Alpha Exploration

When you have to do something, whether for your job or being asked for something by a friend, how do you perceive it?  Is is work?  An inconvenience?  A favor to be later repayed?  Does anyone still give freebies anymore?

In the last decade it seems today’s work ethic has changed so much.  Everything ounce of effort has to be justified, scheduled, and ultimately compensated, assuming it was deemed worthy in the first place, and even then it may not come without balking.

I’ve personally witness people ranting for over an hour about work that would have taken under fifteen minutes to get accomplished if they did it without procrastinating.  Are we really that shallow now?  I have very rarely every gotten satisfaction out of ranting, even when I did not want to do something; I just do not see a benefit from it as it certainly doesn’t help you get the job done quicker.

In giving this some thought, it seems people have grown accustomed to frustration.

I don’t mean people crave frustration, but today’s model almost requires some form of frustration.  We, as a people, take on too much, so we get frustrated we can’t do it all.  Already being overworked in our mind, being asked to do more can be overwhelming.  Some of us do not like the process of delegation or asking for help, so that can cause some frustration, and some of that reluctance can come from knowing how much we don’t like being asked.  Getting even a simple thing accomplished can be a vicious circle.

Alot of the issues come from our own greed and selfishness when it comes to our time.  To us, our time is valuable.  We can easily spend ten minutes of our own time sitting around doing nothing and feel good about it, because it’s what we want to do, however when asked to give five minutes to a cause, well that’s too much, what’s in it for me?  Don’t mention the fact I wasn’t doing anything constructive anyway.

How can this mindset be changed?

When we realize just how little we are giving up of ourselves and our time when we’re asked to do something, I think things could start to change.

So how do we do this?

Documenting our wasted time is probably not the best solution.  Who wants to know just how much time we sit around being worthless.  I suggest documenting the time you are actually being constructive.  You would obviously need to include time spent eating, sleeping, driving and whatnot.  For most people I think it may just come as a shock as to how many hours short of 24 hours they have when only documenting hours of productivity!

I am going to start doing this myself and will post my findings on Twitter. It will definitely be interesting to see what I think I am going to see.

Filed by jclements at 10:23 am under Rants
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As mention in a prior post, I’ve been a fan of Queensryche since their very early days back in the 1980’s with their debut EP.

Besides King Diamond, they have been one of my favorite groups to put out concept albums, they do it well, with 1988’s Operation: Mindcrime being their shining star, often compared and grouped in with such works as The Wall and Tommy.

I personally have seen Queensryche in concert on two occasions, one of which where they opened for Metallica, which still is one of my favorite concerts of all time.

If you were to ask me, starting with 1997’s Here In The Now Frontier and on through Operation: Mindcrime II, they have not been the same. Geoff Tate has always been one of my favorite singers ever, but the music wasn’t the same, and as a fan, it seemed like they didn’t put the feeling and emotion into it that they did when they were younger.

I do not speak for 2007’s Take Cover, as quite frankly, I haven’t heard it.

Fast forward two years to this years American Soldier.  When I heard it was another concept album, this time about war, World War II mostly, veterans, and the like, I admit to being somewhat excited.  I hoped they would deliver, both for who they were as a band, and being one of the few bands who, in my opinion, can deliver a concept album very well.

I was not disappointed.

I had the fortune that my birthday was near its release, and my sister managed to meet the band at a signing and scored me an autographed copy of the CD.

Can I say it’s as good as Operation: Mindcrime?  No.  But it’s damn close.  The special quest vocals, Geoff’s voice, the music and interview pieces, and even the lyrics are reflective of a matured style and production.  The 11th song of the album, Home Again, is one that is now on day two of repeat in my car CD player and just an amazing piece.  Tate admits to not writing about his own views this time around, but about other people’s stories, and it comes through nicely in the new tracks which is quite a change for Tate.  Only peaking in the 25th spot on the Billboard top 100 (for perspective, Operation: Mindcrime only peaked at the 50th spot), this album is still very much worth checking out.

“Welcome to the show!”

