Category Archives: Friends, Family, Life

A continuing inspiration

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There are some who would label Sister Mary Scullion’s belief system as ‘liberal’ because it has a vision for helping people reach their fullest potential, or, because it comes from a faith-based foundation, ‘religious’ or ‘conservative’. There are some would call this the polar opposite of say, ‘libertarianism’.

Whatever. Label it what you will with your thin-slicing marketing terms. There is a mission statement, right here, for a better world. Listen to Sister Mary Scullion’s “This I Believe” essay at WHYY.org: :

I envision and work for a society in which each person is given the opportunity and resources to achieve their fullest potential and to contribute to the common good.

I also believe that our greatest power is unleashed when people come together across social boundaries to form a community united by a common vision. It is through “the power of we” as our friend and partner, Jon Bon Jovi reminds us, that we come to know the deepest truth of our humanity.

At the end of the day, this is what I truly believe: “None of us are truly home until all of us are home.”

I know, at the end of the day, my Mom and my family benefited from the efforts of those who believed in such things. I am forever thankful for their efforts and hope I can somehow contribute the same along the way.

Getting to know who you are can help

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Oscar Wilde may have said, “only the shallow know themselves”, but a little introspection can go a long way.

Kimberly Blessing recommends a book and online assessment called “StrengthsFinder” to put to language what your natural strengths and inclinations are so that you can better put them to use.

She mentions the Keirsey temperament sorter in relation to Strengths Finder and it’s an assessment I’ve taken a few times over the past ten or so years. I always end up in the Idealist camp, sometimes among the Champions, sometimes among the Teachers. Re-reading the description of the Idealist I’m actually taken aback at how close it maps to me, including what my values are and what stresses me out.

I’m looking forward to finishing reading StrengthsFinder (quarter of the way through) and taking the assessment, it will be fun and helpful.

: StrenghtsFinder indicated my top 5 strengths are: Connectedness, Input, Individualization, Activator, and Strategic. These make a lot of send an emphasize elements of the Keirsey identified Idealist in me. These strengths compliment each other nicely.

Being an Activator, being driven to make things happen, works well to balance out the Strategic strength, which is to anticipate and project ahead. You can actually see how these two strenghts can be in conflict with one another too.

Individualization, looking for the unique qualities in each person and finding a way to help people work together, assists with Connectedness, which is all about bridge building and seeing the larger picture, the meaning of things.

As for Input, well Richelle calls me Number 5 (from Short Circuit) 🙂

I’d bet that Adaptibility, Context and Learner were among my top 10, if there was access, I’d bet they were there.

I highly recommend taking StrenghtsFinder. Even if you don’t believe in this kinda thing, and think that who we are as people is far more fluid than these kinda things would suggest, I do believe a little introspection can go a long way.

Favorite blog as of late: “You Are Not Smart”

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“You Are Not Smart” well… explains a lot and is great for self-introspection.

Other sites you might want to check out, if this is your cup of tea:

Mind Hacks

The Frontal Cortex

reddit.com: cognitive science

reddit.com: psychology

I hate a song that…

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“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.

I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”

That’s Woody Guthrie on songwriting. You can hear Will Greer reading those words, plus a great set of original recordings from Guthrie and Lead Belly, on the Smithsonian Folkways collection, “Folkways: The Original Vision”.

Happy 4th of July!

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I hope you are having a great 4th of July weekend. Yesterday was a big one here, hanging out with family and friends. The parade was fantastic, and it was capped by one awesome fireworks display. They were lighting off directly above us. Some days I can’t help but feel like the luckiest person in the world, and yesterday was definitely one. Some great memories to keep, including watching Emma have fun with her friends and watching her smile and laugh light up brighter than the fireworks. I just posted part of the display to YouTube: “86 Seconds: July 3rd Rockledge Fireworks”:

I hope you have a safe and great weekend.

Putting together a lightweight HD video recording rig

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I have a Kodak Zi8 recorder that I am planning to use to upload videos to YouTube with. It produces fantastic quality videos, but more important, it has a stereo microphone jack, so that I can use it to record live music or interviews with a high degree of audio quality.

Tim Conneally, over at Betanews, has put together a great guide to putting together a kit that will fit into a 15 inch notebook sleeve.

Based upon its recommendations, I have already purchased a Dynex Video Bracket.

Next steps are two by a microphone and lastly, a lamp. I’m looking for recommendations if you have them.

Mat Schaffer has offered, based upon personal experience, the SP-BMC-1 from Sound Professionals.

My price limit is up to the Rode VideoMic being used by Tim Conneally.

Fran Guidry recommends the SP-SPSM-15 from Sound Professionals and the (discontinued) AT825 from Broadcast Production & Microphones.

A high school drop out who did kinda okay

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Michael J. Fox’s latest book is ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future’ and yes, he is the high school drop out in question. In the book Michael J. Fox certainly does not promote quitting High School! Far from it. What the book focuses on, by sharing his story, and the challenges he faced and took on along the way, what you can learn as a student of life, being open what the people around you (especially your children) can teach you, and to be present in the moment. The only book I can think of to compare it to, and this is high praise considering my love of it, is Randy Pauch’s “The Last Lecture” (another must read). It’s a fantastic book, a great story, with lessons all of us can learn from.

Thank you Richelle for buying me this for Father’s Day. It came at a good time.

YouTube: “Good Morning America: Michael J. Fox’s Life Lessons “

NPR.org: A Lesson In Life From Michael J. Fox (with excerpt)

Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

He signs the book off with “Live to learn.”.

Merlin Mann – “No, really, do it.”

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Merlin Mann on “Watching the Corners: On Future-Proofing Your Passion”:

Nothing can actually “future-proof” anything. Anyone who claims to know the future is either a madman, a charlatan, or, often as not, both.

Thing is, regardless of the passions (or goals or values or priorities or whatever) that we hope to protect or defend, we’d all do well to remember that it is still ultimately OUR passion that’s at stake.

That means we’re the only one responsible for seeing that its functional components survive and adapt in a world in which each one of us has just north of zero control.

If we embrace the fact that no one can or should ever care about the health of our passions as much as we do, the practical decisions that help ensure Our Good Thing stays alive can become as “simple” as a handful of proven patterns–work hard, stay awake, fail well, hang with smart people, shed bullshit, say “maybe,” focus on action, and always always commit yourself to a bracing daily mixture of all the courage, honesty, and information you need to do something awesome–discover whatever it’ll take to keep your nose on the side of the ocean where the fresh air lives. This is huge.

Anything else? Yeah. Drink lots of water, play with your kid every chance you get, and quit Facebook today. No, really, do it.