Dave Thompson

Importing SubTemplates in Ruby's ERB

2011-12-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

I've posted a Gist showing an example of how to import sub-templates into ERB files.

Many people are familiar with the concept of "partials" in (RubyOn)Rails. This subtemplating ability is part of ActionView and is not part of ERB itself (the templating language included in every Ruby install).

There are many times when you may want to have the functionality of "partials" without all of the overhead of including ActionView into your code. At BlueHead Publishing, we are using this in our bookshop software, to have a templating structure for author's books.

The code example below shows how to create a method called import() which you can use in your ERB to import subtemplates (other .erb files) into your master ERB file, reproducing some of the "partials" functionality you may be used to in Rails.

Centering Text Block Vertically on Kindle

2011-10-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

I've posted a Gist showing an example of how to vertically center a block of text on a blank page for Kindle.

Shirley Phelps-Roper Response

2011-03-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

It has been almost two weeks since my initial letter to Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church, concerning our invitation for an Over Coffee Conversation. We recently received this note from Shirley:

I’ve been doing radio around the country all day and other media and a few high school class discussions. At first glance of the writing below, I have to say- someone should tell the lad that less is more! Here is a verse or two on that:

Job 11:2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
Pr 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.

You can hide sin in words.

Hold for more.

Thanks!

Shirley

And my response back:

I am very grateful for the response, given all of the media stir.

It's true. I confess, I tend to be a bit loquacious. Thank goodness 'brevity' isn't the standard for truth when it comes to the Apostle Paul's writings. Maybe it's me, but the letter he wrote to the Romans sure seems a bit wordy.

I am eagerly on hold, awaiting the continence of our fine conversation.

D.a.

Open Dialogue With Shirley Phelps-Roper from Westboro Baptist Church

2011-03-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Recently we began conversations with Shirley Phelps-Roper from Westboro Baptist Church (http://www.godhatesfags.com/), regarding the hosting of an Over Coffee Conversation event about gay partnership and conservative faith. Due to the nature of our correspondence, I asked Ms. Phelps-Roper for permission to make our dialogue open to the public. She has kindly agreed. Here is our correspondence so far.

Shirley Phelps-Roper (in response to my publicist's inquiry)

Good morning Ms. Arthur –

While I’m a never say die kind of person, and I’ll try anything at least once, there is a problem with the conditions – actually only one.

1. We will agree to make no conclusions.

The discussion you want to have is one wherein you bring together people in a “religious” setting to discuss in an “open” and “honest” and “save” environment a matter. That sounds so very good and fluffy and more.

However, when the question amounts to this: Can you fit what God calls ABOMINATION (two fags living together in a type of husband/wife relationship) into any notion whatsoever of serving God, and making your way eventually to heaven.

Paul instructed us in at least two ways about such a discussion, to wit:

2Ti 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

AND

2Co 1:17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

Further, CHRIST said that if we do not do that (RENDER an opinion and be prepared to defend it, as in a CONCLUSION and a DECISION) it is because we have an evil agenda.

Mt 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

This foolish nation sits around as you are being undone, piece by piece, that will not end till you have been fully vomited out of this land, discussion GOD’s commandments as if they are on the table to discuss. Looking at it this way and that way to try and find a way to get around plain words of instruction and commandment. It will NOT happen.

While I would engage in discussion, my conversation HAS a conclusion. God did not leave us walking in darkness about this matter. WE say NO, NO, NO! Sodom will destroy the nation and damn the soul to hell for eternity where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched and the smoke of your torment ascends up for ever and ever! NEVER ending!

So NO please. Thank you for the invite, but once I found your letter enclosed in the package, and saw the book and the fag saying that he is a “Gay” “Conservative” I realized what you are all up to! A filthy, disobedient, practicing pervert and rebel against God, by any other name and with any fluffy photo is still a filthy, disobedient, practicing pervert and rebel against God!

WE will not do that! We will NOT let anyone take our crown and we will not let anyone make us agree that there is no conclusion! The last chapter of the last book of the Bible says that the first category of rebels against God that will NEVER see heaven are the fags! That includes their enablers!

The entire Word of God from the first book (Genesis) to the last book (The Revelation) and all the words of Christ that touch upon the subject matter (see Luke 17, Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21 and more – just read the words) are ALL one way! BAD, BAD, BAD! Genesis 19 – God destroyed Sodom! Judges 19-21 – God almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin – the prophets (Isaiah 1; more, more, read the words) warned and connected the filthy Sodomites (see Amos 3 and read it all, short and powerful and good) with the utter destruction of Israel and the Babylonian Captivity of Judah) and it is the sin for which this generation has brought upon themselves horrors of afflictions that have never been seen in this earth, nor ever will be, and that day is in sight now! WOE, WOE, WOE unto this nation and this generation! You should NEVER have put your hand to touch this subject matter! You should have FLED the other direction as fast as you could get there!

Anathema, Maranatha!

Thanks for writing.

Shirley Phelps-Roper
2/12/11

My response to Ms Phelps-Roper

Dear Shirley,

I am so very grateful for your well stated reply and truly appreciate the opportunity to converse with you in more detail. Moreover, thank you for also agreeing to allow for a publicly open dialogue. I am certain that the points of our conversation will serve to be very informative to many who have similar curiosities on this incredibly relevant issue in our Churches and our greater society.

To your first concern of the Over Coffee Conversation event, that we will agree to make no conclusions, I hope you will permit me to clarify. It goes without saying that almost every person has a very clear conclusion on the matter of gay partnership in the Church. The intention of our Over Coffee Conversations event is to provide an opportunity for leaders and fellow persons of conservative faith to feel like they can dialogue about gay partnership without feeling like they might be put on the spot or be forced to agree with my position, or any other position.

Thank you for your reflection on this condition. We are investigating a way to more clearly state this that better reflects our intentions. Currently we are considering: "We all agree to provide room for disagreement." What do you think? This may provide a better expression of our intentions for an open dialogue.

Regarding your concern about the question of "two fags living together in a type of husband/wife relationship" as being foolish, I would ask for a small liberty here to make a brief clarification of terms. As the word "fag" is not to be found anywhere in the entirety of Scripture, and as it is only principally used in our English language as a curse word, or a demeaning term, may I suggest we use the term gay, or even homosexual (which is at least in our English Bibles)? I'm sure you would agree with the apostle Paul in Col 3:8 "But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." So in hopes of maintaining a context of Christ-likeness I would prefer to use the word "gay" or "homosexual" to more accurately talk about people who find themselves unable to be attracted to the opposite gender.

Onto the foolish and unlearned questions. I would certainly agree that unlearned questions are something to avoid. Generally speaking it doesn't do much good to entertain debate unless one has become learned on the particular subject matter. For instance, I would agree with you that it would be unlearned of someone to suggest that a conservative reading of the Creation story would suggest that God intended Adam & Steve. It seems very clear within a conservative interpretation that God separates Adam into two genders for the purpose of providing his relationship with Eve. In that 'Garden' state without the genetic or environmental consequence of the Fall (the unintended state of Creation) I would say the conversation should end there. But the reality is that we live in a world full of 'unintended' (to translate the greek word for sin) realities.

This moves me to the question, as you state it, "Can you fit what God calls ABOMINATION into any notion whatsoever of serving God, and making your way eventually to heaven?"

First, I must note where heaven is concerned, that I don't believe there is anything that we can 'do' to earn the free gift of salvation and reconciliation provided by the sacrifice of Christ. To continue with you in quoting Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians (2:8), "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." We are all imperfect and the only standard for heaven, as it were, is perfection. As you would no doubt agree, that perfection has already been met for us as a result of Jesus' death and intercession, a keystone tenant of our Christian faith. So I would agree with you that at some point it becomes a foolish and unlearned question to debate which person's unintended (sinful) condition is more imperfect than the others. Forgive the crass example, but it is a little like two cow-pies debating over who makes the pasture cleaner.

To reply to your question, I would say yes. Yes, in point of fact, Jesus in Matthew 19 fits what God 'hates' (in Malachi 2:8 - divorce) into a notion of serving God. But let us recall that Jesus is dealing with a situation where the ideal is no longer possible. In that case of infidelity in marriage, the ideal of the marriage has been made non-ideal. Since it is unlikely that a person would be unable to be celibate the remainder of their lives, Jesus seems to have permitted remarriage, even though it was imperfect, not ideal.

I would like to make a special note here that we are not talking about a world where decisions are made between perfection and imperfection. The only decision between perfect and imperfect was the first one that Eve and Adam made in eating the fruit they were forbidden to eat. So decisions after that point are made between the spectrum of imperfect or even-more-imperfect. In the case of a divorced man who comes to the church, we would not expect him to never marry. To do so would be to violate God's very first moral order that "man should not be alone." If he is gifted with the ability for celibacy, then he should consider that as an option. But just because his situation is imperfect, it does not mean that we should make matters worse (more imperfect) by setting him up for complete failure. No. Instead, we should equip him to be less imperfect and in-so-doing provide him a better ability to actually have a better chance for living a more right life.

Such is the case with persons who are only able to be attracted to the same gender. Even the most conservative group, NARTH.org, recognizes that this is an unchangeable condition for many gay persons. Why would we presume that they are somehow able to be celibate when we would never assume that of people who are attracted to the opposite gender. Jesus, in point of fact, was talking to all people when he suggested the gift of celibacy.

Last, please note what I am NOT suggesting here. I am not suggesting that the sacrament of marriage in the Church (as distinct from the secular, legal, and economic context of marriage) needs to include relationships of the same gender. I think there is something important about distinctly and sacramentally recognizing the creative intention of God's separation of humankind into opposite genders, there coupling being His initial purpose. This does not mean we cannot provide room on the pew for the very small percentage of relationships in our congregations between people who are actually incapable of attraction to the opposite gender and who are also not gifted for celibacy.

In closing, please allow me to reiterate that I am very hopeful that we can continue these conversations, eventually in person. As you so careful noted, "Anathema Maranatha," it is also my eager endeavor to protect those teachings of our faith. What is more, as one of the ninety-nine sheep (Luke 15), I hope to never say to the Good Shepherd, "We're glad you found your lost sheep, but we just don't like the color of his fleece."

Your Brother in Faith,

D.a. Thompson
3/3/2011

Osteen's Church Responds, Sort-Of (Third Letter)

2011-02-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

This is my third letter to Joel Osteen. The first and second have gone without significant reply.

Due to Pastor Joel Osteen's recent shift in message on the gay issue, stating conclusively that he believes "homosexuality is a sin," I felt compelled to communicate with him and urge him to clarify his position.

We have shared this third letter with Pastor Osteen's team and await their reply.

#########

Dear Pastor Osteen,

This is my third open letter. The first and second having gone without significant reply.

Thursday morning we received a brief email from Cassie Malone, Media Relations on your behalf.

To re-iterate, here is Ms. Malone's response to my publicist (who has been graciously working tirelessly), Jenée Arthur:

Dear Jenee,

Thank you for contacting our ministry.

At this time we are unable to accommodate to your request.

God bless,

Cassie
Lakewood Church
Media Relations

My response back:

Dear Cassie,

Thank you for acknowledging, on behalf of Pastor Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church, after two weeks, that our attempts for communication are being received by your team. It is disheartening that Pastor Osteen has chosen to provide no reply, thought, or reflections, in any form, to the tremendous amount of work (by many concerned persons) that has been put into offering opportunity to converse, in any form.

I continue to offer my prayers and sincere requests for conversation, as a fellow person of conservative faith. We look forward to continuing our attempts for open conversation in hopes of Pastor Osteen's timely reply.

Again, as you represent a significant voice for our faith, it is my hope to assist you in clarifying your recent swing in position. Unfortunately your lack of response thus far continues to position you as a substantial representative of Christ who makes blanket, national statements singling out gay persons in our churches and your congregation as uniquely sinful. I'm sure you would agree, these statements ostracize gay persons as somehow unique in their particular human context, while not holding the same standard for all other persons in your congregation whose context is equally complicated. Additionally, I hope you would agree that Christ's Church-doors have no gay-detectors, and that the message of grace is available, without condition or cost to all persons.

We continue to offer opportunities for open conversation by way of an Over Coffee Conversation (http://overcoffeeconversations.com) event with Pastor Joel Osteen.

Your Brother in Faith,

D.a. Thompson

You may be aware that this last week, Shirley Phelps-Roper, an adamant nationally recognized anti-gay protester from Westboro Baptist Church, daughter of the founder Fred Phelps, has agreed to an open dialogue concerning an Over Coffee Conversation. I am excited for our conversation and am so grateful for her openness and willingness to converse. As such I must confess it disappointing that a minister such as yourself is not willing to converse at all and hope that you will open up a dialogue to clarify your unique isolation of gay persons in our churches and your congregation.

Your Brother in Faith,

D.a. Thompson

Second Open Letter to Joel Osteen Concerning His Statement on Homosexuality

2011-02-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

This is my second letter to Joel Osteen. The first has gone without reply in any form from his team.

Due to Pastor Joel Osteen's recent shift in message on the gay issue, stating conclusively that he believes "homosexuality is a sin," I felt compelled to communicate with him and urge him to clarify his position.

We have shared this second letter with Pastor Osteen's team and await their reply.

#########

February 15, 2011

Dear Pastor Osteen,

Thank you for the opportunity to communicate with you once again concerning your recent statement and swing in position on the Piers Morgan Show Tonight: “Homosexuality is a sin.”

It has been a week since my initial open letter was provided to your team. Regrettably, we have received no communication from you or your team, in any form.

Whereas a lack of conversation may seem initially favorable in this context, holding to a message that alienates people based upon their unchangeable sexual orientation (again, even after reparative therapy) will for many, serve only as a proclamation of targeted discrimination. As such, your message and conversation thus far continue to further position you away from the message of welcoming-love and unconditional grace to which our faith and your message have held so strongly.

Again, I urge you to contact me so that we might discuss a fresh perspective of definitions, message, and our conservative faith where this volatile issue and these often-alienated persons are concerned.

Time is of the essence. This window of opportunity is a chance provided you sovereignly. It is a chance to distinguish yourself as a conservative faith leader who is open to conversation, within a conservative and biblical context, concerning persons of faith in your congregation whose sexual orientation is unchangeable. Rather than viewing this as an attack from the liberal media, I encourage you to view this as an opportunity to provide uniqueness to your message and ministry.

I look forward to your response to my Over Coffee Conversations invitation. Please know that I am available for your call should you desire to become more familiar with my message, position, and intent.

Your Brother in Faith,

D.a. Thompson

Open Letter to Joel Osteen Concerning His Statement on Homosexuality

2011-02-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Due to Pastor Joel Osteen's recent shift in message on the gay issue, stating conclusively that he believes "homosexuality is a sin," I felt compelled to communicate with him and urge him to clarify his position.

We have shared this letter with Pastor Osteen's team and await their reply.

