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Archive for the ‘Better Cowboy’ Category

Weakness On The Ranch

27 Jul

Jim & Chris talk about addressing weaknesses in the organization. Good thing they don’t have any weaknesses themselves. Ahem… Tongue twisters, big sticks, inertia, limited partners: where else can you have this much fun with two guys in suits for free?


Watch for the viewer challenge in the first few minutes and the parting shot at the end. Extra credit if you catch Jim’s self-deprecating joke that zings right past Chris, like a losing volley in a gunfight. Don’t be ignorant and arrogant or, like Chris, you might miss something important as you revel in past glories. Solipsism can sneak up on you, so pay attention and mind the gap!


About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.


WH Auden, 1938

 

Falling Off Your Horse

01 Jun

The cattle are all gone. Horses too. They took our boots, hats, guns, spurs, and shiny belt buckles. Dang rustlers!

Our heroes nurse their wounds and walk painfully to the nearest town. With the last of their money (Jim stashed it you don’t want to know where), the boys drown their sorrows at the local watering hole. Hours later, after a night of drinking and gambling, they stumble out of the saloon and fall into the gutter. Before passing out, they raise their fists and fill the air with their drunken shouts: “Darn you synthetic CDO traders! Dag-nab animal spirits!”

Did the recession knock you off your horse? Join the boys as they discuss setbacks and starting fresh.

If you want a bit more of this sort of thing, check out: tiny.cc/ovjb3


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Young Buckaroos

28 Apr

Little Buckaroos can have fun too! In this second part of their series on age, our heroes stop by the river of life with hopes of stirring up some golden nuggets of wisdom. You always knew they were just a couple of panhandlers…


The first part of the series was on “Wise Warriors”, but this time the boys turn their steely gazes upon “Young Bucks”: those plucky, but naïve cowpokes who always show up at the beginning of a cattle drive. Are you a young buck? Were you? Do you have to manage one? Have you played a practical joke on one? (The boys suggest surreptitiously loosening a saddle or innovative applications of hot chile peppers.) More tips are in store; so, settle in with the boys next to the roaring campfire.

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Wise Warriors

15 Apr

The boys dim the lights and get up close and personal to discuss issues of chronology. Young at heart? Wise beyond your years?

In this, the first of a two-part series, Jim and Chris discuss the enlightenment of age. As Sir Francis Bacon said, “I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.”

So, wise warrior, get off your high horse and join us to ponder questions of experience. You may question the experience afterward, but at least your horse will have been enlightened…

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Difficult Mules

19 Mar

Join the boys in welcoming a guest to the show. Together they’ll discuss the ins and outs of dealing with a difficult mule on the ranch. Spoiler alert: putting heavy chains around the neck of a problematic employee doesn’t always get you the results you want!

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Subject Matter Expertise

24 Feb

The boys are experts on all subjects and masters of all they survey. Well, not really. They are pretty good at tossing around the cow-patties though (that means spouting out the bull**** for those city slickers in the crowd). Learn how to be a subject matter expert, or just watch them step into the … Ewwwww!

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Ethics, Part II

21 Feb

Ethics, schmethics. The boys talk about airplanes, golf clubs and dishonest negotiation tactics in this second installment on how to game the system.

Okay, not really. That was dishonest. We’re sorry. Maybe we need to watch this episode again. Will you watch it with us?

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Ethics

15 Feb

Ethics? Who do these guys think they are? Aristotle and Socrates?

Well, the boys corral a big topic and almost get it saddled before deciding they’ll need another episode.

Oh, and Chris calls Jim a liar. Lover’s quarrel? No, their relationship is strictly Platonic.

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Information Overload

09 Feb

What is the voltage in the average brain of the average chicken? That and other useful tidbits of information are on offer in today’s episode, wherein the boys discuss information: where to get it, how to deal with it, and what to do with it.

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Mentoring (for the Mentor)

08 Feb

The boys continue their series on mentoring with this discussion on being a mentor. Luckily they keep their boots firmly planted on terra firma with nary a manatee in sight.

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