Number 145

Somewhere up around Channel 300-something on basic cable, Neil Patrick Harris is still child-prodigy Dougie Howser, MD. At the end of each show, Dougie would sit down at his computer and, in two or three sentences, sum up the moral of the story. I was always impressed by that. It was an online journal...a log, if you will. On the worldwide web, it became a web log and then was eventually shortened to simply a blog.

In this, the 145th edition of whatever you want to call these missives that I've been posting for almost eight years, I'm still searching for the moral of the story. Today's blogs are mostly reiterations of basic business principles or lists of five or ten things that the author has learned or discovered from his or her vast corporate or start-up background. Some time ago, I made the decision not to jump into this myriad of wisdom-filled ramblings. I enjoy much more taking a look at the world around us and relating pieces of my life that at least contribute to the search for a moral to the story.  It's not business.  It's personal.

These and all my social postings do not go to the "public at large". I doubt the world cares much about little ol' me. "Friends" has become a very loose term online for many today but I do try to keep track of who receives my writings. And I'm always quick to say that the delete key is only an inch away, should you have no interest in the subject...or me.

As 2015 comes to a close, travel has been on my mind.  Year-end is a big travel season and, throughout my life, it has been consumed by travel. To a great degree, travel has been a means to an end. Culture, sport and art have all influenced my personality and the exposure that travel offers to the differences in all of us brings a richness to life that is hard to find any other way.

That said, travel is not what it used to be but it's still there. We may have to take more care in how and where we travel.  But that experience, whether it's for business or pleasure, close to home or thousands of miles away, makes us more aware of those around us who look at the world differently than we do. And, with a little effort, we may learn to, at least, understand why they think the way they do.

Travel has found friends for me in places I had never been before.  Some of those people don't speak the same language. Some don't have the same ideals. Some have a spiritual way to live life that is most enviable. Some have shown me that catching a fish symbolizes all the challenges we face.

Travel has allowed me to witness history when Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa and when Phil Ershler became the first American to climb Mt. Everest from the Chinese North side. I've listened to Mozart Symphonies in the Salzburg town square and I've watched a sushi chef pound a ten-penny nail into the head of a live eel, immediately cut a filet out of the fish's side and offer it to me on the end of the knife. There's no hesitation. You just eat it (chewy!).

When I sat next to Thor Heyerdahl at dinner in a small french village, all the adventurer, who sailed 8000 km across the Pacific Ocean on a raft, wanted to talk about was Seattle and the Space Needle. Travel makes you curious.  And I just keep getting curiouser and cursiouser. The mode of travel is what is causing most concerns today. Travel by air, train and auto all have their dangers.  Even cycling and walking are hazardous in some locales. I can't stop though.  I'm not afraid. I'm cautious and aware but the value is too high to refrain from it.

Just a few days ago, Jane and I were walking a remote beach in the Hawaiian Islands when we encountered another couple. We wanted to trade photos of each other with our cell phones.  In what was good English in my mind, the gentleman told me they were French but he thought he understood.  We traded phones and took pictures of each other. I pulled out my pidgin French from the recesses of my mind and told them we were from Seattle. They nodded "oui" to the reference,

Then I ventured on to try and say that we had flown a huge French flag on top of the Space Needle after the Paris terrorist attack.  Again they nodded and said they were from Paris. Finally I said we had the French Consul deliver that flag to the president of the Eiffel Tower just a week before. After a moment of thought, the reply with a smile was "Nous avons vu le drapeau a Paris...Merci beau coup." (We saw the flag in Paris.  Thank you very much.)

That is why travel means so much to me.  I would not trade that experience for anything. I hope that 2016 brings good health and happiness to all of us. And that our world becomes a more peaceful and safe place. Travel will definitely be in my future and I hope it's in yours. Keep on, keeping on. And look out for Number 146.

Taking a chance...

Investing in the stock market is not much different than putting your money in a slot machine at the local casino. It's a game of chance.I'm much more of a mutual fund guy, who spreads his money across the field but, every once in a while, I'm coaxed into rolling the dice.

For a few years, I headed the investor relations department during my corporate days and spent many waking hours working with the New York Stock Exchange and the institutional analysts who feed the machine. During one of my weekly visits to the Big Apple, I got into a conversation with one of the market soothsayers about the movies.

I love movies.  They are a true escape for me. So, when the guy in the other overstuffed chair said, "Hey, I've got a movie tip for you,", I listened. It seemed that 20th Century Fox had been on the downslide with a series of box office disasters and was relying on movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" to keep the cash flowing. But my colleague said that the studio had decided to take a real flyer, literally and figuratively.