Filed by jclements at 3:01 pm under Review
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Most people have heard of Twitter and most likely a vast majority of those have even signed up for it.  For many, the mystique is gone and the account is no longer being used, sitting there to rot like tons of other websites that have been signed up for and long forgotten.  I personally have over 100, and maybe even over 200 disposable addresses for sites I couldn’t tell you how long it’s been since I visited, and like everyone else, I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

It probably took a week before I realized what I had in front of me.

1) Finding resources

As some know, I work as a computer programmer.  Still using a somewhat old language, Delphi, finding competent programmers and toolkits isn’t an easy task.  A quick Twitter search of “delphi programming” revealed all sorts of links, sites, programmers and online resources, even email lists I never knew about.

2) Ways to enjoy your hobbies

We all have hobbies, and more than half of us have hobbies that only us or us and one other person actually participate in.  For instance I have a fascination with railroad trains, mostly the old steam engine ones, but modern ones are cool too.  A quick Twitter search of “train pictures” and you can come across links for test runs of new light rail systems, pictures of motorcoachs, stories of people who ride trains on a daily basis, news of recent derailments and even photo journals of trans-continental train journeys.  It’s an easy way to find people interested in what you are, even if not all of them live near you.

3) Networking

Never before have I found such an easy way to get in contact with people doing what I want to do and willing to share their secrets more than I have with Twitter.  Just a quick search on WeFollow and you turn up with tons of CEO’s, entrepreneurs, bloggers, motivational speakers, everything you need to help get you motivated to get past your funk, out of the job you hate, or better yet to improve the job you already love.

4) Instant updates

The biggest advantage of Twitter, in my opinion, is when you check your timeline, what you are seeing is typically what people are doing/thinking/experiencing right now, all your data is fresh and up to date.  It isn’t like a blog post where someone was raving over a new idea, yet by the time you logged in and got caught up on the site, the idea has been expanded upon or worse, no longer relevant.  There’s only so much time in the day, the most useful information is typically always the most current and that’s the first thing you see, get you to it so you can get on with the rest of your day.

5) Following is free

Some would tell you that the more people that are following you, the better.  However it could be argued the more you follow the better.  Follow anyone and everyone at first, find who has the most interesting and relevant to your lifestyle tweets, then later remove the rest.  It doesn’t require their permission to follow them and for the most part, you definitely won’t be the guy with the highest followers or most followings, so use the service for what it’s capable of.

6) Fellowship

More than once I’ve heard a friend talk about someone else that I have yet to meet.  With the very nature of tweets, you can know get to know someone before you’ve actually met them.  Watching conversations over trending topics is interesting at least, valuable at most.

7) Involvement

I’ve read more than once blog post or article that I’ve really enjoyed and wanted to thank the writer for, however if your like me you hate to post an entire comment with just a “Good post, thanks for writing!” line to it, seems such a waste where an actual useful comment could have gone there.  This sort of thank you post just screams tweet, reply to them and leave your message, 30 minutes later it’s long since scrolled off their screen and no longer taking up space, but you said it.  Also, even the big guns of the industry have a bad day or have plans they look forward to, reading what those are and replying with a simple one line message probably opens more avenues of communication than you’d imagine and makes the whole process more fun.  Getting your name known happens many ways.

All this is above and beyond your own need to tweet, which is another post all-together.

Filed by jclements at 2:42 pm under List
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Since I first started using the internet, and really since self-teaching myself computers back in 1983, I’ve wanted to share what I know.  Real world application has always been of interest to me, not short-lived fads even if they are exciting.

This will still contain alot of personal content, not personal enough that I won’t go public with it, obviously, but will primarily focus on the spreading of ideas, concepts, and new technologies and how to properly utilize them in your own life, and will give examples as to how I use them in my own life.

Such things as spam free inboxes using disposable addresses, how to properly use a search engine to find the best results, what is Twitter and what does it do for me, and other issues that those who don’t spend all of their time researching, may be unfamiliar or uncertain with.

Filed by jclements at 9:43 am under blog
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Me and my wife will be starting a fitness plan soon, as both of us have goals on weight loss and just increasing our overall fitness.

For those interested, you will be able to track my progress when I start on Twitter #jcweightloss.

Interested in joining us?  Check out Testosterone Muscle and Mind And Muscle.

Filed by jclements at 1:23 pm under Fitness, Weight Loss
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How do one goes about knowing oneself?  Is there a twelve step process you can do?  Do you ever really know oneself?  Would you be happy knowing oneself, or disappointed?

For all but a few of us, the battle for knowing oneself has become a harsh lifelong struggle, yet sometimes a life altering one as well.

All of us have to one degree or another the notion that something in their life isn’t “perfect”, something you wish was different, either in how you act, respond, speak, think, or feel about events in your life.  Whether that is that you wish you had the strength to turn down that last piece of fried chicken, the willpower to not skip the gym, the self-discipline to not yell at your children with harsh words, the self-denial that your life isn’t great and it’s not your fault, or any other number of events.

I know from experience, spending too much time thinking about what’s wrong with your life is counterproductive to actually getting it resolved, more than what most people would imagine.  But where do you draw the line?  If you don’t ponder your life’s story, how do the revalations on changing it come to you?  You’ve heard the phrases…when you die, who will actually come to your funeral?; what legacy will you leave behind and will you be proud of it?; what accomplishments did you do with your life?

I think expectations are too high in most people.  Someone who, in their own mind, says ‘If I change this about me, this will occur, and then all will be good.’, so they do said change, said occurence happens, yet not all is good, is bound to have resentment to any further notion of change, or at the very least resentment towards having a different outlook on things.  Yet this resentment remains as a nagging feeling in the back of their head as they do more and more pondering about their oneself as they can’t find peace with themselves and they know this process they are going through is where they will find what fixes the issues they have with themselves and their lives.  In their own mind anyway…

So what’s the answer?  Is there a single question that can be answered in all that?

To me it boils down to a single yet simple concept…confidence.

If you think about what are the real root of most issues we have with ourselves you can narrow down to a few basic issues, all in some way dealing with confidence.

We don’t think we’re capable of change.  We don’t think we’re able to implement change without help or without supervision.  We doubt the ideas in our head will actually work, ’surely someone has a better idea that’ll work, I’ll keep looking’.  We’re afraid to fail.  We don’t think we can come up with an idea, causing us to not even try nor as much as ask for one.  We’re afraid to be judged by our actions.  We’re uncertain of the consequences.  We don’t think we could maintain the change for as long as would be required (some changes are a lifelong change, after all).

Put all that together, see someone else make even a small change successfully, and no wonder you instantly think you are out of their league, that your not as good as them and that you’ll amount to nothing in your own life, that you better move on.  I myself have friends I used to think were so much above me, I was lucky to even be considered a friend of theirs and to know them, as I had no talent to bring to that circle.

Ridiculous…

Everyone can think of one thing they’ve done in their life that they were proud of, that brought a smile to their face and a beat to their heart.  A feeling of accomplishment.  Whether that be volunteer work for a noble cause, giving of one’s time that proved fruitful, making a sacrifice that was not returned but you were knew that before you made it and still did it, or any number of things.  To us, those were shining moments in our lives.  Where did they all go?  Most people don’t have recent ones, just distant memory ones.

If you took out the pride, got rid of the ego boost it gave you, removed the beaming smile, and really thought about what you did most of us would find that a minor change, if not even a mediocre change in the long run.  Volunteer work never stops being needed, praise never stops being needed, people never run out of needs, and you can only do so much.  So what does this dreary news mean?

All things, all occurences of change, all actions that are positive, well…are positive.  A change, no matter how small, is a good thing and worth doing.  Even if the outcome is shortlived, it is worth doing.  As hopefully you showed yourself in the last paragraph, what wound up being a small change in retrospect really made an impact in your life, so why not do it again, do more of it, do things like it, things that will have similar outcomes.  What do you have to lose?

If only it were that easy.  Even when the answer is right in front of our faces and well without our grasp and capability, we sometimes fall flat.  What defines us is how we react to that.

For me personally, I am sure in that my life is not where I want it.  I am confident my life will be where I want it, one day.  I am confident that I am tackling the issues I can change slower than I am capable of doing, and so look forward to accomplishing more with each new day.  I accept that some things that could have been changed by now, aren’t.  But I am confident I will accomplish them one day.  I am sure a positive outlook accomplishes more than a negative outlook with a plan.  I am sure things will change, sometimes at a rate faster than I wanted or expected, but definitely slower too.  I am sure that will be ok.

In the long run…what more do you need than confidence?  The long run ends at death, that you can be confident of.

Filed by jclements at 3:47 pm under Rants
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15 Social Networking Sites for Health & Fitness

“For anyone who is looking to loss weight or improve their fitness levels, there are a number of online social networks that have been created specifically to connect people and help them to meet their goals. Many of the sites share similar features, such as the ability to track your diet and workout, but each social network has its own features and a unique community of users.”

Filed by jclements at 9:49 am under Fitness, Weight Loss
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NPR’s Recommended Summer Books for 2009

Real men read ‘Twilight’: Brad Meltzer admits his love for Stephanie Meyer’s ‘girlie’ vampire series.

lol

Filed by jclements at 3:04 pm under List
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Anyone who’s known me for any period of time before last year, and especially during the 4 to 6 years prior but extending as far back as 17 years ago when I was with my very first girlfriend who at that time wanted to get married where I thought I was too young for it (I was 21 at the time), knows just on the surface everything that was going through my mind back then.  I’ve never been the most open about feelings and sharing, and I hope in the long run this blog helps with that, it puts things out there but without having to be face to face.

I can put on a good false face as to being happy, but as much as I may have had decent times here and there, met some good friends and had good experiences, it’s always been my one single longtime dream that I had a family.  Whether that family was just a wife, or the whole wife and children thing didn’t matter, I of course had a vision of children in my head but also knew that doing so would change so much and I thought maybe too much so it wasn’t a big concern at those times of contemplation.

I’ve had some decent accomplishments, from having my name and face in the paper, Air Force General’s handing me awards and receiving GIS certification from Ferris State University.  Most were bogus political crap, nothing that really gets you anywhere in the long run but at the time sure seems like alot and weren’t without extending a little bit of effort, but let me add not too much; most were easy to get and really didn’t require too much work on my part, despite the “reward”, and so therefore nothing I’m that proud of.

In the early 2000’s I started my last downward spiral I hope to ever have, but boy was it a doozy.  What most people don’t realize is just how far I let things get; my health and weight (I reached an all time high of 304 lbs), my finances (house was at one point in time six months behind and facing foreclosure, and my credit scores are at the bottom of the heap), my drinking (I could easily finish a fifth of Jack Daniels in a weekend if it even last a single night) and for the first time ever, I faced a DWI charge and jailtime (fortunately it was a bogus charge and was dismissed as I was indeed not drunk THAT night ).  When a friend of mine picked me up from the holding cell the next morning, first place we went…was to a bar.  They were not good times to say the least.  No one really knew though, because everyone either was part of the problem (my drinking buddies) or I didn’t feel close enough of comfortable enough sharing my problems.

I’ve never been able to go to my family about issues as quite frankly they make me feel even worse about it with all the nagging and talking down, even if they do “mean well” by it all, it’s not how I get help and definitely not what I respond to.

Fast forward to 2008…

One fateful day (I apologize for not having the memory capacity to remember the exact day) and one Rotting Agam’ar later I started talking with the one woman who would soon be my wife.  I remember distinctly wanting to talk to her, had never spoken to her before though, so it was a step for me as I am usually the shy quiet one that never initiates conversation, however since it was for a Rotting Agam’ar and not “me wanting to talk to her” I felt comfortable doing it.

For the first time in my life, I actually installed (and used) a webcam on my machine, and me and her become good friends quickly.  It soon blossomed into something more, of which every day was something I looked forward to waking up to, as I would get to talk to her again.  Before her I had roughly 5000 minutes of rollover minutes, I finally had to give up my phone when I went 2000 minutes the opposite direction.  Oops.   I didn’t care though, it was well worth it.  I distinctly remember celebrating with a huge glass of champagne the day we “got together”.

