Category: post

None of this is permanent. Not the things you own. Not the ground you walk on. Not this rock we live on or the space it travels. It will all die. So will you.

You’ve got about a hundred years, give or take. Some have more years than others.

This short period you occupy is driven by events and choices. An event happens and, in that moment, you make a choice. Some choices are easy. Others are hard. Some choices we learn from. Others we don’t. Some we must live with for years. Others are fleeting. Yet all constitute what we call our life.

Even as children it is choices that teach us and guide us. We know that some choices get us in trouble and others get us rewards. This is how we learn what is right and what is wrong. What is dangerous and what is safe. What makes us sad and what makes up happy.

You might make the same bad choices over and over again. It is your choice to do so or to change it. You might make nothing but smart choices and that is very, very, rare. Most of us fail forward. Learning from the poor choices and the smart ones so that we might make more of the later than the former as we grow.

You choose how to use each second. If you choose to use them doing something you hate or putting up with the shit people lay on you, you are wasting precious time. It is a choice. You are choosing to do so. Plain and simple.

One hundred years is nothing in the grand scheme of things but it is all you’ve got. It is the only everything you will ever know. Make the best choices you can.

Flipping through an old notebook is a special and treasured pleasure of mine. Not only for reviving the memory of a time, person, or place, but also because I find they improve with time. The critical self dialog of the now is gone and the true nature of what I captured can now stand apart from such noise.

I have found that the longer my used notebooks sit on a shelf, the more valuable they become to me. That I often do not — can not — recognize the full worth of a thought, idea, or conversation I have captured until it has gone long forgotten on a shelf or in past pages. Only when I stumble upon it with eyes anew does the true importance shine through.

So, what I capture and where and how does not matter as much to me for most things. What is important is that I regularly take the time to go back to these places, flip through the pages, and allow those pasts to speak to me in the present.

I found the intersection of the following two posts that popped up on my radar interesting. Both should be of interest to "knowledge workers" and those who work at home.

The first, Things I’ve quit doing at my desk, offers some great tips for making your desk a workspace of purpose by employing some basic ground rules. All of the ideas are great but I found this one resonates with my own thinking and other things I’ve recently read:

If you’re like me, your best thinking happens when you’re not at your desk: taking a walk, going and asking another person for help, drinking a coffee, in the shower. Your desk is for executing; do your thinking elsewhere.

Then, shortly thereafter, I read this post from Randy Murray that aligns with my personal experience as well:

Having difficulty focusing and getting your work done? Pack up and move to somewhere new to work.

I have found that even moving to a different place in my house has the same effect for me.

Sometimes, the best way to get things done can be found by getting away from where you normally do them.

I see the signs. They are every where and no where. Concealed and in plain sight. Hidden to those that wish deception. For the fiction is pleasantry. Yet, for those of us who can see, we beg for blindness. For the truth is everything we fear.

I wrote this almost a year ago. I don’t know why. It is not a part of anything. Nor, do I feel that it is the start or ending to anything just yet. It just came out and, now, exists.

Sometimes, I write little snippets of things — fragments. Sometimes sentences. Sometimes paragraphs. Sometimes a whole page or two. Sometimes a single word.

I had a creative writing teacher when I was a teenager tell me this was not uncommon. That sometimes a writer’s brain does not work in linear wholes. That, sometimes a fragment will appear suddenly and have no place. Then, someday later, you might stumble across it and build upon it or find a place where it belongs.

She told me to set these aside and revisit them from time to time. That eventually their place may come along.

I have found this a helpful lesson for much of life. Not everything has to have a place right away. Sometimes we find a place. Sometimes a place comes along.

This is a shot of Beatrix and I, taken the other day at the park. Pictures of the two of us together are rare. Not because we don’t spend much time together. Simply because I’m so often the one taking the pictures.

Yet, I spend a great deal of time with my little girl. I’m fiercely protective of that time too. She is simply one of my favorite people to be around. She’s sweet and funny and a creative thinker. She has an incredibly kind spirit and gentle heart. She’s the sort of kid who greets everyone she passes as we walk to the park. If they have a dog she will politely ask if she can pet it, ask the name, and hold out her hand gently and let the dog sniff before running her tiny hands across its head. She thanks people politely when they give her a compliment. Courtesy and grace are a part of her being.

She’s also wonderful to photograph. And I find myself being so captivated by doing so that it does not occur to me to be in the same frame with her. To show some evidence of being there too.

I think it is often the case that there is that one person in the family who assumes the role of principle photographer. It generally just kind of happens. And, I believe you could always tell who that person is if looking though a collection of family photos. They are the ones who appear in the fewest of the photos.

If you are that person in your family, remember to step around to the other side of the lens from time to time. Let the future know that you were there too.

Apologies, true ones, are more than these two words. Apologies require action. In my view, there are at least four separate steps required for any apology to be considered valid:

1. Recognize what you did wrong, why, how, and to whom.
2. Apologize to the person/people you wronged. Ideally with an explanation, now that you have completed step one and can provide a true one.
3. Remedy the wrong in whatever way possible. Preferably in a way that those you’ve wronged see as proper remedy as well. If they suggest one, and it is in any way agreeable, by all means save yourself some trouble and do that.
4. Learn from the experience so that you may avoid doing such wrong again. This is especially important because doing such again not only effectively cancels out the previous three steps but likely may render another round of apology ineffective or the requirements needed for another acceptance insurmountable.

Two simple words are never enough. In fact, they are all too often not even the right place to start.

Lately, I’ve been thinking that most of us could use a remedial course in such a basic courtesy. Heck, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m just as guilty and in need. So consider this simple message a note to self that I hope others can learn from too.

I have not wanted to make a big deal of it but I’m sick again. This time, I’m not sure what it is. I’ve gone to the doctor and he is not sure exactly yet either. High fever, low appetite, aches and pains, headaches, extreme exhaustion, and a few other unmentionables.

I originally suspected Lyme’s disease as we spent the weekend at the family cabin and last weekend I spent shadowing and taking pictures of a GORUCK Challenge. But this was ruled out because I had no obvious tick marks. That said, West Nile Fever (Mosquitoes are the unofficial state bird of Minnesota) was a strong enough possibility with similar symptoms that this is how they are treating me for now.

So, forgive the (once again) slowness of output and interaction here. Taking what little energy I have left just to feel better.

Being Barefoot from Patrick Rhone on Vimeo.

Some thoughts on being barefoot and how we design surfaces — some made for feet others for shoes.

My regular series of some random things I wish to share is here once again…

Chris Gonzales recently released the first of his interview series and it just happens to be with your’s truly. It was a lot of fun to do and he was very patient with me. I’m looking forward to the rest.

Starting today, for a limited time, Tomely is offering the a Zeitgeisty Books Bundle. It’s pay what you want bundle of eBooks from some great authors including Robin Sloan and Jack Cheng. Paying more unlocks a couple of other titles. Looks like a solid deal.

Speaking of books, my friend Augusto Pinaud has released a new book called iPad Only. Pretty much what it says on the tin — great ways to use your iPad for almost everything. It is as much about their own personal journey on this path as it is recommendation. Much to gain here.

Looking for a beautiful cover for your Field Notes or similar sized notebook? Look no further. Holy cow that is beautiful stuff.

Speaking of note taking, I’ve recently enjoyed pouring through the archives of Taking Note which is a blog about just that. Highly recommended if you are a note taking nerd as I am. Be warned if you are that type here, you might lose hours here.

That’s all for now. I’ve got some work to get to.

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.

Civil rights, regardless of race, was not truly protected in this country for almost 200 years. Despite the fact that the Bill of Rights itself should have had it covered, it had to be spelled out and made clear by passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and was not fully protected until nearly 100 years after that with the passage of Twenty-fourth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Those who have taken a US History class in elementary school should know this, of course. But, the larger takeaway here is that sometimes, our Bill of Rights is not clear enough. The framers knew this would be the case. Thus, a process was put into place so that we, as a nation, may further add, clarify and refine these rights through amendments.

Yet, the movement to take such measures has never been motivated by the people in power — especially those concerning our most basic of rights (Freedom, Voting, Ownership, etc.). It was the power of people — millions of people — that forced the people in power to act. This is, after all, the spirit of the “American Experiment”. That those in power act and serve according to the will of the people¹.

It was not Abraham Lincoln alone who motivated the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was not the thousands of abolitionists who spoke out against slavery. It was not the tens of thousands who actively supported the abolitionist’s cause or the hundreds of thousands who did so silently. It was the millions of those trapped in Southern bondage and the millions more affected by the War Between The States, that tore at the very idea of our nation, who did. Only through the struggle, bloodshed, toil, and service of millions did our government then see fit to act.

And, when it came time to clarify and ensure the rights granted by that amendment through passage of other laws, it was not Lyndon B. Johnson alone who drove the cause. It was not hundreds sitting-in at lunch counters or the thousands filling the jails. It was not the tens of thousands boycotting busses or the hundreds of thousands marching in the streets and to government’s front door. It was the millions actively supporting the movements of all of these actors. Those recognizing that all freedom is threatened when even one freedom is denied. Demanding from their President and Representatives that a change be made.

I feel that we have reached another such a defining time with other freedoms granted by our Bill of Rights. As previously stated, a process was left in place by which we as a nation can and should further clarify, adjust, and refine these original and basic rights for a modern age. The judicial system alone has shown to be not enough. The people in power have never, historically, motivated such change. It is time for we the people to act once again.

Several of the original amendments are currently in question by those in power. The First Amendment might need such clarification². As well, the Fourth³, Fifth⁴, and Sixth⁵ are all in question by those we have elected to serve us. And, I would even go so far to argue that the Second is ripe for clarification as it is the one that gives the power to the people to ensure that the others shall not be peaceably taken ⁶.

But such change will never come by hundreds getting out the truth. It will not come from the thousands calling for change on the Internet. It will not come from the tens of thousands actively in support of such change. Or from the hundreds of thousands who silently believe such change is needed but feel powerless to act. Revolutions are counted in the millions. And it will take millions of us to actively demand that those in positions of power act or be removed through our action. It will take marching by the hundreds of thousands in every street or taking millions to the doorsteps of power once again.

Until such time, expect no change. If we want such change that clarifies, protects, and ensures our rights, we must as a nation demand them. For, as history has repeatedly shown us, the people in power will only respond to the overwhelming power of the people.

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