Space movies were not even in the lexicon at the time and one with an ensemble of unknown actors and a director with barely a decent credit to his name seemed far from a good bet. My friend said he didn't know much about the film himself but one his co-workers in Hollywood had read the script and seen some sample footage that looked pretty exciting.

If it hadn't been a movie, I'm sure my interest would have ended then. And if I hadn't like "American Graffiti" from director George Lucas, I wouldn't have gone one step further. But if the studio, with its stock selling for $6 a share, was taking a gamble on this film, why shouldn't I?

The film, which hadn't been named at the time, would come out in theaters in a year. If nothing unusual  happened before its release and I still felt uncomfortable after a few months, I figured I could get my $6 a share back before it tanked.

I really need to finish this story now. I did invest. At $600 per block of stock, all I would be losing was a new car. There was really no great fanfare for "Star Wars" the movie until it hit the theaters. As it turned out, it was a game changer for the film business. It's wide release across the county set the standard for blockbuster films for years to come.

20th Century Fox stock doubled in a week.  It tripled in six weeks and a year later, it was four times what I paid for it. 21st Century Fox, the parent of the film studio now owned by Rupert Murdoch, is still selling for $28 a share.  It no longer owns the Star Wars franchise. That has gone to Disney. But it still holds the rights to the first 3 movies in the series.

I haven't taken too many flyers in the stock market and certainly never expected this one to do what it did. A movie that you can see in a theater and hear people talk about is much more fun to me than investing in the latest app or a new processor. Don't worry, the 401K is still mostly in mutual funds...but I did invest in Marvel Comics before the Avenger series was brought to the screen by my old friends at 20th Century.  The latest news is that Disney is buying out Marvel stock at a 30% premium.

It's a good thing that I just like movies. But I've at least had two fun rides on the roller coaster I'll see you in line as "The Force Awakens".  I'll be the one with the blue light saber and the smile on my face.

The Kiosks of Paris

When my career-military father was first stationed at the Pentagon, our next door neighbor was a French diplomat. He and his wife soon became fast friends with my parents. They were gracious people and home was Paris. When they made their first trip back to France after moving to DC, I asked them to bring me back their favorite souvenir. Not knowing what that would be and not yet having the palette for fine french wine, I anxiously awaited their return.

A few days after they got back, Marie came over for coffee with my mom and said she had found the perfect souvenir. It was a metal cylinder covered with airline ads. On top was a sort of crown and appropriately for the time, when you pulled it open, it was a cigarette holder. The highlight was a music box inside that played "The Last Time I Saw Paris"..

I have to admit, for the kid I was and because I had never been to Paris then, I was not impressed.  I politely thanked her and then asked her what it was. "It's a kiosk, They are all over the city. It's like one of your billboards. It makes us think of home" "Great," I said, 'Thanks again."

At the time, I still didn't really get it but, today, decades later, that kiosk has a place of honor on my desk at home. It symbolizes the adventure that travel has been for me Encountering new places and people. Speaking new languages. Learning to eat escargot and tripe. The differences in culture and customs around the world have literally changed my life for the better.

Jane and I have come to love Paris. We have gotten to know the arrondissements well. We can lose ourselves in the Tuileries and Luxembourg Gardens or just lie on the grass in the mall for hours.  It's easy to fall in love with life there.

If you can't tell, I'm trying to get my mind moving in a positive direction. The tragic happenings around the world are screaming at me every time I turn on the TV or the radio. I've been in Paris this time of year. It's perfect weather for a stroll. The neighborhood shop keepers even cater a bit to the Thanksgiving urges of the ex-pats there. It's time to come out of our holes and see the sun.

As troubling as the events of the past few days have been, I know that somehow Paris and its people will survive this horror and be stronger for it. I've checked on our friends there and they are well...sad and angry but well. I can't wait to sit on the sidewalk at one of our favorite Parisian cafes in the afternoon, watch the people and traffic go by while reading the posters on the Kiosk across the street. Parisians know better than anyone that nothing is more important than living life. Vive la France.

Women

When Marty Hoey pulled me out of a crevasse on Mt. Rainier, where I had been hanging upside down for a few long hours, the fact that she was a woman had nothing to do with my elation. I was happy to be back on solid ground and it was mostly thanks to Marty. Her skill as a climber and a guide was a match for anyone. She was a great athlete and arguably the best woman climber in the country at the time..

Throughout my career, I have encountered a number of remarkable women and it was what they could do that made them remarkable It was not because they were women..

