Clarification

To my throngs of blog readers (1 "view" means 1000 readers, right?), I just wanted to offer clarification regarding my last post. It was not a serious post. The goal was to make people think I am writing about the traditional "glass ceiling" but surprise them with the fact I'm only talking about the glass panel that separates a junk-food-aholic from their stash. A switch-a-roo or something to that effect. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, due to classic temperament differences, I have come to understand that the post could be read into turning it to something which it totally is not. In fact, my wife was able to read into it and discover its hidden meanings, apparently.

So not to worry, though I really could use a Kit Kat. If you could help me out in that regard, I'd be quite thankful.

The Glass Wall

Every day at work, I see it.

I walk by and peer into a world that I can never reach.

I truly want what lies behind the wall of glass.

However I am not one who can get through it.

No, I must stand happily on the other side.

Others all around me can find what they want when they look through the glass.

What is it about me that prevents this for me?

Every day I walk passed it.

An invisible wall that separates employees from their dreams.

I wish I could put a crack in it, maybe more. Maybe nine million.

What do others have that I do not?

I want what lies behind the glass wall.

Oh how much it would make my life better.

But alas, it can only remain a dream.

Nevermind. I do have a dollar in my wallet! Time for a Kit Kat!

Recycling

On Easter Sunday, my laptop computer of five years went into a tomb. The screen looked like a staticy covered television screen while I was watching Donald Trump prepare to fire someone on Celebrity Apprentice. It was as though my computer was quite confused at that moment and chose that moment to arrive at the point from which it could not return, for it is only a computer after all.

Well, it could be fixed for three hundred some odd dollars. Considering the age of my computer, however, I decided not to invest it back into an old system. On to new and more exciting things, I say. Just prior to my "Huntsman" Google binge, I was doing a ton of searching on "Chromebook."

When my computer went down, I began to see the value of having all my data stored on the "cloud." That basically means you riskily house all your data online.  The plus side is whenever your hardware collapses, you lose your computer, or simply are at somebody else's computer, you have the ability to fully function with all the information that you'd ordinarily have on your system. The downside, privacy for sure, but also relying on other people's servers to keep you afloat.

It was odd because when my computer went down, I began thinking of how I wanted to move to a more cloud-based operation. I had been meaning to do it before the computer crash, mainly to house all my pictures of my daughter online to avoid the danger of a broken computer. Shortly thereafter, I randomly learned about Chromebooks. Seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. We'll see.

But anyway, the point is now I have the opportunity to reevaluate how I can most effectively create and manage information. I don't think my purely laptop computer based approach was the most ideal for me. However, that's what most people do so I sort of went with it. 

What I will be doing over the course of the next several months is cycling back to old school information creation and management - pen and paper. I will be getting a journal-type book to put things into. However, this will be paired with modern-day technology through Evernote. 

Hardware will then be evaluated based upon what my information process turns out to be. We shall see.

I will keep you posted.

Team Huntsman? (Update 2)

Overnight, Mitch Daniels announced that he was not going to run for president.  This certainly is big news for those observing the GOP field this year. In fact, in my personal choices, I was debating between both Daniels and Jon Huntsman as my "choice" among the Republican candidates and with the news of the day, I seem to have officially fallen into Team Huntsman.

Granted, he still has to formally announce that he is running. But in the meantime, his lighthearted jab yesterday at Mitt Romney involving hunting while meeting voters in New Hampshire was certainly welcome. I am not a Romney fan at all. At all. If it comes down to a Romney versus President Obama race, I can already say that I'd most likely vote for Obama.

While some will say that Huntsman serving as the ambassador to China during the Obama administration is a problem, it is interesting to note that he might end up being the "BushWorld" candidate. In fact, Jeb Bush's former staffer will run his operation in Florida should he decide to run. This news angle is for those of you who care about this sort of thing.

So, yeah. I'm now on Team Huntsman. Officially. He just has to officially announce.

Team Huntsman?

I'm liking Jon Huntsman more and more. Great interview with ABC news. Also, of his seven kids, he adopted two of them - one from India and one from China.

Time with God for Fathers (Review)

Jack Countryman has written a solid devotional book for fathers. It covers topics that most fathers likely face, and is written virtually all about a man's role as father. Out of the ninety devotions in the book, only one mentions his role has a husband so this is not a book to husbands masquerading as one to fathers. Both roles are different, so this book could be a fine gift to single fathers as well.

This book is certainly in the gift book genre of books. There is a "Presented To" page that one can fill with lines for the giver and the receiver and  the pages are thick and glossy. Both the red hardcover and the pages within are printed in such a way to give them an aged feel. There is also an elastic bookmark built into the book.

There are ninety devotionals in the book, each tackling the expected topics a Christian book for fathers might face - thoughts on strength, trust, providing comfort, living with integrity, and finding peace in difficult times. Each devotional has its title, about 1-3 verses from Scripture on the topic, and about 5-8 sentences of devotional. Apart from the devotions, there are reference pages for fathers regarding prayer, promises God makes and blessings He provides, the responsibilities of fathers, Biblical examples of fathers, and a crisis scripture guide.

