January 2012
2 posts
Money and motivation
Companies at there most elementary level make money by either selling more or spending less.
Humans at there most elementary level are motivated either by desire for pleasure or fear of pain.
Is there an analogy here?
People do what you pay them to do.
My ethical dilemma
My college years were a time of new ethical growth. Many new opportunities and choices are made during the time between school and the working world. To my regret, my choices in some situations do not demonstrate integrity of character. I will reflect on one situation in particular.
During my senior year, I was a tutor for freshmen taking intro to programming C++ course at my...
October 2011
1 post
February
Oh dear February how I dread you so. You can not come soon enough, the days pass too slow. Oh feared February how I wish you gone. I worry that you will punish, if I wait that long.
May 2011
1 post
Meaning is what you make of it
When I hear these question asked, they often give me pause to reflect.
What does that mean?
Why did that happen?
Why did you do that?
My own conclusion has been that meaning is a product of our sentient human condition and it is the biggest contributor to defining our experiences. The question “Why?” has significant consequences and at its core is asking for an answer that...
March 2011
2 posts
Return From Holiday
I have been out of town since last week Friday. The time away was spent with my wife on a trip out west. I had much time to reflect on how things are going. I was able to also spend this Sunday with my parents since my mother’s birthday was Friday. I do believe that I am on the right track in life, though I do not feel that I am doing a better job of performing my ideology then when I...
February 2011
9 posts
Decision to take on more at work
I have been able to get my hands around my own workload. I will admit I am very busy right now. But I know another coworker is struggling to keep up with his own workload. I may have the capacity to take on more, but I will strain myself greater. So do I volunteer and say I will help with my coworkers extra workload or do I be quiet and keep my capability to take on more to myself? I think...
Thoughts, Words, Behaviors, Habits and Values
I must apologize for the lack of entries. This has not been a sign of non-commitment as much as it has been a sign of having my evening time reserved for other activities.
I would like to reflect on a statement from Mahatma Gandhi
Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior...
Light on the salt
Thing about salt is that not enough and the food is bland, too much and the food is nearly inedible. Today, salt is so plentiful that its dirt cheap. Like water, without it we would die. My values need to be my salt in my life, to avoid being bland and indifferent. When food is without salt it may suffice to eat but it will not be devoured with great urgency. People in our lives can be...
High performance
Co-workers will often group people in 1 of 3 buckets. The buckets are: agent of change, holding status quo, or going back in time. We each find our place of comfort. Some people advocate for the changes they want to see and act it out in their lives. Other people find that they hold what is good and comfortable about how things are run now. Then there are others who loved how things were in...
The 3 types of selfishness
Reflections on observations from Anthony Demello
There are three types of selfishness. I wanted to point them out from the obvious to less obvious. While selfishness is generally considered a sin and nont virtuous I then want to reflect on these observations within my life.
1. When I please myself
This is the obvious selfishness that we all are accustomed to avoid. This is most apparent when...
Performance Appraisal time
Warning: I have found a soapbox
Performance reviews at my organization are meaningless. The scores are calculated by managers and they are summarized up to the executives. They take a percentage to fall into each of the increase amounts and rate over a curve. The process is methodical, objective and not very effective. Overall, the process does not work in accordance to the quality of...
What do my coworkers really think of me?
When people ask for advice, it’s an opening that provide a compliment or a critique. Sometimes the person doesn’t want advice at all but instead, just a sounding board for their own thoughts and ideas. I asked for advice, and I got a deluge of information that I have to come to grips within myself.
Today I spent most of my time looking over the results from the qualitative side. I...
The results are in
I engaged in a personal assessment of management skills and not surprisingly I was surprised and emotionally struck by some of the results. My emotions are making their way through my decision making process so I will warn you now.
The overall summary is good. All the skill areas are between 4.5 and 5.0, meaning that people, on average, slightly agree or agree that I have the management skill...
January 2011
24 posts
Beliefs without sacrifice
Now that values are a part of my life, beliefs that come of those values are more meaningful. So questions like “why do bad things happen to good people?” have to be answered with something the can be acceptable to the beliefs and values that are in place. I cannot hide behind indifferentism or rationalism to get emotionally past the difficult philosophical questions. Suffering,...
A busy week
January always drags on like a bad movie. Besides having 31 days, which gives us one more unnecessary cold day, it comes off the high of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. That certainly hasn’t stopped my wife and I as we have been keeping a fast pace. This week alone we had windows installed, doctors office visits, long days at work, trips out of town and we just bought our first...
How do you measure how well you're being yourself
I want to know how well I’m doing. So I need to find a way to measure and standardize what I am, how I am and how often. I ask you, how do you measure virtues?
I can smile more often, but it’s not reasonable to measure how often you smile.
I can count how many times people say thank you to me, in the sense that I’ve assisted them in some way and in result “ease their...
Style guide
What is your brand and what’s in your style guide?
