Category: post

When I woke up this morning (as I write this), our furnace had stopped working again. It's been doing this intermittently recently, despite the fact that it is only a couple of years old. We will go to bed at night with it working just fine. But sometimes, at some point throughout the night, when our Nest Thermostat adjusts the temp down, it never comes back on. When this happens, I spend a couple of hours trying to troubleshoot the issue. I reset the Nest, toggle on/off the master power to the furnace, toggle on/off the little switch for the blower motor inside of it, and all combinations of steps thereof. Eventually, I give up. I call a furnace repairman and schedule a service call. I drag a space heater down from our unheated third floor office. Then, in all the cases this has happened before, just a few minutes later the furnace magically starts working again. Almost as if the threat of repair or replacement has scared it into compliance.

Just a few minutes ago I scheduled the service call again. So far, it is still not working.

Then, just as I was doing the furnace restart shuffle, I got a call from Beatrix's school. She ended up vomiting shortly after arriving. I, of course, went and got her right away and brought her back home. She has been nauseous and continuing vomit off and on since. She has a bit of a fever and it seems to be rising. Meaning a trip to the doctor is likely if this continues.

In the mean time, the furnace guy has shown up. Now I'm double tasking between him and her. Oh, also, I have appointments I'm trying to reschedule due to these sudden unexpected events. I'm trying to get some critical work done in every moment I can steal. Basically, any plan I had is now out the window. And, due to the rescheduling and shifting, it is likely to throw things off for days to come.

It is reasons like this that when one makes a commitment to posting to a website, or doing anything for that matter, daily, it is important to do all that one can to be prepared for such times. It is reasons like this that having posts written a few days in advance matters. Because, hey, guess what? I likely wont have time to get anything else done today. Possibly tomorrow either.

Yet, that is OK because, thanks to planning, I don't have to break the chain or choose between some life emergency or my blog (the blog will always lose). The best way to pay attention to what really matters when they matter most is to have a plan for how you are going to manage and reduce the attention given to the things that matter less.

I’m a writer. Writing is how I make this world better, friendlier, stronger place. If these words improved your day, please let me know by contributing here.

Let’s be honest. You are not really looking for your dream job. Well, that may be what you say you are looking for or even think you are looking for. But, in reality you think said dream job is an automatic path to your dream life.

Well, I hate to break this to you, but since we are being so truthful here… Nope. Not only do the two not come together in a big value pack of happiness, but you might find that they are often at odds with each other. That, in order to build one you have to sacrifice and compromise the other — at least for a while and possibly forever. This is not to say that one can’t lead to the other or be built at the same time. This is to say that such cases are rare and you should be prepared to make the tough choices when they come.

For example, you may decide to take that very comfortable job driving someone else’s dump truck. You enjoy it quite a bit and it is something you always wanted to do. You are paid well enough to do it too. You get paid vacations and time off, good benefits, nice retirement savings plan, etc. It may be really flexible time wise too. It may allow you to send your kids to a good school and buy the spouse nice things. You can afford a nice house. Basically, it is what you dream of when you dream your dream life. And this is OK. You have chosen to drive someone else’s dump truck because that allows you to live your dream life. Fair trade, right?

That is still someone else’s dump truck.

But, in order to build your dream and buy your own dump truck you will have to give up some of that dream life — at least for a while. You may have to take a steep pay cut, give up the idea of vacation or time off, pay for your own health insurance, maybe even downsize the house.

But, hey, you are at least driving your own dump truck.

My point is that these are all choices. Most of the time they are hard choices. Sometimes one has to choose between their dream job and their dream life. But they are choices all the same.

But, sometimes, with the hard work, the compromise, the sacrifice, and right choices, and a wee bit of luck, one can arrive at both. But that’s all on you too.

I’m a full-time independent writer who works hard to bring you quality reading and ideas here daily. If you enjoy what you see here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

Your dream job will only exist if you get out there and work your nethers off and build it. No one can give it to you. You can’t be hired for it. There is no interview process and it won’t magically appear one day. A dream that is your dream can’t be taken or provided. If you want your dream job the only one that can will that into existence is you.

You may be saying, “Hey, my dream job is to drive a dump truck. Surely, I can learn how to drive one and get hired doing that for the rest of my life.”

Sure. This is true. But if you are being hired to drive someone else’s truck dumping someone else’s loads for someone else’s dump truck business then it is not your dream job. You just happen to be doing the job of your dreams for someone else. Your dream simply fit well into someone else’s bigger dream.

That’s OK. There is nothing wrong with that if it makes you happy and pays you well for the rest of your life. But, that is not your dream job. That is a dream job that you were lucky enough to be hired for but a dream that can be snatched away from you at any time. And any dream that can be taken did not belong to you — was not yours — in the first place.

Want to turn it into your dream job? Work hard, save money, buy your own dump truck, build out a model for sustaining customers that need loads hauled and dumped, and charge a price that will allow you to live comfortably and save a little extra for the rainy days, and figure out how to do that for the rest of your life or until it no longer fulfills you and makes you happy. That is the only way to make a dream your dream.

Only you can dream your dream. Only you can make your dream reality. Only then can it never be taken away. It can fail. It can falter. It can remain fantasy for ever. Or it could be the most successful in human history. But that’s all on you.

I’m a writer. Writing is how I make this world better, friendlier, stronger place. This is my dream job. If these words improved your day, please let me know by contributing here.

It has been a week or so since I started post daily here, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about my workflow and some of the tools I’m using to get the job done. First, just because you are reading this today and it was posted today does not mean I wrote it today. In fact, I wrote this several days ago. I try to write at least 2-4 days in advance. I queue these up to post at 8am every day and keep track of what is posting when (and drag and drop to re-arrange them if needed) using a wonderful WordPress |yafzd|referrer|rfhht
plugin called Editorial Calendar. One of the ways I can try to keep commitment to post daily here is to have a few in the hopper ahead of time. That way, if something comes up on a day and I don’t have time to write I don’t have to sweat it too much.
I’m mostly writing each post using PlainText for iOS and most are written on my iPad mini. That said, It is not unusual for me to write them on my iPhone or Mac (using Byword there) if that is where I happen to be when the muse strikes. That said, before the iPad mini (which is really great by the way), I wrote most sub–1000 word pieces on my iPhone. The difference is likely due to the novelty and newness of the iPad mini and, therefore, is likely to change back to being mostly iPhone at some point. The bottom line: If I happen to have an idea and the time to flesh out the first draft, I do it with whatever tool is most available.
But, when I don’t have the time, I capture it by any means necessary. Most of the time that is using pen and paper. Lately, having a Field Notes notebook in my back pocket has been the place of choice. That said, a 3×5 card or the iPhone are occasional stand-ins. What matters is that any idea that even smells like something to write about gets captured somewhere. All ideas matter.
Once captured, the goal is to get it to first draft state as soon as time allows and refine from there. Once a post is ready to go, how it gets into the queue largely depends on where I’m at and what additional tools might be needed. I’ve been using the official WordPress app on the iPad mini and it works well enough in a pinch. On my Mac, I log in to the WordPress Dashboard and use that. If the post has significant Markdown formatting and I’m posting into WordPress from my iPad, I copy and paste from PlainText to Drafts for iOS and use the tools there to copy to clipboard as HTML. Then, I paste that into the WordPress app. Works for me.
Now, I’m sure I’ll get more questions about the details not covered here or why I don’t do certain things (because this is working for me so far) or have I thought of something-or-other (the answer is likely “yes”). That said, as always, I do invite your feedback and commentary via email or on App.net if you have one.

When it comes to taking photos, I have long been one of those amateurs that takes 10 shots in rapid succession hoping that at least one of them will turn out OK. Generally, when I do this, I’ll quickly scan through them at my earliest opportunity, choose the one I want, and delete the rest.
Lately, though, I’ve been trying to delete the “bad ones” less quickly. The reason is this: While some of those shots may be imperfect to my eye at first pass, I often find that many grow on me if I let them sit and come back to them later. In fact, I come to love them more than the original.
Here a few examples of photos I’m glad I did not toss at first pass…

I |ibsnf|referrer|zrfsk
almost deleted this one because I was trying to capture Beatrix’s face (Oh, that face!). That said, I love the motion and framing of this one so much. It exudes fun. Far better than the one I was going for.

This was too blurry to my eyes at first pass. Yet, I decided to keep it and revisit it. Once again, it is my now my favorite of these shots. Not sure if it’s the movement or where the focus falls but I like it.

Once again, action shots should have action. They shouldn’t be perfect. They shouldn’t be still. They should be blurry and full of energy. Glad I did not toss this one.
The lesson I have learned here is to not be so quick to judge. These judgments are often clouded by desires or goals that we may have in one moment that, revisited in hindsight, may not be the best choice. That, sometimes, we may find beauty in exactly the places we least expect it if we look with a less reactive eye.

In my travels, when people outside of the state think of Minnesota, they think of the winter here. They often wonder why we would choose to live in a place where the threat (and reality) of snow and cold is present from October to April. Believe me, there are days in the thick of the season where I wonder the same.

That said, there is much to love about living here in the winter and it is not nearly as bad as one who has never done so may think. Here are some truths (my truths, at least) about winter in Minnesota. My hope is that revealing these will help to set the naysayers and otherwise suspicious straight.

• It can be very pretty. The first snowstorm especially. I live in a neighborhood still very full of late 19th century Victorian style homes. A nice snowfall, especially the first big one of the season, is like living in a Currier and Ives painting.

• Below a certain temperature, I find that all cold feels pretty much the same. For instance, it is really difficult for many of us to tell the difference between -10 degrees below zero and -30 degrees below zero. It’s just plain cold and one should dress appropriately.

• One learns that layers of clothing are your friend. It is the difference between comfortable and cold on most winter days. For instance, today I wore a short sleeve tee under a long sleeve one with a full-zip lightweight fleece underneath a soft shell jacket. Four layers for those keeping score. That way, if I got a bit too warm, I could remove a layer and thus cool the temp I felt down by 5-25 degrees depending on the layer(s) I removed.

• The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, where I live, are pretty well designed for it. There are many people, in fact, who rarely step foot in the cold for more than a few minutes a day. They wake in the morning, go into their attached and heated garage, get in their warm car, and drive to work. Once there they park in a heated parking garage, walk through the skyways — that connect most downtown buildings — to lunch, and then drive home. They never, actually, have gone outside. It could be -40 below and they would never feel it.

• Furthermore, along this same theme, our local and state snow snowplows are seasoned experts at keeping the roads passable in almost any circumstances. They are out in force at the first sign of coming bad weather. Parking regulations take effect during heavier “snow emergencies” so that roads can be cleared and salted with amazing efficiency.

• One learns how to drive in snow and ice if you live here through a winter or two (though, you will hear many an expert longtime Minnesota driver complain that it takes far too many too long to remember). You learn to leave a bit more distance between you and the vehicle ahead. To de-accelerate by lifting your foot from the pedal and waiting a second or two before applying the breaks gently. Or how to correct a spin out from happening by doing the opposite of what your natural instincts may tell you.

• Of course, there are also plenty of winter activities to make the most of it. Skating, skiing, hockey, snowshoeing, etc. The options abound and all are a good time.

The point of all of this is that, while it is not my favorite season of the year, Minnesota is perfectly livable during the winter. I invite you to experience it for yourself sometime. Look me up and, if time allows, I’d be happy to show you around.

More often than not, we are the only one’s that notice it.
How often have you been invited into a seemingly clean home and, yet, have the owner turn to you and apologize for the mess? For me, it has been more times than I can count. And, in almost every case, I’m oblivious to this “mess” they are referring to.
The thing is, in our own home our standards are higher than others usually hold us too. We notice the shelves that we forgot to dust or the dust bunnies in the corners. Frankly, most people walking in just don’t look that closely.
So, when I do such a thing here — ask forgiveness for my mess — I’m aware that I may be the only one who can see it.

Kitchens are chaos.
Go to any restaurant in the world, from the lowest to the finest, and this is one thing I’m certain you will find in common. No matter how good the rest of the place looks, or the presentation that is on your plate, the kitchen is a mess. That beautiful food started out as an ugly mess. The people that prepared it had to work in a near impossible concert of organized disorder in order to ensure that each item arrived to your table at the right time and temperature and looked like something you might want to eat and not some half-prepared conglomerate of ious ingredients and uncooked components. You are paying for the privilege of not only eating a well prepared meal but also to not have to get your hands dirty or see such a mess.
This is true of most homes you are invited into as well. Unless the inhabitants are neat freaks in all likelihood they spent a few minutes to a few hours busily “picking up” before your arrival. If they have kids there were likely toys all about the place and a sock or two (but never from the same pair). There were likely dishes on the counter in the kitchen and a pile of unread mail on some surface near the entryway. The point is, if you are a guest, a true guest, you likely never get to see the mess.
The truth is, most of those great things we read — in books, magazines, or blog posts — started out as chaos as well. Half baked ideas, notes scribbled on some scrap of paper, a freely associated stream of consciousness full of typos and mistakes. These things were all cleaned up before they were published. Thoughts were completed. Typos were corrected. Associations became direct connections.
The mess is something we generally reserve for only our closest friends and trusted sources. The mess is the imperfections we know others know but would only reveal to those willing to forgive us for it.
Yet the mess is the very essence of creation. The planets and stars and life itself is born of chaos and disorder and confusion.
And part of my being able to publish here daily will mean that, some days, it will be a bit messy and you will just have to forgive me for that.