of Standard Oil in 1911.

The means by which the day is celebrated has changed greatly over the years. While today it usually means one last trip to the beach, shopping for bargains at the mall, and generally just enjoying a long weekend away from work that was not the way the day was meant to be observed. Parades and speeches were the order of the day. And while I believe that to be an appropriate way to celebrate at the time, I think the laborers during the turn of the 20^th century would join right along in the modern incarnation of their holiday.

Specifically, this is how the celebrations were supposed to be scheduled (again from the DOL website):

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

Essentially we have a dichotomy between the meaning and means of celebration of this holiday in the modern world. Like many celebrations, this is just one of those things that changes over time. As the world changes so do the people and events in it. However, I would like to propose an idea to attempt to tie the two together, past with present.

It is very simple, take some time out of the day to remember members of your family, past and present, for whom this holiday was created. Appreciate the people that you meet during the day for whom this holiday was established. Find something that you can do yourself that you would normally hire someone to do and work with your hands (once you mess it up and make it worse, then you can call someone). It all comes down to appreciation so find some way to not just show your appreciation but mean it as well.