Brooke and I were having this discussion over dinner the other night. I was convinced that the scampi salad from the local grocery store deli was comprised of authentic crab meat. She, however, was equally convinced of the crab meat’s lack of authenticity. To my credit, it tasted great, looked like crab meat, and it had been the most expensive salad under the glass. Surely it must be the real deal. Brooke had no rationale other than her staunch conviction that it by no means tasted like the real deal.

What to do? Right there at the dinner table I dialed 800-373-3411 (it’s the free 411 service). After surviving some long-winded advertisements I was put through to the Albertson’s deli where I chatted with Jeron. Much to my surprise I found out that the scampi salad is in fact comprised of imitation crab! As helpful as Jeron was, he couldn’t tell me what the tasty little ‘crab’ morsels were made out of.

Once again, I had to turn to Google to figure that one out. Upon entering “imitation crab” one is led to this. All my questions and more were answered in .05 seconds.

Lessons from today’s anecdote?
1) It is amazing how we live and breathe technologies today that were not even available just a few years ago (i.e. cell phones, wireless internet, Google, free 411, iPods, etc.).
2) Though the real person (i.e. Jeron) may be friendlier and full of personality, Google usually knows best.
3) My arsenal of well thought out rationale has been known to fall short when matched up against my girlfriend’s firm conviction.

Ask twenty (American) kids what they want to be when they grow up. I wouldn’t be surprised if some prominent answers within that bundle would be things like “rock star”, “president”, or “richest person in the world”. Like it or not, these are the people who are injected into our lives virtually every day via TV, newspapers, magazines, movies, etc. These are the individuals that define success in our culture.

Here’s the kicker . . . I find it interesting that the world’s premiere rock star, our former President, and the world’s richest person are redefining what success looks like. Their influence was once used to sell albums, rule nations, and make heaps of money. Now success for these men looks like tackling the world’s biggest problems.

Bono is a leading figure in the ONE campaign and also helped found DATA, which according to its own website “aims to raise awareness about, and spark response to the crises swamping Africa: unpayable Debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair Trade rules which keep Africans poor.”

The Clinton Global Initiative is annually raking in billions of dollars of commitments from businesses, nations, and non-profit organizations to make a difference in four key areas: poverty alleviation, mitigating religious & ethnic conflict, global health, and energy & climate change. (This week Sir Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin companies, committed to investing 100% of the profits from his transportation businesses over the next 10 years into researching better forms of energy usage. That’s over $3 billion folks!)

And certainly we all know about Bill and Melinda Gates’ philanthropic ways. Their foundation has an endowment of over $30 billion, and their goal is to battle the inequities of disease and education around the globe.

What impact will these three uber-high-profile men have on our culture? Beyond what they’re tangibly doing in this generation, will they change the way the next generation defines success? Instead of yearning for stardom, power, or riches, will little boys and girls dream of one day being able to help others in a dymanic way?

Since summer 2002 the Kind family has managed to carve out a week a year for some vacation action. This year took us to Michigan City, IN - our cottage was a few hundred yards from the lovely Lake Michigan beach. Beyond re-connecting with family, some highlights were the local zoo, jet skis, bocce ball, Axis & Allies, and phenomenal home cooking. An annual favorite activity for me is getting to have virtually unlimited uncle time. With 6 nieces and nephews now that week offers hours of kid fun.


An ever-growing family these days, here are the Kinds in August 2006.



Brooke got in on the action for most of vacation. Here she is lugging around Bailey and Macy.



My dad and I had the chance to connect with Mark and Jess Schmerse on our way to vacation. We spent a sweet day with them in Chicago - you can see the improved Soldier Field behind them.