Category: Philosophy

July 21, 2021 – Trying For the Second Time

July 21, 2021 /

I am not way into this, it is just that I am interested in exploring. What does that mean? It means that I am trying out Linux again. The first time I tried it was probably four years ago and I thought that it was OK, I just didn’t put much effort into it.

Why would you try Linux you ask? Well there are a couple of reasons but first I will start series of seemingly unrelated stories. My son has a penchant for collecting junk. He is a bit of a rube when it comes to not being able to see through people’s motivations. I will give a couple of examples.

About four years ago, my son and a friend decided to build a go-cart. Unbeknownst to me, their tactic was to go around the neighborhood and ask for free parts to create said go cart. One smart neighbor (I wish that I knew who it was) gave him a free tire for the project. Not four and not a wheel, but a tire. Needless to say, I paid the eight dollars to dispose of it two years later

Now the second tire story. My son was building a costume for Halloween. He went to the local tire store to obtain some tires with the premise that he was going to cut them into pieces and assemble some sort of tire suit. Now, I don’t know if you have ever tried to cut a tire, but it is pretty difficult. Again, the store gladly gave him two tires (of which they had already collected the disposal fee) and then they got paid again when I got rid of them for the second time.

And the third story which is getting closer to where I want to go. Just two weeks ago my son and the same friend found a ‘free’ TV on the side of the road. He was convinced that not only was this a better TV than the one that we already had, but that this was somehow the score of the year. Once he found out that it doesn’t work I now have another disposal issue.

I think that I made my case for when a relative gave my son a free laptop, I was not very happy about it. One reason it was free was that the operating system was locked due to a forgotten password. It was also Vista vintage hardware and I didn’t have the OEM software to re-install the operating system and address the lockout. This was my first foray into Linux.

I installed Unbuntu and to be honest, it worked alright. We used it to display karaoke on the TV s couple of times. The operating system was definitely foreign to me and I didn’t spend much time using it, only to do what I wanted to do which was access the internet and display lyrics on the TV. That computer ended up getting recycled with a large techno junk effort that I made about a year and a half ago because we didn’t need it. We had other, better laptops to replace it.

So, why do I want to fool around with Linux again? Well, I have an old XP computer that was in the recycle pile earlier this year. For some reason, it wasn’t booting and I didn’t know if it was the hard drive or a RAM fault or what. A few months ago, I thought that I would try to copy the data so that I could dispose of it and I found that it was working. I put the computer back together and low and behold XP was alive again.

The reason it is still around is that my wife is convinced that there are pictures and other data that we would want to access again. I have copied the entire hard drive so I am confident that I have everything. But nevertheless, it is sometimes nice to have an old device that has a functioning serial port or LPT port. My point to this is that I am not convinced that I want to blow away my existing hard drive to install Linux since there is not enough no partition the existing drive.

About two months ago, I spent $5 on a TV tuner card. The driver was not supported in Windows 10 and I no longer have a Windows 7 computer. I downloaded and installed the XP driver and the hardware works. However the card only handles analog signals so I don’t have a way to validate that it works.

Unbuntu is supposed to be bootable from a USB drive. I think that I tried that before, but it is not working for me at the moment. The last tech note I read was that I need to redo the USB conversion to eliminate the problem so that is my next step.

I haven’t fully decided whether I want to buy another hard drive or just to try it again. While XP does run and it seems to be fine, it is limited and not recommended to be on internet. I downloaded the last version of Firefox which is about a year out of date now. If you haven’t tried it, technology eventually stops working because the software is no longer supported. Or said another way, old technology stops communicating with new technology. It is a fine word processor or jukebox though.

End Your Programming Routine: You could say what I am trying to do is be cheap or a junk collector myself. I prefer to think of it as a thought experiment about determining whether there is life left in an old computer. I do also believe that the tactic of running Linux is a valid strategy to access data on a machine that is locked out or otherwise inaccessible. I will report more on this experiment as I get some time to get it actually working.

