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Thoughts and things I care to sharelinks for 2007-12-06
links for 2007-12-04
- Love these stories simply because they don’t get much press. It’s an interesting piece even if you think he’s cracked.
- Great take on Microsoft strategy and possibilities of future versions of Microsoft’s OS.
- More on Facebook’s Beacon.
- Very cool rumer over on WinExtra.
The reality of the Aha! moment
Ever wonder where your enthusiasm goes after you’ve had an ‘aha!’ moment? You know, the moment when it all seems so clear. The one moment where you find the path through all the clutter, the distractions, the inhibition, the self-conscience fears?
That is (right or wrongly) what I’ve been calling the Aha! moment for myself. It’s happened more often this year than any other in my life, and it’s more frustrating then I can describe. I’m sure you’re familiar with it. I keep wondering how to leverage that moment, how to capture the thoughts. Obviously it’s time to keep a journal at hand and jot these ideas down when they come along.
I guess the big question I have is what do you do with your Aha! moments after they’ve passed? Do you try to work with the new thoughts, use them to improve yourself? Do they lead you to follow your dreams? Have you begun to question ‘why?’ a bit more because of them?
Obviously I’m asking more questions than I used to. The real measurement is if I’m growing (improving) from what I’m learning about myself and my worldview. That’s something I’ll find out later as I keep following the trail these Aha! moments reveal.
How about you – do you work to learn from your Aha! moments?
links for 2007-12-02
- No matter how hard people and organizations try to make their work as understandable as possible, there will always be someone who clearly “doesn’t get it” whether intentionally or not.
- Could it finally be happening? Should I convert all my albums back to MP3 from WMA? While I wholeheartedly welcome the move, my one beef with MP3 is that there are no lossless options like WMA.
- For what it’s worth. I’m still an avid Firefox user.
- Online picture service & Microsoft. Does this round out their basic service offerings now?
- Not surprising to me – thoughts?
links for 2007-12-01
- Ah, it is true…
Playing tag with myself – using WordPress 2.3 tags
Well, after wondering for several weeks how to leverage the tagging feature of WordPress 2.3, I’ve finally started using it. It helped to learn that Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer was fully supported for tagging use in WordPress v2.3.1 release last month.
The trick for WLW, is to use the "keywords" field of the post entry properties (shown below). WordPress 2.3.1 will pick those keywords up as the tags for the post.
While this isn’t the exact integration I was thinking of, it certainly allows me to use the internal tagging features of WordPress and also let’s me set tags to Technorati (and others) as well.
So now you’ll find two kinds of tags on nearly all my posts. I’d love to know if this is worthwhile to anyone or if it’s overkill.
And speaking of tags, blogging pal Steven Hodson has a post on tags today as well – but from a different perspective. Worth a read.
Learning to listen
I’ll tell you one of the most important & introspective lessons I’m learning: it’s listening to what people say. It’s a critical one that many of us find ourselves in the middle of when working on our personal improvement strategies.
While I’ve only really become aware of my own efforts to improve my listening abilities, I figured out that I’ve been subconsciously working on this for some time. Don’t know exactly what triggered it to come to the surface, but it did – and makes a great deal of sense.
What’s also interesting to me is the effort involved in learning this skill. It’s so at odds with how we’ve I’ve processed information when listening to others in the past. To actually absorb the real meaning, the underlying urgency, the true understanding is what I’m after. Whether it be a friend, coworker, or spouse it is crucial that we really understand what is being communicated.
It may be one of the most difficult things a person can undertake to improve their "soft" skills. It also will go a long way to help you reach your goals. Just like many other aspects of personal improvement, this skill is also critical to you if you’re working on your personal brand.
The ability to listen is a trait that people remember. This is an important piece of your reputation and is part of what makes up your brand. You want people to remember things about you, and having people remember that you listen to their requirements, listen to what’s important to them, listen to their concerns is a big one.
How else can we provide value to others when only a portion of what they’re talking about is listened to?
I mentioned at the beginning that this is a skill that I’m "learning" – I’ll never learn it all. I’m constantly finding out how to listen better, and I’d like to know your tips. What more is there to this – I’d love to hear from you. Do you have tips, stories, or examples of how to improve one’s ability to listen? I’m all ears. 😀
links for 2007-11-30
- Hmm, looks like RAM for the holidays is a good idea.
links for 2007-11-29
- Hmm, interesting article on money in the long tail over at Read/Write Web.
Back to the future (of Windows that is)
So I got just a little curious early this week about Windows XP performance over Windows Vista performance after reading how "bad" Vista performance has been described. Especially when reading (here, here, and here) about how Windows XP Service Pack 3 (still in beta) is supposed to have a pretty good performance boost over SP2.
Since I picked up my "new" (it’s now 7 months old) laptop last May, I’ve only run Vista on it. So, yep you guessed it, I wiped it and installed Windows XP on Tuesday.
That little experiment lasted all of 30 hours. I couldn’t stand it. I’ve gotten so comfortable with Vista, with all the improvements, all the changes, all the "hassle" that I can’t go back.
Now I see all my fellow Windows cohorts shaking their heads and wondering why I would be so foolish. Some will point at performance issues, others will bring up the application compatibility, others will go on and on about how the Aero interface "sucks" or whatever.
Depending on what your trying to do, any one of these can be valid arguments – but they’re meaningless to me, and I’ll tell you why. Vista is better.
I’m not a gamer or high-end video editing snob, so I don’t see performance issues. All the applications I use are written correctly (hint – follow the fully documented Microsoft programming guidelines folks) and have no compatibility issues. I like the Aero interface.
Maybe the thing is that I’m partial to Windows in the first place. I’ve worked with Windows since v3.0 as a professional IT guy. I’m the guy who has to deploy these operating systems to thousands of computers in enterprise environments. I’m the guy who has to manage systems with this OS on it and keep it up to date on security patches, updates, fixes and such. I’ve seen the arguments everyone has about Vista too many times from Win95 through WinXP. They’re always the same. Yes, compatibility is always the biggest compelling argument that a person can come up with – and there are a huge number of ways to go about correcting these things. Mostly by Microsoft themselves – providing tools to compensate for inadequate coders and program structure decisions.
In all honesty, Windows’ (not just Vista) biggest problem is licensing, rather than anything else. It’s obvious Microsoft needs to keep making money and the traditional way for them is to push an upgraded operating system and office solution. But that is fodder for another post anther day.
I guarantee for the general business and personal user, Vista is better. Yes, it is a change and requires YOU to adapt (a failing of ALL computers STILL at this time in history), but it is much better at day to day tasks than XP.
I know you’ve got an opinion on this. What are you points on why Vista isn’t ready for prime time?
😢
“We are not enemies but friends.”
Live your life.
Completely.
Without fear.
Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy.
Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
Out riding this rainy, wet spring. Got 1,000 miles on the clock with more to come this season. #IMRG #IndianMotorcycle
Watching early seasons of #GoldRush. Fun seeing @GoldrushRick in season 3! Hope his new season is off to a good start!
Oh yes I did! https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRDO9ogSO0/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1kha5yzhjq3ot