Archives For Life

Quitting Facebook

9 October 2012

Quitting Facebook

It was a good ride while it lasted, but it was time to quit Facebook.

It wasn’t about privacy, or productivity, or the goofy design changes they make from time to time that everyone gets upset over. These were flaws of the system, yes, but there was a more fundamental reason why left.

I just no longer enjoyed it.

Facebook was no longer about personal expression, but
vicarious identification of who you want people to see you as.

Originally, I enjoyed Facebook for the human connection. The now and again views of life from another person’s point of view. But all that seems cluttered now by knowing so-and-so likes Oreo cookies and some not-so-funny ecard photo. Facebook was no longer about personal expression, but vicarious identification of who you want people to see you as.

It was becoming a time sink of un-information. A constant stream of photos with barely related text over them, political bickering, hyperbole news headlines and frustratingly vague statuses. Every once in awhile there was something that had genuine personal interaction or interest. But it was becoming increasingly harder to find through the noise.

Quitting Facebook was embarrassingly not easy. I had wanted to do it probably over a year ago, but I kept coming back. There were a lot of excuses I kept running through in an effort to keep it. I had that feeling of not wanting to miss out on a moment. And how can I share pictures of my soon-to-be-born daughter? How can I connect with the teens in the church if I don’t know what’s going in their lives?

But was I missing out in the moment of life because I busy trying to share it with other people?

I’m realizing that not having Facebook is forcing me to connect with people on a more personal level instead of “Facebook stalking” them to find out what’s going on in their life.

The story is already told, and we are merely commenting
about it to fill in the gap between Facebook posts.

No real life conversation is quite as awkward as starting it with, “Hey, I saw on Facebook that you…”, and them saying “Yep, that’s exactly what it is.” The story is already told, and we are merely commenting about it to fill in the gap between Facebook posts.

I’m still on twitter…for now.
I still have email.

Just no Facebook.

And I know this probably sounds mostly like contrite rhetoric, but it does simply feel more genuine to life.

I don’t know.
I’ll probably be back in a month… :)

In Life
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Shake/Fold: How to Use a Paper Towel

15 May 2012

I’m a big fan of TED Talks. They are a sharing of ideas that can fundamentally challenge or even change some of your most basic thoughts, or broaden your vision for new possibilities.

Here, Joe Smith, a lawyer from Oregon, gives a talk about not wasting paper towels. I know I’m guilty of grabbing these from the dispenser like they could be used for currency. But Smith shows how you can dry your hands without waste…and by his numbers, we collectively do a lot of it.

 

“Why twelve? Twelve apostles. Twelve tribes. Twelve zodiak signs. Twelve months. And the one I like the best, it’s the biggest number with one syllable.”

Ha! Great presentation.

This talk comes from a TEDx conference; which describes itself as follows:

“In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.”

In Life
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Communication

11 May 2012

Pixar does a great job at telling a beautiful story without the use of words. They can convey a message through expression, aesthetics and rely heavily on the visual aspect of communication. When putting communication material together, I see people focus primarily on the words. They painstaking debate over how every word should be said or written to convey a message. Design and usability then becomes secondary afterthoughts.

This is just a reminder that the words aren’t always what is important. The excuses of “Oh, I don’t know what I’d say” for not doing is irrelevant. Sometimes being there is what is needed. Sometimes spending time or *gasp* money on design is needed. Sometimes getting your message across is about reaching out and helping others in action.

Often with words, less is more.

Communication is having the ability to put yourself in the listener’s shoes and seeing your message as they see it.

But do you like what you hear? Or do you just like what you say?

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7

 

In Life
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May Reading

10 May 2012

Just a little light reading for the month of May…

Basic Theology by Charles C. Ryrie

The History of Christian Thought by Jonathan Hill

The Story of Christianity Vol. 2 by Justo L. Gonzalez

In Life
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Shipment

7 May 2012 — 2 Comments

“Real artists ship.”

An old saying at Apple Computers, often attributed to Steve Jobs, brings to light the company’s culture and the importance of delivering on product design. However there’s a deeper meaning to this quote. It speaks to life’s accomplishing goals by delievering on them. It speaks to what it means to be creative.

While it’s great to innovate, design and create, it’s also important to share and deliver to others. Sometimes this means publishing your own words, or stepping out to showcasing your photography, or verbally communicating your idea to the right people.

In order to do so, you’ll have to overcome a lot of excuses; possibly the most ensnaring is perfectism.

Perfectism will always eventually become an obstruction.

You can tweak, adjust and perfect your work as long as it’s sitting in front of you. Endlessly.

Continue Reading…

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Infrastructure

5 May 2012 — 4 Comments

Any organization is the result of infrastructure. The dresser in my room has an infrastructure of drawers. Each drawer holds a certain type of clothes: a drawer for tshirts, a drawer for socks, etc. Whether that infrastructure is detailed, planned or even thought of, infrastructure carries out the purpose of the architecture. A good infrastructure is built to accomplish what is needed. A great infrastructure is built ready to expand for future growth.

This site has an infrastructure. It’s hosted on a server, powered by WordPress, and showcased with the Standard Theme.

Right now, I’ve done no more to the site’s infrastructure than that. Everything that exists on this site is default or default option tweaks. I am only just now introducing multiple categories.

I have added a few posts, a few pages, and am even running a few plugins, but the chosen infrastructure for this site was purposed. I did not need to host this site. I could have started with Tumblr, or Blogger, or even WordPress.com. But none of these provided the infrastructure I wanted to grow this site.

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Architecture

4 May 2012 — 2 Comments

The main idea behind this site is about developing ideas. It is not a site about how to develop ideas, but rather one that showcases ideas as they develop.

Whaa…?

Yeah, confusingly undefined, Inception type stuff, right?

That brings me to today’s post: Architecture.

The architecture of the site is built mainly in theory and some in practice. The philosophy of the site exists as direction. The base construction of the site exists to allow navigation, use and visibility of that direction.

Right now, this site has a bad case of the borings.

No pictures. No logo. Two posts (that includes this one). Only a couple of social media links. There’s a reason for that.

Continue Reading…

In Life
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