Friday, June 29, 2007

Computer Geeks and Communicating with the Rest of the World

Computer geeks are generally a different group of people. In the good-old days, give a computer geek his computer and specifications for the part of the project to be worked on and leave the room - the computer geek would be happy as a clam.

But that was yesteryear.

Today communication skills and being personable are as important for a computer geek to possess as are coding and debugging skills.

Requirements gathering, interacting with other members of the team, customer facing, and making presentations to the rest of the world are just a few instances of how communication skills are necessary for today's computer geek.

The computer geek can no longer be a mole or troll and be locked up all day in front of a computer in a dark room coding or studying about the latest and greatest fad.

The new kinder and gentler computer geek of today must be able to use both sides of brain equally in order to make it today's world.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. Even if it is a computer geek. :-)

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The "i" World

The Babyboomers started it back in the 1980's by living the life of how to better yourself at almost any expense.

Apple brought the "i" to the electronic front by introducing the iPod and the other mini-variations of it. Then everyone had to have some kind of "i" compatible device.

Apple brings "i" to a new level tomorrow (6/29/2007) with the introduction of the iPhone. I think it does everything but fix you dinner and take out the trash. I am pretty sure that Apple is probably working on that as well.

I have a few buddies who are earlier adopters and at least one of them has been cooing about tomorrow like it were the second coming of Christmas. In his case, it pretty much is.

The supply will most likely not meet the demand. But the lucky few who do get one will have "i" bragging rights.

Good luck to my friends in your quest to be the first on your block with the new iPhone.

#1 Hodge Podge

It's always nice to be first in whatever it is you do. But it is not easy maintain that status.

One of my favorite scenes that displays this is from the movie Real Genius that goes something like this:

"You're not number one any more."

"Number one what?"

"Mighty Mouse over here beat your placement scores by more than 20 points."

"You did?" "Well, you might be smarter than me, but can you do this?" [he pirouettes on the ice as it melts]

Today is the NBA draft and the Portland Trailblazers have the #1 pick. This past season the Blazers were a challenged enough team to get into the NBA lottery for the top pick. They were lucky enough to land the #1 pick. So sometimes it is better to be lucky than really bad. :-)

Most of the time it takes a lot of hard work and good teammates to become number one. Don't become complacent when you become the best at what you do. That is not what got you there. Always surround yourself with good people. It will make it that much easier to become and remain #1.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. You never know if that person will be on your number one team or if you will be on theirs someday.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Happiness

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank, I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Two Choices

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter I left to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. He continued, "..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses I got really scared. In their eyes, I read he's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. “She asked if I was allergic to anything ' Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Monday, June 25, 2007

In the Box

Are you limiting yourself by sticking yourself in a box?

If things don't work out exactly as you planned do you get frustrated and consider the event a total disaster because it did not work out? If so, don't box yourself in.

I heard a story about a guy who was interviewing for a new position. He really wanted the job and prepared hard for the interview. After the interview was over, he felt that he had a real good chance of getting the job. It seemed like the perfect position for him in an up-and-coming company. A couple of days later he got the letter from the company stating that they selected someone else for the position. They guy was devastated. He was angry. He knew that he was the right person for the job. He was angry about not getting the job for a couple of weeks. About 2 months later, the company fell upon hard times and had to layoff and eliminate numerous positions - including the position that he so coveted. If he had gotten the position, he would have been out of work.

Just because something does not work out the way that you want it to work out, does not mean that God is not looking out for you. God has something better for you in mind.

Don't limit yourself or God to what you want by putting your expectations in a box. What you want and what you need are not always the same thing. Have great big expectations. Don't close yourself into a box.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It might be what gets that person out of their box.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A Good Day to Call in Well

Today is a good day to call in well.

Well, you ask?

Did I mean to say sick?

No, I actually meant well.

It is a very nice day here today. The sun is shining. The temperature is comfortable. And physically and mentally, I feel well.

It is much too nice of a day to be required to be stuck in-doors. So, I would like to be able to call in well and enjoy the day.

My one silver lining of having to work inside today is that I have a window seat that overlooks our reflective pond.

I do plan on leaving work today at 4:00 PM (I get to work around 6:00 AM) so I can enjoy the 4-plus hours of sunshine remaining in the day.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. A nice walk around your campus or neighborhood could be the right thing on a day like today.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Life

Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away.

Enjoy life. You don't get a mulligan if you don't.

You need to stop and smell the roses once in a while. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

My daughter is getting ready to start college next month. Life moves by so quickly that it seems like she just started kindergarten. Some of my early stops in life were field trips with my daughter in elementary school and junior high. Today stops in life with my daughter are actually more frequent than earlier in life. I do truly enjoy them. Some of the things that we do to enjoy life are talking about movies (no duh), talking about and eating food, talking about art and looking at different pieces and interior design. My daughter is the one with the good ideas for interior design - I am just the muscle to help deploy them.

Enjoy each and everyday.

Live life like you were dying and do everything you can.

If you happen to live to be 100, think of all the fond memories you will have.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It might just make that certain someone stop and enjoy life a little more.

Friday, June 15, 2007

What You Need vs. What You Want

I think everyone would like to win the lottery. If you did, would it make you happy? If everyone did win the lottery, the dispersement would be so infinitesimally small, everyone would not be happy; in fact they might be angry - check out the movie Bruce Almighty, this actually happens.

