Here Be Dragons...

If I were to write about dragons...

Over 4000 years ago the rift opened that spewed forth the dragons. Some died instantly, others fought one another, most flew off in to the night. The months that followed were dark days. The Great Kings fell one by one. Even the mighty Cadeir could not muster enough old magic to slow the attacks. Humanity was quickly subdued… and then awed. The dragons were not mere monsters, but keenly intelligent and calculating. Some were even compassionate, even if still arrogant. They fought each other for control over lands, resources and wealth.

The First Dragon War lasted well over 200 years. At its end the once large kingdoms were shattered to small city-states each with a dragon lord often supported by its own kin. The dragon lords themselves banded together under several alliances that seemed to shift with the wind. The most stable alliance being The Unity which was generally opposed by three other bands led by individual dragon lords that maintained control of roughly a dozen dragon lines each. New boundaries were defined in The Accord which was sworn by all the dragon lords. Basically a pact of non-aggression, The Accord, forbids direct warfare between dragon lords, but little else.

Dragon bloodlines remain small. Most bloodlines only have a single member—the largest bloodlines have less than twenty members. Dragons do not require large social groups and only seek one another during times of war or defense. Most are content to live off their lands and avoid contact with other dragonkind. The eldest dragons have tired of warfare. Few young are allowed to hatch leaving only the unbonded dragons to stir up trouble. The unbonded are the younger dragons in a bloodline. They are not lords of the land and must rely on their matriarch or patriarch for survival. The relationship is reciprocal as the unbound add strength to the reigning dragon lord in times of conflict. Some serve with honor. Some plot for rebellion. Most dragon lords rule alone.

There are a small number of completely rogue dragons with no lands or lords. They wander the fringes and waste lands. Occasionally they challenge a weakened dragon lord and depose him. However, they are just as often killed in the attempt.

The Cadeir have classified many races of dragon most of which are part of the classification, draconis nobilis. These are the intelligent being which now control the known world. There are also several lines of, draconis liber commonly known as reavers. These dragons possess only animal intelligence and are used as beasts of burden, war mounts, attack dogs and other similar functions.

DON'T BUY NETFLIX

After 6 months of fighting with Netflix over their mistake I have to now officially discredit their service and practices.

The whole story...

We recieved a gift membership to Netflix. We were thrilled. After the 3 months was up the giftee was so happy she'd gotten us a good gift she upped the membership another 6 months. Unfortunately, she didn't tell her husband. We he notice the "double" bills he called Netflix to dispute the extra charges (our gift membership) not realizing his wife had bought it for us. Netflix prompted canceled our service and placed a block on our account preventing any further rentals.

This all occurred about 6 weeks after we'd recieved the second "gift". So when we found the block we called Netflix and were told we'd have to have the giftee call and fax some information to them. We did. The block was never removed. For three months we were unable to rent any movies. Unknown to us, Netflix continued to charge the giftee. They assumed we were still using the service and we assumed something was broke, but no one was getting billed. Once the giftee discovered the error they contacted Netflix again to dispute 3 months of charging with no service. Netflix refused. We (and they) canceled immediately.

Three months later we thought we try it again--we really liked the service. We re-signed up and were pleased to have all our previous settings/preferences. Then we recieved another block less than 24 hours later. Upon contacting Netflix again... we were told we'd have to contact another group during business hours to re-join.

Sorry... I'm done trying to give you money Netflix. I got a job. I don't need to spend another 20 hours on hold and faxing you paperwork so that you can take more money from me and not offer me service. Granted the first mistake wasn't Netflix, but after six months being unable to resolve the issue when we've called, faxed, called, changed credit cards, resigned up, called and still been blocked is inexcusable.

DO NOT BUY NETFLIX. Or if you must DO NOT USE GIFT MEMBERSHIPS. Netflix has no ability to resolve billing issues and will just block your service at anytime and never give you credit. It was a semi-good deal at $10 a month. It's stupid at $20 a month (okay $17.99 +tax). Too bad... Spread this far and wide. Tell everyone since this is the only way Netflix will take any action to improve their billing service.

Mambo Dogface to the Banana Patch

I'm in my garage typing away on my laptop wirelessly connected to my high speed internet while smoking my pipe on a fine day that makes you think of an early Spring.

My car needs a brake job... so does my mini-van. My wife is in bed with the flu. My kiddo has recovered from said flu and will be hungry soon. My house is a mess and my other two kids are coming this weekend. My mom is also coming down. I have dishes to wash probably before I can fix supper and, of course, the permanent pile of laundry.

But damn the clouds are beautiful right now. Fluffy white and tinged pink from the setting Kansas sun. The tabacco is sweet and the evening just starting to cool. The squirrels are fat. Life must be good.

Bad Corporate Culture Trait #1

Criticism

Criticism is the perfect bad culture trait. It plays to many natural tendencies, appears to add value and assumes no risk. Any group of 10 or more will have at least 1 person prone to criticism as a primary work tactic. Here's why it works so well in the office...

Us vs. Them

The typical critical employee generally gripes about a trait or condition of another group such as "management" or "finance" or "marketing" or what have you. This is typical watercooler talk and can vary from mild to severe. But regardless it is a foot in the door to bad culture. In this situation criticism is easy to hand out because the subject of the criticism is not present. Oddly, one of the underlying causes of this tactic is the need to be more included in a team. The negative employee is attempting to identify himself with the person he is talking to be on "their side" or win the employee over to "his side". Bad cultures tend to appear in companies that are not peforming all that well. Folks like to distance themselves from the problem and point fingers. The critical employee is trying to be on the wining side--we all want to be on the wining side so often we jump in this type of criticism without even thinking about it. We become problem solvers and we find the problem (them) and we begin to talk about how to fix the problem (lay blame).

