Helping the giver

This year I've decided to do something a little unconventional and uncharacteristic for me. It's actually part for me and part for others. There's a part of me who thinks everyone should do something similar and I don't mind telling you why but first let me tell you what. I started a list of things that I would like to own which is basically a wish list. Now this may seem at first to be materialistic but follow my thought process on this. The list is online and viewable by anyone that wants to see it. Not only does it help anyone that wants to get me a gift and cares to know what I actually might want vs. picking some gift at random, at the very least it gives some insight into what some of my interests are.

Some of these things are of course what I consider big ticket items that if I actually want to own them, I would indeed be saving to make the purchase myself since I'm not part of some charity that people donate large sums of money to in order to fulfill my personal wants. But I've also put some things on the list that don't cost so much either. Now, having the pessimistic outlook on this, in reality I don't expect anyone but me to really use this list so I'd be pleasantly surprised if anyone else did.

While having the list can immediately give someone the impression that I may be a materialistic person, I look at it with a different perspective. I go to work every day, I have bills to pay and a family to support and I'm glad I can provide for their needs. You have to admit that life is more fulfilling when you can also supply some wants and it's a great feeling anytime you can give your family some of the things you did not have growing up. But for me the list represents exactly what the title of it is, a wish list. What that means to me and why it's really important is part of what keeps me going back to a job that I've been doing for 9 years and isn't always fulfilling and some days can be somewhat boring. It's important to have goals and things to look forward to. If I ever got everything on my wish list, I think I'd have less motivation and determination to work harder and be better. Don't get me wrong, that's not entirely what drives me alone. I am self-motivated to be better & do better than I have in the past because I like to improve myself and it gives me a healthy self-esteem to see the things I've accomplished. (Don't worry, my wife keeps my ego in check by helping me realize my flaws while also telling me how proud she is of the things I do right. Thank you wife.)

Anyway, the point of the "wish list" for me is to always be working for something that can be called a personal reward even if it's something simple. Speaking of which, in looking for possible Christmas gifts for those people that might not know what they want or only have more expensive items on their wish list, there's a wide variety of fun toys, gadgets & things over at Think Geek (hint, hint). It's great to have dreams and to keep dreaming. They make life more enjoyable. And if you can fulfill some of those dreams, even better.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pxILMfqp1MQA35IXjP10vEw

Mini Makeshift Bunk Bed

The beauty of having different people look at things is that everyone has their own perspectives.  As we get older it seems harder to have an original perspective or one that hasn't been jaded by our experiences.  Sometimes this makes us less creative, at times it can also make us more creative.  In any case, children seem to have the most unique and simple ideas of all that make us look at things from perspectives we hadn't thought about.

One story that represents this example is one of a moving truck that got stuck under an overpass because it was just barely too tall to pass under the bridge above.  This incident blocked traffic behind it and presented a problem as to how to get the wedged in truck pulled out from it's precarious predicament.  Of course there were several people standing around scratching their heads, engineers, tow-truck drivers, Department of Transportation, etc.  A man walked up with his grandson to see what the backup was all about and they were informed of the situation.  The boy looked at the scene and asked wondering, "Why don't they just let the air out of the tires?"

This unique perspective from a boy who just happened upon this accident freed the truck from its place and got traffic once again moving on its way.

Recently my 2 year old daughter Anna had a unique perspective on our shoe rack we have by our front door.  Evidently she didn't see it as a shoe rack so much as a neat place to crawl into once all those annoying shoes were removed out of the way.

It reminds me when I was a kid and we would move in to a new house, there was all kinds of empty space and the plethora of room under sinks and in linen closets provided neat little hiding places.  As a side note, we seemed to move around a bunch having moved an average of every 1.5 years until my junior year of high school.  My brother & I would joke with friends that we might be in the witness protection program.  I had a different school every year from 6th grade on to 11th.

Customer Request Vizualization

I saw this posted at the desk of someone at work and found it hilarious because it seems grossly true and accurate. Those of you in a job where you're involved to responding to customer requests or something similar will know what this picture is about.

2008 Election Results

Probably the one of the only things I'll post regarding the 2008 elections FYI:

Beat It

This weekend I visited a local retail store and found, somewhat hidden and seemingly out of place amongst the jeans and mens shirts, a demo display for Rock Band 2 with 2 Guitars and a set of drums. The actual set comes with a microphone instead of 2 guitars but this setup allowed someone to play bass as well at the same time. I decided to try it out since I'd heard about it and I wanted to see what all the madness was all about. I never really liked the way the guitar felt when I held it & tried to use it so I thought I'd give the drums a try. I only played through the first 2 easy songs when my wife found me and let me know it was time to go as we had a birthday party for my niece we needed to get to.

Well surprisingly enough I really enjoyed playing Rock Band and the songs weren't some random band or song that nobody knew either, these were songs that are / were popular and most people know at least some of them. I decided that not only did I have to go back but I had to bring my brother Chris who told me about his adventures with Guitar Hero and how much fun that was. So, during the birthday party arrangements and plans were made to go and so we went.

We played a few songs and even had someone walk up (a boy about 12) and play Bass Guitar on Expert mode with us and he did really well. I did take a turn at Bass Guitar on easy but did little better than 60%. Chris took a turn at drums for the first time as well and found it was a little more complicated than he thought but I watched as he quickly got the hang of it and he still did better than 80%. Afterwards though he still preferred the guitar and I still preferred the drums so it's a good combination. We spent about an hour an a half playing through some of the songs before going over to the electronics section to see how much it was and what was included.

We found that there were many more songs than what was on the demo and several songs that we'd be interested to try out also. In addition to the songs included with the disc, you could also import songs from Rock Band into Rock Band 2 and you can download over 500 other songs from the Rock Band online store. Seems like a game that has decent replay value. And while it may not teach you how to read music or how to play these instruments for real, it does take a step in giving you an opportunity to make you feel like you could do something you never dreamt possible. For the younger crowd, it can also certainly open doors for music appreciation and maybe even give them a desire to learn to play an instrument for real.

Wall-E

A widget I found via Meebo.com