######

February 8, 2011

Dear Pastor Osteen,

Recently, a friend passed me a hyperlink to your media spot on the Piers Morgan Tonight show, where you made a very clear statement that “homosexuality is a sin.” The link was passed to me from a conservative Christian friend who noted, “I had a lot of respect for him, until I saw that.” I hope you will permit me to express my concern for this swing in your position, and moreover, invite you to discuss this crucial issue in person.

Whereas it is not unusual for people to hear conservatives specifically delineating homosexuality as sin, what was unusual in this instance was the person making the statement. As you represent a significant voice for conservative faith, your position is important. Up till this point, your position has appeared fairly moderate and your non-alignment has allowed for a number of conservative individuals to feel a relative safety and welcome-ness in your message and congregation where gay persons are concerned.

Regrettably, your statement on the Piers Morgan Tonight show effectively moved your position, in many eyes, from one of welcoming and love, to one of dismissal and inconsideration for Christian believers whose sexuality is unchangeable (in many cases even after reparative therapy) and who are not able, nor gifted, to live a celibate life.

Additionally, many will see your statement as a gross example of double standard. For example, many will now point to your welcoming of divorced and remarried people in your congregation as being discriminatory of God’s grace, when you specifically do not allow gay individuals to also be enabled to live in less-than-perfect human contexts and still be members.

I would urge you to clarify your position and provide your listeners and congregation members with the opportunity to discuss this very important issue in a safe and welcoming event. I would like to invite you to participate with me in an “Over Coffee Conversation.” This is a stage-based event we have created to provide an atmosphere of safety and conversation on this issue, where we all agree to the following Rules of Engagement:

1. We will agree to make no conclusions

2. We will remain within a conservative faith context: accepting the Scriptures to be inspired and inerrant

3. We will agree not to discuss any current political, economic, or legal issues

I encourage you to learn more about this event at http://overcoffeeconversations.com/

Thank you for your consideration on this matter. I am grateful for your unending commitment to, as the author Jude compelled us, “to contend for the faith…”

Your Brother in Faith,

D.a. Thompson

######

Over Coffee Conversations: 2001 National Tour

2011-02-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

I'm am excited to announce the launching of our Over Coffee Conversations 2011 National Tour.

From the site:

About Over Coffee Conversations

Over Coffee Conversations are a stage-based event with conservative leaders concerning the subject matter of D.a. Thompson's book, “Over Coffee: A Conversation for Gay Partnership & Conservative Faith.” The event provides conservative faith audiences with a unique opportunity to engage the controversial issue of gay partnership by means of a low-lit, coffee-house conversation between D.a. Thompson and his event participants.

Audience members will enjoy sitting in on this lively and controversial discussion, watching as D.a. presents his work and welcomes his guests' reflections on each main point, reflecting with them on both sides of this heated issue. The audience will conclude their engagement by participating in a Question & Answer period following the presentation.

Rules of Engagement

In a effort to establish an environment of openness and safe consideration, all persons, including the audience, agree to observe three simple rules:

We will agree to make no conclusions
We will remain within a conservative faith context: accepting the Scriptures to be inspired and inerrant
We will agree not to discuss any current political, economic, or legal issues

The Book "Over Coffee"

“Over Coffee” is a narrative piece couched in a coffee-house conversation between the author and a small-town pastor concerning a gay church member who desires to be partnered in the church. D.a. warmly introduces the reader to a conservative, faith-based dialogue for providing room on the pew in today’s most conservative churches for gay partnered persons.

Thompson’s work provides an uncommonly informative bridge for two otherwise seemingly opposing audiences. He brings to the table two respective views, and dispels the polarizing stance from which they are customarily positioned. He does so within a conservative context that embraces biblical relevance and conservative faith tenets, while presenting a case for holding gay partnership within a similar framework in which the Bible embraces any other human condition.

Why I Still Favor Ruby Over Python

2011-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

Recently the Python programming language was listed in the TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2011 as having the most growth in new users. (Of course that wouldn't be because Google's free AppEngine runs only Python or Java apps -- thank goodness for jRuby allowing Ruby to run natively on Java and thus AppEngine.) And a swift congrats to them.

That said, I did want to add a very quick list of reasons why I still prefer Ruby over Python.

The most compelling reason for me is Ruby's distribution system for new software via Rubygems. It's as simple as 'gem install NameOfGem' and all the dependencies and requirements are installed for you. And if you want to update: 'gem update'. Additionally, developing your own Gem for packaging your new software for distribution is as easy as 'gem build' to create your gem, followed by 'gem push' to make it available for everyone in the world.
The second reason is a bit more touchy-feely and non-empirical. In general I prefer the 'vibe' of elegance/simplicity in Ruby and the Ruby community/software over the seeming brutishness of Python and 'useful' hackerish things I can do to make stuff work and/or figure out what is what. To me it is sort of like 'Mac vs PC' which may explain why there are so many Mac users at the Seattle Ruby Brigade meetings. Though Ruby works just as well on all platforms in my experience.
Three, since I am largely a web-app guy who is often having to expose services in a friendly way over the web (API's), I love that the Ruby community continues to stay remarkably innovative with frameworks like Rails and Sinatra, Rack, etc. that make creating/maintaining these complex entities MUCH easier.
Last, developing robust command-line tools is uber-easy with Ruby tools like Thor

Of course, the back and forth between Pythonists and Rubyists leaves one to wonder... are Rubyists cat people... or dog people?

The BlueHead Blog: BlueHead Signs Author, Shelley Hayes.

2011-01-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

The BlueHead Blog: BlueHead Signs Author, Shelley Hayes.: "BlueHead Publishing is proud to announce the signing of author Shelley Hayes, and her book YOU THROW LIKE A GIRL. As a professional leaders..."

Xalan & Xerces on Mac OS X

2010-12-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you attempting to install Xalan and/or Xerces on your Mac OS X, here is an excellent excerpt from a great forum response that solved literally two days worth of debugging where the "classpath" for java jars is concerned:

There is a standard place for Java jar files if you take a look in the Java Developer docs for OS X.

Simply place them either in /Library/Java/Extensions if you want them available system wide, or in ~/Library/Java/Extensions (you may have to create the folders) and it will automatically get loaded when you run java.

as far as running SimpleTransform, you need to make sure that you follow the directions given in the getting started documentation for xalan:

The Xalan-Java distribution includes a number of basic sample applications. These samples are easy to run, and you can review the source files -- all of which are brief -- to see just how they work.

To run the samples, do the following:

Set up your classpath (see above), including xalansamples.jar and (for the servlet) xalanservlet.jar.

Be sure the java executable is on your path.

Go to the samples subdirectory containing the sample (use the DOS shell if you are running Windows).

Use the java executable to run the sample from the command line.

Examine the application source and result files.

For example, go to the SimpleTransform subdirectory and issue the following command:

java SimpleTransform

The sample writes the transformation result to a file (birds.out). To see how the example works, examine the source files: birds.xml, birds.xsl, and SimpleTransform.java.

The extensions examples require additional JAR files on the classpath, and the procedure for running the sample applet and sample servlet is different. For more information about all the samples, see Xalan-Java Samples.

A Lone Leaf

2010-10-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

As I was walking along a wooded path, appraising the consonant colors of a brisk Fall morning, a lone leaf fell from its tree, slowly, at last finding itself upon my shoulder, joining me on my path.

"Good morning. It's nice of you to join me." I said, doing my best to be cordial.

"It is a lovely morning isn't it," replied the leaf, apparently unaware of its fallen state.

Attempting to be compassionate I offered, "My condolences, my new friend."

"I'm so sorry to hear, have we lost someone dear?" he said, humoring at his own rhythmic cadence.

"I meant for you, of course." At once concerned that he seemed unaware of his estate.

"Have I lost something?" He inquired.

Finding the discourse to now be interrupting to my peaceful walk, I cut to the chase, "I mean for your passing."

Said the leaf, "It is a grand day to pass," smiling, as well a leaf can. I laughed to myself a little, struck by his wanton disregard for the ill consequence of the Season's plight.

"You sure seem chipper for a leaf on its way to leaving this life," I remarked, wincing a bit at my own pernicious pun.

