Audiences and Taking!

Seth Godin

I love when other blogs discuss things that I have been thinking about recently.  Seth Godin hit on two of my thoughts today.  He blogged about blogging audiences and whether he is blogging to the “first-timer” or the “regular.”  Go check it out!

His second blog discussed how too often we expect things to be “given” rather than us taking initiative to “take.” I find this to be especially true in school settings.  Often, students expect teachers to “give” the information rather than students “taking” and going after the best they can get.  Taking responsibility and initiative rather than waiting for a boss or teacher to give these things.

I want to be a “taker”!  I want to strive to do more, serve more, learn more, and not be complacent in life!  For sure, there are times to wait and there are times to go.  I just don’t want to be immobilized by an assumption that people are obligated to “give” me things and that I need to wait for them to before pursuing and striving to “take.”

I Love “My” Graduates!!

I am realizing that one of the big parts of my job is getting to know “my” graduates and being able to help them along the way. I love solving problems and working things out for them. Being able to inform them of policies that work in their favor or make their lives less stressful makes me happy.

Last Thursday, I was able to inform one of the graduates that she did not have to rush to get her classes in due to a certain policy. She was so relieved and it truly sounded like that took a big load off of her shoulders. Having just graduated in December, I know how busy and stressful the last semester of college can get. From finding housing, a job, dealing with change and just finishing school work, life gets busy! Anyway, to finish the story…the girl I was able to help was SO sweet and made a point to stop in the office to drop off candy for me to say thank-you for all my help. This totally made my day and reminded me how even these little things can make a big difference. She took the time out of her schedule to get the candy and bring it to me. A sacrifice, but totally realistic.

Another graduate added on the end of an e-mail to me, “I think you just may be my favorite person here!” Again, this did not take that much time to add on, but it’s that little extra that makes a difference. I want to make more sacrifices like this in my life so that I can bring joy and show thanksgiving to other people who come into my life. I want to take the time to get to know “my” graduates as much as I can so that I can help serve them better and show them that I do care if they graduate or not and if their lives are stressful. I want to help in any and every way I can.

How about you? Any fun stories like this? Or how have you sacrificed to “make someone’s day”?

Okay…

I have too many fun things to write about and I’ve missed blogging so I figure I’ll continue!  I might try to make the blog have more of a single purpose or be more thematic with the blogs.  We’ll see what happens.  I have a wealth of blogging topics and stories so get ready for a plethora of blogs coming on Monday and throughout next week.  Write a comment if you have anything you want me to write on or just for fun.  I do enjoy feedback and thanks for those who commented on the last two blogs!  Hope you’re all enjoying the GORGEOUS weather today before the snow tomorrow… p.s. I edited the last blog for clarification in case you’re interested! 

Pondering…

Pros

1. I like blogging
2. I like writing and expressing myself through words.
3. I love having a written record of events, thoughts and random things even if I only look back on it once or never do.
4. I enjoy seeing how many people visit my blog and sometimes leave comments
5. I hope that my words sometimes encourage, provide hope, invoke thinking, provide insight, are “real” and relatable to the people that read my blog
   • I like reading some blogs myself and I have been impacted by their words–even if I’m only a “lurker” and don’t always comment

Cons

1. I don’t know my audience
   • I don’t know how to engage authentic, open discussion and comments without knowing my audience
2. I’m not sure if blogging is a wise use of my time
3. Sometimes I look at the “stats” too often or want more comments…then I wonder why am I blogging.
   • EDIT: I realized that these two thoughts were not supposed to really flow together.  I meant this more of a “I don’t want to blog for the stats.  I want to blog for other reasons.  I want to have reasons for why I am blogging.” I did NOT intend it to come across as “If I don’t get high enough stats then why am I even blogging.”  Not sure if this is any clearer, but oh well.
4. I don’t really have a “purpose” to blog or a theme
   • The closest I have to a purpose is the hope that someone, somewhere might be positively affected by my words
5. I see value in the personal, honest posts yet I don’t want my blog to be a place to “vent” or “gossip” or anything related
6. I fear that I may have hurt or will hurt others who read my blog with my words–I don’t want to have a hidden agenda or use this space in an unkind way

Time?

Time to quit blogging….? I’ll let you know…I’m pondering

I like big books I cannot lie.

Mark Driscoll is hilarious.  I could not stop laughing on my drive home when I was listening to his podcasts.  Who would think that the subject of spiritual gifts could be so funny?!  I sure wasn’t expecting to be driving alone at night laughing my head off.  From previous podcasts, I know he uses a lot of humor, but I was still surprised at how funny he made the topic while keeping it relevant and important.  I’m sure part of why I found the comments so funny is because I see myself and others as embodying the characteristics.

For example, he talked about the gift of knowledge and some characteristics of those who have this gift.  Granted, he did touch earlier in the podcast about the difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents and abilities, but I’ll refrain from going into further depth on that subject (listen to the podcast!).  First off, he indicated that this is one of his primary gifts, which also helped the humor.

