\TEK-ee-FEEL-ee\ – enjoying both sides of the brain.
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At a recent unconference I attended, the “keynote” speaker, closed his remarks by listing some things that can help you live, in his opinion, an “authentic” life. He said these actions help you create a Point of View that is yours and yours alone.
These were:
- Create memories (his suggestion was to participate in a Project 365 kind of activity and post it publicly) = Done!
- Have a blog = Um…Done!
- Make things (real things not digital) = Hmmm. I make messes. Does that count?
- Have a collection. He said something like collect something that is unsung because that elevates it to important. He also said, while you needed to be passionate about whatever you collect, you don’t want to be viewed as crazily obsessed. (He said this all much more eloquently)
I starting thinking about collections. I was always collecting things as I grew up. I had my Dad’s stamp collection for a while and I added to it a bit. I collected rocks and bits of other natural materials during treks to various spots on earth. More recently, I enjoyed the 10 year run of collecting the state quarters. I tried to do it with my nephew as he was turning 1 when it started but he really didn’t get into it like I had hoped.
One thing that I have always collected, though, were the tickets to concerts, plays and, sometimes, movies that I have seen. There are some prize ones:
- The ticket to see Hal Holbrook’s one man show, Mark Twain Tonight. We got to go backstage and he autographed it. I was in junior high school at the time.
- A ticket to the Newport Folk Festival. After the concert, my friends and I went to eat and Emily Saliers from Indigo Girls came in shortly after. As she was walking by, we caught her eye and told her how much we enjoyed their show. She was very kind and signed the ticket at the end of our short conversation
- The ticket to see Bette Midler back in 1983 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I didnt’ think I would ever see her. (I have since added the ticket to see her in Las Vegas earlier this year)
- Front row seats to Yaz (aka Yahoo in the UK), a favorite group from the 1980s that I also had abandoned hope of every hearing live until my youngest brother found out about their short reunion tour in the US and we met in Chicago to catch a show.
And the list goes on.
I kept them in large manila envelopes for years and a few years ago, I dismantled a toy drum set I had also had for years and now I store the tickets in the bass drum of the set in a “sculpture’ I created (hey, I do make things!) for my office.
Why does this even matter, you may ask? Good question. The most recent concert I attended (Mary Chapin Carpenter in a great downtown smaller venu) didn’t really have a ticket. I bought the ticket online and chose the “Print at Home” option to avoid having to pay mailing fees. That makes sense and I didn’t really think about it until I got home from the show and thought abou putting my ticket in the drum. I have a piece of paper with a barcode on it and the seat assignments. Not a cool rectangle of paperboard with colors and such. Not even a thermal printed ticket. Just a regular piece of paper out of my printer.
Hmmmm….
Certainly, I love the convenience of buying tickets online. I like being able to pick seats (if possible on the site) and I like not having to stand in line. But, do I want to trade that in for losing my beloved collectible? I can pay the extra fee so, I guess the decision is more – is my collection worth it?
Do I want to keep getting this?
Or just keep going with this?
I just am wondering what other collections folks have that could possibly be replaced as technology moves forward. Will we keep having stamps? Perhaps coins will go away too? There will always be those who will continue to collect these items, it will just be harder and more expensive so new collectors probably will be fewer.
What will replace it? QR Codes? Media Storage formats (replacing the LP and cassette collections of today?)
I guess the point is to have a passion for something but I am not sure you can keep changing the focus of that passion with the pace that our technology and what it produces is changing.
It’s a snow day, which means I “get” to play on the computer more than work since it is a Monday and all. I have had the new interface for Facebook for a little while now. I like it. Cleaner, easier to use and things make sense up at the top rather than the bottom of the page.
But, the changes have got me thinking about other changes in Facebook from December as well as other social sights as well as with my own thinking about privacy. Facebook basically appeared to do a 180 degree turn in their thinking. What used to be a very closed network that only allowed first folks from one school ever increasingly morphed into a site that only those with a “dot edu” email address and then full tilt when into encouraging well, the entire universe to join. The founder of Facebook basically has said that “privacy is over“.
I hope he is wrong.