Finding himself bothered to be waylaid on my shoulder, snorted the leaf, "My dear friend, we are never on our way to leaving anything, only on our wanderings to new destinations." Lifting himself from my shoulder, he caught the wind and floated away. I swear I heard him say, "Whee!"

~~~

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else...”

Unpresumed in Dublin

2010-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the film, "Once," directed by John Carney. I know...it came out in 2006, but for whatever reason it was only recently that I had the pleasure of enjoying this Irish-hewn epic.

The movie was about an unknown, struggling Irish guitar/vocalist, fixing Hoover vacuums by day while playing on the streets of Dublin by night. Enter a relentless immigrant gal who romantically interrupts his life, dragging her vacuum along as an excuse to see him, pushing him to at last record an album.

The movie and music were remarkable, but the reason I bring it up? I was captivated by a subtle undertone throughout the movie that was more of a presumption than any intended theme. Entranced in its story I fell into the lives of simple places and the humble homes of its heroins. The immigrant character after her late night of work, pulled up the covers of a bed not much bigger than her daughter's crib, in an apartment with her mother, where the three neighboring men would come to watch television on the only tv in the complex.

Sometimes I have to say that I find myself overwhelmed by the pressing demand of American culture which can often stipulate a never ceasing emphasis to have more. But how much do we really need? Does it actually matter in the grand scheme of things what we have? All the things in the world cannot replace the remembrance of an enjoyed evening of friends talking over a simple cup of coffee, tea, a glass of wine or beer. And consider how much we hinder kindred relationships when we shore up greater obstacles in their way, belaying them with hinted shames of presumed expectations.

I realize that this is a bit off keel from my typical banter, still I can't help but reignite the ever kindred company of companionship, humble gifts , and un-presumed dwellings and rally to them the champion of their well-abled cause: simplicity. My thoughts are only mine, but I hope to urge myself and my listener to forgo the presumed profit of privilege for the greater fortunes of low-lit laughter and tears.

A link to the podcast.

Oh Sweet Revenge?

2010-09-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

There is a old proverb that goes, "Before you begin on the journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Have you every been hurt by someone. Really hurt; where somebody acted in a malicious manner toward you, purposefully acting out in a vindictive way, so much so that it was painfully obvious that they were going above and beyond to get back at you?

It doesn't even have to be a vindictive act. Sometimes it can be just as painful of an experience when you are being hurt or punished by someone who believes that what they are doing is actually right, or necessary, or even loving.

Most of us find revenge, at least in principle, to be pointless, that is until we are the ones being hurt by somebody. Revenge never seems to be a good idea until we are laying under the crushing weight and stress of the onslaught of someone's anger and retribution. It's at that point that the idea of getting back at someone becomes the most potent. It's at that juncture when making a decision about what to do becomes incredibly difficult.

In the midst of the storm of emotion and hurt, when you are feeling cheated and wronged, when someone you cared for has unloaded their most bruising of blows, that is the moment when the most difficult of decisions appears. It is that moment where we have to set aside our deep seated emotions and consider the cost of revenge. To be sure, revenge may seem like it would relieve the hurt, but the unfortunately reality of dealing blows is that there is no end to retaliation.

Instead of considering the pleasure of hitting back, consider the cost of an your injured hand. Dealing a blow takes energy and has a cost. The choice we have to make is whether we want to waist our time and energy and health serving retribution, or invest that same power in friends or people who reward us with love and patience.

The choice whether to revenge or to move-on has little to do with justice, or being vindicated. It has only to do with where we channel our energy: whether toward the abyss of avengement, or to the creation of new life and new love.

"You Made Me Feel Normal"

2010-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

The other day a friend and I were at the local QFC grabbing some food to prep for a barbecue. We were headed down the frozen food isle to pick up some popsicles.

Just as we were about to head to the checkout line, I noticed a lady in a power-stroller. She was attempting to reach into the freezer door and pick out a couple of boxes of popsicles. Unfortunately her chair made it near impossible to keep the door open while trying to reach up to the freezer shelf to grab her product.

I hurried over to hold the door and then notice that she was going to need help getting to the popcicles. I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, "They sure didn't make them easy to reach, did they? Can you tell me which ones you want and I'll grab them for you." She smiled and moved her chair back, and after rifling through the mess of popsicles on the shelves, we finally grabbed the ones she wanted. She put them in her bag and grabbed my hand saying, "Thank you dear. You made me feel normal."

For some reason her words struck me. She didn't just say thank you, instead she helped me understand that feeling normal was important to her.

It is easy for us to look around and pick out things that are not normal, or are different. We learn to do this early on in our cognitive development. It was even a game on Sesame St. with a jingle, "One of these things is not like the other..." Often times, we can get pretty wrapped up in trying to not appear as abnormal or different. Still there are many who's circumstance will never provide them the opportunity to fit in, whether that be a physical disability, race, creed, color, or sexual orientation.

It's understandable to want to feel like we are accepted by others, but let's not forget to remember that there are many whose context places them outside of what may be considered social norm. It's important to put our feet in someone else's shoes and understand their situation. Making someone feel normal, helping them feel recognized, is a gift that has more impact than we often realize.

As Rena Harmon said it, "Acceptance. It is the true thing everyone longs for. The one thing everyone craves. To walk in a room and to be greeted by everyone with hugs and smiles. And in that small passing moment, you truly know you're loved, needed, and accepted."

Forgiveness: One Very Complicated Word

2010-09-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

I'd like to begin by stating just one word. But first, I'd like to ask you to take a deep breath...

The word?

Forgiveness...

Take a couple of seconds to just sit on the word a bit. Fascinating word isn't it? Just the word itself seems to conjure up emotion. No doubt, as you thought about that simple word, forgiveness, the faces of very specific people already invaded your thoughts. With them feelings of emotion - hurt, resentment, regret and love - find themselves held closely in tow.

Why is it that just one word can cut to the the very heart of our most vulnerable selves...and our most vulnerable of relationships? It is remarkable isn't it? Forgiveness is a word that finds itself at the very core of our most valued and often our most complicated of personal connections. It is a word that nests itself equally within the context of our most cherished of friends and our most challenging of antagonists.

As Websters defines it, forgiveness means "to grant relief from payment of." Forgiveness is always predicated on something that is owed. It begins with the problem of a debt that either someone owes you, or that you owe others. It's an injustice, an imbalancing of the scale, whether it be financial, emotional, personal, or any other.

And that's what makes the word forgiveness so complicated. That's why it becomes such a difficult word to implement. Forgiveness asks us to set aside an injustice, it asks us to belay being righted, to set aside the scale of justice. And yet, forgiveness is not an ignoring of justice, it is a reconciliation of justice. It is not the ignoring of a debt, or wrong. Instead, it is the purposeful reconciling of the books. It is the writing of a zero balance on the books of our emotion and hurt. Forgiveness is a gift of new beginnings.

This morning, consider those who are in need of your forgiveness, who may have wronged you, who may owe you something. It is likely that they do owe you something, that you have been wronged and an injustice has been committed. But to what end does your demanding serve? As Ghandi put it, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

There are more options than simply justice. Ours is the choice and the opportunity to invade someone's life with the unexpected gift of forgiveness.

Here's a link to the podcast for this post.

Don't Worry. Just Don't!

2010-08-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Link to the podcast of this article

It was the great American author, Mark Twain, who wrote "Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it."

Isn't it remarkable how much time we devote to worrying, to something that has absolutely nothing constructive about it and has nothing to do with positive resolution? To clarify, I'm not talking about planning. I'm talking about worrying. Worry is the creation of imagined negative circumstances when none exist. Worry is a negative forecast when none is guaranteed.

Most of us would probably agree that worrying doesn't do us any good, but the reality is that often we find ourselves in circumstances that challenge our sense of comfort or security. So what do we do to deal with the onslaught of difficulty?

Dale Carnegie, in his book, How To Stop Worry and Start Living, lays out a great technique for working through worry. He suggests taking the circumstance that we are worried about and considering the worst possible outcome imaginable. Then starting with the worst and building up from there, slowly begin solving those worst case scenarios. After doing this for a bit you'll discover that your current predicament isn't really that big of a deal.

For example, lets say that your bank account is in overdraft and you can't pay your mortgage (which is not far from many people's circumstances). Let's start with the worse case scenario: that you are homeless and living on the streets. So let's solve that problem.

Do you have a friend or family member you can stay with? Have you thought about where the homeless shelters are located. Go ahead and make a list. Where are the food banks? Add those to your list. Make it detailed, remember, you need to treat it like a real scenario.

Well, suffice to say, after doing this for a while, you will be amazed how quickly you realize that your current situation seems much less overwhelming. And you will begin to understand that troubles are a lot like people - they grow bigger if you nurse them.

Embracing the Other

2010-08-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

The writer Frederick Buechner is quoted as saying, "Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.”

Let's talk about the "other" person. You know, the guy who stands in line at the grocery store, or coffee shop who's obnoxious and crude, who seems to say whatever comes to mind and doesn't seem to understand what the word "filter" means. Or then again, maybe the other person for you is that lady who seems to ride a broom stick to work, who is uptight and short and in your opinion needs to learn the meaning of the phrase, "live a little."

So it's easy to recognize the fact that you either don't understand, or just don't like the other person, but how often do we consider the reality that they are part of our life whether we like it or not? They are another plant in the ecosystem of our social experience. And like any garden, or environment, we depend on them as much as they depend on us. It may not be immediately apparent to us, but the simple fact of their presence in our life means that they already have an effect on us.

So we have a choice, we can choose to not acknowledge these other people, or we can choose to take a moment to step inside their skin for a brief second and ask them how they are doing, or who their favorite author is. The question doesn't really matter. What matters is gaining an understanding of who they are.

In the end, our happiness is directly linked to the people around us. We can choose to be annoyed by those who test our patience, or we can choose to enjoy their presence by extending an arm of understanding and compassion. Chances are, somebody has already done so for us.

But You're a Christian

2010-08-09T16:34:00.001-07:00

The other night I was out at a local pub...it was one of the local Seattle bars that is gay friendly. I was sipping on my soda and lemon enjoying some lighthearted conversation with a few of my friends who came out to socialize.

We were continuing in our typically friendly banter when one of my friends stopped and point-blank asked me, "So, I've just gotta ask ya...are you ever horny?" placing a heavy emphasis on the word "ever." I was taken aback by his brutal honesty, but that was sort of his style, a quality that I dearly appreciate.

I took a sip of my soda and thought about my reply. He was waiting with baited breath, as were a couple of other people standing around us who were caught in the vacuum of his question, curiously anticipating what my answer would be.

Now, I have to say that part of me wanted to play the stoic, but truth be told, I am not. And what benefit is there to being dishonest? I set my drink down and simply said, "When am I not." He laughed, as did a couple of others around me, much to my relief.

And then came his reply, "But, your a Christian," he said with an elongated emphasis on Christian.

I retorted, "Well, yeah. But I'm also human!"

Frankly, it set me back on my heels a bit to be called a Christian. I've become so used to being labeled NON-christian due to my book, arguing for the acceptance of gay-partnered persons in the church. Unbeknownst to him, my friend actually paid me a huge compliment and favor: letting me acknowledge my discipline of faith, while being very generous in letting me be just as human as everyone else.

I think it is all too often that those representing the Christian Church fail to realize the benefit of honesty. It is one thing to be a proponent of responsible living, it is another thing to not acknowledge our own human realities. Sometimes sharing our humanity with others is a more powerful communication of love and empathy than requiring sacrifices we ourselves hope that God will ignore on our behalf.

Gratitude of the Simple

2010-08-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”

I remember as a kid sitting at my grandma Lentz's dining table. She would cook us a steak, potatoes, and some sort of vegetable. The first thing that I would do would be do reach for the salt and pepper, ketchup, A1, or whatever other condiment I could get my hands on...after all, more meant better, right?

It used to send my grandma through the roof. I can still remember her pulling the condiments away from me and saying, "David, you need to learn how to enjoy the steak the way it is. There's plenty of taste there for you. But you will never realize it by covering it with all that stuff. You need to stop and appreciate it for what it offers you all by itself."

My grandmother, God rest her soul, was a child of the Great Depression. Her family pioneered the beautiful Mission Valley back in the Old West days of Montana, while it was still a territory. Their life was like most people's during those days, difficult and often very very simple. She would tell me about the times when her parents would send her into town to try and coax the mercantile owner into extending some credit so she could bring home a bag of flour.

When she saw that steak on my plate, she did not see yet another meal, she saw a choice. Sitting on that 1950's dish-ware was not a momentary satiation, but a moment of opportunity. It was a moment to consider the tremendous amount of suffering that many are enduring. It was a moment to appreciate the good fortune of a meal.

Our American society often thrives economically on making sure we know what we don't have. Innovation and marketing have their place. But let's not forget to consider the good fortune of having a common cup of coffee, or enjoying a simple home-cooked meal. In these difficult times, rather than looking at what other's may appear to have, let's instead decide to appreciate the simple things we may already possess. And if you doubt the value of a simple meal, I might recommend spending some time working at a soup kitchen, or stoping by one of the rest areas at night to see how many people are living out of their cars.

Question Authority!!

2010-07-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

There is an African proverb that goes, "There are two things over which you have complete dominion: authority and control of your mind and your mouth"

We all have people that we consider authorities in our lives. If we are having computer trouble, we go to our tech help, who we consider to be authorities in technology. If we have spiritual or faith questions, we may go to our pastor, or priest and seek their council since we consider them authorities on the matter of spiritual things.

Having authorities in our lives is simply a way of making our lives easier to manage. There is just not enough time to learn everything about everything, although I'm sure we all know a few people who may think they already do. So we relegate certain areas of knowledge to be handled by people we deem most capable.

That comes with one substantial presumption. It presumes that the conclusions our authorities make are accurate. But sometimes, try as they may, our authorities may just be plain wrong.

While talking on both sides of the issue of conservative faith and gay partnership, one of the first things that I often have to help people consider is whether their authorities on the matter are correct. Both sides can be quick to make the presumption that their leaders have actually studied the issue and that their conclusions on the matter are well informed. That is not always the case.

In the end, there is no one to blame but ourselves for what we believe, what we say, and what we do. Often times, we have to take a little initiative and study the issue, investigating alternative opinions. Then... question our authorities!

And don't worry about those authorities who may protest your questions. As the french philosopher, Michel de Montaigne stated, “He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.”

To Whom To Listen

2010-07-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Winston Churchill once stated, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to be silent and listen. And by listen, I mean actively listening. Listening is more than just the absense of talking, it means participating in what someone is saying by considering the perspective they are sharing, thinking about what it would be like in their context, and reflecting back on what they are saying.

Listening to someone you agree with is no big challenge. It's those who we consider "other" than ourselves, those who disagree with our perspective, beliefs, or ideas. They are the ones who make listening a courageous act, as Churchill puts it. Sometimes, listening is more about who you are listening to, than it is about just listening.

As I continue to meet with fellow people and pastors from more conservative leanings in their faith I am amazed at how often their perspective of gay people comes from someone who does not even know, talk to, or have any direct contact with gay people at all. So when I ask them, "Have you actually talked with a gay person about what it is like? Have you asked them, what do you think about the current conservative faith perspective on the issue?" Often times I find that they simply have never asked these questions, and understandably so...they are hard questions and will definitely illicit a response.

Still, on the other side, many gay persons, refuse to talk to anyone of a conservative faith. Many are still hurting from the oppression and ostracization they may have experienced, and understandably so.

It difficult to set aside emotion, to set aside the presumption of what is expected to be heard and begin to truly listen to someone from whom you expect animosity. Speaking as one who can identify with both camps, to again quote Churchill, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

Question Your Assumptions

2010-07-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

Webster's defines the word assume as "to take as granted or true."

