I wanted to post a note about my mom’s new blog – the “Nana second” as she calls it (“Nana” is the affectionate term that my neices use for her – cute, huh?) And what better day to let you know about it than her birthday! So, first of all…

Happy Birthday Mom!

And, no, I haven’t called yet — but I’m going to as soon as I post this!

Definitely check out her blog on a regular basis as I’m sure that she is going to have lots of great things to say! Also, as soon as I get the photo upload feature working for her you’ll be able to see some photos of the country livin’ that she and my dad enjoy so much.

I think that my parents might think that I don’t miss them or think about them when things get busy and we haven’t seen each other in a while. But they are wrong. Way wrong! Love y’all!

Update: Just got off the phone with my mom - after talking for 55 minutes! That was fun. Thanks Mom! Happy Birthday!

Update #2: My mom emailed me and just happened to attach a “better photo”, which we all know means “Change it now!”

Filed under: Personal
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The News.com article “Driven to distraction by technology” rang home with me. Between email, instant messaging, texting, and my BlackBerry (or “crackberry” as some call it, an indication of it’s addictive qualities!), I am pretty connected. In fact, just flying back and forth to California this week was strange as I was “disconnected” for four hours at a time! GASP!

Many people nowadays expect an immediate response. I cannot tell you how often I have had someone email me, only to call within an hour just because I have not yet replied. Most work, especially programming for me, requires a good deal of concentation. Two or three hours of uninterrupted productivity can easily equal an entire eight-hour day of “work” when that work is constantly interrupted with emails, phone calls, etc.

One of the best things that I did a few years ago was turn off the “new mail notifier” in Outlook. Now when an email comes in I do not hear a beep, see a message, or even an icon in the system tray. Nothing happens. My new emails just sit there until I decide to check them. When I really want to get work done, I might hit the “do not disturb” button on my phone and turn my cell phone to “quiet” mode as well.

This can apply to social events as well. Sometimes when Carrie and I go to dinner I’ll leave the BlackBerry in the car – just to be unaccessible for an hour or two. Unless you happen to be on-call for work, there is not very much in life that won’t wait that long for you to respond to it – and the peace and quiet of an uninterrupted visit with a friend or loved one is worth it.

So, turn off that email notifier, shut down instant messenger, and turn off your cell phone. Instead get some really creative work done, or spend some time with someone important to you, or just read a book. You’ll thank yourself.

Filed under: Technology, Business, Personal
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It’s been an eventful couple of days for me out here in Cali. Wednesday was a long day as I took an early morning four hour flight from Houston to Oakland, only to land, realize that I hadn’t booked a rental car, go to Avis and get one, and head over to a 1pm meeting. The meeting was in San Mateo (right by San Francisco) and the drive over was gorgeous! Man, California is a beautiful place – especially after getting used to the very flat and mostly ugly Houston!

It’s easy to see why people would want to live out here, but still, it’s hard to imagine paying half a million dollars for a 1–2 bedroom house that has, literally, no yard! The houses are right next to each other – it’s nuts!

Today was a long day, meeting with some new clients, answering all their questions, getting them set up, etc. Tomorrow morning is just a quick presentation and then I get to head home!

Regardless of the travel, the work, or anything else, I realized something incredibly important — I am doing exactly what I want to be doing. When you are doing something you love, even the tough days are better than the best days are doing something you don’t like!

If you aren’t doing what you want and getting what you want out of life, why not? I heard something a while back — every day that you wake up you can do whatever you want! Really! If you want to move to another city, take another job – or start your own company, or whatever your dreams are – there is nothing stopping you! So, wake up today and pursue something that you have been putting off for a while. Just go for it!

Filed under: Personal
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While reading Jeremy Zawodny’s blog entry on “When to go on vacation?” I was reminded of a story I heard ealier this year during basketball season. I was in the locker room with some other officials and one of them was encountering some health difficulties. One of the other officials was encouraging him to turn back in a few games and get his health back in order. To drive the point home, he shared the following story.

A friend of his worked at the train yard. He often put in 70–80 hours a week making sure that the trains ran on time. Literally. That is, until he contracted a disease and was hospitalized for several months.

Upon his return to work he shared the following with his co-workers:

You know what I learned while I was gone? I really thought that this place wouldn’t be able to operate without me here, but the trains kept on runnin’.

He went on to say that from now on he was only putting in his 40 hours a week and was going to spend the rest of the time doing things that were much more important than work.

Work is something that most of us have to do in one form or another. It can be rewarding, stressful, fun, or a pain. But it’s just work. It’s not what is important in life. We should all remember that in addition to humbling ourselves with regard to the jobs that we perform. Because, no matter how critical we may think that we are to the process, the trains will keep on runnin’.

Filed under: Personal
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Carrie is bugging me about posting “something new”… Lots has been going on since we got back from Oklahoma, but I have mainly been trying to catch up some projects that I am working on. So, here goes…

Huge congratulations to Carrie are in order! After serving on the Better Homes and Garden’s (“BHG”) Scrapbooks, etc. design team for the past year, she was asked to be a contributing editor on an ongoing basis! So cool! Now her name will be in the section at the front of every magazine and she will be writing more articles and possibly have an ongoing column, etc. Awesome!!!

Carrie puts a lot of time and effort into her hobby/job as a scrapbooker (or “professional scrapbooker” as some of her scrapping work-friends refer to her). Take this photo for example… Carrie decided to do a layout on her friends Mag and Mindy – who she met at the Anadarko fitness facility. She wanted to include a footprint as part of the background of the layout.

So, one night I am walking by Carrie’s scraproom (which doubles as our guest bedroom – but there is no doubt which one comes first!) and I see Carrie standing on some patterned paper with one shoe on. She had painted the bottom of her shoe with stamping ink and was standing on the paper to make the imprint! What dedication!!!

After I stopped laughing I did the obvious thing – run to get the camera without her knowledge to capture this fun moment!

Congrats again Care!

Filed under: Personal
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