I'm protecting the company

This is my favorite and the most insidious. I have seen many managers buy in to this tactic and *encourage* it in their employees. The basic premise is this, by poking holes in bad proposals, I am *saving* the company money. In a problemed company, this is the perfect strategy. Some one else has done all the work to research a proposal. The critical employee usually hasn't invested anything in researching the plan so being critical is very low effort. It seems to add value to the proposal by pointing out its flaws. There is a difference between pointing out a weakness and offering a solution than simply saying a plan won't work. It's a fine line, be careful how you navigate it. Finding problems in another plan is zero risk. No one is going to blame the critical employee for "finding" these problems. It is a great way for an employee worried about their position to divert all attention away from themselves. This is the real purpose to unconstructive criticism... A good offense makes a good defense. Never forget that when you deal with the overly critical employee. They are making low level fear based decisions. Find out what is making them fearful--that is the real issue.

Criticism swirls in on itself like building firestorm. The heat circulates and builds. More and more employees will be drawn in to it if it goes unchecked. Let it go too long and some employees will become so negative that your relationship with them will be forever broken. The critical employee is subconsciously looking for validation that something really is wrong. Once that validation is achieved then the employee can absolve themselves of all blame for everything wrong at work. They can then stop working--after all, the problem is "marketing", right? Nothing I do will matter because it's all them. Someone else is to blame--I'm covered.

What starts as mild watercooler chat can lead to widespread unjustified negativity. No organization is perfect--many flaws are certain to be present. The goal of all organizations should still be to do the best you can realizing that perfection is goal to be attempted, but never quite achieved. Always remember that in an imperfect world there will always be imperfect solutions.

Everybody Plays the Fool

No exception to the rule...

This Valentine's Day whether you're in the perfect relationship now or obsessively devouring a giant chocolate heart in depressed defiance it's good to remember this... Everybody plays the fool. Love is something of a dream and reality wrapped in to one person. Your own dreams blend with the person you love to create the bond you share. But dreams being what they are--deep desires for something we don't quite have--we all have loved someone (or will love someone) that is more dream than person.

You can still dream big. There will be great falls. You will live. You will dream again. Don't stop dreaming.

I think sometimes we fear failure. We think we will lose something we can't get back. Perhaps. But the purpose of life isn't to arrive at its end with everything. Live. Enjoy, despair, love, lose, dream and live.

Today, celebrate your dreams. Love is at least half dreams. Dreams that come true.

Everybody Plays the Fool

No exception to the rule...

This Valentine's Day whether you're in the perfect relationship now or obsessively devouring a giant chocolate heart in depressed defiance it's good to remember this... Everybody plays the fool. Love is something of a dream and reality wrapped in to one person. Your own dreams blend with the person you love to create the bond you share. But dreams being what they are--deep desires for something we don't quite have--we all have loved someone (or will love someone) that is more dream than person.

You can still dream big. There will be great falls. You will live. You will dream again. Don't stop dreaming.

I think sometimes we fear failure. We think we will lose something we can't get back. Perhaps. But the purpose of life isn't to arrive at its end with everything. Live. Enjoy, despair, love, lose, dream and live.

Today, celebrate your dreams. Love is at least half dreams. Dreams that come true.

Where Corn Don't Grow

As we sat on the front porch

Of that old grey house where I was born and raised

Starin' at the dusty fields

Where my daddy worked hard every day

I think it kinda hurt him when I said Daddy

There's a lot that I don't know

But don't you ever dream about a life

Where corn don't grow

I remember living in Nebraska and thinking that there wasn't all that much to do. I never thought of it as boring... it was just Nebraska. The Summers are hot. The Winters are icy cold. In the Spring you open your windows to the clean breeze and in the Fall you are surrounded by spooky corn fields on all sides. Even the city kids know their way to the country. Although we didn't think of it that way... it was just just Nebraska.

He just sat there silent

Staring at his favorite coffee cup

I saw a storm of mixed emotion in his eyes

When he looked up

He said Son I know at your age

Seems like this ol' world is turning slow

And you think you'll find the answer to it all

Where corn don't grow

I moved away to follow a paycheck. The dollars were undeniable. The choices were stay and muddle through or move and really see a career. Too young to know any better I went for the money. I still have that career, good money and a big city paycheck.

Hard times are real

There's dusty fields

No matter where you go

You may change your mind

'Cause the weeds are high

Where corn don't grow

Hard times are real. Small Towns or Big Cities it doesn't matter. Of course we can't tell that until we take those steps away from home. Life is like some strange dessert--you're pretty sure it must be good, but you don't know until you take a bite and then it's too late. Good to remember that it is still dessert and just politely smile either way.

I remember feeling guilty

When Daddy turned and walked back in the house

I was only seventeen back then

But I thought that I knew more than I know now

I can't say he didn't warn me

This city life's a hard row to hoe

Ain't it funny how a dream can turn around

Where corn don't grow

My Dad still lives back in Nebaska. I don't see him much anymore for a lot of reasons--some good and some I don't think about. Of course I knew everything when I was stupid. Strange how stupid I feel now that I know I am not wise.

I still feel Nebraska everytime the warm wind blows down from the north. I see it in the clouds of dust that roll behind a pick-up on a dirt road. I see it in everything that is the color of a dried corn stalk. I smell it in the Spring. I hear it in the thunder that rolls across miles of open fields. I search for it on the horizon and imagine that I can see it where the land meets the sky.

**Where Corn Don't Crow is copyrighted by Travis Tritt