Saturday, December 31, 2011

As we bid farewell to another year and look forward to the one coming up, what’s in store for you?  What are your plans and what are your goals?

Here’s a short list of what I have planned.

• A year of new projects, new ventures, and new experiences.
• Letting ideas grow and allowing them to fail.
• Finding what works, realizing what doesn’t and moving forward.
• Streamlining both concepts and self, cutting the fat both figuratively and literally.
• Creating more content and building tools that can be shared with the communities that I believe in.
• Help connect people that share the same passion(s).
• Picking up the “pen” and writing more.  This was sorely lacking this year.
• Using the tools that I have and creating new types of content.
• Acting on items with more speed and worrying less.
• Banishing excuses. They accomplish nothing and only hold us back.

Now it’s your turn! What do you have planned for the new year?

Friday, December 16, 2011

A few weekends ago I found myself getting ready for another work-week and started thinking about how I had spent those two, precious “off days”.  While most of the time was spent with my family, there was a large chunk that had been devoted to work, either by thought or by action.  I’ve often said, half-joking, that my hobby is doing the same thing that I do for a living.  The thing is, that’s the truth.  I love what I do, the creative process, the technology angle, helping better my clients.  But although I love it,  I’ve come to the realization that I need a new way to spend my down time.  I need a real hobby.

Searching for something offline.
It didn’t take me long to run through a list of things that I’d like to do.  It took even less time to start crossing most of those items off the list. Finally an option came to the top that would fit the bill.  R/C cars.  I’ve always been fascinated by radio-controlled cars and have longed for one since my days in elementary school.  Sure I’ve had an assortment of R/C cars in the past, none of them could be customized or tuned (easily).  This hobby would also allow me to scratch my itch for racing that I’d been left with since I stopped kart racing back in 2000. 

A chance to recharge, in more ways than one.
While I haven’t begun my foray into the R/C world (yet), I’ve started researching and reviewing, and hanging out at hobby shops.  It’s fun and a welcomed escape from my other hobby.  Here’s to hoping it provides some creative benefits too.  What can I say, I’m a creature of habit. 

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Just over a week ago, my family and I returned from a vacation to Orlando, FL.  This being our second trip there as a family, it was great seeing my oldest son’s reaction to rides that he’s been on before and how his tastes have changed.  Likewise, I enjoyed watching my youngest son find his favorite rides and see his favorite characters.  It was a great escape, and it was, as they bill it, magical.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

For a long time, I was never a fan of public speaking and giving presentations (where I was the one doing the talking). In fact, I can remember one instance in 3rd grade where I had to give an oral book report on a book that I knew cover to cover, and I froze. Big. Time. A 50-gallon drum of WD-40 couldn’t have freed me up enough to where I could make a sound. It was bad. I mark that that as watershed moment in how I viewed the topic of public speaking. Until the last few years…

I have been put into more product/service presentation situations over the past few years than I ever thought I would have. From discussing the basis behind a mobile Website to preaching the benefits of social networking, I’ve found my personal feelings on the subject beginning to change. In fact, I’ve gotten quite comfortable sharing information in front of a crowd. Pinpointing what changed or what has caused my attitude to change is somewhat of a difficult task. Between volunteering and being requested to speak, the typical pressures that I’ve experienced in the past have subsided (not that I don’t have moments of panic before “showtime”). I’ve also witnessed some great examples of how to present and how to express one’s passion for a subject.

Being the dyed-in-the-wool Apple fan that I am, I’ve always enjoyed watching Steve Jobs give a product announcement or discuss a new feature of the Mac OS. There’s something in the way he presents products and features, a way that captivated the audience and the fan base and makes you yearn for whatever is being unveiled. What that “something” is has been discussed, deconstructed and scrutinized, but it does exist.

Before my past few presentations, I’ve replayed an assortment of Stevenotes and played close attention to not just what was being said, but how it was being delivered. That activity has not-only gotten me into the correct mindset but also reminds me of what a person can do when they believe in what they’re presenting.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Today, as many are painfully aware, marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. I can remember where I was, what I was doing when it took place and I still get a mixed reaction of anger, sadness, and pain when watching the coverage. The biggest challenge I’ve found myself faced with is how to begin explaining these terrible events to my kids.

As soon as I turned the tv on this morning, the memorial coverage was in full swing. The boys were up as well and beginning their day as their attention quickly turned to the television. My youngest, who’s two, didn’t give much of a reaction, but my oldest (five) had a different response. It wasn’t what I’d hoped for. To him, it wasn’t real. It was video and it looked no different than a movie. For all he knows, it is a movie, but watching this unfold myself as I sat in a friend’s dorm room ten years ago, I know it’s all-too-real.

I realized I needed to give some level of reality so I mentioned that this was a very bad event that killed many people and it was caused by very bad people. Evil in it’s purest form. I stopped short of the evil remark. Carter’s too young to grasp that and is just now getting into superheros and villains, but the villains he sees aren’t to the level of hatred that people in the United States came to know so many years ago.

I looked for his reaction and he didn’t get it. He started to play “rescue guy” after gathering his toy firetrucks and police cars. Innocent enough, but I quickly changed the channel to Disney and that ended all talk or questions of the disaster. I know I’ll need to cross this bridge again, but now isn’t the time. They still have innocence in their lives and they should be allowed to keep that for as long as possible.