When did it start?  Was it an older brother or sister teasing you about this new idea you had?  How about a parent scurrying around the house saying "not now" when you wanted to show him/her this new picture you drew?  Maybe it was a teacher or guidance councilor that told you that you need to start being realistic?  Regardless of the catalyst, think back, can you remember the day you CHOSE to let go of your childhood innocence, that twinkle in your eye where anything and everything is possible and the limits were made to be broken?

I remember back when I was young, what age I’m not sure- maybe 5 or maybe 10- it doesn’t matter, when I used to go with my father up to the grandparent’s farm as he chopped and split wood for back home.  I’d wander into the woods with nature all around me, and find a proper-sized stick.  Upon picking it up I was transported into my own reality, the stick transformed into a powerful sword that helped bring justice to the land.  To an outside observer, maybe I looked a bit insane as I attack that dreadful milk-weed monster or search for the next clue in locating the kidnapped boy.  Then with five magic words, the fantasy ends: “Ryan, it’s time to go.”  Was I sad?  No.  I knew that this land would be here when I returned… the next time; these adventures would never end… or would they?  It was bound to happen, it always does… we leave with every intention of coming back, but we just never get back to it.  Are they still waiting for me to return?

We’ve probably all heard of the song “Puff the Magic Dragon”.  More likely than not, we’ve also heard that it contains endless amounts of references to drugs… but let’s look at it from a more innocent perspective…

“A dragon lives forever but not so little boys.  Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.  One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more, and Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.”

Who have we silence from within?  Is there a voice that we’ve chosen to lock away… that back when we made that choice would scream trying to get out, but now is relegated to its existence of being locked-up and ignored?

How many of us used to immerse ourselves in the land of Lego’s?   Here, building anything was possible; the only limit was my imagination.  I cannot even begin to count how many different spaceships, buildings, families, and stories were a result of my childhood imagination.  But, when did I choose to turn this off?  Did I one day just pack them up and never take them out again? 

True, none of us can ever be like Peter Pan, we all have to grow up at some point in time.  However, who says that as a part of growing up we have to divorce ourselves from one of our most powerful innate abilities, our will to dream.  Of course, with added responsibilities in our lives, we have to let go of some things... we are victims of our own choices that bring us down a certain path, a path which may limit our choices moving forward- but no one says you have to continue on this path... in the road of life, it is okay to wander off the beaten path and create your own.  Nowhere will you ever see signs saying to "stay off the grass".  

I may not have time to go back to those woods and re-join those adventures, but did I lose something else when I let those childhood musings go away?  Ask any small child what they want to be when they grow up and you’ll get an earful of imaginative responses… to a child GPA, degrees, intelligence, money, etc aren’t used to filter dreams.  It is true, that sometimes these dreams are not realistic, but does that really matter to a child?  One of the most harmful actions another person can do is attempting to limit someone else’s dreams.  How many times of a teacher or parent telling a child “that just couldn’t ever happen… be realistic” or “I don’t have time for such foolishness” before the child feels as if they are doing something wrong?  Before this child finally makes the choice to grow up and stop dreaming?

In this fast-paced world, we are often times expected just to accept the status quo and go with the flow… forgetting about new innovative ideas in an attempt to just get something done to show progress.  Don’t we owe it to ourselves to take some time and block it off to use for rejuvenating that inner child?  Maybe it’s writing a poem, or maybe you have a small container of Lego’s in your desk drawer that you take out and play for 15 minutes a day.  It doesn’t matter, what’s important is that you allow your mind to escape this reality of strict rules and compliance.   Go to a place where you are free to be whatever comes into your mind.   This is easy to do; even the business people in the world can find time in their schedule for self-development.  Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing?  Giving your mind a chance to stretch and express its creativity without the constant pressure to be realistic?

Don’t think you have it in you?  Okay, maybe it’s been so long since you’ve been able to do it that you’ve forgotten how.  Well, lucky for you this world is full of mentors to help reintroduce you to this, and they aren’t hard to find.  If you’re a parent, you’ve already got them… children.  So many times we talk about being mentors for children, which is a great thing to do, but as any teacher can tell you, often times these roles are reversed where the student teaches the teacher.  You too can learn from these children… encourage them to explore their creativity through any medium.  Watch how effortless it comes to them… join in with them.  Maybe you’ll both go for a hike in the woods and find that lost boy from your childhood.  In the end, you’ll realize that the child you’ve helped to find is yourself.

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Break-even analysis:  

FC + VC*Q = Q*P

How hard can that be?

Now, add in the scenario where the Controller and Mktg Dept both agree on the price, but the college drop-out web developer does not... who should win in this argument?  

