Category Archives: Conflict

December 22, 2014 · 10:16 pm

A LOOP LONAGAN CHRISTMAS

John Jonelis

This is outrageous. I’m concentrating on my computer screen when a huge mitt grabs me by the back of the belt and plucks me from my chair. Next thing I’m dangled high over the desk, arms and legs flailing till I steady my balance and end up nose-to-nose with Big Bill Blair, our urban Paul Bunyan.

“‘Scuse me, Mr. Jonelis,” he says in a slow polite rumble that carries with it a stale smell of corned beef and cigar.

Big Bill slowly chews gum. Looks disinterested. Acts like nothing’s unusual. Continue reading →

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Tagged as blond, cheer, Christmas, Christmas ornaments, Christmas party, Christmas presents, Christmas tree, Christmastime, dancing, fist fight, good times, hard times, Holiday, Holiday season, prayer, santa claus, street people, stretch humvee, swedish massage

December 12, 2014 · 3:08 pm

YOUR WORK IS NOT YOUR LIFE

Why entrepreneurs have to make time to think about who they really want to be

by Howard Tullman

Very few things in our lives are absolute. Everything is measured by degree, from our attention to our patience to the range and intensity of our emotions.

At the same time, some things are absolute: You can’t be all things to all people; you can’t dance every dance; and, throughout your life, you’ve got to make hard choices, sacrifices, and compromises, and then you’ve got to live with them through thick and thin for a very long time. Continue reading →

INJURIES TREATED BADLY

by John Jonelis

Kids are dropping dead on the athletic field. Dead! These are our kids—those highly cherished and precocious little brats, grades K-12. Just a few years back we suffered a miserable year—120 deaths according to the Youth Sports Safety Alliance. Here’s a huge problem waiting to get fixed. Continue reading →

FISH STORY

as told by Mark T Wayne

Fishermen are liars!

After a superb day of fishing in the Canadian Wilderness, I prepare to utter my first exaggeration when Jonelis comes in with this monstrous THING. Look at it sir! This stretches all limits of credulity!

Naturally I object and make accusations of foul play. Just look at that fish! Continue reading →

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Tagged as big fish, canada, exaggerating a story, exaggeration, Fish, fish eats fish, fish stories, fishermen, Fishermen are liars, fishermen lie, fly in resort, giant pike, Knee Lake, liars, Manitoba, monster pike, Northern, northern pike, Northstar, Northstar Resort, Pike, pike eats pike, Wilderness, winnipeg

August 20, 2014 · 12:30 am

CLOSER TO HEAVEN

as told by Mark T Wayne

Danger and deprivation make up the joys of any wilderness expedition. Have you ever heard an adventurer speak of anything else? I have not, sir! Our bold band is bound for a rare excursion! Today, we hope to try our mettle against the Canadian Wild! Continue reading →

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Filed under Characters, Conflict, Death, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, High Tech, Low Tech, Startup Companies, Startups, Suspense, Writing style

Tagged as bad weather, busting minimums, canada, Fear, fishing, fishing resort, fishing trip, flight safety, float plane, fly in resort, king air, loren bukkett, low ceiling, low visibility, mark T wayne, north woods, northern pike, o'hare field, pilot, pontoon plane, private strip, thunderclappers, thunderstorms, walleye, winnipeg

August 5, 2014 · 1:08 am

ROUGHING IT

as told by Mark T Wayne

“Don’t you want to feel safe?” asks Rosalind Russell. In response, Clark Gable knits his brows. “I never have. What’s it like?” * Vigorous travel is a grueling sport! One anticipates deprivation and hardship on any trip of significance. One seeks adventure! Exhilaration! One does not select air transportation to wrap oneself in a safe cocoon. No sir! Air travel exists for one and only one purpose. SPEED! Continue reading →

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Filed under Biography, Characters, Conflict, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, High Tech, Influence, Low Tech, Relationships, Startup Companies, Startups

Tagged as airline, Airport, airport security, canada, cancelled flights, clark gable, delay, fishing, fishing trip, mark twain, o'hare, rosalind russell, safe, security, speed, strip search

March 28, 2014 · 6:28 pm

THINK LIKE A ZOMBIE

Brain Tech – Part 3

Adapted from the Journal of the MIT Enterprise Forum – Chicago

John Jonelis;

A highly experienced parachute instructor wanted to film his students. (This actually happened in the ‘90s.) “He clips the camera to his visor and carries the rest of the unit on his back. Then he does everything the same as always. But on his way down, he reaches for the ripcord and it’s not there. He forgot his parachute.” How can that happen to a seasoned instructor? What caused the fatal mistake?

