Noob writer here…

So how do you write an article on something that you’re very familiar with, but certainly don’t feel like an expert on, and on a subject that’s been written about a thousand times?

I guess the first place to start is the audience. I’ve been requested to write an article by an industry colleague but am not entirely sure as to whom the audience is going to be. Is it a ‘lateral’ audience? or are we trying to educate customers? both?

Another thing is the venue. I think he’s going to post it on a professional networking site (the name escapes me right now.) The idea is that the article is posted and industry peers can comment on it. Not exactly sure how we’re supposed to direct our customers to it though.

I guess I’ll have to find out, huh?

Is there anything else I should consider?

Dale Carnegie class – Update

Kinda of sick of it. I’m not a very energetic person and it seems this class is hell bent on ‘improving’ me in that aspect. While I accept that I could be more energetic and probably be a more effective leader, I don’t really appreciate their tack of taking it to the extreme in the hopes that we’ll retain at least a little of it. I don’t wanna jump around! I think it’s creating the opposite effect.

We have these 2 minute talks to give every session. There are 32 of us. The 2 minutes usually rolls over into at least 2 and a half minutes. That’s an hour and 20 minutes of just the students talking. The whole class period is only 3 and a half hours long. Last session they also added 1 minute talks about something else. So now we’re at 1 hour and 52 minutes of student talking. Over half the class time.

I didn’t know this was a public speaking course. I didn’t really want to spend $1,700 on a public speaking course. Even if it wasn’t my own money…

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I shouldn’t gripe and should just appreciate the opportunity to learn something. I do. I do appreciate that I can go to this class and at least ‘freshen up’ on some leadership material.

But honestly…the drive isn’t worth it.

Getting Excited!

I’m a gamer. Well, to be more precise, I like to play video games. Some video games.

I suppose the definition of ‘gamer’ is not exactly fixed in stone. I’m not an avid gamer, not a well-rounded gamer, not even a good gamer, but I like to play first person shooter video games.

Halo: Reach is coming out this year. Supposedly the last installment of the Halo franchise. I don’t know much about it, but I guess Bungie, the game developer, will become part of another studio after they’re done with Reach.

I am a Halo fan. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the different iterations they’ve made bajillions on since the first, Halo: Combat Evolved. Some of the most fun times I’ve ever had were playing in LAN parties with my friends, yelling at each other through the walls.

Halo:Reach is absolutely gorgeous.

If you didn’t already know, you play as a Spartan, which is a genetically enhanced human sheathed in some awesome armor.

And for you ladies, there are even female Spartans. Not that you can really tell the difference…

I haven’t been following the development of Reach much so far, but I think it’s going to my one of my regular interweb stops now. Just saw a developers video and it looks fantastic!

The online beta demo comes out on May 3rd this year. And since I bought Halo 3: ODST, I have an invitation! They haven’t set a release date for the game yet.

Woohoo! Can’t wait!!

Testing & Trips

Just testing out a new tool. I’m using Windows Live Writer to create and publish this post.

The family and I went up to Estes Park in Colorado last Saturday. It was a very short trip but we got to see a herd of elk and some nice vistas.

 

And I just found my new blog writer! It still doesn’t let me insert pics using the link from my Google Photo Albums, but if I keep that sync’d with Picasa, it should work fine.

What I like is that it doesn’t automatically insert the picture at the top of the post like the Blogger writer does. It puts it at the cursor, like everything else in the world.

They have this cool map thingy too:

And can’t forget the girlies:

Was looking back at my post about my next assignment and thought I'd expand.

We all have free will. It's part of our human condition. We're given the opportunity to investigate (or not) weigh options, and make choices.

What I didn't discuss in my previous post was the condition in which I was in. And I wasn't 'in' anything. I was really out of it... Living in my own little world.

It's not that I didn't care about anything or anyone, but I think I expected everything to be very clear to me. This theory was very evident in how I handled school. I understood most of the subjects. But there were a few where I had a terrible time grasping the logic. One was statistics. I didn't have much instruction on it, but it was just enough for me to decide that I didn't want to learn. It was a portion of another class, a quality control class I think, so there was enough other material for me to regurgitate and get a decent grade. It probably wasn't a conscious decision at the time, but I see now that when I had trouble learning something, I did just enough to get by and promptly forgot about it.