We all take things for granted in this life. It's just part of making the day to day part of life easier to process. It's a simplification of the world around us into defaults that we can generally assume to be true. None of us want to spend our day having to think through each and every minute event. We'd never get anything done. So we begin to make assumptions about who we will talk to, what people will think about us, and what is acceptable for us to do socially.

The problem arises when those general assumptions, which we use to simplify our life, find themselves surrounded by a context that no longer works. Those assumptions that we use to simplify our lives into easy categories, become quickly useless, and in many ways harmful.

Much of the complication surrounding the writing of my recently release book, "Over Coffee: A Conversation for Gay Partnership & Conservative Faith," centered around the problem of assumptions. From the conservative faith side, many have made negative assumptions about gay persons. Because being gay is so often presented in light of the media's portrayal, conservatives often do not realize that there are a number of gay persons who simply don't fit those assumptions. There are many gay people who are monogamously partnered, church going, active and contributing members of our society.

On the other side, there are many in the gay community who have made negative assumptions about people who have a more conservative faith. However, there are conservative people who are compassionate, welcoming, and affirming, but who are often drowned out as a result of the minority of conservatives who continue to make assumptions.

Today, consider taking some time to reflect on others around you and ask yourself if you are making assumptions about them. And don't assume anything. The best solution is to begin to talk.

And don't worry about differences, as Anne Wilson Schaef put it, "Differences challenge assumptions."

Gratitude

2010-07-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

William Arthur Ward is quoted as saying, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

And so, I hope you will permit me the luxury of beginning this podcast with a communication of gratitude to everyone who has been such an instrumental part of the release of my recent book, "Over Coffee." The turn out for the debut was wonderful, and thank you to all of you who were unable to attend, but who forwarded you thoughts and encouragements. Thank you to my editors, reviewers, financial supporters, creative designers, and everyone who made the book and the release possible at long last.

Gratitude. Gratitude is one of those gifts that we often wish people would get around to sharing with us at times, isn't it? But that seems to rarely be the way of things.

The reality is that gratitude is often more about being proactive. Generally speaking, you can't just expect people to start being grateful for your work until you are grateful for theirs.

So today think about the things that people do for you that you may take for granted: the Barista who makes your coffee, the parking lot attendant, your boss who keeps you busy and employed, your employee who keeps your business going. Take a moment to tell them how much you appreciate what they do.

You know, one of the most remarkable things about gratitude? It doesn't really cost you anything at all but the result of seeing someone who knows their work is valuable is priceless.

Redesign the System

2010-06-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

Ezra Earl Jones is quoted as saying, "The System is designed for the results it is getting. If you want different results, you will have to redesign the system."

Have you ever heard someone say, "I don't like it, but what can I do?"

I think the key word in that statement falls right at the end. It's that persnickety two letter word, "do." How can such a small word be so hard to, well, do?

The challenge of that misleadingly insignificant word is that those two letters mark the difference between a dream and a reality. That little word sets a line in the sand between thought and action, between desire and diligence, between planning and practice.

So often we spend our time thinking about what we don't like about our current context. Often that comes in the form of frustration of some particular outcome that keeps rearing its ugly head. We simply don't like the way things are.

We may stand under our umbrella and say, "I can't stand the rain." But you can't yell at the clouds for precipitation. You can, however, decide to move to a drier spot. If you don't like the results, you have to change the system. It really is that simple.

This can come in the form of a job, addictions, relationships, or any other element you may find as undesirable in your life. This is not rocket science. If you want a different set of results, you are going to have to make a change in the system.

Change is unsettling. Not only to us, but to the people around us who have become acustom to us having a certain context. But don't worry, those who truly love you will be the ones to welcome and encourage your happiness.

In the end it doesn't really matter what your intentions were, or what you should have, could have or would have done. What matters is what you do.

Rails 3 and Authlogic

2010-06-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

A geeky FYI...for those who are hoping to use Authlogic with Rails 3, there are a few hangups. Authlogic 3 will support Rails 3, but until then, for those of you trying to figure out how to get Authlogic to work with Rails 3, you will want to use scrum8/authlogic from github which is a functional branch for Rails 3.

You can use this branch of Authlogic by doing the following thing:

1. In your "Gemfile" put the following:

gem 'authlogic', :git => "http://github.com/scrum8/authlogic.git"

2. Run the following from your command line:

bundle install

(This will bundle the scrum8/authlogic branch into your local application)

3. Follow the README directions midway down at the authlogic_example page:

http://github.com/binarylogic/authlogic_example

4. Rather than using 'script/generate session user_session' you will have to manually create user_session.rb in your models folder with the following content:

class UserSession < Authlogic::Session::Base
end

5. You will also want to create a migration file for UserSessions which you can do by running 'rails g migration UserSessions' then make sure the following content is present:

class CreateUserSessions < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :user_sessions do |t|
t.string :username
t.string :password

t.timestamps
end
end

def self.down
drop_table :user_sessions
end
end

Don't sweat the big things.

2010-05-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

It was Lawrence Bell, entrepreneur and founder of the Bell Aircraft Corporation, creator of the first supersonic aircraft, who said, "Show me a man who cannot bother do to little things and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."

It's easy to look at the big goal and think, holy crap!, how am I going to get there?! It's often overwhelming to consider the distance from where we are to the place or position, or perspective we want to have or be. Add to that the reality that often times people who know you in your current context may find your change to be a bit crazy.

I recently had the pleasure of watching a phenomenal movie called, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. The movie tells the story of a teen who overcomes the overwhelming challenge of her second pregnancy (resulting from her own father), being overweight, illiteracy, and a sexually and physically abusive home life in the projects. She enrolls in an alternative school in an effort to learn to read and write so she can escape a welfare entrenched life and go to college.

I suppose my favorite scene in the movie is when Precious is being tested by her new teacher to read a very small sentence, "A Day at the Shore." Precious is immediately overwhelmed and scenes of abuse and people in her past yelling that she is stupid come to her mind. The teacher presses in and Precious finally decides to try. She starts with one letter and sounds it out, then is able to form the word and in just a few seconds she is through the phrase.

There was nothing remarkable to most people about what Precious was doing in that scene, reading a presumably simple sentence. But for her, this was the doable step, the attainable ability that was in her reach.

Many people are surprised by the reality that even the small steps toward the goal may feel overwhelming. Most of us may set a big goal whether that be starting a new company, a new degree, writing a book, learning a new job. We think that the big goal is the challenging part. But it is never about the end goal, it's about meeting the immediate and smaller goals.

Rather than worrying about the overwhelming distance between where you are and where you want to be, consider spending your energy on the challenge before you today. Sound out the letters and words of your attainable challenge today. Make sure it is a challenge. After too long you'll be surprise just how quickly you were able to meet your intention, which rarely looks the same at the end anyway.

The Benefit of Help

2010-05-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

It was John Ruskin who said, "Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons."

Why is it that we will do almost anything, before we will ask for help? We will suffer the most ridiculous of circumstances, emotion, isolation and frustration because we refuse to say three small words, "Please...Help....Me."

But it goes beyond just that simple phrase, doesn't it? It's a realization, an understanding. It really has nothing to do with asking for help. It has to do with an awareness, a recognition that there is no such thing as going it alone. That isolation is unnatural, that by not asking for help you are working against the natural order of things.

Consider one little finger on your hand. It's pretty insignificant in and of itself, right? But with the aid of the arm, the circulatory system, the nervous system, emotion, intention, and thought, it can pen words that can overthrow a civilization.

What if the finger decide one day to try and do it all alone? What if it just decided to never ask for assistance from the arm? It's pretty obvious isn't it? It's not going to be able to do much at all. So why do we often hesitate to turn to other people around us and ask for help? Why is it that we think that we are able to do everything on our own?

And there is another side to the equation, isn't there. The arm can't do a whole lot without the finger either can it? It needs the finger to provide dexterity. And in the same way, when we ask for others to help, we enable them to become something greater than they are on their own. We provide them with an extension of skill, humanity, and effectiveness.

So consider what you need, or are not able to do on your own, then ask somebody with those skills to help. Chances are, when you ask for help, you will not be the only one being aided.

Don't Wait for Leaders

2010-04-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

It was Mother Teresa who said, "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."

It was this type of awareness that drove her in 1950 to start the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. For the next forty-five years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

We can often look at people like Mother Teresa and think to ourselves, "Wow, what an incredible person. I would love to do something like that." We can picture her in her iconic nun's habit, as the great humanitarian that she will always be remembered to be.

But how often do we think about who this famed person was when she was only 20 years old, in India, placed there at a convent and anxious to do something with the call that she had in her heart? How often do we picture this young Albanian girl, new to the language and culture, unfamiliar with the way or means to do things, but driven to make an impact?

Chances are, she probably looked like everyone else, well, minus the fact that she looked like a nun. But she certainly realized one thing, that there was a need that she saw that was going unmet and there were no leaders to solve the problem.

That's where we often stop at times, isn't it? We may recognize the problem but we don't see anyone who will take the lead. I think that's when Mother Teresa would pipe in and say, "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."

It's about the grassroots: putting the word out there and asking the people you know around you to help, or find/recommend others who might help. It really doesn't matter if it's a humanitarian effort, a new business, or a new job. In the end, Mother Teresa became an icon for her humanitarian work, but let's not forget that she began on her own, alone, asking one person at a time to help.

Any beginning may be uncomfortable, uncertain, unknown, and unremarkable, but consider - every great river had its start with just one drop of rain.

True Giving

2010-04-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein once said, “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”

I often recall an experience that I had when I was a teenager, when our family began to take short-term medical relief trips to the Philippines. The four of us would head over to the Philippines for about three-weeks at a time conducting small-operation medical relief efforts.

In preparation for the trips, we would spend a month-or-so before gathering pharmaceutical samples donated to us. Sitting in front of the TV we would watch some movie while condensing the samples into larger bottles. Then we would pack two large boxes full of antibiotics and other basic pharmaceuticals and travel with them to the Philippines.

While there we would stay with Churches, or when in the barios (the outlaying villages), we would stay with local families. Generally we would travel into remote barios with a local pastor, or translator and set up a make-shift clinic where my mother would serve as the receptionist/nurse, my father would diagnose and treat, my sister would serve as pharmacist, and I would serve as logistics, praying with people alongside the pastor, playing games with the kids, or just handling anything else that came our way, like tie-ing down the tent when a storm came through.

It was after one such clinic and a particularly long, hot, and sticky day that we had finished with the clinic and were packing up everything, preparing to leave. I had spent a good deal of the day entertaining the children with some music and games. Just as I was about to climb into the jeep, I heared a young child calling out something in his local dialect. I turned around to discover a little boy who came scurrying up to me, juggling an armful of mangos which he barely managed to keep from dropping.

Upon reaching me he fell into my arms in pure exhaustion. The mangos tumbled onto the ground and I caught him and lifted him up. I held him in my arms, looking down to find that his arms and legs were scratched and bleeding. I turned a frantic look to the translator who explained that the boy had picked the mangos for me. I asked what happened to his arms and legs. The translator explained that he must have scratched them up when picking the fruit.

Doing the best I could to compose myself from tearing up, I gave that child a great big hug and called my father over to help clean and bandage his sores.

I have to say that everything we had done up to that point, under the banner of humanitarian aid, seemed to become a trifle as I cleaned that boys cuts.

I often look back to that moment to remind myself that my obligation to give does not stop when it becomes difficult. That is when true giving, true benevolence begins: when it has a cost, when it hurts, when it challenges us, and when it demands of us to endure the cuts and bruises and to run till we are exhausted.

There Are No Lesser People

2010-04-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Despair ruins some, presumption many.”

I recall one of my favorite lessons learned as a Barista at a local coffee shop.

One morning, during an overly busy rush, a lady in my line walked up to my counter, talking on her cell phone. I kindly stated my usual line, "Good morning! What can we make for you today?"

The lady without a moment's hesitation, raised her finger, held it out at me and let out a short, but forceful, "SHH!!" Then put her finger to her open ear in an attempt to listen better to her call.

Yes, you heard it right. She shooshed me. I was shooshed!

Well, after some badgering from a couple of customers behind her, she finally ordered her "half-decaf, double-tall, light-foam, 145 degree soy latte." Now, I had become a pro at taking and remembering the most random of drink orders, but something in me, I'm sure you can imagine, made me less than enthusiastic to recall hers. PLUS, I noticed that there was a cop who had just pulled up near her Lexus which was illegally parked up on the curb-side grass of the church across the way. I'll be very honest, whereas I might normally assist someone by letting them know, I'm sure you can imagine that my motivation was less than excited to do the same for her.

Thankfully, the barista on the bar noticed the same thing and when I called out the drink to him he called back, "Sorry could you repeat the order?"

I called back the order to him. Now I'll confess, I may have purposely called the second order incorrectly. But I also knew that the other barista was in on it and the lady would go crazy, and she did, shouting, "No! It was a half-decaf, DOUBLE-tall, light-foam, 145 degree soy latte." The other barista of course, took his time crafting the beverage.

By this time the police officer was well out of his car with his ticket book. Alas, some kind soul tapped the lady on her shoulder and pointed at the police officer. She dropped everything and ran out the door, yelling at the officer, who calmly said something back while pointing at the grass and the church.

It can be easy at times to make presumptions about people. That lady's presumption was that because of my meager place, I was of no use to her, beyond taking her order, when in fact, I probably could have saved her a ticket by explaining, as I often did to customers, that the police patrol the area often for illegally parked cars.

This week, try to consider those around you. Are you making presumptions about them? Remember, the people you consider the most insignificant, may in fact be the ones to play the most significant of roles in your life. Often without you realizing it.

Learning Contentment

2010-03-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

There's a word we don't hear all too often in our American society. But it's a word that can save us thousands of dollars, the benefit of our health, our relationships, and in many cases, our sanity.

What's the word?

Contentment. Yup, contentment. I know aMAZing, right? "Thanks, D.a. for that remarkable buildup for such a spectacular word."

But seriously....it's a great word.

Webster's defines contentment as, "the quality or state of being contented." Ummm... thanks Webster's... annnnnd contented is defined as, "feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation." So in essence, contentment is being happy with what we've got.

It sure seems like we live in a society overrun with marketing and media always telling us what we don't have. We don't have a new car. We don't have the latest TV or entertainment center. We don't have this month's newest mobile device. And we never will, because there is no end to it all. There is never going to be.

So just for a couple of seconds let's think about what ya got. Let's start with the basics. Do you have water? Do you have heat? Do you have shelter, or someone you could go to in a worst case scenario? Do you have food (or just in case, know where a food bank is)? Do you have transportation?

Many check these items off without batting an eye. But then again, at times, there are many of us who have had to actually get down to these very basic needs. And in this economy we are beginning to think more and more about these presumptions.

So minus these elements, everything else is unneccessary. Yup I said it. It is UN-Neccessary. You don't actually need it to survive. You don't NEED a new car to survive, but transportation is necessary, you don't Need a brand new set of clothes, but clothing is important (go to Value Village). You don't NEED to eat out, especially since eating in is typically healthier.

But let's take things one step further. It really doesn't matter what you have does it? Being content means being happy with what you have, regardless of what the list is. Happiness is a state of mind. It's a decision: a choice. Our happiness is a conclusion we make. We conclude to be happy with what we have, or we conclude not to.

In the end, contentment with what we have is far less costly than the pursuit of what others tell us we should have. And as Bertrand Russell put it, "The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real estate, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith."

Listening to Silence?

2010-03-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