In our daily lives, why do we get frustrated? Why do we get upset? The answer lies in the lesson of the parachute. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Analogue clock, Armed forces, Army, distractions, forgetting your parachute, Marines, Neuroplasticity, new information, overload, overwhelmed, PACE, Parachute training, Progressively Accelerated Cognitive Exertion. Road map, subconscious, zombie system, zombie thinking

March 19, 2014 · 1:23 am

THINK FAST

Brain Tech – Part 3

Adapted from the Journal of the MIT Enterprise Forum – Chicago

John Jonelis

“I must’ve walked down that alley 100 times, but for some reason something told me I shouldn’t go down there.” But the Marine dismisses the thought and carries on with his mission. Next, he gets blown up. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Armed forces, Army, combat, combat decision, combat decisionmaking, combat tactics, faster thinking, IED, Marines, speeding up the brain, speeding up thinking, tactics, tactics of war, thinking faster, thought processing, training, war

January 30, 2014 · 11:48 pm

TOUGH LOVE

Techbash – Part 5

John Jonelis

This is a story about raw love. Tough. Rugged. Unashamed.

I’m at i.c.stars—the premier social incubator in Chicago—and I find myself a bit overwhelmed by it all. I stop in to thank Sandee Kastrul, their President and Co-founder and she pours me some hot coffee.

“I think,” She says, “that at the end of the day, there are three things that you should know about us:

We’re positioned as an opportunity, not a charity.
Rather than exploit our interns, we exploit our CIOs.
We’re funded by the technology industry—not the government.

Those seem to me rather interesting assertions for a social venture. But she goes on to explain: Continue reading →

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Tagged as brand, changing a culture, committment, dedication, firing, hidden talent, highly sought after talent, lifting a culture, perfect attendance, Pride, reputation, self sustaining social venture, strength from adversity, strength of character, Tough love

January 11, 2014 · 12:58 am

THE APPRENTICE MEETS DIGITAL BOOT CAMP

Techbash – Part 3

VERBATIM – John Jonelis

This is a story of high expectations, high reality, and high energy. I may as well give it to you straight, because Loop Lonogan would want it that way. He’s in the lockup. Too much hard partying on Twelfth Night. His guests spilled into the street and all kinds of trouble erupted—part of it involving a policeman he knocked cold. So I’m here at i.c.stars headquarters. Here to finish Lonagan’s series of articles. I’m talking to the president and co-founder, Sandee Kastrul. Continue reading →

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Filed under Conflict, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Giving, High Tech, Influence, Low Tech, Poverty, Relationships, The Economy

Tagged as adversity, bad neighborhoods, civics, Crime, Digital Boot Camp, fertile ground, gangs, giving back, hidden talent, hottest recruiting ground., IT training, job training, leadership training, learn fast, learn on the job, learn while doing, learning a skill, learning technology, learning to program, no hope, overcomers, overcoming, perseverance, reciprocity, resiliency, rich soil, rough neigborhoods, school of hard knocks, self taught, social entrepreneur, social incuabator, Social venture, teaching a skill, teaching technology, technology education, technology training, The Apprentice, vocation, vocational training

September 11, 2013 · 1:42 am

DA LEG BREAKER ‘N’ DA SNAKE OIL

Loop Lonagan and John Jonelis

“I still sez he ain’t nothin but a well-dressed snake oil salesman. Too smooth. Too articulate. Voice too modjoo—madju—modulated. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Alcoholics, bad debts, bull terrier, collect bad debts, compliance, cure for alcoholics, detox, Loop Lonagan, quit drinking, quit smoking

August 8, 2013 · 4:00 am

THEM WORMS

Bill Blaire – special correspondent

as told to John Jonelis

Bill Blaire here. Jim Kren don’t want you should see this story, ‘n’ scratched it outa the last article but Da Boss overruled him so here it is. I might be talkin’ a victory fer da little guy here, but nobody never accused me o’ bein’ a little guy. Continue reading →

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Tagged as bad smell, bait, garbage, hog waste, landfill, methane gas, natural solution, pig farm, pig waste, pollution, stink, vermiculture, worm farms