How are you going to make change happen and learn to enjoy it, relish it and want more of it?

I’m going to dress nicer for work, show up at the office earlier, do my best work and lead by example.  It is time to step it up.

“My priorities are where I spend my time.  I need to adjust.  As of June 1, 2009, I am taking an online social sabbatical.  For a while, I will not be doing any online social networking, blogging, tweeting, commenting, replying, etc.  I will still do emails and text messages.  So, if you want or need to connect with me, my contact information is still very easy to find.  I am not hiding.  I am changing my priorities.  If you want to know more, feel free to contact me via email, phone or text.”

Wisconsin is just another Midwest place.  –>  Wisconsin is cool for how loyal people are, how simple people are, how honest people are, and how good the beer is.    (Believe it or not, in MN, I was asked, “They still make that s&!t?” and told, “I’m surprised we had any of that stuff around.” (That’s in relation to PBR!)  That’s practical blasphemy in Sconnieland.

Maybe these are major transformations!?!?

WHAT’S NEXT?!

Kevin Garnett 2008 Finals Adidas Team Signature Commander Shoe

UPDATE: Sure is a good thing I can share this on Facebook! Ugh… Silly, stooopid!

“Why shouldn’t I work for the N.S.A.? That’s a tough one, but I’ll take a shot. Say I’m working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, ’cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin’, “Oh, Send in the marines to secure the area” ’cause they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, gettin’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number got called, ’cause they were pullin’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some kid from Southie takin’ shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, ’cause he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain’t helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they’re takin’ their sweet time bringin’ the oil back of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin’ play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain’t too long ’til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy’s out of work and he can’t afford to drive, so he’s got to walk to the fuckin’ job interviews, which sucks ’cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin’ him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’ ’cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I’m holdin’ out for somethin’ better. I figure fuck it, while I’m at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.”

Good Will Hunting (1997) – Memorable quotes

I’ve come to some conclusions.

I can change the world.

Everyone has the ability to change the world.

The difference is that I want to and I will.

There are some people that I can’t change.

There are most people that I can’t change.

There is nobody that I can change.

I don’t want to change people.  That’s up to the individual.

I can change the world.  That’s up to me.

This is important to realize.  This is a distinction between the emotional tug to argue and be right and to win a power struggle … and … the focus and drive and passion needed to facilitate change and positive growth.

So, what have I determined today?  I will not be a politician.  They spend too much time talking and not enough time doing.  I will not engage in debates and rhetoric that are not focused on solutions.  The kinds of debates and rhetoric that I am talking about avoiding are focused on being right, not focused on being better.  I want to focus on being better.

I will always have political issues to deal with.  That’s just the politics of life.  We can’t avoid that.  But, I will not make dealing with that be *my* focus.

With all that being said, people can and do change.  I have changed.

UPDATE: It took from October 28th until November 11th for MySpace to finally delete my account.  This was/is status quo for them.  I often made changes or tried to use their built in features that simply did not work, or they took many days for the changes to take place, often over-writing the other changes I made in the mean time.  I’m glad to leave.  Based on my experiences over a few months trying it out, I do not recommend MySpace for anyone.  I spent quite a bit of time there and gave them an honest shot.  It just doesn’t work well and their communication is exasperating.

The Google Reader Team just improved my experience reading blogs and following various RSS feeds – again.  They did it this time by adding search.

Go figure, Google added search. 

Well, it is unique in that it lets me search through the many feeds that I already follow, not just any feed or the whole Net.  So, when I’ve been tracking valuable information, up to this point, I’d have to star it or bookmark the site and then come back.  Now I can track it with Google Reader and then just come back and search at my convenience.

Nice work!

UPDATE: A few days ago I also unsubscribed from Robert Scoble’s blog.  Removing that congestion has been a huge relief.  As awesome as he’s been to follow over the past few years, including being one of the first to mention Google Reader and getting me to try it, it’s a wise move (for me) at this point because I think he’s turned into a shill.  (Cheap shot?  Maybe.  Get his attention?  Probably not.  Improve the blogosphere by letting people make up their own minds, via transparency?  Definitely.)

I just left a comment on one of your recent posts.  I also recently took a break from blogging and reading blogs.  Upon my return, it’s no surprise that of all the blogs I ready, yours had the most posts.

However, I’m sick of hearing about Twitter and Facebook.  I think you’re more creative than this and have often posted about many other things.

Life exists outside of silicon valley!  Not everything has to be hot!  Some people don’t even drink coffee.  (Well, THEY are crazy.)

From a long time reader, just draining my bank account by $.02 and trying to make our blogging world better, via constructive (or blunt and honest) criticism.

~Toby

UPDATE: I just added a TrackBack to Robert’s post where I commented.  There are a couple other responses after mine, including from Robert.

UPDATE2: TrackBacks almost never work for me.  Probably a setting that the recipient allows or not, or it’s just a dumb, broken, old way of doing it.    So, I also added a direct link to the comment at the top of this post.

(If anyone is paranoid about time spent at work, don’t be.  I put my time in there, and I also can read from my mobile phone from anywhere, like on the bus a couple times a day.  Also, some key learning for work has come from those blogs.  By far they’ve been the biggest resource with most direct help for my exact projects, right now.)

The break lasted about 2 weeks.  In the middle of that break, I did need to do some reading to find some work related resources.  I also cheated a little bit towards the end of last week and through this past weekend because I just missed some of the reading.

Here are some of my takeaways.

1. I get a lot of my news and info from blog reading.  Other resources are not as efficient for me.  (It’s probably better to say “feed reading” because not all of the info is in a blog format, but it is published using a feed that I read with Google Reader.)
2. I didn’t really miss writing my own blog posts and responding to other’s.  So, maybe it’s just not that important to me.
3. I enjoyed the time gain.  I used it to get good exercise and spend more time on other things.  I even lost at least 5 pounds and now have to buy new jeans so they don’t fall off!
4. I’m going to trim my reading list and probably cut back on writing my own posts and responding to other’s.  I do have some books I want to write, so I’ll still have avenues to write and express myself.
5. There is a social aspect to blogging.  I found myself still investing in and getting some social gain via other means and other social networks I’m part of (online and offline).  My About Me page on this blog got updated.
6. I know this one will sound absolute, but it makes my point.  While not blogging, I went back to some regular news watching and reading the paper (online).  Everybody else still doesn’t get blogging and how it can be used.  They don’t get RSS or feeds.  They don’t get social networking.  And, they don’t care to, mostly because they just don’t understand, not because they dislike.

There are probably more takeaways that will surface, as I make some changes and apply some of my takeaways.  If you want to know more about where I’m going with all this blogging and social networking and Web 2.0 thinking, just ask me, or leave a comment here.

I think that there is a lot of work to be done to get our American culture to be more flexible and accepting of other ways of doing things.  I see this being most prevalent in our attitudes and in the ways that we work (or don’t work).

Now, back to work!