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I will act.

I’ve spent a good portion of the last several years of my life talking, mostly complaining, about how I don’t like how things are.  Looking back though now, I’m realizing that I don’t have anything to show for my thoughts.  Mostly because they were just complaints.  There’s not a lot anybody can do with that.  The thought occurred to me last night as I was falling asleep, “How will I be known?”  By the things I’ve complained about, or the things that I’ve done something about?  How will I be known?  By what I’ve done.

That which we feed, grows

I haven’t been able to get this thought out of my mind.  Like most things that are powerful, it’s simple.   It leads me to a few questions that I’ve been asking myself a lot lately.

Your Heart

This may seem obvious to most, but all of the technique and determination in the world won’t make up for a lack of inspiration.  All of the knowledge, skills, and ability can’t make up for the lack of heart and soul that is required to do your best work. I think a lot of times we look at the work that somebody else has done, and wonder, “How did they do that?”  While there is certainly a need for knowledge, skills, and ability, I think a lot of time what we’re missing is their motivation, their influences.

How I Identify Myself

I realized something this morning. I realized that my definition of myself has changed over the years. I have always identified myself by the roles which I play in society, instead of who I really am, and what I love doing. Let me me explain…

What I do is less important than who I…

I was re-reading one of my favorite books lately, Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig, and this idea really stuck out to me.  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.  What I do is less important than who I am, or said another way, who I am is more important than what I do.

Can you hear me?

As somebody who creates things, and would love for those things to get noticed, it’s pretty hard to get people’s attention.  Honestly, most people just can’t be bothered.  We all have our own lives to live.  I find security in Facebook over Twitter though.  Let me set the record straight, I really don’t like Facebook much, for a whole bunch of reasons, but there’s one reason that I stick with it…

The Ghost of Poor Old Ellie Bowers

I just finished putting together a video for my band, Jearbear.  The song is about a pioneer woman named Eilley Bowers in the old west who had everything, then lost it all, and now supposedly haunts her former mansion.

NextGEN Gallery slideshow with Navigation

NOTE: This post was written nearly 6 years ago initially. I don’t implement this particular solution any longer, but I’m leaving it up in case it points somebody in a useful direction in the future…

I’m using the free version of the WordPress NextGEN gallery, which by the way, is a pretty great plugin.  I wanted to use the slideshow, but wanted to have navigation attached to it.  The slideshow in the free version of NextGEN gallery doesn’t have the navigation.  I particularly like the navigation used in the Superslides jquery plugin.  So for what it’s worth, here’s what I did…

The Power of Positive Thinking?

My wife has been training to run a big race coming up.  A Ragnar trail relay.  For those who are unfamiliar with it, you get 8 people together (on her team anyways, there are crazies with less), and you each run 3 trails.  An 8.4 mile trail, a 4 mile trail, and a 3.1 mile trail. When it’s your turn, you’re running, when it’s not, you’re sleeping, along with your team and other runners, in the basecamp they’ve setup.  The relay goes 24 hours a day until it’s done.  It’s legit.