Lagom

by Rufus on March 17, 2010

Lagom. It is a Swedish word that does not have a direct English translation, but it means kinda like “enough” as in “just enough” or “there is enough for everyone.” But, even those examples are not quite right, but language being what it is, it will have to do.

Over a span of about a year or so, little by little, I’ve become a fan of Julien Smith. Not a gushing kind of groupie fan, but one with a mildly curious fascination with someone who understands lagom and is content with others not. And being ok with that. Then by chance, I saw him speak about the inner ring on this video clip on Tim Sanders’ blog (you only need to watch until 1:26 or so, but if you want to watch the whole thing, have at it.) Julien does not publish prolifically on his blog, but when he does, you get a sense that he has thought about the post for a long time.

I meet people all the time who are “increasing revenue, market share, friends, followers, money” or are “moving to the next level” or buying a bigger house, etc. Why? To what end? I often wonder if they have ever set goals of success or if they are always defining success as one more dollar, one more twitter follower, one more….

They are like an impatient dog who can’t wait to get to the next block, and the next and the next when all he is doing is rushing the walk and ending up back home sooner. I much prefer dogs who stop and sniff the bushes longer and maybe holds her heads up to catch the breeze through her ears.

Lagom. Some say it limits ambition. I say it is defines sanity and peace.

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In November, the Democrats were on the ropes. The GOP had just elected themselves a golden child with Scott Brown and tilted the scales back below sixty votes in the Senate. They had won two gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. The media was calling the Health Care Reform bill dead. Time between now and the next election cycle was getting shorter and the drums of defeat were beating loudly.

But then the bill got the biggest shot in the arm from the insurance companies. They increased their rates 39% in California, cut off cancer-survivors in Youngstown, Ohio, jacked up rates all over the country and even sent this poor puppy a letter that increased his health insurance costs by 21.8% over last year.

That was the second wind.

Had the health insurance companies instituted a premium freeze for 2010, not cut off existing customers regardless of circumstances and sent letters out with the message, “We’re all in this recession together, so we’re not going to increase your premiums,” they could have taken the wind right out of the sails of the Reformers. They would have convinced the average American they were not greedy, money-grubbig heartless bastards, but caring, warm folks who only had your health in their hearts.

They would have gained the entire GOP and most independents as free PR agents for their industry. “They get it, we can make a difference!” would have been the rally cry and the Obama Administration and progressive Democrats would have been left fighting an enemy that simply no longer existed. By August, the country and Congress would have been embroiled in a mid-term election with Democrats fighting to explain why they spent so much wasted time fighting the benevolent insurance companies. Most likely they would have lost a few seats and the balance of power would have tipped a bit. President Obama would have then had two years of accomplishing nothing and the insurance industry would have been healthy for the next several decades, free to plunder and pillage recklessly while Obama’s successor’s successor worked up enough public passion to start another health care reform movement.

But they didn’t. They rushed hard toward the profit line, cutting off aunt Sallie who had cancer and facing a home foreclosure. They dropped health insurance for residents in Flint, Michigan where unemployment is 27%. They continued to increase premiums an average of 22% across the country, claiming it was necessary because of rising health costs. They tightened their grip on the wallets of those lucky enough to remain employed and even tighter on the small businesses and entrepreneurs trying to weather the economic downturn and tight credit markets. And yet, they continue to post record profits.

Sometimes you have to retreat back a few steps to advance forward.

But they didn’t.

Bad business, bad public relations. On that account alone, the health insurance industry deserves to go the way of the horse buggy, passenger train and telegraph industries.

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Pretty harsh title, I admit but it is really just there to get your attention. Did it work?

People don’t care about great ideas. They care about great personalities with average ideas they can understand. How else can you explain Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue: An American Life (Please don’t buy it.) or the raving success of some social media people who are constantly blogging, tweeting and presenting on remedial ideas as if they were Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai? (I linked cause I know some of you are asking yourselves, what the heck are these ten things the pooch is talking about? Mt. Sinai too.)

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge them their success, not even Sarah Palin. Really, honestly, she has that something that is appealing and she knows how to work it. But she is a great personality and that is all.

I have three great books in my head but my friends in the publishing business tell me that there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that any of them will get published without me first becoming a great personality. I struggle with that because the Internet is supposed to flatten things out, give all good ideas equal weight, flush out the charlatans and poseurs with facts.

Remember the old Peter Steiner’s cartoon, “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”? It was supposed to exemplify the anonymity of the person and force us to focus on ideas instead of personality.

It didn’t really work out that way because human beings need great personalities behind ideas, not just great ideas. And given the choice, we choose a great personality.

Even if that person turns out to be a dog.

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SXSW – on a Mission from Dog

March 15, 2010

I was given a marvelous opportunity recently, namely representing DogWalkBlog at SXSW. Jumped on that offer immediately, because who wouldn’t??
I was also given a few tasks to accomplish while I was there, mostly along the line of “see if you can find Chris Brogan, aka @chrisbrogan, and say “hi” to him. Some of [...]