"True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."
~William Penn

We seem to be experts as noise these days, don't we? We have perfected the craft of interruptions, chaos, and stress. In the morning we wake up to an alarm clock, turn on the TV or radio to watch or hear the news, get into our cars and turn on the stereo, or put earbuds in our ears as we hop onto the bus or train. We get to work, listen to customers, office machines, cell phones, cars, trucks, and our bosses. We eat lunch talking with frineds only to return to our work and continue another half-the-day of the same thing.

Then we come home and turn on the TV, play video games, work on the computer, talk, go-out, maybe go to the gym where we listen to music as we work out. We finally crawl into bed, sometimes even sleeping to a fan blazing white-noise just to drown out the bustle around us.

Like ripples on the surface of a lake, we have become outstanding at splashing around, creating waves. But how often do we simply pause, stop, and wait... to let the ripples dissapate and clear and notice the beauty of a still, glassy lake?

I would like you all to listen to something with me, I only need ten seconds. Ready? Ok, here we go.

(Ten seconds of silence.)

Did you hear that? THAT was silence. Weird, huh? There was nothing to it and it didn't take you any effort to do. It didn't even cost you anything. Let's try it again, But before we begin, this time I'd like to ask you to think about your favorite place. That place you go to relax. One of mine is in the midwest in springtime when the snow forgives itself into a thousand glassy lakes mirroring the colors across the horizon with nobody but the wind and the wild as far as the eye can see.

So let's try this again. Think of your favorite place just for this next 10 seconds. Don't think about anything else.

Ready? Ok, here we go.

(Ten seconds of silence.)

There, wasn't that nice?

Some of you may remember the poem entitled "Disiderada". The writer who is still unknown begins by instructing, "Go placidly amidst the noise and the haste and remember what piece there may be in silence."

Remarkable words, wouldn't you agree? Remarkable, and challenging.

Creating a Rough Audio Book

2010-02-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

As I was in the process of finishing the final edits of my book I began to think how great it would be if I could find a way to convert the text of my book into an audio file, using one of the default text-to-speak programs on my Mac. Well, lo-and-behold, it IS possible via the friendly 'Automator' application. Here are the steps I used:

I opened my Word document in TextEdit.
Removed the table of contents and other non-useful copy that I didn't want to listen to.
Opened Automator from my Applications folder.
Chose the 'Workflow' template.
In Automator, in the left-side menu, under 'Library' I selected 'Text'
In the menu that appears just to the right, I selected 'Get Contents of TextEdit Document' and dragged it onto the workflow area (to the right).
Back in the same menu I selected 'Text to Audio File' and dragged it onto the same workflow area, just below the first one.
Over on the workflow area, in the 'Text to Audio File' section I entered the name I wanted ('draft_01') into the 'Save As:' field
Last I clicked on the 'Run' button at the top right, and the Automator created an audio file of all of my text.

Voilà!....instant audio book that you can listen to 'on the go.'

10 Ways to NOT Spend

2009-10-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Since more often than not, as an entrepreneur, life is more about not spending money, I thought I would share a list of things that I do to keep the costs down. Lord knows I've been pinching every pea-pickin' penny these days. So here are a few:

1. Use a "Registered" Starbucks Gift Card to get free refills on your coffee. And bring your own cup for a 10 cent discount. Yes...I consider a cup of coffee as one of my luxuries.
2. Rent movies from the public library.
3. Use google voice if you need an extra phone line.
4. Walk...everywhere.
5. Eat in.
6. Turn the heat off at night and during the day when you are gone. Use some slippers and pajamas.
7. Drink water.
8. Shop at thrift stores.
9. Check http://www.freecycle.org/ before you buy.
10. If you think you need to buy it, ask if 75% of the world's population has one, if yes, you probably need it. If the answer is no...

The most important key in the cost reduction game is to remove the word, "NEW," from your vocabulary.

The next important key is to not care what people think. And if they do care, add "Get new friends" to the above list.

"Fool-Hearted" Ringtones From "Disclaimer" EP Available

2009-10-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

D.a. would like to announce a new ringtone from his recently released EP, "Disclaimer."

This ringtone is a selection from the intro to "Fool-Hearted," an alternate-accent shuffle, with a blues feel.

Click here for a background on this song.

You can download this and other ringtones from D.a.'s website at http://dathompson.com/music.

To purchase this song and others from D.a.'s "Disclaimer" EP, click here to download from iTunes, or here to buy a physical CD from CD Baby.

New Media 2012: Where are we going?

2009-09-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Whidbey Island's Fusionspark Media hosted a seminar this Saturday, September 20 titled "New Media 2012: Where are we going?". The event, hosted in Langley's historic Clyde Theater, served up a panel of 10 speakers who fired off in shotgun format with 5 minute presentations with two breakout Q&A sessions. Their intent?

"Whether you are a content creator or just a curious consumer, this is your chance to hear dispatches from the frontlines of New Media."

Although there were a number of interesting points of conversation, I will be sharing my basic walk-away points.

The presentation began with a fascinating conversation about future projections in human sustainability by Robert Gilman, Founder of the Context Institute, who discussed the population growth by 2045 and the needs for sustainability in the "succession of species." He noted these main distinctions in this period of development:

efficiency will become key as complexity increases
re-usability becomes a necessity as scarcity of resource increases
the emphasis will be on diversity with many niches
collaboration will become paramount to successful sustainment

Joe Pulizzi, Author of "Get Content, Get Customers" presented on the directional shift in marketing from brand to content. His main points:

Companies must focus on a content strategy in order to maintain relevance
Content must be valuable, relevant, and consistent

Tom Kennedy, former Director of Multimedia at the Washington Post (now consultant) made a significant point in the scarcity of time. He focused on the presenting of media in forms that are consistent with time and context. I really enjoyed one of his breakdowns which showed general media use throughout the day:

Commute - podcast, radio, video
Work - email tweets, sms
Lunch - Websites
Evening - websites, video, sms

Alexis Gerard, Founder of Future Image Report discussed the development of media capture devices, focusing on pic and video. He had an excellent graphic showing the correlation of skill/time/cost to the effectiveness and general adoption of media with the general population. Essentially, as the skill level, time to produce and cost to produce become smaller, the adoption by the general population increases. For example, pictures used to require chemicals, lots of time and lots of costs to produce. Now they can be created quickly and for free with no skill at all. All of this to say - if you want your media to be adopted by the masses, make it easy, make it fast, and make it cheap.

Russell Sparkman, founder of Fusionspark Media spoke on how they were using video and content collaboration (with other sites) to provide educational and promotional solutions for the Florida Key's (one of their clients). They found a remarkable increase in traffic with the addition of video and other multimedia based content on their clients' websites.

Brent Friendman, Partner in Electric Farm Entertainment discussed how they were using what he called "Fractal" marketing to disseminate their story and content in a number of different social media fronts. His main contention: an effective story must be told on a number of different fronts. Moreover, the content must build and be dependent on the other media fronts, rather than simply reproducing the same thing in each spot.

For example, Brent showed how they were working with a gaming client to "fractal" their story into a few different media. On MTV.com they were sharing episode clips. On facebook they had created a 'backstory' on one of the main game characters, etc.

I thought this was a fantastic methodology for utilizing the available and distinct media forms to create and build on brand, story, and to grow a user base.

Marcia Hofmann, Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave a very informative and useful discussion on "Terms of Use", IP, and Copyright surrounding all of the popular and different forms of social media, including facebook, twitter, and youtube (well, I caught her later to ask about youtube).

Joseph M. Tringali, General Manager 5th Cell Media, discussed trends in gaming and the increase of users and importance in consideration of gaming for communication and promotion of content, branding, and message.

John du Pre Gauntt, Author, Consultant & Technologist discussed cloud computing and its impact into the future abilities of media growth and increasingly powerful solutions, noting the benefit of scalable solutions that cloud computing provides. He also made some very interesting points regarding the new economics of the future, changing from a supply chain model (like Microsoft) to a demand chain model (like Google). He used an interesting illustration: an individual taking all the orders of people entering a restaurant and the value of that "demand" to the chefs and restaurant, the "supply."

George Henny, Co-CEO of Whidbey Telecom and Fibercloud discussed the growth and demand of network and internet solutions and showed how they were working to expand solutions to provide the means for these media to reach the island population and user base.

In closing, I walked away re-energized to better target my audience on a number of different media, with a much more clear and efficient strategy of content, brand, and message. I would highly recommend the seminary (should they continue in it's format) to individuals who desire to rethink and creatively engage their utilization of today's quickly changing media.

The seminar was well worth the commute north and the ferry ride. And I must confess the scenary of Langley could easily be considered a further value add to the actual event.

D.a. Thompson Performs at Seattle First Baptist

2009-09-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

D.a. Thompson shares his arrangement of Richard Smallwood's "I Love the Lord" at Seattle First Baptist, August 30th, 2009. The video features him, live, singing from the piano during Seattle First Baptist's morning worship service.

Working With Loren Weisman & the Freedom Solutions Recording Plan (FSRP)

2009-09-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but almost six months ago I sat down with Brain Grenade Entertainment CEO, Loren Weisman at Starbucks (when am I not there?) to talk about my music, speaking and writing. I told him how excited I was to get back to my music and to work on my book which I felt would be a truly controversial subject matter and an important dialogue regarding religion and social conflict.

Loren presented his Freedom Solutions Recording Plan (FSRP) and explained how he could use this system to help position me to be self-sustaining, debt-free, in-control, have full ownership of my work and career, and have an industry quality recording. Sounds like quite a feat to pull off, no? Well, after reviewing the numbers, the plan, and reading up on much of his own writings/blogs, I was convinced to jump on board.

So after a stimulating conversation and a couple cups of coffee we shook hands and decided to move forward. On Feb 9, 2009 I signed Loren on to guide me through the stages of pre-production, production, and post-production of my album and upcoming book.

On August 18th, 2009 I held my D.a. Thompson, "Disclaimer" CD Release Party (six months later).

So after the FSRP what do I have?

A professional industry standard recording
The masters of all my recordings
The backup/source studio mixed ProTools files of my recordings
A Website
A clear post-production plan
A duplication channel
Consistent brand/message with print, audio, and web media collateral/materials for solicitation and marketing
A tremendous debt of gratitude to the amazingly skilled musicians and engineers who made this work happen
A huge respect for the amount of work it takes to accomplish all of this
A donation program contributing 25% of all CD sales to other FSRP clients

After the FSRP what do I NOT have?

no debt from the album
no percentages to labels, or anyone
no producer points
no restrictions on how I choose to use or move forward with my music, brand or likeness

I have been asked by a number of people what my overall experience has been working with Loren at Brain Grenade Entertainment. So to provide my own review I thought I would include a brief quote from an email I recently sent to an artist who was curious about the process...

"If you are seriously considering the "real deal" of producing an industry standard album I would not hesitate to sign on Loren. He is a no frills, straight-shooting, hard-working, get-it-done producer. You will go from concept to product with clear and achievable goals and expectations.

Be prepared to work hard and trust his advice. And don't hesitate to ping me with questions ... The FSRP process is not easy, but it works. And we all help each other out. As independent artists we have to stick together! So sign him on and let me know what I can do for you."

Do Not Stop

2009-09-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. -- Confucius

How many of you have ever tried to push a car? I think everyone would agree that the toughest part is getting the beast rolling. We've all experienced the grueling, football lineman stance of heave-ho that it takes to finally get it rolling forward (or backward). But once it has started, it really does not take all that much effort to keep it rolling, does it?

There are scientific reasons that help explain the kenetics, gravity, and other physics around it all, but suffice to say, it is clear that once the car is rolling, it doesn't really matter how fast you push, just that you don't let it stop.

Life can be that way at times, especially when we are facing extraordinary tasks. We can often become overwhelmed when we consider the distance we have to go to reach our goals. The temptation is to just stop and rest rather than keep pushing.

Confucius nailed it on the head (as he often did) when he noted that it really does not matter how slow you go, just don't stop.

As a musician, speaker, and writer, facing the daunting task of getting the message/music out seems like a long distance to go. Just as soon as I finish with one challenging task, the next one rears its head. Often I find myself surprised by budget impacts, slow periods, or just sheer exhaustion. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and to just stop moving forward.

Instead of just stopping, it would seem that the trick is to just do something small and accomplishable. If I am working on a huge and daunting project, I try to do something that I can handle in 30 minutes, or an hour that moves the project forward. If I don't have the budget to send out 10 promotional packets, I send out one. If I don't have any money to send anything out, then I work on my website, compose a song, or write a blog entry.

The point it would seem is to never let the goal overwhelm you. Just keep moving, keep pushing, keep going, one step at a time.

Baby Steps Forward

2009-09-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

My producer recently sat me down to talk about the after-release stage of the album production. He expressed a very strong encouragement to do everything I could to move forward at a steady pace.

I have to confess, forward movement is not as easy as it seems at times. I can speak from my own experience, whereas we all wish that we could just flip a switch and begin working and/or doing whatever it is that is listed on the task-list, it's not always so simple.

We are human, right? And our humanity demands limits. It limits our energy, our strength, our capacity, our emotion, our patience and our motivation. We would love to consider ourselves as above these limits, but the humble reality is that no one is above these limits. What is more, those who try to move themselves beyond their limits will quickly find the reason for their necessity.

So how can we move forward without exceeding the limits and going out of our minds with stress?

I love the words, taken from Bill Murray's comedy, What about Bob? - "Baby steps."

I have my list of todo's sitting right on my laptop's desktop. Well, they hardly sit there. They seem to glare at me. And the only thing that is keeping me from becoming overwhelmed with the never diminishing reality of their growth is the knowledge that I shouldn't look at the list. My job is to look at only one todo, just one. I work on it and if I find some obstacle in the way of completing it I put a note next to it and move on to the next one.

Right now much of my future success comes down to research, soliciting reviews of my music, and writing. Of course behind the scenes lies the rest of the demands on my time, like paying the bills.

So rather than freaking out about doing it all right now, each week I make sure to:

put out one packet/contact for review of my music
write at least three pages a day for my book
read my daily blogs and pull contacts/info from them

I'll be the first to note that it seems overwhelming to be an independent musician staring at this HUGE music industry and trying to walk a path where I maintain ownership of my rights, likeness, future and career.

Whereas making certain and consistent steps forward is the key, I cannot but recognize that the strength to do this comes largely from the great friends and family around me. They are a tremendous support and have made all the difference in making it possible for me to even get this far.

D.a. Thompson Performing at Seattle First Baptist, Sunday Aug 30th

2009-08-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

D.a. Thompson will be performing a gospel piece this Sunday, August 30th during the morning worship service at Seattle First Baptist. D.a. will present a gospel arrangement of Richard Smallwood’s “I Love the Lord.” He will be performing and singing live from the piano.

Service starts at 11am. Public is welcome.

Seattle First Baptist is located at 1111 Harvard Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122. Parking is available in the parking lot on the west side of the building and along the street (metered). More information on Seattle First Baptist: http://seattlefirstbaptist.org

For more info contact D.a.

CD Release Party a Success!!

2009-08-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

The D.a. Thompson CD Release Party on Tuesday was a great success! A huge thank you to all of you who came out to show your support for D.a. Your support allowed for a generous donation to fellow artists in the FSRP program with Loren Weisman.

We are looking forward to the exciting post-launch bookings and events for D.a.
Here are a couple upcoming events to attend:

August 30th, D.a. will perform a gospel piece during the worship service at Seattle First Baptist. This will be his arrangement of Richard Smallwood’s “I Love the Lord.” He will be performing and singing live from the piano.

Sept 13th, D.a. will perform selections from his just release EP, “Disclaimer” as well as a few gospel pieces. This performance will take place directly after the morning worship service at Seattle First Baptist. This is a public and free event.

Brain Grenade Entertainment introduces D.a. Thompson and his new recording "Disclaimer"

2009-08-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

From: http://dathompson.com/releases/8_18_2009_da_thompson_album.html

Seattle, Wa., Aug 18, 2009/BGE. Brain Grenade Entertainment (BGE) proudly announces the release of D.a. Thompson’s new EP Album, Disclaimer, on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009. The first single off of D.a. Thompson's EP is entitled, "Fool-Hearted."

"Disclaimer" is a piano driven pop/rock/funk extended play album with fun arrangements and relatable lyrics. The EP delivers memorable hooks with hints of such artists as Billy Joel, Tears For Fears, and Jason Mraz. "Disclaimer" was produced by Loren Weisman, mixed by Scott Ross and mastered by Mark Alan Miller in a total of 110 hours over 13 sessions in the month of June 2009. 25 percent of this EP's sales are being donated to artists working with Brain Grenade Entertainment in the FSRP program.

