Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2011

Bronson Alcott and Fatherhood

As a father of 2 girls, it strikes me that it is both the best of times and just the beginning for women in our world. I both revel in the opportunities they have that their ancestors did not while fearing for them at the same time. Since I don't have boys, I don't know if I'd feel differently with sons. Last weekend, we spent last a few days in Concord, MA, mostly touring old battlefields, bridges and homes. What surprised me however, was learning more about the real story behind "Little Women" and Louisa May Alcott. Most interestingly for me was learning about her pops, Bronson Alcott . According to the stories, Bronson was quite a character. My favorite story was that he'd hang out near Orchard House (photos below) in the road with a bag of apples. As people would pass by, he's bend their ear to talk politics, education or whatever else was on his mind. Bronson was a dreamer and a philosopher, and he clearly impacted his daughters in significa

Not Google Plus

The quantity and quality of online video and video sites continues to skyrocket. This video is hysterical, and perhaps makes some good points to boot. Yes, of course I'm on Google+ , you can find me here and chat me up, hangout with me or put me in various circles. Beware, collegehumor.com is extremely addicting - be sure to also check out the Photoshop Rap as well the amazing  Game of Thrones videos. Enjoy.

White Collar Doom

Met some GREAT people last week at a conference and found myself in a very funny, non-linear conversation over beers. Topics included social media, marketing, work, culture, getting mugged and perhaps most importantly, what would happen if the power went out, and stayed out. For good. Here's where "white collar doom" comes from: we lost power for more than a few days after Hurricane Irene in late 2011. During that time it did occur to me on more than one occasion that if the power had not come back on - I'd be pretty well doomed. In fact, if you are reading this blog, it's quite possible that you are just like me... essentially incapable of survival without power, credit cards and the internets. Here's how I think about it; I'm an information worker who spends his days in front of a computer, tapping little plastic buttons. I've not done physical labor of any sort since high school (worked in a variety of places including a furniture store). I

Finding Your Voice

I work for an organization that in many ways, is all about helping those with autism find their voice both literally and figuratively. It is a subtle and huge task for all those with autism and is near impossible to quickly capture the essence of the challenge. For those not on the spectrum, finding your voice is also a challenge and in some ways is why I have feel some connection to the autism world beyond my job. As a person, I am still looking and discovering my own voice. Understanding who I am, what I am capable of and searching for my own truth. The journey never ends. Now, as a parent, I also need to let my kids find their voices as well. My wife told me that my daughter "needs to find her own voice" the other day and it stopped me cold. Each of us, even our kids are on our own journey to discover our voices, to find out who we are and to find some measure of satisfaction in this life. Some, like those with disabilities and disorders have the deck stacked against

Index of Giving - Online Giving

Just got this from Blackbaud... looks like online giving is up again. We are hanging on through this economy...

Blackbaud Indexes of Giving

Good numbers to keep an eye on...

Mottos, sayings and credos

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a recent client event at Facebook HQ. Pretty cool. Facebook allowed several non-profits to be a part of a very special. "Hack" designed to come up with unique ways to accomplish our missions This was my 2nd visit to "the book" and outside the awesome snacks and food, what I really loved were the various sayings posted on different walls. I jotted a few down... done is better than perfect  proceed and be bold fail harder move fast and break things Not sure which is my favorite. I think I want my own posters for the office, and for my kids rooms.

20m/1t - Palatine Hill and How Time Flies

I promised myself I'd start blogging again in 20 minute chunks with a singular focus for each post... here goes! I had the amazing opportunity to visit Rome with my family a few weeks ago, and while visiting was a dream come true, I had an odd experience while we were there. Amidst the ruins, columns and amazing statues I began to feel displaced somehow from myself. I first felt it when we were standing under the Arch of Titus, reading from a tour book about how Jewish slaves were forced to build structure after structure in constructing the city. Aside from learning just now while writing this post that Romans Jews refuse to walk under it (oops "When in Rome"), I had an oddly disconnected/connected feeling to Rome. I started to think about time. Some 2,000 years ago, ancient Romans most certainly felt as we do today, that our society and civilization could not and would not crumble. Yet it happened to them, as it has happened with other societies and people across t

Apologies

Dear Blog, I miss you. I've neglected you, ignored you and worst of all, pretty much forgotten you. We used to have such a good time, the two of us. I wrote stuff, and you acepted it. I used you to work stuff out, like a personal diary about different things that interested me, made me laugh, and made me think. I never cared if anyone actually read it, it was really just between you and me. And since you are a blog, it really was just for me. Then that damn social media guy came 'round, and things changed. At first, it was OK, I still occasionally wrote here, but things heated up over on Facebook and the Twitter. I had to filter my thoughts more because over there, you write for others to react, not for yourself. It feels kinda opposite of what writing here used to be. Plus, its hard to wax poetic in 140 characters, eh? So, I hope this means I am back. I have an idea of doing a series of blog posts called "20 minutes/1 thought" where I will give myself 20 time

Finding Your Life Purpose

It's been a while since I posted here... I found a link to this article about finding my life purpos e the other day and set up a blank Google doc to answer the question "“What is my true purpose in life?" It's not an easy exercise to say the least. I'm 30 minutes in and have 56 things written down that range from "breathe" to "learn to enjoy the journey" and have no idea what it all means. I'm trying hard not to focus on career, job stuff but to get outside my own head space and let ideas come to me. I've tried this in the past and had some success, but clearly, my desire to dig back into this means it's not yet resolved. Anyone else tried this sort of exercise and had any good results? I realize I over-think everything and this is probably more of that.. but it is what it is! I'm going to keep going until something clicks. #1 on the list right now is... finding a way to be honest with myself and let the answers come.