Friday, July 25, 2008

The Last Lecture

On my vacation in May, I took the time to read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It was a short, but powerful read. Sadly, I just learned Randy lost his battle with pancreatic cancer this morning. His story is a powerful one. If you haven't seen his lecture on youtube, or read his book, I recommend it. Makes you stop and think about if your life had a time limit.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Speechless. And in awe.

Take the few minutes to watch these. It's worth it.



Friday, July 11, 2008

Thoughts

I subscribe to a lot of blogs and news sites. I read some daily, some weekly, some monthly and some I just peruse as I feel the need.

With a quiet house and time on my hands, I've been going through my blog reader. Here's a few random things that caught my eye...

Rockers

Since I read this blog I'm always hearing amazing stories of rockers who discover the amazing love, power and grace of Jesus Christ. For those people who write off people in the entertainment industry, this is a story you'll want to hear:

Backstage with Poison!

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Yep, I'm obsessed.

I absolutely love to watch the show "So You Think You Can Dance" - especially after it get narrows down. There is something absolutely beautiful about dance, and when performers can make you feel connected and emotionally invested, you know there's something special there. After searching YouTube I have found two of my favorite performances this season. And yes, I have watched them over and over again. And I'll probably continue to watch them over and over again the future to. Hey, don't judge.



The actual dance starts around 2:50 into the video.



Thursday, July 03, 2008

The Other Side

I workout in the mornings before work, and since I don't think my co-workers would appreciate the smell, I utilize the shower at the gym.

A few months ago though, there was a problem.

The shower curtain.

It would "fly" in at you while you were using the shower - and when the stall is small - it gets real annoying real fast. But more importantly, two of the rings of the inside curtain were ripped, causing it to hang partially down and increase the attack on your legs. All of us in the locker room would complain about it to each other, wondering when the gym would fix the problem. Then one day something occurred to me...what if they don't even know it's a problem? How would they even know if no one has bothered to tell them?

That day I scribbled down a quick note in the communication log. The next day there was a new shower curtain. One that you didn't have to constantly ward off while you were trying to rid yourself of the stink and sweat. The gym staff wasn't aware of the problem. They needed someone on the other side of the curtain.

And that got me thinking...we all need people on the other side of the curtain.

In my job I'm constantly trying to put myself "on the other side" - to be a person using our website for the first time, or the 20th time, instead of a person who is a creator of it. I can remember what it was like to be on the other side of that shower curtain, but I'm not there anymore. And I can't go back. I will always have a slightly biased opinion. We constantly strive to improve our website, but we couldn't accomplish it without having people on the other side.

But even in our personal lives we need those people to keep us grounded. To be outside of our situations to call us to the truth we are too close to see for ourselves. Someone to let us know when the curtain is ripped and attacking innocent people.

Do you have people on the other side of the curtain? If not, find someone you can trust to be truthful. Sometimes it hurts to hear what they have to say, but in the end, the balance it brings and the person you become makes it worth it.

No one wants to be that ripped curtain.