D.a. Thompson, a Seattle Washington based writer, speaker, and musician is tackling some of the front burner issues of today through a unique and diverse world view. D.a. is consistently pushing the boundaries with innovative approaches in his coming book, which delivers a faith-based argument for providing room on the pew in today's most conservative churches to partnered gay persons.

On Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 from 4 p.m. - 10 p.m., Galerias in Seattle, WA will host the D.a. Thompson CD Release Party. An unprecedented 25 percent of Galerias' sales will be donated to D.a. Thompson's post production budget allowing him to take the steps to gain self sufficient, realistic success without losing excessive percentages or control of his works. Galerias is located at 611 Broadway East on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington.

Listen to D.a. Thompson’s album Disclaimer and learn more about him by visiting D.a. Thompson’s new website, www.dathompson.com.

CD Summary:

Label: D.a. Productions LLC (indie)

Artist: D.a. Thompson

CD Title: Disclaimer

UPC: 884501191180 (Audio CD)

SRP: $5.00

More information about D.a. Thompson is available at www.dathompson.com.

More information about Brain Grenade Entertainment LLC: www.braingrenademusic.com.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

NEWS SOURCE: Brain Grenade Entertainment LLC

D.a. Productions LLC (R) is the originating wire service for this story.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Print-ready images and review copies of "Disclaimer" CD available to media pros on request.

Don't Drown Your Food

2009-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid they used to air a cartoon called, "Don't Drown Your Food," geared to get kids to eat their food without mayo and other loaded sauces. My grandma used to lecture me whenever I would add ketchup, or salt/pepper to a steak. She would scold me saying something like, "You need to learn to appreciate your food the way it is, uncomplicated." She would then go on to explain that she was happy just to have a steak when she grew up during the depression. (I think we are calling it a recession these days.)

The principle of appreciating the simple things is one that easily moves across the board from the dinner table to everyday living.

Often times we seem to complicate our lives by feeling the need to have the newest contraption, that fancy new gad-ga-thingy, a brand new gazillion-inch tricked out movie system, etc. In the end we find our homes and our lives filled with more and more stuff begging for our attention and use. We seem to keep drowning our food with more sauces.

In the end it sure seems like we can miss the forest for the trees. It was for good reason that Thoreau wrote, "Simplify, simplify, simplify." Sometimes the most filling food in our life comes from the most simple of things.

For example, rather than sitting in a room with our significant other staring blankly at a fancy-esk projection unit, we could (are you ready for this?)...turn it off and go for a walk around the block together, or find a local park trail to walk. Rather than feeling the need to go somewhere exotic for vacation we could spend a fraction of the cost and get a tent, sleeping bags and air mattress (if you don't have them) and go camping. Or if you can't get away, set the tent up indoors.

As we continue to see the economy slow down we can choose to panic because we can't afford the sauce we continually drown our food with. Or we can choose to find simple, low cost things to do and appreciate the simple pleasures in this life that the majority in this world only dream of enjoying.

Think back. What are the most memorable events in your own childhood/life? Chances are they are when you did something out of the ordinary, that was creative, and probably came as a result of needing to simplify.

Brain Grenade Entertainment Announces the Release of D.a. Thompson's CD 'Disclaimer' and Seattle Release Party on August 18th, 2009

2009-07-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

From http://send2press.com/newswire/2009-07-0721-005.shtml

SEATTLE, Wash., July 21 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Brain Grenade Entertainment (BGE) proudly announces the release date and CD Release Party for D.a. Thompson's new extended play album titled "Disclaimer" on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at Galerias in Seattle, Washington. The first single off of D.a. Thompson's EP is entitled, "Just you and me."

Da Thompson Disclaimer"Disclaimer" is a piano driven pop/rock/funk extended play album with fun arrangements and relatable lyrics. The EP delivers memorable hooks with hints of such artists as Billy Joel, Tears For Fears, and Jason Mraz. "Disclaimer" was produced by Loren Weisman, mixed by Scott Ross and mastered by Mark Alan Miller in a total of 110 hours over 13 sessions in the month of June 2009. 25 percent of this EP's sales are being donated to artists working with Brain Grenade Entertainment in the FSRP program.

D.a. Thompson, a Seattle Washington based writer, speaker, and musician is tackling some of the front burner issues of today through a unique and diverse world view. D.a. is expanding restrained horizons by mind, mouth, and music. This is a Freedom Solutions Recording Plan (FSRP) album, meaning it was achieved using organizational recording methods developed by Loren Weisman. The goal of FSRP recordings is to help artists successfully budget and plan the production process. The FSRP also keeps the artist in control and full ownership of their music and involves giving a percentage of profits to a charity in which the artist believes.

On Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 from 4 p.m. - 10 p.m., Galerias in Seattle, WA will host the D.a. Thompson CD Release Party. An unprecedented 25 percent of Galerias' sales will be donated to D.a. Thompson's post production budget allowing him to take the steps to gain self sufficient, realistic success without losing excessive percentages or control of his works. Galerias is located at 611 Broadway East on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington.

More information about D.a. Thompson, the CD and release party is available at www.dathompson.com.

More information about Brain Grenade Entertainment LLC: www.braingrenademusic.com.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

New Disclaimer Ringtone

2009-07-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

We are excited to share the latest ringtone, a selection from the intro to "Disclaimer" from the upcoming Disclaimer EP.

Click here to download the ringtone.

The intro features a smoking soaring trumpet section laid down by John Dover who was featured in our latest news posting and video (below). In fact, the video features the same line being recorded for "Disclaimer" and the ringtone.

We will be releasing new ringtones each week leading up to the CD Release Party in August.

Fool-Hearted (Disclaimer EP) Music Sample Available

2009-06-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

It’s Monday and time for a new sample of the soon to be released “Disclaimer” EP. This song is called “Fool-Hearted.” You can here it by going to my site - http://dathompson.com

Click here for the session music chart.

A little background on this song…

I happened to be riding a ferry from Bainbridge Island and saw a couple that were having a bit of an argument. After taking what seemed to be an exceptional lashing, the man lowered his head a bit and gazed apologetically over at the gal on his arm who laughed and seemed to find some reconciliation.

The notion of a sort of fool-hearted dedication came to my mind and seemed to work well with a melody I had floating around in my head the previous couple of weeks.

Stylistically we decided to go with an alternate accent shuffle, which the amazing Mike Stone kicks out on solo drums with brushes on snare and bass kick.

Vocally we went with background on the chorus and aimed for a tight male vocal, almost barber-shop harmony sound to accent a bit of a care free notion.

Michael Jackson Dead: An Era Gone

2009-06-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write of my extreme remorse in the loss of legend Michael Jackson. I received word of an article noting his death from a heart attack.

His music with the Jackson 5 and his solo career were a substantial influence on my own music. It is hard to believe that someone so iconic to our generation is now gone. My prayers and thoughts go out to his family and fans around the world.

Recording Day 1

2009-06-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

And we're off!

Today was our rough tracking day. Essentially this means that we ran through each song with drums, bass, piano, guitar, and lead vocals. The intention was to nail down the structure, form, and style of the song.

Typically we would begin each song by gathering Murl (our pianist), Loren (my producer), and myself around the piano and talking through the song. We would listen to the raw cut of the song I made a few weeks back, then decide on stylistic rhythms, chord modifications, etc. Then we'd walk through it all with the drums, guitar, and bass and begin with a couple of run-throughs of the piece to get the feel.

After we all felt that we were heading in the right direction we would start tracking the piece until we felt we had a solid take. After the last take we would all gather in the control room and listen to the playback and take turns "punching-in" (re-recording specific spots in the tracks) to finesse the track.

Primarily we used this day to capture the drums, bass, piano, and guitar. Day 2 will be overdubs, fills, etc. for the piano and guitar.

I will be doing a completely separate take on all the vocals a bit later.

Oh...and I forgot to mention. My Art Director, Scott Bailey, came in with his Dir of Photography and we took about two hours of video. We'll be putting together a "Making of the Album" video which everyone can see the fun.

California Supreme Court Upholds Religion Over State

2009-05-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

From Bloomberg.com: "The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex weddings, a practice that is now legal in four other states.

The court claimed, “the principal issue before us concerns the scope of the right of the people, under the provisions of the California Constitution, to change or alter the state constitution itself through the initiative process,” the court wrote, “not to determine whether the provision at issue is wise or sound.”

To begin, I am astonished at the slippery-slope perspective of the California Supreme Court. This proposition was upheld by a slim-majority of 52% in the last election, fueled largely by substantial lobbying dollars from church organizations (who found the poor and hungry to be a less favorable investment). Thank goodness the proposition wasn't further defining marriage as between two white people. By the court argument this would be legal given the people's right to "change or alter the state constitution itself."

What is more concerning for me is the religious nature of the decision. To be clear, the state of California offers a number of legal arrangements that offer "equitable" legal pretections and benefits to same-sex households. If this is so, if they have no problem offering the same protections, then why the sacredness of the term "marriage." If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, talks like a duck, then why are we calling it a bird?

The California Supreme Court has upheld the people's ability to define a religious perspective of marriage, a uniqueness of the term centered around gender and their theological conclusions. The long and short of the matter is that the California Supreme Court in fact upheld a proposition of sacrament, a religiously defined entity, otherwise they would have no issue including same-sex couples under marriage since there is no real legal or pragmatic difference.

To clarify, my own theological conclusions lead me to believe in a sacrament of marriage, and yes, in my perspective only between a man and a woman. (In contrast, I do believe there is a fundamentalist case for the partnership of two gay persons in the church - more to come in my book!!) However, I know that there are others who strongly disagree spiritually with me. Since I agree to live together with them in peace and equality of freedom of religion, I choose to legally define only those elements which are equally necessary between us. Though we disagree on the religious definition of marriage, we both need the legal and economic benefits and protections of our own definitions of marriage. So I see no inconsistency in allowing same-sex marriages, while still choosing to disagree with their religious definition of marriage.

Multi-Tasking

2009-05-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

My producer noted this morning over breakfast that I should make an attempt to increase my ability to multitask. I interrupted my texting and emailing and turned my attention to him and asked, "Muull-taayyy-taask-inng?"

Whereas one would hope to have some majestic bit of wisdom to reflect on for a blog entry, I have to confess, I don't have anything remotely interesting to say. However, this IS a blog entry so I will put something down.

I think the only weapon I have at my disposal is the acceptance that I will never get everything done. Never. But what I can do is to work on whatever is being thrown my way and to trust in others as they do their part. The squeaky wheel gets fixed after all. And in between all the wheel repairs I try to take time to look at the map, figure out where I'm going, and check out other wagons to see how they are getting along too.

Standing out!

2009-04-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I had a really encouraging meeting with my friend Jason Kildall today. We were talking about the upcoming pride event in the Tri-Cities (WA) which he is organizing. I was reviewing with him my book and speaking tour.

Jason had some great things to say in reflection of my goals in writing and speaking that I thought I might share.

Of particular note, Jason said, "Don't hide behind your work. You need to put yourself out there. Your work has to be an extension of who you are, the very raw reality of your person. You have to allow people access to you if you want to reach that one person who needs you most."

Jason, I couldn't agree with you more - and I needed to hear that and be reminded of it.

I have to say that there is some element of hesitation for me to put my life out there allowing everyone access. But I know that it will be worth it all if even one person is able to hear my reflections and is able to make a decision for their own sake, and for their own love.

Thanks Jason for your honest thoughts!

Client Spotlight for Braingrenade Entertainment!

2009-04-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

Check it out! I'm the client spotlight for BrainGrenade Entertainment.

As many of you know, I have signed on Braingrenade Entertainment's, Loren Weisman as my producer for the book, lectures, and music projects I am working on. Not only is he an incredibly accomplished musician (drummer) and producer, but he is also just as excited as I am about our current projects!

A heads ups...I'm going to begin posting some of the video's of our pre-production recording session in the next few days. I'll also be posting snippets of the pre-production audio blogs and "raw" music recordings.

It's Alive, ALIVE!!

2009-04-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's official, D.a. Thompson, Inc. is now on the incorporation path.

April 1st I climbed to the 44th floor of the columbia tower, into the offices of Stanislaw Ashbaugh and rang my attorney Matt Runkel from the receptionist desk. Not moments later he appeared and led me to a board room where we made sarcastic remarks about the lugubrious (nice word, eh?) skyline, looked over papers, made some edits, and where I discovered that I didn't have any checks with me. Whoops!

No worries, there was a Wells Fargo only three blocks away, so while he made the final edits I ran (well, walked at a quickened pace) to cut a check.

Joining us for the second round was the ever lovely Pam Hemingway who will be serving as my paralegal. She patiently walked me through the necessary questions and documentation, explaining what I would need to do, the information I would need to gather, and the timeline.

Thanks, Matt & Pam! I am excited to have your expertise added to the team!

On the Slopes

2009-03-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, after far, far too long I finally hit the slopes again. And I'm proud to say that I didn't fall once (ok...almost creamed out, but it was a ballet-like save). We drove up Tuesday morning and hit the slopes for a day of skiing.

I have to confess that I was a fair bit nervous that I had completely lost my technique. I am not embarrassed to say that I hit the bunny slope first (well, maybe a tad bit humbled). But after a couple of times I was frustrated at the lack of speed so we went on to the greens, and then the blues and my parallel came back to me easy enough.

So no black, or double-black diamonds this trip. I cherish my joints too dearly and frankly the notion of wanton abandon sounds better as a rock band than it does as a matter of personal disposition.

I had a great time and enjoyed chilling with my friends for a much needed day of recreation.

And yes...I am feeling it two days later. Unfortunately I didn't get any footage of my skiing, just my posse...

Oh Church Home, My Church Home!

2009-03-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

So after many joys and much consternation I have finally come to find my Church home, Seattle's First Baptist Church.

I consider myself quite fortunate to have visited on the Church's installation of their new Pastor, Rev. Tim Phillips. His sermon (click here for video) was a fantastic teaching based on the ever popular John 3:16 passage, but incorporating versus 14-17. His emphasis was on the inclusivity of Jesus, noting the focus of Jesus on the entirety of the world.

Rev. Phillips made a great observation in noting that directly following this passage is the story of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman. This of course was quite controversial in the day. Not only was it "taboo" for men, let alone Rabbi's to teach or converse with women in this manner, she was also a Samaritan, who for all intents and purposes would have been considered a heretic at best.

Another fantastic point in his sermon was his suggestion of the true discomfort of compassion. He related a very honest reflection, suggesting that often people assume that to be "liberal" and therefore tolerant, or compassionate is far easier than to live by social norms, rules, and customs. In his words, "There is nothing easy about compassion." In point of fact, he noted, compassion is uncomfortable, unpredictable, stretching, exhausting, often unrewarding, but very necessary.

I have to say that it has been a shamefully long time since I have been moved to consider the compassion of Jesus. It has been too often that the Church of today has so quickly taken on the role of the Pharisees, by demanding religious compliance, sacrifice, and conformity. It was moving to hear a Pastor share the true focus of mercy, long-suffering, and the sheer compassion of God for those who are the unnoticed, shamed, and miserable of the world.

Bravo, Rev. Phillips! Bravo!

Here's a little peek at the church outside and in...

Be Afraid?

2009-03-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well, as promised via my recent status update, I'm blogging on my "aghast" experience at a local Baptist church that led me to actually walk out. Again, I have not walked out of a church in years and generally speaking I'll put up with a bit.

This was the second time I attended the local Baptist church: I am on the prowl for a local congregation to settle into. Setting the stage, we had just finished the worship service, including a band up front in the historic brick building. There were probably 30 people present on this particular morning.

After a few moments of silence and confusion as to whether we were going to take the offering now or later, a gentleman stood up from the congregation and cane-in-hand meandered up to the front stage and up to the pulpit where he sat and waited for the power point to display on the screen in very large letters, "Fear God: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom."

I was less than eager to hear the message, noting the unfortunately translation of the hebrew word "yare" to "fear" (it is better translated "to revere"). The gentleman began by explaining that he had shared this story with the pastor who had asked him to share it with the congregation.

He continued to relay the story of his first employment at an auto-mechanic garage. He had earlier, very specifically, asked God for wisdom. So the experience he was now sharing was God's providing of his base of wisdom, to fear.

He went on to explain that one of his tasks was to blow up tire tubes using some contraption that would help keep the pressure in the tire. He noted that at the time he was not aware that he should stop blowing up the tire at some point lest it explode.