I am not thrilled with 100% open with no privacy. I want to have control over what I want to share. And, if you give me enough time I usually get comfortable with it. I started out on Twitter and protected my tweets. Eventually I decided to open it up to all to see. While many social network types seem to think that if you don’t open your tweets you are not “worthy” to follow. I have also read some pretty good reasons on why someone would not want to open up their tweets.
It’s all good.
Different streaks for different freaks, I always say.
The point is, on Twitter you have that control. So far on Facebook, you do have some control But, the controls are much more granular and much more, shall we say, complicated. On something like Twitter, the binary of YES or NO is pretty easy. Facebook becomes shades of gray very quickly: “Let’s see, I want my family to see that I am a fan of HGTV but I don’t want my co-workers to see what 80s hair band best fits my name”. Hmmmmm?”
But, if the privacy controls are too hard to use, way too open upon creation of an account and more opt-in for increased privacy rather than opt-out for increased openness, then I am thinking that will become a “count me out” opt-in for this girl.
It might be all about control and my friends and family will be the first to tell you that I certainly enjoy things my way. But, in the case of privacy, that should be the case all of the time. Privacy should be MY way on any site.
So, check your Facebook settings. Organize friends into groups and apply settings for each group. Take yourself out of search if that is what you want.
Need more help? I like this guide as a starting point and this one does a good job of helping you think through the options as well.
Image: ‘Privacy is not a crime‘
I am a big fan (sucker?) for the end of the year summaries that abound at this time of year.
And, I love lists. So, here is a list of lists….
Presenting my faves for the end of 2009 and the end of the first decade of the 2000s (naughties? noughties? oughts? aughts? What did we call them?)
DJ Earworm – United States of Pop 2009
NPR All Songs Considered Best Music of 2009
I always find new music via NPR’s All Songs Considered
Lifehacker’s Most Popular Hive Five Topics of 2009
Crowdsourcing has grown in popularity, easy and usefulness. And why not? It usually works!
Entertainment Weekly’s Best of 2009 (highs and lows)
Since this is my guilty pleasure reading at the gym, I felt that I must put it in here
The Top 10 Everything of 2009 and the Best Movies, TV, Books and Theater of the Decade from Time Magazine
well, they said everything…
Top 10 Internet Moments of the Decade from ABC News
And, for good measure, I just had to use the “My Year in Status” application in Facebook to build a status collage for 2009.
I also had to go visit Wordle and do something there with my blog posts from 2009. And, here it is.
This blog has a tagline about exploring “both sides” of the brain and I do try to explore and nurture both the techy and the feely of life. Of course, I am always interested when they intersect.
Part of the official parts of my job is to be technical support for the faculty and staff at my school. In all of my previous jobs, I have always been the unofficial technical support mostly because I was one of the first to use it and one of the first who understood it enough to explain it to others. Beyond my work life, I have also become the “go to” girl for tech support for many of my friends as well. You don’t get the nickname “Computer Girl” (as I was christened by one friend) without some geek cred, I would think.
It has been rare when I find myself on the other side of a technical support issue. By the time I actually break down and call a tech support line, I have exhausted all other possibilities. I have done the obvious (and sometimes the ridiculous) testing, rebooting, Google research, etc. It’s a pride thing, I suppose.
So, when my Twitter account suddenly was no longer “findable” via search or when I used hashtags (those phrases that begin with # that are often used to tag a tweet about an event like a conference), I was concerned. Since I am supposed to be coordinating the “twitterverse” for two upcoming conferences, I was getting more and more worried about my account being broken. I searched for suggestions and looked through the FAQ at the support site for Twitter and, of course, opened a support ticket with them. Nothing seemed to be working.
Then, I found a Twitter support person on Twitter. I started following him and then sent a direct plea his way. He became my “go to guy” and shortly after that, he send me a message back telling me all was well. And, it was!
I am grateful that he fixed the issue. Even more, I am grateful to be reminded of what it is like to feel out of control and unable to solve a technical problem and what it feels like to find someone who can, who does and does it well. I will use that as a reminder to keep doing what I do for my friends and co-workers and try to do it well, quickly and without complaint.
Thanks @lukester for that!