July 19, 2021 – It Really Was Something Special

July 19, 2021 /

Back on May 17, 2021 I wrote about the best/worst things. I kind of skimmed through that to make sure that I wasn’t repeating myself so recently and I don’t think that I will. My point of that post was that that events that were really great experiences were also incredibly difficult at the same time. While I was in the moment, it was exactly what I wanted but in retrospect the situation was not the best for me to continue. Or maybe looking at a different perspective that all things will come to an end.

Why am I revisiting this then again? I was part of a reunion of sorts this weekend. I got together with my former team last Saturday. What was amazing was that every single person that worked with me on my core team (on this continent) was there. I never got that kind of participation on any non-work function when we were together.

The reunion was the doings of my former right hand man. He contacted me in May and asked me if I wanted to get together with some former support team members. I said sure but I would have to shoehorn it into my packed schedule which ended up being Saturday. What was also amazing was that the majority of the people have moved on to other employment. Half of the people now live in a different states. It wasn’t as if this was my hand selected team, only one of them did I even interview and approve hiring. It was a collection of people that were assigned to my team.

One of the things that I think I did right was letting the team buy into decisions that were made. When I had latitude to do so, I was able to lay out the spectrum of decisions and consequences and let them choose how to proceed. Sometimes, we would evaluate our decisions after the fact and potentially make another choice.

For instance, we spent some time developing the Standard Operating Procedure. We worked on group consequences for not meeting our Service Level Agreement. We developed operating policies and procedures. Not everyone agreed with my methodology, particularly my last boss. But, my theory was that in order to get compliance, I needed to make sure that people understood and more importantly agreed on what they were doing.

I built an incentive program around Service Level Agreement compliance. That definitely influenced behavior as no one wanted to break a thirty day string of team compliance. But, occasionally there was a questionable action by a team member. When that was the case, I would make the team vote on the facts and end the end the results always ended up where I thought it should have been. It was sometimes difficult but the team had buy in for why something happened.

When I first started out with this team, we had almost no oversight. This was when the best progress was made. After about a year, we were really beginning to perform and people began to notice. That was when we began to get pushed to do things that were straying from what I wanted to do. Despite that, we had built enough foundation to continue to be wildly successful. The company leadership continued to tinker with the team and change the direction and in essence, I lost control. That was when I decided to leave.

Talking with the guys I came to learn that they stayed and enjoyed their work because the group was supportive and people cared. When that stopped happening, they decided to make a career change. I suppose I could add that description to myself because as my team incrementally stopped becoming mine I stopped caring.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not going to promise that I am not going to talk about this subject again because I am still trying learn the lessons from it. Call it therapy. I guess what was so amazing was that everyone made an effort to get together because I think they felt that it was something special as well. That really feels good.

June 30, 2021 – The Year is Half Over

June 30, 2021 /

With today being the last day of the month of June, this ends the first half of 2021. It is a good day to reflect on the accomplishments and failures of goals set at the beginning of the year.

January 4, I wrote a post about my goals at least professionally https://altf4.co/january-4-2021-altf4-co-looking-forward/ I stated my goals were

  • Q1 – Solidify branding and develop a marketing plan for AltF4.co
  • Q2 – Develop and implement a membership program
  • Q3 – Replace at least one blog post with a podcast a week
  • Q4 – Generate positive revenue

Those of you that have been following religiously know that life circumstances have changed dramatically since the beginning of the year. I will summarize the events of the last six months.

January – I was working for Amazon and doing a little side work. I had no real other prospects but I was running out of savings. I was hoping that I could make this a growing concern as well as build a business.

February – Suddenly a recruiter found me and tripled my salary from what I was making with Amazon. I had no choice but to follow the money and take a replacement position.

March – I started working to build a reputation and do what I could to get integrated into my new position. I needed to at least attempt my best effort. I also realized that I needed a separate space from the rest of the household and it needed to be conditioned.

April – After spending some cold weeks in the basement, I started in earnest building my office project. This has turned out to be taking most of my free time (of which there is not much).

