I received much advice from the farmers I worked for growing up, but one simple instruction really sunk in. Each day when I would come out to the farm to do chores, I would slip on a pair of large rubber boots. When I say large, I mean up-to-your-knees large. I quickly learned to appreciate these boots when scooping liquid hog manure from the concrete pads referred to as “open fronts.” These boots were rinsed off each day and left to dry in the shop area of one of the machine sheds, ready for the next day’s work. 

But before slipping these on each day, I was advised to turn them upside down and give them a shake. “You never know what might be inside them,” I was told. Seemed silly to me. If I felt a corn kernel in there, I would just kick the boot off and shake it out. No biggie. Then one day when putting a boot on, I felt some motion on my leg. Hickory, dickory, dock! Except there was no clock. Just a fast little mouse that scurried from my toes up to my belt line. “You are lucky it didn’t go inside your pant leg,” the farmer told me. He was right.

Ever since then, I turn my boots upside down before putting them on. In fact, to this day, I have a habit of turning every piece of footwear I wear upside down before I put it on. It’s a good practice with an even greater meaning. 

How many times in life do we ignore the advice of others and march forward recklessly? Or make a bad hire without thoroughly checking references? Or start a new project without thinking through all the details? 

Yes, it is a good practice to turn most everything upside down and give it a good shake before committing — just in case. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

I misplaced my keys. I am not saying I lost them, as that could be interpreted to mean I will not recover them. And I absolutely will recover them. Someday. Meanwhile, I am struggling to keep my sanity. Sound familiar?

I normally use a carabiner to clip my keys to my belt loop. It’s a little trick I picked up from Schneider on “One Day At A Time.” That process has worked magnificently. Until recently. I changed clothes at an event a couple nights ago, and I thought I threw the carabiner in my duffle bag. I thought. 

I am apparently not alone. According to a Lost & Found survey released by Pixie in 2017, Americans spend $2.7 billion dollars every year to replace items we can’t find. Two-thirds of us spend up to $50 a year to do so. And those are numbers from seven years ago! 

The Pixie survey reveals that 45% of us lose the remote controls to our TVs at least once a week. Phones are next at 33%, then eyeglasses at 27%, shoes at 24%, and wallets/purses at 20%. And those dastardly keys? Well, 28% of us lose them at least once per week. Sigh.

Pixie’s research also reveals that Americans spend an average of 2.5 days a year — nearly half a workweek — looking for misplaced stuff. The study also shows that 60% of people have either been late to work or school because of lost items, 49% have missed appointments or meetings, and 22% have missed flights, trains or bus rides.

The average time spent searching for a misplaced item? According to Pixie, it is 5 minutes and 20 seconds. I wish. I am clearly well past that.

But surely losing these keys isn’t my fault. Well, it most likely is, but that doesn’t keep 63% of us from blaming others when we can’t find our lost items.

So, the search continues.

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

Get involved. We hear those two words quite often, but we don’t often do them. There’s a reason why we don’t get involved: It requires extra work.

I made a decision early on in my career that being involved in the communities we serve was going to be an integral part of our operations plan. It is now part of our company culture.

As a media company, we are in the communications business. With that in mind, all of us in the industry should be leaders in communicating with our customers — not only our advertisers but our readers, viewers and listeners, too. Communicating through our own media channels isn’t enough today. Unfortunately, most residents today can’t name the publisher or editor of their local newspaper, or the manager of the local TV or radio stations. I didn’t want to be that person, so I made a concentrated effort to get involved in dozens of community groups. I believe this was an integral part of our company’s early success. I also quickly learned that I can’t do it all myself, so I made community involvement part of our employee job descriptions. I tell everyone who interviews with us that if they don’t want to be involved in the communities we serve, then this is not the job for them. 

Many years ago, when I was the publisher of a newspaper in Boone, my friend Chris Moffitt suggested I join the Kiwanis Club. So, I did, and it was one of the better decisions I made there. Chris sold me on the importance of being involved locally and explained how it was a vital part of his business operations. He also pointed out that his competitor down the street didn’t get involved in any community organizations, and that he seemed to be doing just fine. That was a great and humble point. None of us have all the answers, but we all should do what we think is right, what fits our own plans, and what we can realistically commit to. 

Meanwhile, it is important to note that there is a difference between being involved and being committed, whether that be in work or personal relationships. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova may have defined it best when she said, “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”

Which one are you?