I had never before taken a trip on my own, more less drove more than two hours to get anywhere (except maybe a winery), so when I decided it was time to go see her in person, I knew it was special.  After an eleven hour drive, I spent the best and most relaxing five days ever up in Springfield, Missouri, even if due to the weather we stayed inside mostly.

Fast forward to summer of 2008..

What would be the beginning of the completing of my life’s only dream and goal to date, she moved down to Texas to live with me.  Seeing her arrive off the bus was magical.

She’s never not been able to bring a smile to my face and happiness to my heart.

In the winter of December 20, 2008, we were married and thus, she gave me what I’ve spent many hard, trying, and emotionally empty (yet painful) years looking for, and for this…I have no way to repay.

On March 12, 2009, she bore us the most wonderful newborn son, Gabriel.  He definitely has an angel’s kiss on him.

Jessica, you are my life’s love, my one and only.  Your happiness means everything to me.  The future is ahead of us and we have lots of share and experience, and I want every single moment to be with you.  I will always be here for you and will love you always.  Our life together will be an awesome life.

I love you.

Filed by jclements at 3:02 pm under Family
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I’ve been around long enough to be close to forty years old.  In that time I’ve gained many likes and dislikes, and changed my mind about said items as well.

For instance years back I hated Chinese food, and if I was dragged to a Chinese restaurant, I always went with the “safe” route, the lemon chicken plate.  Today however, I love eating Chinese food.

The same goes with music.  I remember my first years listening to rock music (Mercyful Fate was the first rock band I remember ever hearing), finding new bands and changing favorites on an almost yearly basis.  Seems every new band I heard was better than the last.

What happened to those days?

Today I’m lost in a sea of nostalgia, because frankly, it’s all that’s good anymore.

The last time I heard a new band and thought, these guys are actually good was in 1996 with Linkin Park.  This is 2009!  Granted, LP is not the same as they were then, and sure, I can name some new groups from today’s era, and some are actually decent, but I remember the fan following (being said fan myself) of groups back in the day like early Queensryche, Metallica and Def Leppard and how devoted everyone was.  Being very familiar with vinyl records, the first time I saw Queensryche’s debut four song EP carried around at high school by someone else made me rush off to go buy it for myself, and then after I got it home and heard The Lady Wore Black…yeah, that was a day I still haven’t forgotten.

There are no such days like that anymore.

Sometimes I think classic rock lives on simply because those of us that have experienced situations like the above, miss them, and so in a way want to re-live it somehow and experience it in the now.  Sure I remember the first time I saw Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit video and sure it’s a great song, but it’s not a memory I cherish, nor do I think of it anytime I hear the song.  However you will catch me listening to Elvis and reminiscing over the days when I had Elvis and Molly Hatchet on 8 track tapes and loving it.

Maybe we’re more impressionable when we’re younger, and maybe that’s why memories are more vivid and stronger then over now, I don’t know.

I remember days when I was full of excitement over an albums release and would go to the midnight releases just to have it as early as possible.  Today I have very little emotions and wonder if it’s not a carryover effect of just not experiencing anything that’s any good anymore.  My marriage to my wife and the birth of my son aside, I can’t name the last real emotional thing I’ve experienced, where I thought that this was just amazing and where I was inspired, and that’s not just musically.

Years ago I remember leaving a friends house with another friend and hearing what we later found out was Metallica’s Harvester Of Sorrow’s debut playing on the airwaves for that station, which was immediately followed by a concert announcement, and despite that I didn’t hear the beginning of the song, me and my friend were amazed by the song and had to wait till it was over to hear who it was and what song it was.  I grant that I may not be exposed to enough new stuff of today to hear what’s really good, but I do know that when I turn on the radio to a program or station that plays recent hits, I am never awed anymore.

I like The Flaming Lips, I like The Editors, I like Death Cab For Cutie, I like Neutral Milk Hotel and Nickelback and tons of other bands, they are all good bands, decent talent, some good songs, but all in all, so many bands sound so much alike in today’s world, and I realize that maybe that is what sells today (but with the dwindling purchases, not taking into account increased piracy of course, of albums these days), but maybe not, maybe it’s more than that.

Filed by jclements at 4:18 pm under Rants
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