Your teenagers would love to play and hangout with their friends all the time and not have to worry about school or chores. As parents, if we allowed that, we would be letting them down because we would not be preparing them to be productive members of society and they would have no idea how to take care of themselves.

It is good to have what you need; there are numerous places around the world where people don't.

It is nice to get things you want. (See previous comment.)

Just because you want something does not mean you have to have it or that you need it.

Be grateful for what you have.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. Try giving them something they need.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Be Excellent to Each Other

One of my favorite goofy movies is Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. An academy award winner it is not, but the plot does have a good message. Rufus, George Carlin, starts off talking about the future and how great it is - bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down and how everything is great.

The main plot of the movie has Bill and Ted traveling through the portals of time trying to complete a history project. At one point they end up in some futuristic place. The leader of the futuristic place, none other than Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, recognizes who they are and says, it's you. All Bill and Ted can muster at first is, yes it's us. Then they decide to philosophize with the people and Bill says, Be excellent to each other.

It might have been corny, but it was truly the meaning for the movie; it is how everything became great. It is also a good philosophy for life.

If we can all be excellent to each other, just imagine how great things can be.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It is a most excellent thing to do.

Monday, June 11, 2007

What Can I Do?

You might not be able to do everything, but you can do something.

So what can I do to make the world a better place? I am only one person.

Completing one thing at a time makes a difference. You never know the how positive affect you make in one person's life is going to affect the world until you do it.

It is the butterfly effect. You do something good for three people. Then each of those people do something good for three other people and so on. This does not mean that you should not stop at when you reach three.

All the people that do good onto other people because of you act of kindness you did all come back to you in the grand scheme of things. So you might not be able to do everything, but you can do something.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It is the least you can do.

Friday, June 8, 2007

What Good Are You Going to Do Today?

Everyday opportunities to do good are put in front of you.  Are you going to do something about it?  Or are you just going to let it pass you by?

Doing something good does not necessarily have to cost you financially.  It could be just a moment or two of your time.

One of my coworkers today drove in with a flat tire.  I did not think she knew she had the flat tire because when she opened her trunk, she only pulled out her laptop and came into the building.  I found her and asked if she had a spare tire.  She said she thought she had a spare, so I offered to change the tire for her.  The only problem was she did not have a jack.  But she did have AAA which she called to fix the flat.

One of my buddies yesterday helped me out with an issue with my blog site I was having troubles resolving.  Scott is an extremely active and busy guy, but he took time during his lunch to help me resolve the problem.

The other night while I was watching the guys play basketball, a couple of people showed up a little late.  Instead of making the new guys wait at least a game to get a chance to play, a couple of the guys on the sidelines gave their places to the new guys so they could play, since they had not played yet.

So what are you going to do today?

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness.  You can tally one towards your good deed of the day.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Try Something New

It is pretty easy to get into a comfort zone and stay there. The slightest little change in a routine can create a challenge that we were not expecting.

There is nothing wrong with having a comfort zone. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with a little change once in while.

For example, this is the first time that I am writing this blog offline using Windows Live Writer; it allows me to be more concerned with my thoughts of the moment than grammar and spelling. This takes me a tiny bit out of my normal routine, but it is worth it to try something new that can make my life a bit easier in the long run.

When you go out to eat, do you always go to the same place and order the same thing? Unless you have a body that requires you to do so, make a change. Be adventurous and go somewhere new. Or go somewhere old and try something new.

Creating a little change in your life will make it easier to accept change when the change is not your decision.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It might be the change that you need as well as the change that someone else needs.

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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Every Day's a Learning Experience

What's going to happen today? Who knows. But you have the opportunity to make it a great learning experience.

The day I don't learn something is the day that I die. After growing out of my teenage years when I knew everything, I became more humble and knowledgeable that I do not know everything. There will always be someone that is better than me at something that I can learn from their expertise.

If you ever want to know how a new gadget or device works, just ask a kid. The kid will probably be able to figure it out far faster than you can. If you ever want to learn about patience, ask a wife and mother - they have to deal with husbands and kids every single day.

If a challenge comes your way that you just don't know how to handle, don't look at it as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to learn.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. Asking someone for help can show that person that you trust their expertise and want to learn from them.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Dance Like No One is Watching You

Life should be enjoyed. Don't spend all your time worrying about things you can't control. And don't worry too much about what people think about you. If you always try to do the right thing, the right people will like you.

Dance like no is watching you. Have fun and enjoy life. Share your enjoyment with others. Make people want what you have in your life.

Start the day thinking about how good the day is going to be and make it happen. Take care of your responsibilities and obligations with a positive attitude. You will surprised at how quickly they are accomplished.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. Exude positive energy when you do it.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Life Lessons

Sometimes life is tough.

No one ever promised that it would be easy.

Some lessons we learn the easy way by taking someone's advice. Others we learn the hard way by going through the experience on our own. For example, you might take your mom's word that the stove is hot when the burner is red. Or you might have to touch it yourself to find out that she was not just trying to be mean to you.

Sometimes God helps out of a situation without pain or angst. Other times God helps us through a situation and we become stronger and better because of it. We can then pass on our experience to someone else so that person has the choice of heading our advice - or not.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It could be as simple as passing on a life lesson.

 

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