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

With our three daughters out of the house now, Jolene and I are adjusting to the world of empty nesting. As many of you told us, life is different. Certainly, there are the big changes like a quieter house and a lower water bill, but I have noticed a few smaller ones, too. 

This morning, I took a bag of garbage out to the trash container. When the kids were home, this seemed to be a daily occurrence. The other option was to come home and find that the dog decided to play hide and seek with the trash around the house. So I learned. But when I took the bag of garbage out this morning, I noticed only one other bag in the container. Two small bags of garbage. For an entire week. Amazing. 

I often wondered how some people could only produce such a small amount of trash. Now I get it. Not only is the nest empty; the garbage can is, too. 

With the available technology today, I wonder how far off we are from paying for garbage by the pound. The trucks could weigh each home’s containers and subtract the tare weight, then charge a by-the-pound fee.

Of course, I like this pay-by-the-pound idea at this stage of my life. I likely would not have agreed with it a few years ago when I had to stand on the lid to force all our garbage to fit in it. 

Either way, the one thing we can most all likely agree on is that less trash is a good thing. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

Early in 1971, at a time when our country had endured much pain, John Lennon wrote the words to the best-selling single of his solo career, “Imagine.” The lyrics he penned encouraged listeners to imagine a world without many things, including religion. I can’t imagine.

I know I need to do a lot better in many aspects of my life, and my faith helps me to realize this and pray for improvement — and I need to improve. Praying helps me recognize this. I realize this may not be the solution for everyone, and that’s why freedom of religion is an integral part of the First Amendment to our Constitution. None of us can be certain what each of the founding fathers had in mind when creating this language, but I am glad they did. 

Some scoff at the amount of time and money that people spend worshipping any god or partaking in any religion. They are correct in that it is a lot of time and money. But if that time and money make me a better person by trying to do things to improve relations with my friends, in my family and for my community, then isn’t it worth it? And if it turns out that there is no God, then what am I really out? But if I am right — and God and heaven and hell do all exist — then I truly sympathize for those who opt to not believe. In the end, it’s a choice we all have to make. And, as with all decisions, there will be consequences.

Meanwhile, I have known people who claimed to not believe in God or join in any religion change their tune when death knocked at their door. Better late than never. 

Lennon was correct that religion is a problem when it is the basis for unnecessary war, death, famine or suffering. But if you believe in judgement day, as I do, then you have faith that our maker’s ultimate decisions will be swift and just for those responsible. 

Imagine that.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115

What do you dream about? Not your goals or visions or plans. I mean, what do you literally dream about while sleeping? Well, if you are in the 95% of us who forget our dreams, you simply don’t recall. Seeing how most of us have four to six dreams that last up to 20 minutes each, that’s a lot of dreaming to forget. 

Do you sleepwalk? My brother Steve did when we were kids. I thought it was funny. He didn’t laugh. About 15% of people do sleepwalk, and it can be a dangerous habit, especially when it involves grooming oneself, cooking food, or driving a car.

Do you dream about falling? More than half of Americans do, making this the most common recurring dream. It’s followed by being chased, being back in school, or being naked in public — or in my case, all three at once. These kinds of dreams are likely brought on by stress. 

Does everyone dream? The vast majority of us do, and even blind people can have visual dreams. If you are a pet owner, you likely know that animals dream, too. 

Do we dream in color? Most people do (in pastel colors, to be specific), but about 12% dream in black and white. Either way, the visual aspect is the primary sense. People rarely use their smell or taste senses in dreams.

Did you know that we can only dream about people we’ve seen before? Whether we know them well or just met them briefly, the people in our dreams are all people we have seen prior.

Do you have nightmares? Up to 85% of adults do, at least occasionally. Nightmares are common for children ages 3-6, but the serious ones usually diminish with age. As a child, I would dream that Santa Claus was chasing me down to kill me. I hid under my lower bunk bed in each dream and would wake up in a sweat when he would reach for me. Merry Christmas.

And finally, how about recurring dreams like being late, failing an exam, being attacked, or losing control of a car? I often dream that I am driving a car too fast with hopes I can ramp over open water and land on ground. When it becomes apparent that I can’t, I usually wake up. Recurring dreams occur when people have to deal with unresolved conflicts in their lives. Hmmm.

Want to learn more about dreams? Check out the research behind these statistics and much more at disturbmenot.co/dreams-facts.

Thanks for reading. 

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@dmcityview.com
641-755-2115