Rink

O ut with the old and in with the new" used to mean something to me when I was younger. I used to relish the start of a new year and all the potential that it would bring: A year closer to getting my driver's license, a year closer to graduating from college, a year closer to completing my court man- dated probation. Now, it's just a year closer to shuffling around in a blue terry cloth robe with matching slippers at a retirement home. If you're like me, perhaps you're growing more cynical with age. Perhaps you're struggling to find that youthful ideology you didn't realize at that time in your life you actually possessed. Maybe you see it in the "kids" who work for you like I do. Maybe you envy those same kids and wish that the stress of getting your homework done on time, or what you're going to do on Saturday night is your only dilemma. Maybe you wish you could grab onto that innocence and perspective that they have and find yourself without a care in the world. No deadlines, no angry customers, no double-bookings and the big one: no angry birthday party moms to deal with (now that sounded insightfully whimsical). However, maybe, just maybe, it's time to quit feeling sorry for yourself. Close your office door, take a deep breath. Say it with me: Yarghh mateys, prepare to be boarded! Carpe diem! Divide and conquer! Nothing is over until we decide it is. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Heck no! (obscure movie quote) No, I'm not intoxicated, I'm pumping you up. I need to ask, we all need to ask: Why can't we recapture that enthusiasm for our job — that thirst for life's challenges that we all once had? I get the rat race thing, I do. My thought is, if it was easy then everyone would be running a rink, right? So, with that preamble aside let's get down to it. It's a new year, and it's time to make it happen. My intent was to stay away from resolutions but hey, it's inevitable that a January edition of a magazine is going to include something on resolutions. I'm not about to go into the whole "10 things I'm going to do this year" nonsense, but I am going to throw out the following: Let's resolve as a group to work harder, see things from our customers' perspective and let the little things that get us down, raise our blood pressure and make us toss and turn all night, roll off our backs and make us stronger. Let's pay attention to detail, finish what we start and most importantly, remember that our jobs can be fun! It shouldn't be about a paycheck. It should be about our passion and dedication to our customers, our employees and our profession. It takes a special commitment to do what we do, and to do it well. Take this column as your daily affirmation that "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you." Stuart Smalley and The Knife, are...out. Wait, we are in. All in. ★ Watch for next edition of The Knife, where he'll give you the inside scoop on all things Michigan for NARCE 2011! the final cut 54 R INK MAGAZ INE January/February 2011 by Johnny "The Knife" Monteleone Let's pay attention to detail, finish what we start and most impor- tantly, remember that our jobs can be fun! STARrinks.com ■ Just livin' the rink life. ISTOCKPHOTO.COM " Out With the Old and In With the New

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