The sad thing is that the same practice translated into my marriage. I didn't, and still don't, understand a lot about my wife. She had a very different childhood than I did, went to a different school, and had an entirely different family structure. Some time during our marriage, I think I subconsciously made the decision to do just enough to get by, because I didn't really understand. If I don't understand something, how can I expand on it and improve it?

What does this have to do with free will?

Even if I didn't consciously think it, I still made the choice to slack off. That wasn't God's doing. But He did see it. And eventually provided that big push to get me off my ass. And He made it painful just so I wouldn't forget. At the time I didn't think I had any choice in the matter, but I did. I could have just left.

God equips us. Gives us the strength and grace to get through life. We do have choices to make, decisions to ponder, bridges to cross. And I believe, for the most part, God lets us go our merry way. I also believe that the everyday choices we make matter a whole lot less to Him than we might think, as long as we do it with a conscious and educated thought process guided by what He wants us to do. So often my little pea-brain sees only a few options, even though I suspect there are far more available to me.

Like tomorrow. We've decided to get out of town for the day and go see something new. Does it really matter, as far as living a Godly life is concerned, with where we eventually end up? Probably not. Does it really matter that I graduated college? Probably not.

So as far as giving myself the due I deserve. I may be due the due...but as far as anything that actually matters, I certainly couldn't have done it without God.

Fried day 5

1. When you come home from a long day of whatever it is you do and your brain is totally fried, what therapy do you normally seek? - Usually playing with my girls helps. Innocence is very refreshing. Of course...they're not always innocent, in which case I go take a shower.

2. Of the myriad of desserts made primarily of fried dough, what is your favorite? - Well, it would be donuts if we were talking about breakfast. But for desert, a good oliebollen is very nice.3. Most fried foods are best right out of the fryer, but what’s a fried food that you enjoy cold? - See above. Although they get a little tough the longer they sit out.

4. What’s the most unusual deep-fried food you’ve ever tried? - I guess it's not so unusual, but I love me some fried calamari.5. Where can you get really good French fries? - Out of a bulk frozen bag and fried until very crispy in my own fryer. I only like crispy fries. Nobody likes a floppy....fry.

1st assignment update

So I decided to talk about the 'discovery' topic in my Dale Carnegie class. Wasn't even 3 sentences into it and the instructor interrupted me. Normally I can handle that and can improve fairly well. I think my problem was that I decided at the last minute that I wasn't as well prepared as I thought I was.

I normally don't have problems speaking in front of crowds. I'd been performing at piano recitals and choir performances through most of my adolescent years. Even had a few solos. But one thing that occurred to me last week is the amount of preparation that goes into musical performances. It's hours and hours and hours of practicing just to spend those few moments in front of a crowd. I have never put that much effort into a speech. Even through college when we had to give presentations. I'd jot down a few notes and wing it. And I usually did well. Certainly never failed.

Holly cow did I feel like I failed. I'm certain it was more my feeling than any actual failure, but that doesn't really make it better.

Next week is coming. Our assignment is another talk about something we've accomplished. I already know exactly what I'm going to talk about....

Nothing.

It's not that I've never accomplished anything. It's just that anything worth talking about hasn't been from me. You might think my choice to stick it out with my wife is an accomplishment...and it is...but it wasn't from me. It was entirely God's doing.

What about my kids? Hey! I successfully had sex. At least 3 times!

As far as raising them? Any patience I have doesn't come from me. It's God. I've always had feelings and practical actions of love towards them, but again, it's entirely founded on the grace of God.

Graduating college? Huh. Someone else paid tuition and I showed up to class. Yippee. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot and enjoyed it. But it was just something to do.

My biggest accomplishment...that didn't even come from me...was realizing how inept I really am. God granted me His grace. It took an emotional crisis for me to get to the point of receiving it. All of it was orchestrated by God. I had no other choice. Thank God.