May and June – More and more of the same. I am focused on finishing this project before spending time on other things.

So, by my own admission I have accomplished little of what I set out to do at the beginning of the year and therefore I am not on track to meet my overall goal. Largely, the biggest excuse is that my circumstances have changed but it may be because I didn’t really want to do it anyway. I think that I do, but a lot of that could have been done despite me working a new job.

My kids did buy me a microphone for Father’s Day. I am waiting to set it up when I have a little more time or maybe the weekend. That removes another excuse from getting started. It is always good to go back and review the ‘Toolbox Fallacy’.

End Your Programming Routine: As I sit here writing, I can’t say that this will become something more than it is. I am not even sure if this is precisely what I want to pursue. I can say that I enjoy it and I do put effort into it. So… I have to change my expectations, it doesn’t matter. I am going to throw a hand at podcasting this quarter. I have everything that I need to do so and I am going to find the time to do some pilot work.

June 29, 2021 – The Morning After and the Calm Before the Next Storm

June 29, 2021 /

Over the course of the last week, several events have been top priority, the weather, family events and my anniversary. Much of that comes to conclusion today. One of the most bizarre weather phenomenon happened yesterday, a return to normal.

At 1pm yesterday, I went to go get flowers and it was hot. Both the thermometer and the weather app said 108. By 2pm the thermometer said 111 and by 2:30pm it was reading 115. It was supposed to be cooler and the forecast said it was coming, but when?

It turns out that was the peak, because by 6pm the temperature was down to 85 and by 8pm it was down to 72. In the course of six hours our temperature dropped over 40 degrees.

When I say normal, I mean that it is normal to be highly scheduled because Fourth of July is this weekend. The Boy Scouts have a bunch of activities planned Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The annual children’s play performances will occur Thursday, Friday and Saturday (my son is in the lead). There are other family activities still to come like my mother-in-laws birthday party today. At least the temperature will be in the eighties.

Yes, they were already working on the hotel at 6:30am this morning. But that was the view of the serenity from our room. So you could see the serenity of the location. In a few short days there will be fireworks going off and throngs of crowds (to the left of the picture).

I think that we as parents want to give our kids the best experiences that we can. That includes enabling participation in all of the extra curricular activities. Especially after last year. Even though I went out of the home to go grocery shopping and miscellaneous errands, I think that my kids were homebound from mid-March through late April until we went to the airport to drop off our exchange student.

Most of the traditional activities were cancelled like summer camp, youth groups etc. Maybe I just notice it more because it was so quiet for so long and now it is return to normal with activities. Or maybe they are more involved because they are at the age where they can be. I am not totally sure.

End Your Programming Routine: I know at some point my wife and I won’t necessary have to escape to a hotel to spend time together. It doesn’t make the fact that we have very busy schedules easier, but it does mean that we took the time despite all that was going on to be together. Fantastic evening.

June 28, 2021 – What is Hotter, the Temperature or …?

June 28, 2021 /

Yesterday, an all time hottest temperature record was set at 113 degrees. That was after a previously recorded highest temperature recorded in June of 105. Needless to say it is hot for a place were I can remember a summer that didn’t get into the 90’s until mid-August. Even this morning it was 85 degrees at 4:30 AM.

When I was growing up, no one I knew of had any form of cooling in their houses, not even window air conditioners. The advent of the heat pump started showing up in the mid-eighties but it was still very uncommon. When it got into the upper nineties we were hot. We tried to slip and slide, eat popsicles and stay in the shade. Night was a sweatbox in the bedroom that I would estimate was at least twenty degrees above ambient.

Saturday, we had the state trap tournament and it was hot. We were outside all day, but at least when you were in the shade, it seemed bearable. Yesterday felt like nothing I had ever seen before (here). It was like an inferno being outside. Our struggling heat pump did manage to keep the main floor below 80 degrees. We only have central heat on the main floor. As long as you stayed inside, it wasn’t too bad.

