Flash forward thirty-odd years and we’re in the midst of the Iowa caucus season (the “Hawkeye Caucii”) and I can tell you that now that I am grown up (this is subject to debate depending on who you ask), I have no such intention.

Although no one has asked me for two or three decades what I want to be when I grow up, I still sometimes think about the question. Over the years I’ve had several different dream jobs, but one seems to persist. I think about it on airplanes, I am reminded of it when I shave in the morning, and sometimes it occurs to me while I’m at my actual job.

So what do I want to be? Well, despite a technical education, a home in small-town middle America, and lots of agricultural experience, I hope to someday host my own late night talk show. This seems like the most wonderful existence to me. You get to know the latest gossip, you have a research staff to keep you current with the news, and you meet the people who make the news. You deliver a humorous commentary on this nightly, and you go on to interview some of the people responsible. You become an insider in famous circles. All of this, plus you get paid.

I think I first got the idea when I was three or four years old, around the same time I tried to declare my candidacy for president. I remember very clearly sitting with my dad in his black leather recliner and watching Johnny Carson most nights. I wouldn’t understand all the humor until years later, but I always got a kick out of the animals when they were on with Jack Hannah and I loved the opening music. Later, in high school, I began to pay more attention to David Letterman who came on after Johnny finished up. Despite an aversion to Paul Schaffer which I still have today, I loved the more rough and tumble format of the show, and Dave had an edgy side which came out when he interviewed guests. Sometime after high school, I began to follow Tom Snyder as he interviewed guests on his own “late late show”, seemingly uniquely suited for a late night audience. I loved the feeling of connectedness you got when he interviewed someone like Don Rickles and they then started discussing some shared experience from decades before.

Is it feasible? Who knows? Who cares – it is a dream after all. Do fantasies need to be practical? I would just say that I have the “late night” thing down pat. If I did pursue this, I would consider it a success if I attained even the modest status of something like the local access program produced by Wayne and Garth in “Wayne’s World”.

Thanks for stopping by, and “That’s our show tonight, folks.”

Oh, and “Party on, Garth!”

What’s Your Dream Job? is a post from: shannonehlers.com

First, I love winter, and in particular I love so-called inclement weather. For some reason, I like it when it is cold and gray. I always have. Whether it is a snowy day or a rainy day, while others sit inside and wait for the sun to come out, I am usually outside, experiencing the weather. From the first onset of frost in the fall to the last blizzard of spring, I am in the cheeriest of moods. Don’t ask me to explain why, but for me what most call “inclement” is just fine.

Secondly, I’m a big fan of planning and reviewing and this is when I do my goal setting and progress checking. I have several new ventures to track in 2008, including the one you are reading now. So I’m thoroughly enjoying setting up tools and metrics to do just that.

Finally, I have a budding interest in gardening (pun totally intended) and I have just started receiving seed catalogs in the mail. So far my favorite is from a small company in Missouri called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It is run by a young man and his wife and is dedicated to purveying quality heirloom seeds. Web site address: http://www.rareseeds.com

What’s your favorite time of year?

One Year Ends; Seed For the Next is a post from: shannonehlers.com

If I ask my friends what they like most about the holidays, I likely would hear a few different answers. Many would say they like all the food, some would admit that they still love getting gifts, a few would say they love traveling during the holidays, and a couple might say that they just love the decoration, the music, and the “Christmas spirit”. I have to admit to enjoying most of these things, and also to being at the height of my glory if I’m walking down a busy street with Christmas music in the air, snow on the ground, and someone I love close by.

But what really is my favorite part of Christmas? Just being at home. I’ve lived in or around Soldier, Iowa for most of my life with the exception of seven years at my first job in Iowa’s capital city, Des Moines, and prior to that I spent four years away at college. In all of the years I’ve roamed the planet, though, I have yet to miss being at home, in Soldier, for Christmas. Something about that is comforting and helps to remind me of all the ways I’ve been blessed.

New Header: Home For the Holidays is a post from: shannonehlers.com

More on the Hillary Experience and more links after the break…

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take in the Hillary Clinton experience at our local livestock auction arena during her helicopter tour of western Iowa (stops in Council Bluffs, Dunlap, and Le Mars). About three weeks prior, I had seen Barack Obama speak to a packed house there. On Sunday, December 16, Hillary was scheduled to arrive via helicopter and speak at 1:30 pm.

The senator was nearly two hours late to the appearance, prompting jokes about her helicopter running out of gas between Dunlap and her morning appearance in Council Bluffs (an hour away by car). Despite the tardiness, it was all the organizers could do to get the seats filled, with many volunteers not showing up to occupy their reserved seats. I even talked to one woman who told me that she had been solicited via automated telephone message to come be in the audience (“press 1 if you can attend”). After a few further jokes, albeit muffled in the rear of the audience, about the Clintons’ very profitable livestock options trading (popularly known as “cattlegate”, a name that has always struck me as odd) and the irony of the venue, the event got underway.

Despite the criticisms and jokes, the crowd was on average very respectful as the senator from New York spoke from her plywood platform above the livestock auction ring below, posed amid sacks of cattle ration. Clinton was able to stir up vocal support with pledges to support big labor and create a health care system where everyone pays as much as they are able. Somehow, though, the irony of the cattle options scandal wasn’t lost on those around me as several continued to discus the original Clinton impeachment.

Speaking of irony, what is it with Hillary and flags? Early on in the campaign, she had the domino effect going with a group of flags. During the first part of the Dunlap speech, a large United States flag draped behind her began to fall until it was no longer properly displayed. It continued to slip as the speech went on.

Were it not for the dramatic tardiness, the poor attendance, the falling flags, and the whispered jokes, Hillary’s Dunlap appearance would have been a strong political performance. As it was, the crowd was cordial and so it didn’t hurt her and she looked outstanding in her all-green pant suit with a necklace of gold balls around her neck, but by the time she finished up in Le Mars later that evening, she appeared exhausted and ready for a nap on the nightly news.

Like her or not, you can’t discount the valiant effort she made to be one of us that day, cattle and all.

Iowa Caucus: Is the Flag Falling on Hillary? is a post from: shannonehlers.com

I’m a fan of Lijit’s people and their technology, but mostly their people.  If you have a blog and you’re not offering your readers the opportunity to use the Lijit search widget, you are missing an opportunity and so are your readers.

Lijit Wijit Now Available is a post from: shannonehlers.com

Check back soon, things will be changing…

Shannon says… is a post from: shannonehlers.com