360 Degree Self

I stumbled upon an enjoyable video by Ben Stiller, which finds him updating his Facebook profile. Like all of us, he's trying to understand the many dimensions of social media...with funny results...

As we celebrate Labor Day weekend 2009, I feel a huge sense of uncertainty regarding my work life and my career. As it turns out, 2009 has become another year of the transition for me. At this time, I want to thank all of my family and friends for supporting me and praying for me during this challenging time in my life. Please know that your prayers and support mean more to me than I can express. During my five months in transition, I have been surprised by three things in particular: 1) The large number of people who are in transition like me. About a month ago, I went to a networking event at a suburban church where over 100 of us were stuffed into a very warm room. Rather than feeling any sense of "strength in numbers," I felt a huge rush of sadness and helplessness. Thankfully the feeling went away quickly. When I go to a library during a typical weekday, I am amazed by the number of people who are waiting to use the computers or working on their laptops. I am also ...

Earlier this year, I wrote a couple posts about the over-use of "like" in our daily conversations. I shared a couple videos from performance poet (and former English teacher) Taylor Mali. You can check out these posts here and here . While browsing Taylor's blog, I noticed that there is now a version of that performance with a very effective use of typography. Created by Ronnie Bruce, this version really brings the meaning of the performance to life. FYI, Taylor is coming out with a new book of poetry, which will soon be available on his website . Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo .

How many times has someone said, "you should...?" You can respond one of two ways: either say "thank you" and make a mental note to yourself or you can mutter something under your breath and try to come across as grateful for the suggestion. Sometimes this advice is unsolicited or comes from a total stranger. Ideally the advice comes from someone who cares about your well-being like a family member, friend or mentor. Recently, Fortune Magazine featured a cover story about successful people and the greatest advice they've ever received. General David Patraeus received some advice from his boss while he was a captain in the army. His boss told him, " I think you ought to look for an out-of-your intellectual comfort zone experience." This advice let Patraeus to get a Ph.D. in international relations from Princeton University and has helped him in his current position as Commanding General in Iraq. For the full story, click here . While working as a...

I continue to work on the re-launch of this blog using WordPress and the Thesis theme. While Thesis makes customizing blogs much easier than many themes out there, I didn't anticipate all of the technical challenges that I've encountered. I've been dropping CSS code in at a not-so-furious pace. Three weeks ago, I wasn't familiar with CSS, but today I am dreaming about CSS code in my sleep. In true do-it-yourself fashion, I am scouring the very helpful Thesis support board and consulting my CSS in 24 Hours book. I am happy with the new design and excited to re-launch in a couple weeks. Honestly, I'm amazed that I've been able learn this code and design the blog myself (though I cannot give myself too much credit since the design is very simple and clean). There have been plenty of moments that I have been more than willing to shell out money for some help. That would have been the easy way. But, somewhere in all of this coding, is a lesson for me. My in...

Thanks to a Chris Guillebeau re-Tweet of a Jonathan Fields Tweet, I stumbled upon this very interesting video. According to information provided on the site , more than 70,000 advertising professionals have been laid off in our current recession. As a former advertising professional who was laid off from two advertising jobs, I can identify very strongly. One thing that always attracted me to working in that industry was working in a creative environment. This video gives you a slice of how just a few of these creative individuals are dealing with their layoffs. Whether you are between jobs or you create storyboards or pivot tables for a living, you might enjoy this...