I don’t want to just talk about the weather today. When I looked back to last year, I was roofing this time last year. Roofing is nearly always a hot activity at least every time I have done it. The real reason that I am writing this is today is my 23rd wedding anniversary.

It felt like the hottest day of the year even though I looked it up this morning and it wasn’t. It was eighty-five degrees. But, it had been raining all week and we were having an outdoor wedding so it was more humid than normal. Add to that, more layers of a black tuxedo and black rubber shoes and sweat was pouring out of me before the ceremony started. I remember that my feet were actually burning inside those crappy rental shoes. By the time we left on a limo ride to the hotel, we were both sapped and we needed to be at the airport by 6 AM the next day. I think that we were asleep by 9 PM.

When we first met nearly thirty years ago, my wife had a yin/yang flag hanging up in her dorm room. I don’t have any idea where that ended up but it should have been a sign for us because it really describes our relationship. Her family is big and loud, mine is small and quiet. She is passionate and wears emotion on her sleeve, I am stoic and guarded. It makes it really difficult at times because we would both prefer our partners to be more like ourselves.

That is what makes it work because we need what each other brings to the relationship. She needs my temperance and I need her free wheeling. Over the years, we have learned how to push each other’s buttons which have led to some pretty strong disagreements because we are so entrenched in our camp of belief or yin and yang if you will. For instance, I was essentially threatened that if I didn’t quit my job over two years ago then we should consider other relationships. I doubt that I would have ever been so bold as to quit without a parachute. But I can see her side as that I was miserable to be around. I was scare to do it but I was more scare not to.

Not having many comparisons to personally draw from, I would speculate that this yin/yang relationship is more difficult than couples who are more similar. I am sometimes envious of friends where they work on projects together or share the same interests. I think, wouldn’t it be nice if we both wanted to do the same things? It is the reason that I signed up to play softball this summer so that my wife and I could do something together.

I recognize that I have my flaws and contribute quite equally to the difficulty of our relationship. It is definitely not all bad and we don’t live in constant conflict. When we get time alone, we can enjoy time together. We had many years without children and lots of experiences together. We have travelled the world, lived in different places and made many memories. It takes work. I credit my wife for taking the rudder on keeping us on course because I avoid conflict if possible. As much as I don’t like it I recognize that it is necessary to iron out our differences.

End Your Programming Routine: So I ask again, what is hotter, the temperature, our conflict over beliefs, our reconciliation when we get to the root or something else? Every year we take time to do something special, this year we are staying at a new hotel in town. We have the best room in the place with a huge view (and serious air conditioning). It is still forecast to be 109 outside and maybe hotter inside. Hopefully we can make it last another 23 years.

June 8, 2021 – Am I a Fan Boy, Do I Have a Man Crush or Is it Just Respect?

June 8, 2021 /

I have talked about my dabbling into social media in the past. I check LinkedIn almost every day but I don’t interact much because I don’t get any real value from it. I find Nextdoor to be largely busybodies that want to complain about their neighbors and identify speeders with blurry pictures. I also have a MeWe account that I made in 2019.

One of the podcasts I listen to made the entire switch from Facebook to MeWe last year due to privacy and Cancel Culture risks. I initially thought that I was going to push this blog more into interaction in MeWe in an attempt to build this enterprise. But, I just get turned off every time I log in. I am not interested in memes and snark all day long. If Instagram was not tied to Facebook, maybe that is more along my lines.

I want to see people doing cool and inspirational stuff, that is really it. I find that these platforms attract an echo chamber of whatever flavor of ‘room’ you happen to be in. Today, I made my first ever contribution to a post on MeWe that someone else made because I wanted to. It happens to be a group for a podcast that I joined. I have been listening since probably 2012 and the podcast has ebbed and flowed with the times.

The podcast is Harvest Eating. The owner is Keith Snow and he has had a cookbook (which I own) and a TV show (which I haven’t seen). But in the end, he is just a man that I seem to have a lot in common with. He is a about my age with a family is about the same age. We seem to share values about food. faith and politics. People that have lived in my house know his name because he has inspired me to cook things that I might not otherwise, like sauerbraten.