The length of the devotions can either be its strength or its weakness depending on what is sought. This is in no way an in-depth study of anything scriptural. They are simply 30-second nuggets that fathers can use to find inspiration. Everything you might expect from a gift-book devotional, you find here. It doesn't go above and beyond, but it might not need to.

This probably isn't a standalone gift - you'd want to include it as part of something larger. If it is for Father's Day, you might want to include a pair of tickets to a football game, or perhaps throw it in the glove box of the new car you have purchased for dad - covered in that giant red bow.

Four stars (out of five).

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from Thomas Nelson.

Our next president?

Maybe? Hopefully? Don't know.

Fast facts:

Past job: Twice elected governor of Utah (very popular)
Latest job: Ambassador to China for President Obama
Languages known: English, Mandarin Chinese
Fan of: Progressive rock (dropped out of high school to play in a band, did return to graduate (correction: got his GED)
Kids: 7

Wikipedia him.

It's off to work I go

I spend the vast majority of my awake hours at a job that I didn't formally train for, nor is it in an area of personal interest. It really is quite disconnected from "life" in the sense that I show up to work, try to excel at it, and bring home a paycheck. This paycheck allows actual life and interest to be fueled.

I certainly know I am not the exception or a rare case here. The vast majority of people who have jobs live for the weekend, for 5:00, and for any time they are not actually at work. If this weren't the case, books such as this one (which came out this week) wouldn't really have a market.

Yet, despite these facts, spending the majority of your time in an area that is utterly disconnected from your real life can certainly take it's toll. I've been working as a grown-up, full-time'r with benefits for nearly seven years now and I'm already looking forward to retirement. I can't imagine having to do this for forty more years.

The standard Christian response to work is that whatever we do, we are to do it as though we are doing it unto God and not just man. This certainly is an important, amazing context to put your work into. This alone is and should be enough to provide you solid motivation to handle all the things you need to do at work (or wherever). However, like many Christian words and concepts, you can get desensitized to them when you hear them over and over, and this certainly has happened to me with that one.

This week I read a blog post that truly renewed my understanding of what we are to do as Christians, not only at work but in all of our daily activities.

Using a statement from the Starbucks CEO where he says, "Pouring espresso is an art, one that requires the barista to care about the quality of the beverage. If the barista only goes through the motions, if he or she does not care and produces an inferior espresso that is too weak or too bitter, then Starbucks has lost the essence of what we set out to do 40 years ago: inspire the human spirit.

I realize this is a lofty mission for a cup of coffee, but this is what merchants do. We take the ordinary—a shoe, a knife—and give it new life, believing that what we create has the potential to touch others’ lives because it touched ours."

The author goes on to say, "Here’s the point: the ordinary is not ordinary. Rather, it is in the ordinary that we are able to build people up and, yes, inspire the human spirit.

When you clean house for your family, or pour a cup of coffee, or take your car to the wash, you aren’t just doing small, mundane things. You are building building people up. You are making things better, and making a statement that people matter. Or, that’s how you ought to see it."

If Christians at work, school, home, the mall, at the grocery store, church and wherever else we go actively looked beyond what the actual action were are doing, and realize that it could actually be something the builds a person up, we obviously should do it. Many people may continually have to deal with others continually bringing them down, bashing them unfairly in many arenas of life.

Our individual actions - essentially the products which we ourselves manufacture and provide - can let people know that at minimum, at least you and I care enough about them to give them something good. And if somehow we could fan out and spread across various industries, venues, and circumstances and make these sort of changes in a diverse set of environments, imagine the amount of change we can introduce into the lives of so many. Wouldn't that be great? How can we make it happen?

Oh, that's right. We can.

Don't go to work just to work. Go to work to build people up.

Barbie girl?

Here is a great post from Resurgence today, which talks about how you can protect your daughter from buying into the societal view of women.

Here is their list:

1. Dads, don’t underestimate your influence on your daughters. Tell them they are beautiful before the culture convinces them otherwise.
2. Moms, be aware of any distorted body image struggles, because your daughter learns lots about how to think about her body from you.
3. Protect them as much as possible from exposure to content that is harmful.
4. Learn about the media and pop-culture in your child’s life.
5. Get beyond the “Just Say No” approach to culture.
6. Make age-appropriate conversations an essential part of your relationship with your child.
7. Encourage children to use art, play, and writing to process the images and other media messages they see.
8. Counter the narrow stereotype of both boys and girls that are prevalent in media and commercial culture.
9. Help them learn how to interpret and engage what they see and read in culture.
10. Love them unconditionally. See them as a gift.

Ahhh! I have to think about things like this now!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Ok, I'm back.

What's in a name?

Yesterday, in my blog reading I came across a post that featured interviews with worship pastors in the context of what is known as "reformed theology."

Since that is not the point of this post, I will not delve into its actual subject matter. I didn't even listen to the interview. The thing that jumped out at me were the names of the churches that these pastors work at - Mars Hill, Vintage 21, The Journey, The Village, and SOMA.

How hipster.

Well, that's all. I still had that post up in a browser window today and figured I had to do something with it.

So here. You're welcome.