As I mentioned, I am taking a number of books to camp with me. I love to sit on the back porch of our house and just read. Here’s what made the cut this year:
- The Turnaround Kid, by Steve Miller. As you can tell from the widget in my sidebar, I am reading this now. I actually got the recommendation from Brad Feld who is one of the most voracious readers in the blogosphere. Haven’t gotten to a lot of the nuts and bolts of his corporate achievements (specifically with Chrysler and later, Delphi) but have been intrigued by his telling of the story of the loss of his wife of 39 years to brain cancer. I watched my dad lose my mom (they were married for 36 years) and it was dreadful. Charity and I will mark 19 years in a couple of weeks. Without her, it is very clear to me that I would be rudderless. An absolutely heart-wrenching start to the book.
- Blue Blood and Mutiny by Patricia Beard. The story of the ouster of Phil Purcell (who oddly enough has been mentioned for Wachovia’s CEO slot) at Morgan Stanley by the eight “Grumpy Old Men”. Our firm is starting to do some trust advisory work with investment banks so it is going to be interesting to read a little of the inner workings of these firms. Also, Wall Street is one of my favorite places in New York City (see here and here) although Morgan is based in Times Square.
- King of the Club by Charles Gasparino. The story of Dick Grasso and the New York Stock Exchange (one of my favorite places in New York). Especially poignant given the ruling this week that allows Grasso to keep his $180+ million pay package.
- High Rise Low Down by Denise LeFrak Calicchio, et al. Pure mental floss. I am intrigued with New York Real Estate and especially that on the Upper East Side. When I’m in New York, my travels usually keep me south of 60th Street or north of 145th Street. When I was there last week, I made a point to walk up Fifth Avenue along Central Park just to look at the beautiful limestone apartment buildings. It is perhaps my favorite area of New York (Charity, by contrast, is very much a downtown girl).
So there you have it, the vacation reading list. I will likely not finish it by the end of the week but at least I hope to put a serious dent in it.
A Happy Independence Day to all of my readers who are still left since I rarely post anymore. An update is in order- let’s go to the tape.
We are putting the final touches on in preparation for the beginning of Sunday School camp next week. We downsized to one week this year (I could not be happier). As such, we are really trying to blow it out and make it a great camp. Charity and her sister when shopping in Columbus yesterday and bought decorations for the platform. Our theme is the Olympics and we will have the rings and a torch and everything. I should be fun. We also finalized our order for jumpers and finished with room assignments. I’m sure something is forgotten but we’ll find out once we get there. I’ve been on the phone with teachers and staff a lot the past week. If I haven’t got to your call, keep trying. I also spoke with our evangelists (Bruce and Jami Borlik) this week and they are very excited to be coming. The Borliks are great friends of ours so it is a special treat to host them at camp. Members of my staff get together on Sunday night prior to camp and head to the Tumbleweed in nearby Newark for all you can eat steak. We lovingly call it the last supper (you’d have to eat our camp food to understand the profundity of that). Charity has been working with our music director for the week and will be playing the organ at camp. This means, of course, that I am really the only person with nothing to do during camp. Four years of planning and we finally got it right!
Prior to going to camp, I am preaching in Defiance, Ohio on Sunday morning. Bob Frake, who is the pastor, is on the UPCI Board of Education and is heading to their meetings in Branson, Missouri Sunday morning so we are covering his service for him. We are meeting them Saturday night for dinner at their home. His wife, Ann Gustafson Frake is a published author and also writes for Word Aflame Press. She is hilarious and it is always a joy to spend time with Bob and her.
Since I seem to be writing in reverse chronological order (it’s the nurse in me, newest info on top), today we have planned a cookout at church with the Hispanic folks who rent from us and run the local Mexican restaurants. The plan is that they will bring Mexican food, we will bring American food, everyone will bring the recipe for their dishes and we’ll publish a cookbook thereafter. Sounds great. We have a growing Hispanic population both in Mount Vernon and in our church. It is very cool to walk in the hallways and hear conversations in Spanish. It is so much different than years ago (in a good way). We have a number of folks in our church who are at least conversant in Spanish (including Becky and Brother LJ) so hopefully, our Spanish speaking members and guests don’t feel isolated.
I will publish my camp reading list tomorrow. Heavy on business books. I’m also taking some work to camp with me (the joys of partnership). I had lunch yesterday with my partners. It is a blessing to work with people you truly like, not just tolerate because you have to. We laughed and talked about work and our personal lives. Our business has really taken off in the last few months (hence the taking work to camp). We’re all extremely busy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Have a great 4th everyone.
