February 2013 – Purposeful Pursuits

Eating Sushi in a Landlocked State

Since moving to the desert, I have been greatly saddened by the lack of fresh seafood. You have to understand, I used to work half a block away from one of the best sushi restaurants in DC and sometimes I just really need some good sushi. So a couple of months ago I found out that a friend of mine lived in Japan for two years and knows how to make sushi like a PRO. He didn’t know it at the time, but I determined there and then that Spicy Tuna would be part of my life again. A few weeks ago, I commandeered my grandmother’s house and the stars aligned with great friends, a lot of rice, some tuna, salmon, mango, cucumber, avocado, and loads of various and sundry tasty morsels to create the best sushi night between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.

The point of this, however, is not to reflect on homemade fine dining. At the end of the night, after putting away the leftovers and getting the house reasonably put back together, I ushered the last guests to the door and went back to finish up the dishes. At close to midnight, and up to my elbows in suds, a visiting family friend walked into the kitchen and started rinsing and drying the dishes I had washed. Two minutes later, his wife joined him and I was relegated to making small talk while they busily tidied up the remainders of my party.

They made quick work of the kitchen, and I was left completely blown away by the simple service that this couple happily performed. They were in the house visiting from out of town, heard my guests leave and knew I was alone with a mess. Without hesitation, they were right there, pitching in and making sure I didn’t spend the whole night cleaning away. While I went home with fond memories of the close friends and the great food from the evening, the more lasting impression was from two new friends who taught me a little bit more about how to live a life focused less on myself and more on those around me. It’s one thing to ask, “what can I do to help?” and then leave with a satisfied conscience. It’s something else entirely to just walk up to the sink, grab a washcloth and get to work. My goal going forward is to stop asking and just start doing.

Update: The image here is from Jiro Dreams of Sushi. That guy is a master, but his people skills could use a little work.

Velour Live Music Gallery

No matter where I am or what I am doing, live music speaks to my soul. In DC I was a regular at the venerable 9:30 Club, where everyone who was anyone went to perform – from upstarts breaking on to the scene like The Naked and Famous to the standard bearers of rock and roll such as Bob Dylan and the new megastars like multi-platinum prima donna Adele. Many years ago I stopped in to see a new young singer songwriter that I had never heard of, and left at the end of the evening with a Geek in the Pink concert t-shirt, just because it was THAT GOOD. I was despondent to leave DC, thinking I would never find a place that had so much raw talent it seemed to just ooze out of the masonry.

Enter Velour Live Music Gallery, an unassuming club in sleepy downtown Provo, which hosts an eclectic mix of artists to a rambunctious all-ages crowd of serious music fans. I stopped by in December for their epic Christmas show, featuring about two dozen local acts performing original pieces as well as beautiful reincarnations of Christmas classics. It also happened to be the night that the Mayor of Provo stopped by to present proprietor Corey Fox with a plaque commemorating the support that he had given to the local arts community and the revival of downtown Provo. In his blog, the Mayor described his night:

“Thanks to Velour, downtown Provo is being compared right now to other major music cities such as Seattle, LA, and Nashville in developing nationally recognized bands. During the last few years several bands that got their start at Velour have now signed national recording contracts including Neon Trees, Isaac Russell, Fictionist, and Imagine Dragons. “

All I have to say is hear, hear! I am totally blown away by the musical talent that has cropped up in Utah County, and could not be happier to see true artists with thoughtful stagecraft and carefully honed skills getting their musical break in my own backyard. Rock on!

If you’re interested in checking out local talent, I haven’t seen everything, but I can whole-heartedly recommend any chance you get to see Ryan Innes, Desert Noises or The New Electric Sound. You won’t be disappointed!

Update: Corey Fox recently provided a list of upcoming bands to watch. Check them out at UVMAG. Also, grab a free download from Ryan Innes here.

Learning to Give

In my Personal Financial Planning class, one of the four stated objectives is Learning to Give. The syllabus explains:

Learn to give. If you cannot learn to give when you are poor (which is now), you will never learn to give when you are rich. Someone said “We make a living by what we get, but we build a life by what we give.” Giving is not determined by your checkbook, but by your heart.

I hadn’t really thought specifically about learning to give, how I learned it, or what inspired others. When thinking about it, though, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Giving is a learned attribute, something that is most often ingrained in us as children.

One of my family’s favorite Christmas stories is from when we were living in Germany many years ago. My grandparents came in to town on the train, and when my mom went to pick them up from the station they encountered an elderly woman who was alone and trying to find a place where she could get dinner on Christmas Eve. In the completely pure-hearted manner that I learned to recognize in my parents, they just scooped her up and brought her home with them to spend the holiday meal with our family.

We had five girls at home, aged about 12 years old to 2. We didn’t speak German. She didn’t speak English. But somehow that wasn’t a problem at all. We sang songs and reenacted the Nativity scene, and at the end of the evening we were eager to finish our traditions by opening one present. With this stranger in our midst, we were instantaneously transformed from gift receivers to gift givers. We ran around the house finding anything that might be appropriate for our new friend. I remember pulling a decorative little hat off the wall and wrapping it with hurried care. This sweet woman was overcome by the simple generosity of a young family, opening their home to a perfect stranger.

Twenty years later, my grandparents, parents and sisters still recount this story with lots of smiles and laughter. It’s a great memory for all of us, but it’s also more than that. As we sit around reminiscing and share this story with the next generation of children and grandchildren, we’re teaching a critical lesson. We are givers. We open our hearts and our homes to those in need. That is a scary thing to do! Life is hectic and sometimes we barely have enough resources just to get from day to day. But when we are willing to take a moment and give back, it makes life so much sweeter.

To help implement learning (and teaching) to give, this year I am going to give Kiva cards to my close friends and family. I am so excited for my little nephews to look through the website and decide which person to loan their money to and to get them thinking about the lives and circumstances of people in other parts of the world. I’m also looking into KidsasHeroes.org to see if there are any other programs that we can help support as a family.

There are thousands of opportunities to make an impact and help others. What tools and resources have you used to encourage others to learn to give?