I've recently had the opportunity to spend some time with several
members of the US Soccer World Champion Women's National Team. It was quite clear to me that these were athletes of the highest caliber.  Superior abilities, great team work, focused, driven and affable, all at the same time. Carli Lloyd, Julie Johnston and Hope Solo were a true reflection of the power of women's sports today. Being around them captured the unbridled enthusiasm of teammate Megan Rapinoe, who, when you watch her play, makes you want to kick a ball so hard.

The women athletes that I've gotten to know were setting their own standards. Making a comparison to men was not a goal.  World famous sled dog racer Susan Butcher fashioned an amazing life for herself. Her dogs were at the center of it. She even fought off a rabid moose for hours to protect her dogs. For Susan, Alaska's Iditarod Race was the ultimate prize.  She took it home 4 times and proudly stood up to every man in the field.
'
Solo sailor Isabelle Autissier pushed her boat to its limits, finishing some of the 'round the world legs of her races days ahead of all her rivals. She's an icon in ocean racing and when a rogue wave capsized her boat and literally tore it apart in the southern ocean, the entire fleet of racers went to her rescue before they would continue.

Whether there was a Title IX in American sports or not, women were bound to come into their own in sports. And that;s only looking at one piece of the puzzle...in school, in business, in science and in the arts, women are making their mark and doing it in style.With role models like these, how lucky can young girls be.

When we recently did a pacesetter climb of the Space Needle before the first Base2Space stair climb, two young ballerinas from Pacific Northwest Ballet pushed the only person ahead of them, who was a guy from the Seattle Sounders soccer team, to the limit. Three more flights and they would likely have passed him.

I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten to know and work with some incredible members of the "fairer sex" (I'm guessing that's a term that some guy thought up.). Whether it was Helen Thayer, who walked solo with her dog Charlie to the magnetic North Pole, or Sarah Doherty, who climbed Mt. McKinley after losing a leg at 13 to a drunk driver, there are goals to achieve and challenges to conquer that women will tackle just as forcefully as men, physiology aside..

Unfortunately, we'll never know if Marty Hoey would have been the first American woman to climb Mt. Everest, as many of us expected that she could be.  When our team went to the mountain through China for the first time in decades, Marty fell to her death in a tragic accident high up as they were heading for the summit. Years later, I worked with Stacy Allison, who achieved that honor with visions of Marty's commitment in her mind.

When tennis great Billie Jean King started her magazine called WomenSports, I was one of the first subscribers. With that inaugural subscription came a t-shirt in the mail which I have kept all these years.  On it is a soccer ball and the words "WomenSports has balls".  You can argue the metaphor but the sentiment is right and I have to admit I believe it to be true. I'm happy to say some of my best friends are women. And that's a very good thing.

JanSport and Skip Yowell...one in the same

Howard Schulz did not create Starbucks. He took a good idea about selling specialty coffee, made it great and turned it into a worldwide brand.

Skip Yowell did exactly the same thing for backpacks and the outdoor industry. His cousin Murray won a design award for a pack frame, used his cash prize to start making packs and named the company after his wife-to-be, Jan. Skip showed up from the plains of Kansas, sold those packs to REI and other outdoor retailers and spent the next four decades putting packs and JanSport-branded gear on people all over the world.

Skip died last week and we're all lesser for it. He was a great friend, colleague, innovator and supporter of the outdoor experience to those of us who knew him well.  He was a quiet leader. The impact of his influence was felt throughout the outdoor industry and he touched every facet.

"Genuine" and "Authentic" were two of Skip's favorite words and they fit him to a "T". Just two years after he and Murray started the company, I met Skip and our decades-long relationship began.  I was on an acquisition team in my corporate days that had just bought the newly-started K2 Ski Company and we were looking for another product that would offset the seasonality of the ski business. JanSport Backpacks, it turned out, was the answer.

Skip had brought in famed mountaineer Lou Whittaker to test JanSport gear with his successful guide service on Mt. Rainier.  In the ensuing years, Lou became a very important part of both our lives. We are all kindred spirits and our journey together since then has been exciting, fun and rewarding.

There are enough stories about Skip to fill several volumes. As he said himself, "Murray and I didn't want a real job so we came up with a way to have fun and work at the same time." If there was ever a poster boy for "Find out what you love and just do that." it was Skip.

We literally went to the corners of the earth together and that in itself is a great story. Squirreling away canned hams in China to eat after the feline meals we were served. Taking the boss's kids on a bar tour of the North Cascades waaay after curfew. Trekking on the active runways at Paine Field.to the chagrin of security. Getting lost on the way to Camp Muir with one of Skip's legendary "Dealer Climbs". Keeping tabs on the "best tan" contest that Jane and Skip had going year round. My mind is filled with those kind of memories.