So the style guide is basically the rules that liken things (activites, objects, sensory events, etc) to your personality. So if another person was going to be very much like me, what sort of things would they say, how would they dress, how would they interact in certain situations and such. The truth is, we all have a style that is our...
A proposed change to my values
I was on a call with vendor A and vendor B. I provided a file layout to vendor A for the solution they may need to build to continue working with us. The file layout is from vendor B that we are outsourcing our system to. Both parties are on the conference call and it becomes very clear that the layout is not correct. I have just successfully wasted the time of vendor A and they now have to...
To go away or to go towards
I believe today that I need to go towards my weaknesses head on. Take on my sins head on. Find the places that I cower in fear and make them known. I cannot do it alone. I have to do it with a community of people that believe in me as well. What I am saying is that if I wish to live my values of trust, fidelity, contrition, duty, dignity, idealism, humor, teamwork and individual...
The dinner party
My emotional intelligence didn’t quite show through tonight. When discussing how my wife and I spend time together, I let her take the heat of the conversation without chiming in. She was feeling guilty and embarrassed and I didn’t detect anything. I was glowing in my pride.
What this means more specifically is that we both show our love towards each other in different ways and the...
An external perspective
Today I had scheduled a lunch with a co-work whom I admire. She has an outgoing and positive personality. She is the kind of person that all people respect and enjoy to be around. She is always laughing and smiling.
The reason I asked her to lunch was to get both her perspective and help. I asked her about her values and her identity. I wanted to know what she stood for and how she built...
Time for self awareness
My work life flows by so fast and it seems to be directed by others. I have to weigh the needs of many people at one time and it makes the day go by so quickly. I believe I have a healthy amount of stress in my current situation, but much more and the situation will start tipping in the wrong direction.
I am moving so quickly I don’t have time to think, “Am I living my values, do I...
And what about disappointment
With my classes and with my life right now, priorization is everything. But along with prioritization is the fact you can’t do everything. I didn’t read my 2 chapters for class today. Over dinner I told a co-worker who said they were disappointed with me. Though it was in jest, it also meant something to me. I believe that humor is true or else it wouldn’t be funny. If this...
And management will set you free
It has come to my attention that I do identify my emotional outbursts at work, but I am aware that I diffuse them upon a neutral source. I caught myself today, frustrated by the lack of attendance from our management. They were not attending the training they had made mandatory when the decisions they’ll be making were about the material being trained in the meeting. So my frustration...
Spreading the word
I shared my value statement with my wife. She shared that I loving and serving my country seemed to not belong in the statement. I had to re-state that serving was meant more as a duty. The elements of the statement do come from the Boy Scout Promise “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my Country…”
I haven’t decided if I should edit the statement to...
No noticable difference in my overall perspective today. I am happy to announce that I was invited to be a godparent today. I have such wonderful friends at church.
Start of a new Tumblr
As I have chosen to establish a values statement and a formal identity, I will be recording incidents where I have found use for a new framework for decision making. I hope you join me on this new search to self-awareness.
Was the revolution in Tunisia caused by Twitter?
See discussion here:
http: //gigaom.com/2011/01/14/was-what-happened-in-tunisia-a-twitter-revolution/
I personally see social media being a new bullet in the gun of the people having control of their destiny.
@mozeypants Can you tell me what queue this tweet came in on? oh you don’t have an interaction client… .[click]
Follow this guy
@moseypants - he’s great
Frightening Uncertainty
The frightening uncertainty that has always acccompanied major change is now superseded by a fear of staying the same.
Evening
Was spent @ajbombers and bucks game. Talk about worse officiating ever!
A Future factory
would be 2 employees, dog and a person. Person to feed dog, dog to stop person from touching machinery.
The paradox of our time in history
is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways but narrower viewpoints.
December 2010
42 posts
listening to "Led Blimpie - Battle of Evermore" →
Nice cover here
listening to "Cake - Italian Leather Sofa" →
And the meaning to this song is…? Sorta like stairway - doesn’t matter, it’s a good song anyways.
Upcoming Weather
Looks like after all this cold weather we are still going to be getting some snow. I always equate hi pressure with nice weather. Not quite the actual case.
listening to "Janis Joplin - Summertime" →
I’m about to go out into the world. I pray that this will be coming soon. It will not be soon enough.
listening to "Bjork - Bachelorette" →
Campaign Bjork for James Bond Theme song - This totally sounds James Bond-esque.
listening to "dick dale - hava nagila" →
listening to "Cut Chemist - A Peak in Time" →
Cut Chemist – A Peak in Time
listening to "Gypsy Kings - Hotel California... →
@sharonhayes - ditto - but better ;)
listening to "Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double... →
I tried to play this riff on the guitar and then I sobered up. Stevie Ray is a legend.
listening to "Dick Dale →
I’m out of here - shades on even though it’s dark out. Hit it!
listening to "Dr. John - Iko Iko" →
Saw this performed live August 1997 - He was rockin’ it out.