Finally, I'm asked to look at his formula and help him validate it to retort against the Mktg and Finance depts...  I take one look and say, "do you even know what a break-even analysis is?"  His retort, "I'm not finding break-even, I'm finding the volumization"...  and I wonder why I need to find a new job.

EDIT:
New development.... CFO sends an e-mail asking, "who the hell are IT to decide our pricing policy"... I love it.

Maybe I'm just naive.... I've heard of push-up bras and girdles/corsettes... but push-up underwear?  ugh... do people really need that?

...and happy birthday to the birthday people...boys and girls.  :-)

Just found out that next week is my birthday... and I didn't even know. :-(  Sad...  

Presents welcome. :-)

So, I'm in Chicago for the next three days... for a conference  woo hoo!  My company is so cheap they got me in a Best Western blah!  Anyway, anyone know of anything fun to do at night, or better yet want to show me around for a good time?  :-P

"Since traffic isn't all that bad, could this mean that it won't be a high priority to replace this bridge?"

Ummm, that is probably the stupidest question I've heard on TV EVAR!

(CNN) -- At least seven people were killed when an interstate bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsed Wednesday evening, in what the governor called a "catastrophe of historic proportions."

Mark Lacroix photographed the collapsed bridge from his apartment window.

The accident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) when dozens of cars were on the bridge.

Witnesses described a "dust cloud" as it collapsed, sending cars and and chunks of concrete plunging into the Mississippi River below.

At least 60 people were taken to local hospitals, according to Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack.

All survivors have been taken off the bridge, said Minneapolis police Chief Tim Dolan during a news conference Wednesday night. Crews have searched 50 cars and will be looking for more possible victims, but the mission has changed from a rescue to a recovery mode.

"We have confirmed that this will be a very tragic night when it is over," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Recovery operations have ended for the night because conditions became dangerous for workers as darkness set in. "There's too much debris in the river to continue in the river tonight. We will at first light be back in the river working again," Clack said.

Mark Lacroix, who lives on the 20th floor of an apartment building near the bridge, told CNN he saw the last seconds of the collapse.

"I heard this massive rumbling and shaking basically and looked out my window," Lacroix said. "It just fell right into the river.

Another witness was walking on a pedestrian bridge nearby when he saw the disaster.

"There were several cars completely just crushed. ... I saw some policeman walk up to the drivers' windows and look and and kept walking on by, so either the person was deceased or not in the car," Joe Costello said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it saw no indications of terrorism in the incident.

Construction took place on the bridge Tuesday night and was to take place again Wednesday night, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The highway would have been restricted to a single lane in both directions from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. both nights.

The bridge was undergoing redecking work, but nothing structural was being done, U.S. Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.

There were eight construction workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and one of them is unaccounted for, said Mike McGray, president of Progressive Contractors, the company doing the repair work on the bridge.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said inspections of the 40-year-old bridge in 2005 and 2006 found no structural defects, but a 2001 study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found "several fatigue problems" in the bridge's approach spans and "poor fatigue details" on the main truss.

The study suggested that the design of bridge's main truss could cause a collapse if one of two support planes were to become cracked, although it allowed that a collapse might not occur in that event. But, the study concluded, "fatigue cracking of the deck truss is not likely" and "replacement of the bridge ... may be deferred."

After the collapse, the nearby University of Minnesota Medical Center received "just a handful" of injuries from the accident, spokesman Ryan Davenport said.

"One of our hospitals has five patients so far, and the other on the other side of the river has none," he said.

Nancy Ebert of Northwestern Hospital said it had received four injured people -- two children and two adults.

Dr. Joseph Clinton, chief of emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital is treating 28 injured people, six of them critically hurt.

He also said the hospital received one patient who was pronounced dead on arrival. "We have one drowning victim here, and I believe there are more drowning victims at the scene," he said.

Witnesses told CNN a school bus filled with children was on the bridge when it collapsed, but they also said the bus did not drop into the water and it appeared that all the children had been evacuated.

Jeff Pearson, regional vice president of First Student, Inc. -- which handles school buses in Minneapolis -- said that about 60 children, plus teachers, chaperones and a driver, were on the bus and that all were accounted for.

Aerial footage showed the middle of the bridge caved in, lying in the Mississippi River, with cars both on top and submerged in the water. The main part of the collapsed span was not submerged, but the span clearly separated from the land-based sections of the highway on both the north and south ends of the bridge.

A witness said it looked like "toy cars" were plunging into the water.

About 100,000 cars a day travel over the bridge, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Copyright 2007 CNN.