Entries from March 2007 ↓

Writing is the key. At least for me. It’s all about words, with a smattering of pictures, drawings and illustrations. For the past few years I’ve resided at Blogger. I had a brief stint with TextPattern, but wasn’t happy so I went back to Blogger.

Like most, I’ve got a fondness for design. I’m not a designer though. I do know what I like and I’m able to articulate why I like what I do. I’ve thrown a little bit of money at template designers to give me something unique, but the experiences have always left me feeling stupid. Stupid for spending the money, given how little I got in return. But I’ve learned a few things about CSS, and other technical things, in the process so it’s not a complete waste.

The template world is full of good, bad and mediocre designs. I decided to dive in and just go for it. I rather like this design by Brian Gardner. He does good work. This works for me. For now. Perhaps forever. It’s time to focus on the work - the words.

Here I am, at the end of a month deciding it’s time to move forward. Time to move on. Time for a fresh start. Sadly, or perhaps not so sadly, the content from Blogger isn’t migrateable (is that a word?) to WordPress. That’s probably as it should be though for a new start. Leave the past behind. Don’t look back. Press forward.

So today. I have pressed PLAY here and STOP at the old site.

It’ll take me some time to get situated in these new digs, but I’m looking forward to a renewed focus of sharing my quest for wisdom. Business. Family. Relationships. Money. Health. Spiritual responsibility. The pursuit of these passions is worthy of any wisdom-seeker.

Update April 6, 2007

After finding the Blogger Import Plugin I migrated all my old content over to these new digs. The formating isn’t excellent, but the content is there. Not that it’s worthwhile, but at least everything is in one place now. Pretty slick.

For quite some time I have had the comments turned off because back in the pre-Google days of Blogger I got spammed. Nobody ever reads this blog anyway - do they? It didn’t seem to be a difficult decision at the time. Frankly, I never thought much about it until today when I read Chris Garrett’s blog.

So, the comments are back on.

On Monday Peter Birkenhead posted a story about Oprah’s advocacy of “The Secret.” I confess that I purchased a copy of the DVD before it was released - and my order was filled as soon as the release date hit. Why did I buy it? Marketing. I was curious what these guys were up to - and how they had created such a stir.

It’s slick, polished and well produced. It’s garbage, but it’s well done. Humanism. Fantasy. Dream it and it will come true dribble. As a Christian, I disagree with the sentiment that each of us are our own god - capable of doing anything we want if our desire is strong enough. It’s simply isn’t true. We’re mortals. We lack the full control these people preach.

I know few people, if any, who do not fantasize about having a better life. I know sick people who fantasize about a healthier state. I know less fortunate people who fantasize about having more wealth. I know childless couples who fantasize about having a child. Fantasizing won’t alter any of those conditions.

There is a difference in fantasizing about having something and doing something to see if it can be accomplished. For years I dreamed of being more fit, but I never went to the gym until last summer. Since then I’ve gone daily and now my fitness is better than it’s been in the last 25 years. Dreaming and visualizing that didn’t make it happen. Sweating every day in a gym while watching what I eat did.

Want to get rich? Dream on. Or, go to work finding out ways you can make more money. Dreamers buy DVD’s of “The Secret.” Doers are busy getting closer to their goals. The only secret about “The Secret” is that it’s a brilliant marketing ploy fleecing many people.

Note:
On February 25th, Allen Salkin wrote a nice piece in the New York Times entitled, “Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos.”