I can’t remember what ‘holiday’ it was but one time my wife ordered some olive oil from him (for me) and he threw in some seafood seasoning because the shipping was so expensive. While that may not be the best business move, it shows that he cares about his customers. It is that kind of caring that has made it difficult to reconcile careers in the corporate world, which I think we both share. We care about the impact that we have.

I suppose another reason that I like and identify with Keith is that he is spontaneous to where he doesn’t just stay in the food/recipe box. I feel like even though I have a formula here, I do wander around and change things on a whim. The basic thrust for my style was influenced by his podcast because I have just enjoyed it. I liked knowing what his kids were doing or hearing a rant about poor cookware or the infamous ‘Chinese Chair’ as long as the I always got some value out of the overall episode.

I have waivered a bit about how much food content I want to have. There are already so many resources and competition out there that I don’t want to be another me too. Plus, I have too many other interests. But, I do want it to be my mixture topics. So, I am going to try and add back more along the food front. Ultimately, I would like it to be once a week.

Over the years, podcasts have come and gone. From Harvest eating, I have learned about and tried sauerbraten, migas, palak paneer, olive oil, crepes with mascarpone, butter, rye bread, fondue, german potato salad and steel cut oats to name a few things. I have improved techniques like a better Thanksgiving turkey, more perfect grilled steaks and Mise en Place. More than anything else, it has sparked my interest in quality ingredients and the effort that goes into them. It probably prompted my involvement into the culinary book club for a whole new perspective and certainly other podcasts.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t know if I solved my initial question. I have been accused of invoking Keith’s name too often at times. I guess that what I would say is that this podcast pushes all the right buttons for me, it entertains and educates. I am really glad that he has come back to focus on his own business which means more podcasts. I cant say if this will tip the social media scales for me but if you are interested, join us at https://mewe.com/join/harvesteating

May 17, 2021 – The Best/Worst Things

May 17, 2021 /

This is something I have been thinking about for a long time, years in fact. I don’t think that I have completely reconciled until now. I think sometimes you don’t do it until you are forced to make a conclusion. And once that happens, you can keep challenging your conclusion against the evidence.

What is this all about? Well, for a long time at least professionally, I have been interested in doing my part to make the environment better. I get frustrated when the organization does things that don’t make sense or are repetitive. I think that has partially been responsible for me quickly advancing and eventually getting to the point where I end up running my own department. Here is where the best/worst comes in.

In my very first job, I was asked to go to South Carolina to help get a new plant get up and running. They needed someone with some personal discipline to establish the new quality system that a customer was asking to implement. They also wanted some help with maintenance of the computer and controls system. I said yes.

I was starting from ground zero, there were absolutely no expectations and no real plan other than the loose objectives that I was given. I started inventing things to do and ways that I could be helpful and contribute to the overall output. When the fruits of my labor starting paying dividends, I started working on things that I wanted to do. I built cabinets for the lab, I participated in the construction of new space, I learned how to run data cable and I ran new drops every time we needed one. I basically did whatever I wanted to do.

But, because I was successful I started having difficulty with being around others that were not doing as well. It frustrated me that I would work 60 hours a week and others not only worked less but also failed at the tasks they were doing. It felt like I had to do everything I wanted to see it done right. I am being a little coy but for instance my department took over formulating because Quality would always end up having to adjust it in the end.

I got to the point where I needed to make a change even though it would seem like I could do whatever I wanted. I later came to believe that a change was necessary because I just wouldn’t stop. I might have worked myself to death if I was allowed to. I needed to learn how to say no and let people fail, even if it meant that I was going to fail as well.

After a rebound job, I started at a new place. We had chemistry and shared the same spirit at least for the first four years. I built a lot of social capitol within my own office. Then, we were acquired by another company and I was skeptical. Then, I started working with the new people and I was miserable. After three years I got a chance to run my own group out of my office. The first couple of years were great, I again did what I wanted and built and ran my team the way that I wanted to until it became a growing concern within the office.