Today is BAD ’09! Blog Action Day. If you are on Twitter, the hashtag is #BAD09
This is the third year that T-F has participated and I am happy to do so, as always. This year’s topic is Climate Change and it is something that has been on my mind a good deal in the past few years. I have some close friends who have made very radical changes in their lifestyle over the past two years as they work to become as sustainable as possible in the expectation of the changes they expect in the world after Peak Oil. I admire them, yes. I emulate some of their choices, yes. Can I do everything they are doing like sell their house, farm most of their own food, make their own bath soaps, etc? Well, I probably could given enough time and training but will I? Probably not.
And climate change is a direct result of our lifestyle choices, it does seem so this is something that I do struggle with. Especially given my current employment. It is directly driven by computer technology and directly draws on natural resources for energy and, given my current location and energy source, directly impacting climate change. So, I try to find ways to help reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible in other aspects of my life since my career feeds into it. This is where the carbon calculators like the ones you find at Earth Lab, the Nature Conservancy Carbon Footprint Calculator (see my results below) and the United State Environmental Protection Agency Household Emissions Calculator
I feel like we do a pretty good job as a household of being as low impact as possible while keeping a fairly modern, technologicaly lifestyle. But, I know I could do more, especially with hot water and lighting.
As much as I learn from my more activist friends, I also learn from the social network I have created within Twitter and other sites where I engage. Participating in Earth Hour last March was inspiring as is writing this post today. I really did like watching the earth go dark for an hour in a wave around the globe. It was fascinating to be a part of it as well as just absorb it. If we can pour the energy that folks had just sharing what they were doing during that hour via photos, tweets and video.
cc licensed flickr photo shared by AJ Wms
The increased use of technology to promote action, while also using energy and producing carbon dioxide, does allow us to feel much more aware and connected with others who feel the same way and to empower us to feel that our actions are not being done in a vacuum. I feel like that is very important as the issue of climate change is certainly not going to be solved by one country or one organization but by all of us and one way we can feel involved is to take part in these global actions, which is made so much more easy by today’s technologies. Can anybody say conundrum?
Want more global community actions to connect and be involved? Try these or share something else in the comments:
International Day of Climate Action (October 24)
Join TckTckTck: Global Citizens for Climate Action alliance of faith groups, organizations, trade unions and individuals.
I have a ukulele now. And I take piano lessons. Add in the drum set in the basement and the guitar in the closet and there are a lot of musical opportunities in the house these days. Right now, the uke is the winner…it sits out by my desk and I pick it up about every day. Can’t say I practice any of the rest of the instruments that much.
Of course, I am only playing the one song I know right now (I’m Yours by Jason Mraz) but the more I play it, the easier it gets. Practice makes perfect.
All of this leads up to something that I have been thinking about for a while but never got down to writing about it until now. We went to hear Steve Martin play his banjo this weekend at the lovely Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Yes, the home of the Grand Ole Opry! It was my first show there and I hope it won’t be my last as it was a great performance space. Wonderful acoustics, fun pews (not TOO hard) and a top-notch show to boot. Steve Martin was a pro with the banjo and his band was phenomenal.
Add in the fact that his opening act was the multi-talented John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and that he had guest vocals from Dan Tyminski and Rhonda Vincent as well as closed the show with Earle Scruggs playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown and you get the gist that it was a truly wonderful night of music.
But, what I have been thinking about was how easy they all made it look. McEuen went from guitar to banjo to fiddle without even taking a breath it seemed. If I put down the uke and sit at the piano, I have to fidget and think and get all set up to get going. It is amazing how at ease he seemed with all of the instruments and just being on stage. And, I know it comes from practice.
To take it from music to techy – I can sit down at a Mac and then move to a PC and then to an iPhone with the same ease. I have been told many times during training “you make it seem so easy”. And, that is my goal – to make it seem easy but to also really just make it easy. But, there does take some practice. Some time with the “instrument” whether it is an operating system or a software application or a new peripheral. You have to spend some time with it and learn how to work it, where things are and so on. Then, moving between all of these things gets to be much smoother. And, just like how a guitar player can probably pick up a uke and make some decent noises – the more tech you play with the easier it is to pick up something new just because of all of the practice you did before.