Perhaps my favorite is Skip's visit to the corporate office of the company that had just bought the young JanSport. Very slowly, he sauntered through the sea of cubicles wearing a white rawhide-fringed, bell-bottom suit with cowboy boots, shoulder length blond hair, sunglasses and a huge squash blossom necklace that would knock your eyes out. When he reached my office, he said very softly, "Do you think they noticed?" Believe me, there wasn't a white shirt and rep tie that didn't.

Since the recurrence of his cancer at the first of the year, most of our contact had been by email. He was very frustrated that he couldn't travel.  He and I were never far away from our next flight. We had finished our PBS documentary about Lou Whittaker and Skip was trying to get JanSport involved in the production.  He was never down. Always positive. Always looking to the future.

There are not enough Skip Yowell's in this world. People who love life and those it brings them in contact with. Skip was very special. He won't be on the cover of Time Magazine like Howard Schulz, but his memory is indelible in the minds of thousands and thousands of outdoor enthusiasts around the world. His New York Times obit is a very fitting epitaph. The JanSport brand is what it is because of Skip. His wonderful wife Winnie and the daughter he cherished, Quinn, will always have the love that Skip spread to so many coming back to them.  Skip, you put your stamp on all of us. RIP.

http://nyti.ms/1LzuUED

Silver Anniversary

Tomorrow, I will begin my 25th year of teaching public relations at the University of Washington. That makes me a "Millennial" of sorts. My teaching career has been influenced by the changes that have come to our society and lifestyle in the 1990's and 2000's. No more faxing in late assignments or having trouble with the IBM Selectric.

Now, I look at my phone more often  than my watch. I send announcements and updates from my phone or laptop.Staying on the cutting edge is a full time job and the students don't give you much leeway. Snapchat, Periscope, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are not just words in my vocabulary.  I have accounts and I post  on them regularly.

There are six courses in the year-long Public Relations curriculum and I've taught them all, more than once, in my tenure at UW.  Thank goodness you do still need to be able to write in order to succeed in this business and there is always something to learn about writing.

Six program administrators have come and gone during my 25 years and they've ranged in temperament and approach from Mr. Chips to Principal Vernon in the Breakfast Club and even Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher. Somehow the program has survived and been very successful.  We've turned out over 700 graduates during my time here and they have ended up in many far flung places in some very interesting jobs. The two key communications people from FEMA during the OSO Landslide, both were in the program. Some of the media types who have come over to have a look at this side of the communications business have stayed...while some have gone back (scared them, I'm sure).

I'm still teaching two of the courses, one in the fall and one in the winter. The fall course is about the news media and it gives me a chance to bring out the wonderful examples that "West Wing" showed us on the small screen. The trials, tribulations and successes of a public relations person have never been more clearly portrayed. Aaron Sorkin is a masterful writer and a hero of mine. He was at his best on WW. The program concluded its run in 2006 but the situations, examples and wisdom of building relationships with the media are even more true today than they were back then.

One of the actors from the show recently said he had just bingewatched (that's a word now, according to Webster) House of Cards. He made the comparison by saying that West Wing, which was based on the Clinton White House, made many young people want to go into government work.  House of Cards, rooted in the Bush years and today's congressional turmoil, is making the up-and-comers want to avoid government or political work at all costs.

Regardless, these classes are very practical.  We bring in people who are working in the jobs we're talking about. We use real world cases and we bring the business of effective communications to life. When I was asked to be on the advisory board to develop the curriculum, I had no thought of teaching. When the progsram was completed and UW said they would need someone to teach these courses, I decided to give it a try. Now 25 years later, when the first hint of fall hits the air, I get a rush thinking about going back to school. Teaching is a great outlet for me. Education is a gift that keeps on giving. It's exciting to think that I and the students can keep on learning together for years to come.

An Alaskan Wedding

Susan Butcher has her own day in Alaska. The first Saturday in March marks the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race that Susan made famous, and the State of Alaska has officially made it her day. She was a very special person and, for those of us who knew her well, there is a void since her untimely passing that can't be filled...except with memories.

Late summer holds one of those memories for me. On September 2, Susan married David Monson at their dog lot (that is what they're called) 140 miles or so northwest of Fairbanks. The wedding was a grand Alaskan affair and it marked Jane's first-ever trip to America's Last Frontier.

Jane says that her parents worried when I took her from the Other Washington to Seattle that she would ultimately end up in a snowbank in Alaska.  Despite my many trips there and my love of the wild country, she has managed to stay comfortably at home in our Magnolia neighborhood, with this unique exception.

I could not resist taking her to Susan's wedding which I was sure would be a once-in-a-lifetime occasion...and it was.. After some considerable coaxing, Jane packed her party dresses, stacked heels, fine coats and scarves and said "Ok, I'm ready."

When we landed in Fairbanks, the rental car counter was the next stop.  "Where're you headed?" was the first question from the counter person. "Susan Butcher's wedding." was my proud reply. "Not in our car, you won't!" as he snatched the contract right out of my hand. "You're on the haul road for the pipeline for over a hundred miles. that's nothing but rocks and mud."

So it was on to try the next rental company. "Where're you headed?" "Just in town for a few days," I replied. "First time up here?" "Nope.  I know where I'm going," Success! Off we went...very carefully...headed for Milepost 149.

Not far behind us was one of Susan's sponsors...an east coast gal who was bringing Susan's wedding gown...she blew all four tires on her rental somewhere North of town and showed up late that evening in the back of a pick-up full of good ol' boys.

Trail Breaker Kennels was on part of an old goldmine claim that Susan and David leased from a prospector. The place was decked out for the wedding and the guests had already begun to arrive the evening before.  Most were sleeping in their pick-ups or in tents. Jane would have none of that. Part of my negotiation for the trip was a hotel room. Susan thankfully made a reservation for us at the Manley Roadhouse, about 25 miles away.

We met a lot of the folks, mostly Susan and David's friends from all over the state, helped feed the dogs, ate some very fresh jerky and then went off to check in at the hotel.

The Manley Roadhouse is in Manley Hot Springs and, yes, there are hot springs, beside a scenic creek. A few houses, a post office and an airstrip make up the rest of the town. When we checked in, we got the "Northern Exposure" Cicely-Alaska-eye from the locals, until they connected us to Susan, then the smiles came out. "Don't worry about a key. We're always here. Just take your stuff upstairs." Jane was feeling pretty good as we climbed the stairs...until she saw that "upstairs" was an open dorm full of cots. Oh, well, so be it. We're inside under a roof.

We walked around town and Jane mailed a postcard at the post office, where she struck up a conversation with the post mistress, who was also the bush pilot who flies people around the area.  She was going to the wedding too. Jane said she hoped the dress she brought for the wedding would be appropriate.  Her new friend said it would, " if you don't mind the black flies carrying you away.Honey, cover up everything but your eyes or they'll eat you alive." Perhaps a little overstated but it's Alaska you know. Jane decided to change her outfit.

Back to Trail Breaker for a spaghetti feed that night. Susan asked Jane how she liked the roadhouse and Jane said fine. Susan said that was good to hear because it's taken them a while to come back from the ax murder. (Seems a guy from Michigan checked in earlier in the year, got up in the middle of the night and hacked up a few of the sleeping guests before someone stopped him with a shotgun.) I could have done without that story for Jane's well being but somehow she soldiered on. Some good singing and drinking took the sting out and finally we were off to bed...after carefully planning our escape route.

Wedding day was a bit overcast but still a nice fall day. Susan looked lovely in the dress that her sponsor Allied Fibers had designed and made for her. Don't tell the New Yorkers but Susan fed her dogs in the dress that morning before the ceremony.

A hundred or so of us were privileged to be there for the nuptials.  Susan and David had a friend who was their "Marryin' Sam". Her maid of honor was her main Iditarod rival Rick Swenson and her dogs were the ring bearers. They wrote their vows and, as you might imagine, the words had great meaning.

The toasts and party after were a blast. Susan's father and grandmother were on hand and her honored mentor Joe Reddington, who started the Iditarod Race, gave them a heartfelt wish for lifelong happiness. The days are still long in September with sunset near 10 pm.  The payoff for the day was the show that the Northern Lights put on as we partied into the night. Magnificent.

Brunch in Manley with Susan and David the next day and then a soak in the hot springs got us ready for the trip home. It was quite an adventure for Jane and it lived up to most of the billing. The exception, and Jane won't let me forget it, was the wildlife.  I had given her a big build-up about the moose, elk, bears, wolves and eagles we would see. A chipmunk, a squirrel and a crow were all we could forage. Even I was disappointed.

Still we were lucky to share a piece of Alaska of which only a few people can be part. When Susan's native Alaksan friends from across the state rolled in before the wedding with a Salmon they had caught that morning, we know we were in a place where the right things become important to life. It took three us to lift it out of the truck. We smoked the huge King Salmon and ate it that night. with a fine brew chaser and a sky filled with Aurora Borealis. Alaska is a special place. Incredible!

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