Category: News

Art Fettig’s Monday Morning Memo

December 14, 2009

In This Issue

o  I Love A Parade
o Say Something Good
o Points To Ponder
o A Little Humor
o Quote of the Week

I Love A Parade

No, I didn’t ride in that beautiful red Lamborghini.  The seat is almost on the floor of that beautiful car and I figured it would take a crane at least to get me out of it. One strong man managed the job. Instead. I rode in the annual Mt. Airy, NC Christmas parade in a 1938 Chevrolet coupe and it was a real thrill. The sign on our vehicle read, “Almost  Andy…Art Fettig” I couldn’t resist the temptation to get out and walk and I must have walked half way from here to eternity before the parade was over. My new business card reads, “Almost Andy,  Close enough for most.”  No matter how many times I told greeters that I was not Andy Griffith the more they went right on telling me how they loved the TV show and how they had seen every program. Some families told how they taped the program every day and watched it at 5 PM every day as a family. At least a dozen individuals told me how happy they were to finally have an Andy Griffith look-alike that really looked like Andy. I hope I didn’t deceive anyone unintentionally.

Seeing all of those smiling faces I hope that I brought a little joy into the lives of those hundreds of people watching the parade. Meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus was the most fun of all.  It’s great to be eighty and I sure do love a parade. I do. 

Say Something Good

Meetings. Attending the Trade Show of the AENC this week at the fabulous new Raleigh Convention Center, I met with perhaps a couple of hundred people who are involved in creating Association meetings that make a difference in their particular field. It started me thinking about the conferences and conventions I had attended in my earlier career. The first one was in Texas and I had won an Assoc. of American Railroad’s Award for an article I had written. My wife and I were treated almost like celebrities and somehow it made all of that extra work I had done in writing such articles worthwhile. My horizons expanded all the way from Michigan to Texas. I learned more attending sessions at that meeting than I had learned in my entire career as a claim agent for the railroad. It was like being exposed to a big, new, wonderful world.  I know, like me, you have attended far too many disorganized, unprepared meetings than one should endure in one’s lifetime, still, it was exciting to be exposed to all of these wonderful people who are so totally dedicated to make their meetings and conventions really have a positive impact on their attendees and their profession..  May God bless America and keep our troops from harm. 

Points To Ponder

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving. Albert Einstein

A Little Humor 

A guy walks into a bar, orders 12 shots and starts drinking them as fast as he can. The bartender asks, “Dang, why are you drinking so fast?” The guy says, “You would be drinking fast, too, if you had what I had.”
The bartender asks, “What do you have?” The guy says, “75 cents.”

Quote of the Week

As soon as we attract enough attention in the world to play a part in it, we are set rolling like a ball which will never again be at rest. Charles Joseph