Definition: “the ability to research, remember and make effective use of a variety of information on a number of diverse subjects”

Evidence:

1. You are an information freak.
2. You can’t wait for the amazon.com guy to show up
3. If you get a book written by a dead guy, you dance a jig
4. If you get a book out of print, you immediately run around to anyone in the vicinity showing them the “out of print” book so they too can stand in awe
5. “I don’t even believe in the rapture, but if it does happen I’m going to grab my books and take them with me”
6. You love footnotes and appendixes
7. You like big books and cannot lie.
8. What do you do on your day off? Study.
9. You love to learn and are not content with surface level knowledge on a topic
10. After reading a book, you think: “I know there are other perspectives….I need to get more books to look at all the perspectives.  I’m going to look at all of them just because I can.”
11. You get frustrated when you hear bad teaching from someone who hasn’t done their homework— example: that’s not what the greek text says
12. You are compelled to do long hours of research so that others can benefit
13. You love when people ask questions and are excited to share your insight
14. You don’t like to be more than arms length away from a book. i.e. You keep books in your car, room, bag, backpack, satchel…basically everywhere
15. Reading and knowledge simply make you happy.

Also, Mark Driscoll described his library. Man, I was drooling… I can’t wait to have a house and a library!!  He explained how he has a 13 foot desk like the Starship Enterprise and is surrounded by books.  The books of course are cataloged in the same way as the Library of Congress and he can search from his computer by date, subject, time, author, ect. Finally, the reminder came that the whole point of study is Jesus.  Driscoll called himself a “google for Christ.”  Zach Hubert used this gift to create (in his spare time!) a whole website to “help make the Greek New Testament more accessible to the beginning Greek student, the Greek scholar, or to anyone who desires to experience the Bible in its original form.”

In terms of text, Driscoll used 1 Corinthians 12:8 and also suggested doing a character study on Solomon, Timothy and Ezra if you are interested in the gift of knowledge.

*Podcast on iTunes: Spiritual Gifts, Part 1

*Zach Hubert’s website= The Resurgence Greek Project

Waterfalls to Blue Doors

After reading The Fountainhead, my appreciation for architecture and architects has increased immensely. I have always loved looking for unique little aspects inside and outside buildings. For example, I can tell you that in Benson Great Hall one of the catwalks only requires one suspension wire whereas the others utilize two. These quirks amuse and intrigue me.

Concerning churches, stained glass windows, spiral staircases, murals on the walls, and gorgeous ceilings get me every time! They’re the next best thing to being outside. Inside, I tend to look up or around a lot when I am singing so I appreciate interesting surroundings.

In general for decorating and architecture, I love fun doors (colored or interesting designs), odd shaped rooms (round, angled, anything), bright colors, that cozy close feeling, comfy furniture, fun lighting, lots of clocks (different sizes), high ceilings for the big rooms, secret pathways, gardens and rooms, personal balconies, rooms conducive for for entertaining, breakfast nooks (booths!), kitchens with hanging pots, painted chairs, overlooks, towers, flowers, blue glass, pottery, paintings, rugs, bookshelves, waterfalls and ponds in the backyard, unique bathtubs (claw-foot, old-fashioned, modern, round), round windows, bay windows, skylights, and well let’s be honest the list could go on for a long time!  Let’s be honest, my house is going to have an untraditional, unique and random style

 

To end, here’s a little something that combines churches and spectacular architecture for you:

Spectacular Cathedrals and Churches

Oh my goodness…

For some reason, I have had the funniest moments driving in the past few weeks.  I blogged about the changing in the car incident…  At least I think these moments bring a little bit of joy to the other drivers especially when they see me laughing at myself.  Anyway, on to the story.  This morning I had the glorious pleasure of sleeping in because I had to stay late at work for a staff meeting yesterday.  I didn’t have to be at work until 9:30am!!  I left my house at 9, got gas and still got to work by 9:30.   Impressive if I do say so myself   I took the 280 to 94 way because traffic of course was wonderfully light.  When I get on 94, I have to move over 4 lanes to exit on the right.  So, I start moving over –mind you, I’m ridiculously careful about changing lanes– and I see this other car moving over from the opposite side.  I proceed to freak out thinking that he’s trying to pull a two lane switch and go into my lane as well.  He notices and I notice and then we’re both laughing really hard because he totally was thinking I was going to do the same thing to him!  We proceed to laugh for the next few exits and play the awkward “is he/she looking at me” game.  Needless to say, I like to think this little encounter started his day off a bit better than if he hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing me get really scared.

p.s. I was listening/singing to “Hiding Behind a Smile” by Matt Wertz at the time

Pumped!

The temperature outside is 48!  I’m going running!  Even though I surprisingly enjoyed running in the snow (the air was warm and the snow was pretty) on Monday…I’m thinking I’m going to LOVE running today. So here goes nothing

 

Inside Out Forehand…Here I come!

I went to the last Gopher basketball game of the season tonight.  The game started out with some exciting 3-point shots and really made me miss competitive sports.  Oddly enough, I’m older than most of the people on the team–except for the few seniors.  Though, definitely shorter!   I definitely got that twinge of “this is the last game of some of their college careers…” feeling. Oh, the joys of endings and beginnings.

I am SO ready for spring and summer so that I can play outside.  From running to tennis to golf to rollerblading to kayaking to everything else, I can’t wait!  Especially after trudging through snow this morning in heels at 7am to bring out the garbage. Not fun at all.  Such is life.  Sometimes we have to suck it up and trudge through the snow and hard times to get to the feeling of “amazingness” that comes from hitting that inside out forehand or the 3-pointer to win the game.