For some reason he was having trouble with one such tire tube. He pointed his troubles to the fact that he was distracted by a co-worker who was taking "the Lord's name in vain" in every sentence. (e.g. "God" this and "Jesus" that, etc.) He became overly frustrated and finally left to do another task.

Not 15 seconds later he heard an explosion and ran inside to find the tire tube falling from the ceiling. The co-worker had taken over his job and continued to blow up the tire tube. He turned to find the co-worker lying there in exquisite pain, the skin of his hand blown off, his arms shattered below the elbow, and his back broken.

He went on to say, "God had saved me from this demise since I would have continued blowing up the tire had my co-worker not been there upsetting me by using the Lord's name in vain." Additionally he added his own conclusions by noting that one should be careful to not cross God, since the outcome of using his name in vain was the "obvious" consequence of his injured co-worker.

Hmmm...suffice to say, my friends, if this Church feels that the mediocre mis-giving of cursing warrants the explosion of my arms, I can only imagine the horror to be inflicted when they encounter my more human tendencies.

What is more I cannot help but wonder how it is that so many who profess to be followers of Christ (e.g. Christian), cannot recall his words, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Jesus' focus was not on the futility of what a person could do without, deny them self, or sacrifice. In a world of equally imperfect persons, the focus turns to following his example, to lead by love, compassion, and mercy. It was the heart that mattered, not the superficial act.

What a shame that the more Christian virtue of mercy was not exhibited upon this horrific and random consequence. After all, even Jesus' was sure to note that God "causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." We are all left to join in the pains and pleasures of life. We are all equal in the consequence of human existence, good or bad. How unfortunate that it was not compassion that overcame this gentleman rather than relief.

I can't say that I have any desire to return to this particular Church. With the scale this gentleman and consequently the pastor and Church use to judge, on the day of judgment, I'll prefer to stand in the back of the room with a God who promises to use the same standard.

So What?

2009-02-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Most of us have had the not so pleasant experience of listening to any number of books, lectures, or music that have left us with a, shall we say, less than informed idea of what the point was. I am sometimes amazed at how a speaker, writer, or artist can be so gifted and eloquent at their style without providing anything of practical use.

It was after one such speech, regretfully delivered by myself a number of years ago from the lectern of our small church, that my father approached me. My sermon had been a discussion of the historical claims of the resurrection of Jesus.

I was of course expecting him to shake my hand, pat me on the back and say, "Wow, you're an amazing speaker." Instead, I stood there expectantly as my father approached. He walked up, gave me a hug and then, in his decidedly dry wit asked me, "So what?"

I stared blankly at him. Then frustrated by the fact that I had just spent 30 minutes challenging the congregation on the matter I asked, "What do you mean?"

He grinned, shrugged his shoulders a bit and replied simply, "So what?"

I must confess, it was truly irritating! But that's what he was there for...to challenge me, not to irritate me. It took me a few minutes, but I finally got it. I had spent 30 minutes supplying arguments which were informational, but had nonetheless not once given the congregation any idea of what the point was. Why was I telling them all of this? What importance did it have to them? What good would it do for the parent who would spend the next week staring at a computer screen? So What?

I suppose there is no more challenging question that I move forward with as I work. As writers, speakers, or musicians we must constantly ask of our work how it will impact our audience - So What? What will they walk away with? How are we moving them? The ease of complacency is our greatest foe and the determination to extend our audience's restrained horizons is our greatest challenge.

Keep It Simple

2009-02-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

I came across this quote in Martin Luther's work on preaching. Martin Luther is the German reformer who gave us the first translation of the Bible in the common tongue rather than Latin or Greek, and consequently the first mass-printed book in history.

Let all your preaching be in the most simple and plainest manner; look not to the prince, but to the plain, simple, gross, unlearned people, of which cloth the prince also himself is made. If I, in my preaching, should have regard to Philip Melancthon and other learned doctors, then should I do but little good. I preach in the simplest manner to the unskillful, and that giveth content to all. Hebrew, Greek and Latin I spare until we learned ones come together.

What a remarkable observation.

Personal Branding

2009-02-10T12:08:00.001-08:00

I came across this article concerning the laws of branding one's self:

The Eight Laws of Personal Branding

1. The Law of Specialization: A great Personal Brand must be precise, concentrated on a single core strength, talent or achievement. You can specialize in one of many ways: ability, behavior, lifestyle, mission, product, profession or service.

2. The Law of Leadership: Endowing a Personal Brand with authority and credibility demands that the source be perceived as a leader by the people in his/her domain or sphere of influence. Leadership stems from excellence, position or recognition.

3. The Law of Personality: A great Personal Brand must be built on a foundation of the source's true personality, flaws and all. It is a law that removes some of the pressure laid on by the Law of Leadership: you've got to be good, but you don't have to be perfect.

4. The Law of Distinctiveness: An effective Personal Brand needs to be expressed in a way that is different from the competition. Many marketers construct middle-of-the-road brands so as not to offend anyone. This is a route to failure because their brands will remain anonymous among the multitudes.

5. The Law of Visibility: To be successful, a Personal Brand must be seen over and over again, until it imprints itself on the consciousness of its domain or sphere of influence. Visibility creates the presumption of quality. People assume because they see a person all the time, he/she must be superior to others offering the same product or service.

6. The Law of Unity: The private person behind a Personal Brand must adhere to the moral and behavioral code set down by that brand. Private conduct must mirror the public brand.

7. The Law of Persistence: Any Personal Brand takes time to grow, and while you can accelerate the process, you can't replace it with advertising or public relations. Stick with your Personal Brand, without changing it; be unwavering and be patient.

8. The Law of Goodwill: A Personal Brand will produce better results and endure longer if the person behind it is perceived in a positive way. He/she must be associated with a value or idea that is recognized universally as positive and worthwhile.

On life

2008-12-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

I suppose life is more like a museum to me...my goal is not the exit, but the exhibits.

On Complexity

2008-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

The crew from 37Signals had a great quote today on complexity:

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.

—John Gall

VMWare??

2008-11-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I recently decided to try VMWare on my Mac. The reason was simple...I had a version of Quickbooks Pro that I had purchased for Windows and I wanted to use Quickbooks online which supports Internet Explorer only. I had researched a couple of other solutions, namely BootCamp and Parallels. I chose VMWare due to the fact that I could work on Windows and Mac at the same time and it allegedly was less of a cpu hog than Parallels.

After my for the most part trouble-free 30-day trial period, up pops the splash screen telling me my trial period had one day left. At the bottom of the splash screen was a button "Buy License..." So, being content with the product I clicked on the button and was sent zooming to a web page. Only problem? The page opened up to a "Page Not Found."

Now I'm no genius, but wouldn't you want the button on your splash-licensing-screen to actually take users to a page where they can...oh...purchase a license?

Ok, so I decided to go to the actual website and try to buy one through the online store. No problem. A few clicks and I had a license in my shopping cart. Then clicking on "Checkout" I was asked to log in. I logged in with my username and I received a login error. I thought I may have forgotten my password (unusual) and clicked to reset it, received the new email and used the new password. Still nothing...same error message.

So, thirty minutes into this, I found a phone number and called their customer service. After waiting for FIFETEEN minutes I finally connected with a customer representative. She seemed less than concerned about the web page that was unavailable and had no answers for logging in. Instead she continued to doubt my story by repeating that the login should work.

Then, if matters couldn't be worse, the call was disconnected!!!

After another 30 minutes of hacking I was able to purchase a license. Mind you, I wouldn't have bothered except that I had to have the use of my Quickbooks and didn't have time to install some other product, a new windows installation, and all the bells and whistles.

That said, I will be looking at either Parallels or BootCamp very soon.

Back to the Rainy City

2008-11-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in Seattle...yes it was July when I moved to the Tri-Cities. Beautiful place. Great sunsets. Plenty of sunshine. Wonderful people. I will definitely be back to visit, but Seattle holds so much of what I need for now.

I am spending some time researching some ideas to see what I want to do. Last night at 3am I was deep in thought...yup...3am. I am currently in a place where I could actually plan on finishing my masters in theology. I've tooled around with the idea for a number of years now, but have just not had the real ambition to proceed. And frankly, studying theology in my humble opinion is not something that should be done without ambition.

Throughout the last decade, regardless of whatever hair-brained idea, business, or venture I have been working on, I have never really stopped studying, reading, and conversing on theological matters.

I have not thrown any hats in the ring yet so stay tuned. For now I have some work to do in preparation of such things.

World Uniting, Inc.

2008-11-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

So I'm tooling around with the idea of starting a non-profit, World Uniting, Inc. whose purpose is to foster fair and equal political representation and rights for all nations of the world.

Principally I find it ludicrous that 5 nations have power over the total of 192 nations. In the United Nations (our current world governance) there are only 5 permanent member nations (15 including term-limited members) that hold veto power out of 192 nations. That means not even 3% representation of the world.

Since when did everyone get together and decide that we wanted an oligarchy for a world government - a 'rule by a few'?!

Why don't we have equal representation, equal voting power for all nations of the world? We all depend on each other. When one finger is hurt, the whole body aches.

My intention is to investigate the possibility of building coalitions among under represented nations to foster equality in the hopes of moving our world governance from the rule-of-the-few to a Federation of Nations, possessing a balance of powers, but most importantly equal representation for all nations!

Training & Marketing

2008-09-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

A great quote...

“Training is a tax you pay for a lousy hiring environment…Marketing is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”

-Robert Stephens of Geek Squad in A Geek’s Guide to Great Service

Home, home on the Range!

2008-08-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I can hardly believe it but I have finally completed my move to Kennewick, WA (minus some unpacking). I'm still in a bit of a daze, probably due to all of the sun I now get, but I feel pretty darn good about the move.

Yesterday we drove around the Tri-Cities so I could meet some folks and get to see more of the area. We stopped in to meet a few of Ric's friends and family.

It all seems so very familiar, like living back in Missoula, MT. To be honest it is sort of relaxing compared to the constant movement of the city and the allusion it provides of opportunity. Ironically I have found far more opportunity out this way than I could have imagined.

I'll still be back to Seattle every other week or so but for now I'm getting busy networking out this way and getting to work!

To quote a friend

2008-07-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

I felt it would be a good idea to post a quote from my friend (who will remain nameless since I didn't ask his permission). We were talking about our lives and careers. Both of us are sort of in a peculiar transition point.

In his words:

"You need to go where you feel most comfortable and most needed."

Thanks for your wise words, nameless friend!

RESTful Rails: Passing URL Parameters

2008-07-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've loving developing my web apps using RESTful design patterns. It is definately a concept shift. Rather than thinking of the URL as a way to embed programmatic calls, the URL becomes fairly static. All it does is represent the application's resources (aka our Models) and provide verbiage to modify them (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE). And that's it.

RESTful design in Rails is pretty straight forward when you only ever update data with forms, but what if you need to pass parameters via a URL? For example, let's say you want to put a link like "approve" on a page so that your HR manager can simply click a link to approve a job resume.

In old rails we could have created an action called "approve" in our resumes_controller and called that action using a URL with

http://www.website.com/resumes/approve/2.

But in RESTful development we should only be treating our URL's as resource representations, not as a way to make programmatic calls. Instead we should be calling our resume resource with a :put method.

http://www.website.com/resumes/2

Ok...yeah, we're updating the resume model, but how do we tell the app what we are specifically updating on that resource? We do this by passing parameters to that resource, in this case "status" as "approved". We would want the resulting URL to be

http://www.website.com/resumes/2?status=approved

But how do we embed these parameters RESTfully? The magic? Rails does this by accepting additional parameters via the application_path() option in our link_to tag. In this case we are going to pass the :id parameter as well as a parameter called :application which is a hash including our ":status" and "approved" parameters.

<%= link_to 'approve', application_path(:id => resume.id, :resume => {:status => "approved"}), :method => :put %>

application_path() is a rails helper that takes the options specified and generates a URL in a RESTful way. In this case it will create a URL representing the resume resource, add on the parameters we passed (:id and :status) then tack on the RESTful method, in this case 'put'.

In our resumes_controller, the update action (which corresponds to put) will be called and the resume model will be committed using the update_attributes(params[:resume]) method. update_attributes will update the model with all of the corresponding parameters, in this case "status."

Shazaam! Now isn't that clean?! No extra methods in our controllers, just the typical CRUD.

Remember, conceptually speaking we are not using our URL to make a programmatic call. RESTfully speaking we are simply 'putting' (or updating) the resource specified in our URL with the modified parameters.

Make It Count

2008-06-23T23:47:00.000-07:00

A fantastic quote from Warren Buffett:

“Make sure that, for the people that count to you, you count to them.”

Tying My Shoes

2008-06-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

To be sure, one has to agree, patience takes far too damn long.

I must confess I was never too keen on being young. In point of fact I suppose I was always anxious to be older, to learn and understand things immediately, and to be able to grasp concepts in short order.

One would wonder how I ever managed to tie my shoes as a child. I wanted to simply 'have' the knowledge. I wanted to be able to wake up one morning with the ability to just reach down and tie my shoes. Frustration would over take me with the notion that someone else could do something that I couldn't. In the case of my older brother, I very clearly remember being indignant that he knew how to do anything that I didn't, let alone tie his shoes. (Feel free to insert your poignant observation of severe middle child syndrome.)

It was our neighbor Mrs. Koop (who would later be my 2nd Grade teacher) who found me on her doorstep, eyes red with tears, barefoot, shoes reluctantly in hand, laces strewn about like some unfortunate boy scout knotting experiment gone awry. She so kindly asked, "What's the matter David?" I burst into tears exclaiming, "I can't tie my shoes!" She coughed (although to this day I swear it was more of a laugh), smiled and said, "Well....why don't you sit down here and let me show you."

So after a few minutes of work on the stupendous success of knots I had managed, she set my shoes aside and told me that first we would play a little game. She began to teach me a little poem about a rabbit, a tree, and a rabbit hole. Once I had that down she grabbed my suspicious shoes and showed me a couple of times how to take my 'rabbit' lace around the tree and into it's hole, then had me practice a few times. Well in no time flat I could do it on my own. Then she went into her house and came out with a cookie saying, "Congratulations, Dave! You can tie your shoes! You should go show your momma."

Of course, she really didn't need to even suggest that I show anybody. I was ready to show the world, not just that I could tie my shoes, but in fact how easy it was to do. I told my mom, my dad, my younger sister who seemed more interested in my cookie, and my brother who extended me a kindly "well, duh!"

Now looking back I think that tying my shoes was in fact one of the most profound experiences I could have had. From time to time I think back on it to remind myself that I don't know everything and I can't. We all have to rely on others, and others' skills and knowledge to more quickly navigate this life. We can of course spend the days, months, or even years tying the most convoluted of knots in the shoestrings of our lives. Or we can choose to swallow our pride, take up the mess of our shoes, stand on the doorstep of other giants and proclaim, "I can't tie my shoes!" Then simply shut up, listen and learn.

YAH!!! RubyGems 1.2.0!

2008-06-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you who might have missed it, RubyGems 1.2.0 has been released. Probably the most significant feature add is that the new version no longer conducts the dreaded memory-hogging, low-memory-crashing, small-slicehost-crippling bulk update and instead only fetches the gemspec files it needs.

I installed the new version, ran 'gem install rails' and WHAM it flew through the install on my 256MB Slicehost server. I am not ashamed to tell you that a small tear fell down my check.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

To The Heart of the Matter

2008-06-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

I was listening to NPR yesterday and heard a very insightful statement from a psychiatrist who was noting her most singular challenge in assisting individuals in their journey. I'm not sure of the actual quote, but to wrap my own words around it...

I suppose the greatest human commonality is the gap between what we say and how we feel, as well as the gap between what we do and what we want.

I was blown away by how very insightful these words were.

>> talk amidst yourselves!

Creating a Gem from Source

2008-05-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

As it is becoming more commonplace to distribute new functionality via gems rather than plugins (thanks in large part to the Merb community's prodding), here is a quick guide to packaging and installing a gem directly from it's source (presuming the source has not already been packaged into a gem).

I will use Brian Smith's gem source for the merb authentication gem, can_has_auth_core:

1. Clone ("checkout") the git folder you want.

git clone git://github.com/BrianTheCoder/can_has_auth_core.git

2. Change to the root of the directory you just downloaded/cloned.

3. Run `rake package`

This will create a gem for you and place it in a new subdirectory, /pkg

4. Run gem install pkg/can_has_auth_core-0.1.0

This should install the gem for you.

Six Hour Startup :: Starter App

2008-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

This last week I had the pleasure of joining the Six Hour Startup, a new Seattle based venture project dedicated to developing rapid startups in six hours or less.

I arrived at about the 5th hour and was amazed at how quickly I was able to just jump in and get my hands dirty in the code. There were about 10 people around a table broken into groups of two or three, each of them working on a specific aspect of the startup: database, e-commerce, branding, pr, social network tie-ins, etc. I jumped into the branding end of things and worked on some CSS since it seemed the best place to jump in.

They had chosen Django (a python framework) to start this app. Unfortunately there was only one person there that really had any experience on the platform so I decided to have my fun and port the application over to Rails. It only took 30 minutes or so and it was fun to see how long it would take.

I thought more about it and figured that it would make sense to just create a starter app that would serve as a beginning point to jump from in these six hour projects. So I created a Google Code site and posted a Rails starter app which includes basic authentication and an e-commerce solution out of the box. This will save a good hour or so of whipping it all together.

Here's the new site...

http://code.google.com/p/sixhourstartup/

Great Quotes from George Patton

2008-05-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

- borrowed from here:

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

“If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.”

“Battle is an orgy of disorder.”

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”

“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”

“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.”

“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”

“The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!”

“Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.”

What I'm Up To

2008-04-29T10:09:00.001-07:00

Well, I've decided to stay in the land of entrepreneurship and get busy working on my banking financial transactioning network. It's a brutal task but categorically and undeniably fun! I'll continue to pull on short-term web application development contracts in the mean time to pay the bills as needed.

For now I'm just putting together architectures and presentations. I've been able to pull in some of the more brilliant minds for this one which is absolutely humbling (only demonstrates my sheer lack of knowledge) and also a fantastic learning experience.

Naturally my todo list grows:

Develop prototype (60%)
Setup up PR website (40%)
Finish PR powerpoint (30%)
Make some Crock-Pot Stew (20% - bachelor alert!)
Continue to find/pull-together the team (50%)
Do laundry (10% - shaaaammmme)
Roller-blade Alki (80% - for sure)
Setup server and killer framework stack (70% - hurray Slicehost!)
Attend Seattle.rb Ruby Enthusiast group (check!)
Add todo's at will!

The New Cube

2008-04-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd update everyone as to where my new office is located.

The office door:

The view from the window:

Why Start a Startup?

2008-04-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I came across a post from Jason at Signal vs. Noise:

Startups can bring new ideas to market. They can give people a chance to change the world on their own terms. They can create something where nothing existed before. There is no doubt that they are exciting things to be a part of.

Whereas his article was geared more toward a discussion of realistic perspectives in entrepreneurship I couldn't help but raise my hands and shout a hearty, "Amen, Preach It!"

I think that there is possibly no more pragmatic method to improve, enhance, or impact the world than to introduce them to what they have been missing all along. Entrepreneurship to me is all about discovering key economic problems and solving them in a way that makes sense (at least to me...lol). The beauty of it is that it doesn't matter what people define as the status quo, you get to decide what the new status quo will be so long as your solution makes sense and solves the problem.

Switching to Decaf

2008-04-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
- Thoreau's Walden

As of April 21, my stint with Starbucks is no more. I turned in my letter of resignation.

I know, I know....it's only been six months for crying out loud. But I must confess that I am a firm believer in not beating dead horses (who has time for that in this short life). So it was becoming quite clear to me that they were in need of someone with a different type of focus.

All in all it was a wonderful experience. I met and worked with some tremendous minds whose ability to understand complicated systems is simply astounding. My team of fellow developers were (and are) tremendously gifted, bright, and eager - three qualities that any leader would pay top dollar for.

MacBook Pro iAirTablet

2008-02-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

For all of you bleeding edge gotta-have-it folk out there I recently came across some skinny on the next major release from Apple.

Introducing the MacBook Pro iAirTablet
"The Lightest Tablet in the World!!"

Features boast of:
1. State of the art Stylist
2. It's really light!
3. 15" Re-Writable Hard Screen
4. Unlimited Reusable Storage
5. Did we say it's light?
6. High quality Stylist Holder
7. The stylist is super light too!
8. Unlimited Battery Life

Price:
$2400 ($700 extended warrenty program)

Think You Are Too Small?

2008-02-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” -Betty Reese

Let the Code Speak

2008-02-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

After having poured over thousands of pages of technical document in my experience in developer land via years of consulting I can't help but plead for the lives of thousands of trees by saying - "Let the Code Speak!"

I never cease to be amazed at the level of redundancy so many people will create for the perceived security in having white-paper documents that spell things out. Naturally these will be printed out over and over again so that people can edit/update/etc. their thoughts on the design.

Generally technical documents are there to document:

Data relationships
Authorship/versions
Installation procedures
Requirements (libraries/objects/artifacts/etc)
Design Compositions (pictures)

In my opinion the whole premise for white-paper documentation is the assumption that "business people" can't read techie manuals and code. They need their "own" copy.

Paaahhlleeeezzzzee! Seriously, if you are a business person in today's world....are you ready for this....you need to either learn, be a part of the development process via conversations and storyboarding, or wait for the prototype/wireframe and just see what it does. But forcing a redundancy is overhead that serves no other purpose than to make you feel like you are in the know even when you will probably never read all of these documents that have to be updated for every change and will most likely become useless as they fall behind development's changes in a crunched timeline (which is all the time).

Additionally, all of these documents have to be changed every single time a modification is made, either to a database, some required library, some user interface tweak. If you are like me, up against inconceivable deadlines, I'm sure you know how likely it is that you are going to put a hold on development just to update some document that nobody is looking at - of course, it's only when you haven't been updating a document when someone comes along and asks if you've been updating documents.

So how can you solve the above required documentation needs via the code? Well, here are some suggestions:

Data Relationships - Entity relationship diagrams take forever to actually construct. In the same amount of time that someone can schematic a design, you could just lay out the sql and normalize. If they need an ERD they can generate one from the SQL.
Authorship/Versions - This should really be handled through the versioning software. There you can find a list of who created, modified, check-out, revised, etc the code (and internal documentation). Hand writing all of this on a white paper document is a clear redundancy.
Installation Procedures - These should be a by-product of a README file somewhere if anything and should only come in the form of a note on items that are not inherently specified in the code. For example, you should not have to list the specifics for an Apache configuration since you can just go to the httpd.conf file and figure it out from there. If you are building it for the first time you should be collaborating one-on-one with a developer, not reading his documentation.
Requirements - These should be obvious in the code itself, either from the "include" tags, or from comments inserted directly above the particular line of code noting what the library is, etc
Design Composition - Generally speaking these can just be posted in some location online where people can pull them up to look at them. Including them in a white paper is pretty much useless since they are often resized to fit on the white paper, rather than being the actual size which is more useful when it comes to ascertaining pixel widths/heights.

The point is that documentation should come as a result of the development process, not before. The only prior document should be in the loosely formed storyboards (use-cases) that draw out the purpose and use of the software. After all, we all know that the people in the real world will be the ones to actually tell you how they are going to use it. They will do that by actually using, or more importantly NOT using features in your software.

The best place to document is in the code itself, which is already under version control. Everyone is in there anyway, so why not let them know what the heck the code is doing.

And last, as a rule of thumb, if something has already been documented in some location (hopefully the code itself) , then don't repeat yourself by writing the same thing down somewhere else. Instead, become creative on how to find/mine the documentation.

Ruby on DB2 article

2008-02-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post a link to a great article regarding working with Ruby on DB2.

http://antoniocangiano.com/2008/02/08/essential-guide-to-the-ruby-driver-for-db2/

Great article, Antonio! Thanks.

Venture Steps

2008-02-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

I recently spent a great deal of time reading up on steps for successful startups and decided that I would put out my own rendition for steps - at least from a software venture perspective. These are the steps I have used in working with venture projects in the past and they have been somewhat templatable (to coin a phrase).

Investigate Ideas & Choose One (the venture project)
Define Your Venture Project (nail it down)
Implement & Evangelize (prototype and show & tell)
Go Live (release it to the public)
Adapt & Improve (review feedback, success, and failures and modify your product)

I'll try to develop these more later.

Die Business Plan! Die!

2008-02-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

So the question hit me...exactly why am I writing a business plan?

I have spent more than a handful of months trying to lock down on business plans for my different ventures only to discover that for the most point all they did was take up my most valuable asset - TIME! Yes. Time is my most valuable asset. More valuable than anything else I possess.

So I decided I would think through the notion of a business plan here on my blog, listing the quote-on-quote positive reasons for having a business plan, trying to convince myself of why I should have one.

The only actual unquestionable reason for a business plan that I could think of was that investors want to see it. It makes them feel like I know what I'm doing, that I have focus, that I won't waste their money, that I've done my research on the competition, that I know my revenue captures, that I know my corporate structure, yada, yada, yada.

But I don't want investors. I am self-funded. I already know what my market is and there is only one (maybe two) other people involved. We use a collaboration site (basecamp) to record our thinking and conversations, to plan major timelines/milestones, to track todo's, and to house research/intelligence on competition as we come across them. Honestly, having to put all of that into an investor pitch is an overhead that I just don't need at the moment. And I suppose if they really wanted to they could just request access to our site and look around from there. It's all there anyway...in all its 'glory.' Besides, if I'm at an investment posturing position then I really need a prospectus and not a business plan. And if it's an angel investor then it's more about meeting in person than anything else.

It's my money so there is no chance that I am going to blow it on misc expenses. My money is going to pay rent, food, and utilities...and that's it! My car is paid for, I have no mortgage, and a small amount of managed debt so there's no big deal there.

Where research is concerned, how in God's name are you going to know anything about the market until you get out there. I have spent hour upon hour vetting markets only to present it in a plan and have would-be investors/partners gab on about what I don't know and what I should research. Meanwhile, the product isn't getting pushed out there, no revenue is being generated, and I have no demonstrable way to demonstrate (yes I know it's redundant and I'm repeating myself) how in the name of God that the market will in fact respond. At some point you just can't know what the response will be until you try. Might as well get your butt out there and figure it out in three months (while sucking your savings dry in rent) rather than just speculating for the same three months.

Corporate structure? Give me a break. It's me and another guy and we haven't incorporated yet so what's the point.

Ok, ok! I know, I know. Fortune favors the prepared. I'm certainly not advocating that you should abandon reason. But seriously, in today's market, where you have an absolute global competitive realm, the time you spend in the best laid plans of mice (see Hitchhiker's Guide) you could and probably should spend placing your product into the market, if only for one or two people. Then you can review, react, and recreate yourself and your product for the most wild market the world has seen.

So two thoughts on startups...

Stay Agile. Don't formulate the business plan right out of the gate.

Put out a rough design including at least two basics:

Product: What is your product and what problem does it solve?

Market: Who is your market and why do they want your product?

Use collaboration, not documentation

I recommend Basecamp to manage your venture development

Release Early, Release Often. You biggest obstacle to the market is yourself, not the market. If the market doesn't respond, it isn't your marketing. Um...again...it isn't your marketing, it's your product. It should make sense and the market should want it. Then review, adapt, and improve!

Again, get your product out there. And no time is soon enough.

AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT INVESTORS! (sorry about the capslock...it had to be done) Investors are like laxative, yeah, everything will start moving faster, but you only want to use them when you absolutely have to.

From the Cubicle

2008-01-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

Most people don’t like to waste time in meetings – have an agenda
Don’t, Don’t, Don’t skip direct reports!!! – it’s like asking your dad when your mom said no…just don’t
Have a set schedule of hours you are at work – people need to be able to rely on your availability

If you're mobile, answer your phone, or expedite your voicemail

Listen to what people are telling you:

Listen
Reflect
Listen
Clarify
Create Action Items (people are telling you something because they need/want some form of action)

Discover people’s strengths and readjust the team to accommodate. Your resources are people, not positions.

Fortune & Opportunity

2007-12-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

It is the vanity of the fortunate to believe that the chaos of their benefit has been anything but fortuity - the unpredictable outcome of opportunity. But how truly wasteful are those who are granted opportunity and who find themselves unprepared to meet its charity.

Tasks in Gmail !!!

2007-12-21T17:47:00.001-08:00

I had to pass this great interface to Gmail on.

Remember the Milk, which I use extensively to track all of my todos...seriously I have 11 lists currently, from shopping, to business concepts, to projects I'm working on. I love the tool and it has some very useful features like alerts, iphone interface, and NOW IT SITS DIRECTLY IN MY GMAIL!

Here's the link to their Firefox extension. They are using (I think) XUL and Google's API to interface with Gmail. Those of you using Gmail will love it!

Drinking the Coffee

2007-11-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally did it. Back to corporate life for a bit...

Today begins my second week on the new job as Web Development Lead for Starbucks Coffee Company. Essentially I will be leading the team to develop Starbuck's new global retail materials management software.

So here's to the coffee drinkers of the world!!!!

New Recording :: Hungry (For You)

2007-10-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is a ballad I wrote. Nothing fancy, just a sappy love piece.

Hungry (For You)

Session Management

2007-10-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

An excellent article on session management:

http://www.quarkruby.com/2007/10/21/sessions-and-cookies-in-ruby-on-rails

Wiser Words...

2007-10-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

In the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson to James Madison:

"The hole and the patch should be commensurate."

CSS Sprite Generator

2007-10-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

I came across an excellent script that takes a zip file of graphics and parses them into a sprite (a single image file containing a number of seperate graphics which can be individually displayed via CSS throughout a site - cutting down significantly on http requests and bandwidth). It also creates a list of css classes for each file.

Here's the link, called CSS SPRITE GENERATOR

Moving myotherskills.com to Open Business/Open Source

2007-10-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've been kicking around the idea of open sourcing myotherskills.com and rather than going the direction of a for-profit organization, instead incorporate as a non-profit. By open sourcing I don't just mean releasing the code to the community, but also releasing the business (open business model) to the community.

Since myotherskills.com is a web-based service it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to release the code since the code in and of itself isn't useful for much except as an example of an application. But what if you open sourced the business, released all the books, financials, documents, planning, strategies, IP, wages, etc.,etc. Then everybody could see under the covers (or hood to borrow the car analogy), everybody could add their thoughts, and everybody could contribute.

I don't think I've seen a business model like this yet, although there are some open source software companies that have similar practices. Wouldn't it be interesting if any person in the world could run a Balance Sheet on myotherskills.com to see how a company of our type works with our cashflow. All the strategy documents could go through open review.

From a governance side it would be hairy at first since much would need to be done to refine the process. Still, I think the idea has some merit.

More to come...

Say No More

2007-10-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest list of words I'm trying hard to erase from my usage:

Thing (be more specific)
Cool (use 'great' instead)
Awesome (use 'incredible' or 'great', or something else)
Dude (use their name)
Whatever (use 'ok')
Yeah (Yes)
Uh-Huh (Yes)
Oiy (Interesting)

Making Open Source Software User Friendly

2007-10-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

An excellent article concerning humanizing open source software.

Great List of PR Books to Read

2007-09-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

I came across an excellent list of books to read on Public Relations.

Here's the link:

http://www.prblogger.com/2007/09/pr-books-to-read/

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

2007-08-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

Simply Solve the Problem and Solve the Problem Simply

aka... SSPSPS

Need I say more?!