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I love Cesar Millan, but he has made my life hell

March 14, 2010

I love Cesar Millan*, but he has made my life hell, along with Emeril LaGasse, Mike Holmes, and Alton Brown. But those other guys are a completely different — though not unrelated — post. Maybe later.
You see, Cesar has made almost everyone else in the pound an expert on dog behavior with an endless [...]

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The glacier is melting

March 11, 2010

There is (or was) this huge pile of snow at the end of our lunchtime wrestle lot. For weeks, we’ve been playing “King of the Hill.” As it melts away, the game is becoming more and more intense as the snow becomes more scarce.
Anyway, Sallie (white dog) mostly wins the game. Charlie tries.

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SXSW had gone to the dogs

March 10, 2010

If you are going to Austin for SXSW next week, help us prove that SXSW is going to the dogs. It is real simple.
1. Take a photo of a dog you see at SXSW.
2. Tweet out with your photo using your favorite photo service, TwitPic, TweetPhoto, Yfrog, whatever. Enter as many photos as you wish.
3. [...]

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Life has been like a dog walk lately

March 9, 2010

Life and work has been a lot like our dog walks lately. Up until this week, there has been a lot of snow on the ground, so the dogs walk while I spend a lot of time slogging through snow, shuffling on ice and climbing over snow banks, all the while trying to keep my [...]

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A really funny dog video

March 7, 2010

Most dog videos are not really funny, but this is so very clever, I had to share.

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There has to be an easier way to do this

March 6, 2010

I am replacing a folding closet door with a pre-hung door. This involves some framing and sheet-rocking. I’m almost done with the door, thanks for asking.
I’m at the last part of the project where I’m putting sheet rock on the inside frame around the door. The closet is about four feet wide by about three [...]

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Someday, I will be dead

March 5, 2010

I will die. It is a fact that I can’t overlook, regardless of how much work I put into denying it, putting it off or otherwise just trying to ignore it.
So, faced with the fact that I will not be escaping death, I have done the following:
- I have written my last blog post. This [...]

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Hotels are going to the dogs

March 4, 2010

I watched a video on Chris Brogan’s blog where he spoke at Like Minds and he mentioned the Roger Smith Hotel. As frequently happens, my mind wandered as Chris rattled on (sorry Chris!) and so I went out to Google and checked out the Roger Smith Hotel.
Turns out they have this dog named Henry who [...]

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The complete Olympic Games include the Paralympics

March 1, 2010

My editor wrote this over at GerardMcLean.com and I had to share. It is something that I privately champion at every opportunity, and this being one of those time, here you go.
UPDATE: @Neenz just published the Paralympics page at Alltop.com last night, Mar 5. If you know of or write a blog on the Paralympics, [...]

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When it is time to pass a torch

February 28, 2010

I spent this Sunday morning listening to a fair amount of Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan and a few other more obscure artists who moved and continue to move an entire generation. The first thought I had was “how sad that they will never be able to create another PP&M song.” The second thought [...]

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Risk as a downhill ski run, Bode Miller style

February 22, 2010

I was reading my Wall Street Journal today, page after page of blah, blah, blah and then I came across this story on page B8. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

I am not following the Winter Olympic Games nor am I really a fan of Bode Miller. I didn’t even read the article, but [...]

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What the heck is a Boondoggle?

February 17, 2010

I’m all for a good parody like the next puppy and although the assumption here is that a large percentage of the working, white middle class probably watched the Super Bowl Big Game and may have seen the Google ad (it ran once), the GOP may have been smarter to parody a Budweiser commercial [...]

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Welcome, Robert Gibbs!

February 13, 2010

Just a quick bark out to Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, who joined us on Twitter a mere 55 minutes ago. Now, we’re just waiting for Bo to get here.
Big fans, especially with the “hopey-changey” retort press conference.

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Read the writing on the paw

February 10, 2010

Yesterday, we had a guest speaker – Sarah – come into the DogWalk to motivate us to get out there and walk regularly, even if there is two feet of snow outside, kids home from school everywhere and cars zipping by us as we walk in the street.
Then, Charlie noticed that Sarah had some writing [...]

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Geaux away

February 8, 2010

I’ve been half French all my life. It’s not something I chose or can change. My mother’s maiden name is Clavette.* Her mother’s maiden name was Pelletier. And that goes back a very long way. We only ended up American because the French apparently were really bad at making compasses and the family ended up [...]

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Snow Wrestlemania 2010

February 6, 2010

We ventured out to the Englewood Hills school grounds to wrestle in the snow. It looks pretty intense, but it was all in good fun.
When we were done, the snow looked like the putting green in the episode of the Munsters when Herman went golfing.
Enjoy the video.

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