I guess I am at that age where many of the famous people who were influential on my growing-up are starting to die. I noticed that several of my recent posts have been about recent deaths. Yesterday, we lost Mary Travers (the Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary). While Michael Jackson certainly was a huge part of my adolescence, the trio of PPM were also very much in the mix as I listened to a lot of their music when I was young and then continued the love affair with many hours sitting around a campfire singing their songs with other campers, then as a counselor and finally now, continuing the tradition each year with my annual campout with friends from those summer camp days.
All of this death has me thinking about how we pay tribute to these celebrities who are so influential for whatever reason: crushes, aspirations of similar stardom, talents that create art that speaks so deeply to us and so on. It is interesting to note how those tributes have changed over the years and with the technologies available to those who feel need to “tributize” someone.
After Michael Jackson died, it was almost immediately that the tributes started pouring in via blogs, YouTube, twitter, Facebook, MySpace and more. There were mashups, postings of clips from interviews, artwork and more.
Patrick Swayze’s death probably prompted the same reaction. I was not as affected by his death as others around me were but that is probably another blog post on another blog.
I did a quick search on Mary Travers this morning on blogs, YouTube and Twitter. While there were a few podcasts and audio tributes last night, I didn’t find as much as I would have thought. And that makes sense. Mary’s audience is older and her work is not so much in the digital realm. I have one CD and the rest of her music I have on LP album and cassette. That adds a hurdle to making an online tribute so it cannot happen so “immediately” as Michael Jackson or even John Hughes, as I posted earlier.
I only wonder how the technology will change how we memorialize people, both famous and not, in the future. I think the feely part of the equation will always be there…we have a human need to eulogize, share grief and express admiration for someone’s life and how it touched ours. But, how we do it is certainly changing. It is easier, faster and much more public.
Thinking about my own tribute rituals, I recalled when John Lennon was shot. I was a freshman at Virginia Tech. My roommate and I got all of our albums together and played them all night while other girls on our hall came by. Slowly, a little shrine developed with his photo, candles, a flower or two and just a bunch of folks sitting in the yellow candlelight listening to Lennon sing us to sleep. Last night, I played two Peter, Paul and Mary albums on my turntable and then put their jackets in my LP album frames as my tribute. I guess that will her shrine for now. For Michael Jackson, I blogged about his influence and found plenty of videos to embed. That also makes sense, because part of MJ’s art was so visual that you need the video to appreciate it, share it and pay tribute to this talents. I dont’ think you need video with Mary Travers as much.
But, just because I think this song is beautiful (a tribute to John Denver as he wrote it), here is one Mary Travers song to share.
Just returned from a quick work trip down (way down) to Albany, GA. I was excited to learn in my pre-trip research that I had totally forgotten this was the birthplace of one of my absolute favorites: the incomaparable Ray Charles.
So, I had to bring my entire cohort of travelers to the downtown area to pay an homage visit to the Ray Charles Plaza. It was a lovely spot with benches that looked like piano keys. Curving pathways in black and white, wooden swings, nice landscaping and a central fountain with a life size sculpture of Ray seated at a piano performing, microphone and all.
The only disappointment was the lack of Ray’s music. There were speakers everywhere and the woman at the hotel said that music was playing. But, not on the days I was there.
I had to go back the next morning to grab some photos from the sunrise across the Flint River that then bathed the sculpture with the nice first light of the day. The slideshow is below.
The other thing that I noticed were the two bridges. There was the “new” bridge that we crossed to enter the downtown area. Modern looking, with a some neat metal arches on the end. That road when through downtown and passed a new Hilton Garden Inn, a new looking jail and other government buildings.
The other “old” bridge was mason work with arches, etc. It was blocked off, even to pedestrian traffic. The road that led from that bridge to the downtown contained an entirely different world. The road was lined with shops, local restaurants, and plenty of empty buildings as well.
I was glad we went down both roads but I was sad to see that the more interesting road to welcome someone to Albany for the first time was the one from the old and unused bridge. This struck me and is something i want to think about some more in context to how we approach anything new: there are usually two bridges to it (sometimes more) I wonder which bridge is more useful: the old bridge that might be less modern but takes you to some pretty interesting sites or the new, modern bridge that might be safer and take you to slick, new stuff but you might miss some cool stuff along the way. I want to try to make sure I use both bridges and see all the paths.
Enjoy the show:
