I read recently via ARmadgeddon that Forrester is conducting a review of which blog do you read for Analyst Relations. To my surprise, Delusions of Adequacy was on the list. I’ve never tried to consciously do the tricks that score you high on the reader list. To the contrary, I violate many of the rules of top bloggers, especially staying on subject. While I do cover quite a bit about the profession, I also throw in humor (click on the category to see for yourself) and other issues a lot of people other than the A/R crowd care about.

In the blog stats, I get a lot of hits on the Day Lilly named after my Mother and Competitive Eating of all things.

Anyway, here is the list of A/R blogs to read. Good for those other guys, maybe one day we’ll actually be A/R professionals if we keep reading and writing.

• Analyst Insight by David Rossiter (UK)
• Analyst Equity by Duncan Chapple (UK)
• ARcade by Hill & Knowlton (US)
• AR Insider newsletter by Knowledge Capital Group (US)
• ARmadgeddon (US)
• Outsell Now (US)
• Tekrati.com The Industry Analyst Reporter (and companion blog) (US)
• Delusions of Adequacy by John Simonds (US)
• Infuse by Duncan Brown (UK)

My mother died this morning at 8:15.

What is ironic is that she was also born on the 4th of July. While I’m sad and grieving, it is a relief that her suffering is now over and that she is with God in heaven. How can you say that one asks? My mother was a born again Christian, not just a Christian in name…… which means she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior.

Her memory and legacy will go on. The picture above is the Faye Simonds Day Lilly, named for her last year due to her love of flowers.

My sister wrote a beautiful eulogy. Here is a portion of it:

For years, my parents and I have attended the Bach Festival Society’s annual performance together. This past February, I had the pleasure of attending the Bach Festival performance with my mother and my cousin Josie. As we sat together enjoying the beauty of the St. John’s Passion, I looked over at my mother as tears streamed down her face and I knew that she was preparing in her heart to meet her Savior soon, and that she was praising God for the gift of eternal life with Him that He had so graciously given her. In closing, I would like to repeat a portion of the beautiful words of the Passion According to St. John, written by J.S. Bach that touched her heart so deeply:

This setting takes place at the Crucifixion of Jesus, as He bowed his head and breathed His last breath:

O Thou my Saviour, give me answer, dearest Saviour.

Since Thou upon Thy cross are crucified, and Thyself hast said:

“It is fulfilled.”

Shall I from death be ever free?

Can I through Thy despair and Passion, the heavenly home inherit?

Is all the world redeemed today?

Thou canst for pain indeed not answer,

yet bowest Thou Thy head to say, in silence: “Yea!”

Jesus Thou who once wast dead,

Livest now forever.

When the path of death I tread,

Let my seeking never

Elsewhere than to Thee be turned,

O beloved Saviour!

Give me but what Thou hast earned,

More I do not pray for.

Help, O Jesus, God’s own Son,

Through thy bitter anguish,

That the favor Thou hast won

Evil deeds may vanquish.

How and why our Saviour died

We must ponder truly,

And, though weak, leave naught untried,

Lord, to thank Thee duly.

Rest well, Beloved, sweetly sleeping,

That I may cease from further weeping,

Rest well, rest well,

And let me, too, rest well.

The grave that is prepared for Thee

And holds no further pain for me,

Doth open Heaven to me,

And close the gates of Hell.

O Lord, Thy little angel send,

Whene’er my mortal life shall end,

To bear my soul to Heaven!

My body in its chamber sleep,

All torment do Thou distant keep,

Till Thy last call be given!

And then from death awaken me,

That these poor eyes their Lord may see,

See Son of God, Thy glorious face,

My Saviour and my fount of grace!

Lord Jesus Christ, O hear Thou me,

Thee will I praise eternally.

I blogged before about a daylilly being named after my mom.  It’s now on the market.

Wonder if I’ll be this famous one day?

Passion:

It became apparent when we looked for bloggers at IBM that the key attribute that caused success was passion. When someone had passion, they were tenacious and more likely to succeed. It became clear very quickly that this applied to other things in life also.

Ever since I was young, my mother always grew flowers. She won first place all the time at the flower shows with her then passion, hibiscus. She also grew vegetables and pretty much when you say green thumb, you are talking about my mom. So passion is not a flash in the pan, it’s been some 60+ years that she has been at this.

Her latest foray into planthood has been with Day Lillies. She, my sisters and a lot of her friends have been buying day lilies on-line and from nurseries.

Legacy:

Just this past week, one of the local nurseries created a new day lilly, featured above and named it the Faye Simonds. Since you can buy these around the world, it’s as easy to get this in Florida as it is Australia from the highly acclaimed Ladybug Daylilies.

Eisenhower, Reagan and Bush have ships named after them. Most people die with no legacy. My father has an engineering scholarship named after him at the University of Central Florida. Now my mom has a day lilly forever linked to her, the Faye Simonds, legal registration and everything. It is a ruffled orange day lilly 6.5 to 7 inches in diameter and will be in the 2007 collection.

Wonder what my legacy will be, do you?