Management started wanting to help me out and add more things to my group. That included hiring someone to oversee and mentor me. It turned out that person wanted to fundamentally transform my group and I was no longer running it. I suppose what I considered the worst was there were so many problem areas within the company that this was the one that they chose to address, the one that was running the best. I couldn’t take it.

I suppose a bigger man would have tried to get the best out of the situation and I choose to just give up. In my heart of hearts, I knew that no matter what, I wasn’t going to be happy even if things returned to normal. So, here I am with two situations where I was at time completely happy with the circumstances but yet utterly miserable. What is there to learn from that?

How can it be that you get exactly what you want and it makes you hate it at the same time? Is it the pursuit that makes us happy or is the idea or something else? This is the hard part because now I have to figure out what it actually means. My hypothesis is that these circumstances are more of a destiny fulfilled and time to move on. Maybe said another way, when you get what you think you want, you find out that really isn’t what you thought you wanted.

To be clear, I never thought my future was to be a middle manager. I do know that a lot of my assumptions and ideas were validated through the process. Despite the fact that I am confident in the results, it is a hollow victory to be right and validated. It is probable that when someone was driven by spite, there is no satisfaction in completion.

I told my boss numerous times before I quit and even after that he didn’t need me to run the group but he kept insisting that he did. Unfortunately within four months after I left, the entire group was disbanded because over half the group quit, following me leaving. It wasn’t me that was necessary to keep the group together, it was the fact that they fundamentally didn’t understand how to work with and within the group. And to get down to brass tacks, that was the very reason why I wasn’t happy either.

In retrospect, I feel like I should have quit several years before I did. But, then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn what I did from those extra years. To top it off, I am still not sure what I am supposed to be when I grow up. For sure, I am going to keep looking for the answers and hope to not repeat the same mistakes.

End Your Programming Routine: What are we supposed to learn from all this rambling? I suppose that what I would like to get across is to consider your experiences and look for meaning and try to make it better for the next time. Right now, I see myself tracking into the same lanes that I was in before, and I don’t really want to do it again. So, hopefully, it is not too late to avoid a similar kind of fate as some of my previous jobs.

May 3, 2021- New Feature: End Your Programming

May 3, 2021 /

Last week I was listening to a podcast about ‘how easy it is to build a digital brand’. A quick aside here, there is a difference between easy and simple. Digging a 4 x 4 x 4 foot hole is technically simple even with a shovel, but it requires a lot of digging which is hard work. At least for me, I equate easy with not a lot of hard work. It is a bit of a stretch for someone that has been doing it for over 10 years that it is either easy or simple.

I haven’t found this endeavor easy or simple. The technical parts are pretty easy, not simple (for me). The discipline to post routinely is simple but not always easy. The actual brand building is neither. If it takes what I think it takes, I will probably never be successful because I don’t want to engage at the appropriate level. I have tried social media and I don’t really like it. I don’t want to be glued to my phone, I don’t want to be posting cute or snarky comments day after day. I don’t even want to login and scan the posts routinely, I find them boorish and trite for the most part.

However, this is not going to be about all of that other than one particular aspect of building a brand. A tagline, preferably quick, easy to remember and relevant. I was thinking to myself, I already have a tagline but I don’t leverage it at all. I never mention the phrase ‘End Your Programming’. I never correlate what I am saying to how that relates.

‘End your programming’ was something that was personal to me. Yes, there is a backstory and it is more intricate than it might appear on the surface. I write a little bit about it in the About section of this site, but it is more than that. I was the one that wanted to end my programming. I wanted out of the rat race. I had become something that I didn’t want to be. I felt trapped in a high paying career that owned me. I went from running my business unit with full reign and contentedness to having to report daily to someone else and executing their new vision.

It wasn’t that I was not successful before, I was wildly successful. I transformed a business unit from underperforming at best to a team operating at the highest level of the company. My team saved jobs and relationships that my company had bailed out on. I did it with very unorthodox techniques and people that didn’t fit in anywhere else. I was so successful that the company brought in consultants to leverage what I had built and take us to the next level by providing managed services. In the process, they trampled on what made it work and the people in the way. I am planning on talking more about this later because I want to give it the proper focus it deserves.

So, how does this relate to the new feature and what is it? The new feature is the ‘End Your Programming Routine’. A little play on programming but essentially, it is taking the information for the day and putting it into practice. As I wrote about last Monday, I need to find a way to relate my writing or videos or podcasts or whatever I do with this into actionable things people can do to end their own programming. Each day, at the end of the post I plan on creating a segment to apply the topic or at least make suggestions as to the relevance. It is doubtful that this is the secret sauce to success but I hope that it that it changes this from seemingly random topics to something more helpful.

End Your Programming Routine: I like to think that I am self-reflective. I would suggest that continued personal growth is driven by evaluating the things that are important to you. Don’t be afraid to admit when something needs to change to be better or more productive.

April 26, 2021- Good Things to Come

April 26, 2021 /

After a brief hiatus, I am trying to piece time together where I can. I am working more than full time, and my wife was gone over half of last week. In addition, I am trying to build an office so I can keep my feet warm while I work on this project (not to mention work). I had to spend a number of hours this last weekend gathering tax information as well as working but I cleared some of the fog out to come up with some ideas that I want to get out there.

I can feel some of my determination slipping. It is hard to work all day in front of a computer and then dedicate another hour or more to do this. My mental clarity starts to wane as I get into early afternoon and I want to do something physical after work.

An interesting thing happened yesterday. I was watching the piano player play at Worship and I was thinking about how much it appears that he enjoys playing the piano. My mind wandered a bit and I was thinking about how someone turns passion into a career. I was thinking about the local high school drama teacher and how he plays piano and sings and so forth. Since a career in music is a tough go, people that have a particular interest that career field find outlets that may be paying (or not) an related pursuit. At the very least, performing weekly is that sort of outlet.

For me, some of my passions could be money making while others seem to be money burning. But, it shook me back to looking for a way to convert my interests into a career. I have been so focused on making a good impression in my new job and focusing on everything that goes along with that that I forgot where I want to go. Don’t get me wrong, this job is fine but in my heart of hearts I wouldn’t be doing it if I had another option.

It sort of goes hand in hand with this week’s message; focusing on pleasing people instead of pleasing the Lord. I hope that I am right that I think our individual purpose will go hand in hand with God’s will. I believe that it is a test in keeping the mind and ears open. From what I have seen, when people find their purpose, they are happy and at peace with all that entails. Maybe I need to find my outlets outside of work and change my outlook or maybe I need to keep trying? I don’t know. But that stemmed a bunch of new ideas here, so stay tuned.

April 2, 2021- Gone But Not Forgotten

April 2, 2021 /

Today I received an interesting e-mail from the Boy Scouts of America. They still keep track of their alumni. They seem to do a better job than my schools.

I seem to remember getting one of these last year. I suspect that it has to do with my kids being part of the program and me putting my contact information in.

I have talked about some of my experiences before. I may be closer than others who do not have kids in the program or still remain in touch with local resources. So, I do get frequent reminders of the values and benefits from that standpoint.

Even though things have changed a lot, some for the better and some for the worse I still think that it an organization that provides value. One of the things that I find interesting is the growth and development the boys have throughout the tenure. The come in as fifth graders and leave when eighteen, if they stay the whole tenure. Most of them come in as children and leave as a true adult. There is a transition from a timid grade schooler interacting with high schoolers to leading a small organization over time.

When I listen to them talk amongst themselves I can still hear youthful optimism and naivete but to see them in action, the training pays dividends. It’s nice to learn skills and have fun but to be able to practice the fundamentals of leadership is the experience that I see valuable.

This is Easter and celebrating that Jesus died for our new covenant with God. We have eternal salvation if we want it. I hope that you have a great weekend.