My first day of my senior year of high school started out very strangely. I was riding in my friend's station wagon with him. We stopped for gas. A strange man holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other approached us. He shook our hands. Then he asked us, "Are you ready?"
We looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders. What the heck did this guy want?
"I asked you," he said, "are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" my friend asked.
"If you go out there, on that highway, and a dump truck jumps the median strip and hits you, are you ready?"
"Ready to die!" my friend told him.
He then launched into a religious discussion, asking if we were ready to go to the kingdom of Heaven, etc., etc.
So, without the religious overtones, I ask you the same question asked of me years ago. Are you ready? If you found out you were going to die tomorrow, are you ready? What would you do to "get ready"?
If you could make one change in the world, one change that would make the world a better place, what would it be? How would your suggested change make the world better? Would you make us all hybrid car drivers? Would you do away with poverty? What would you choose?
There's an old saying "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Sometimes I wonder. Some of my deepest pains came from being in love with someone and losing them. Am I really better off for that? I have to wonder...
When I was in high school, personal computers were just starting to take off. I wanted to have a job where I helped people leverage computers to run their business better. Interestingly, today I'm a systems administrator for a fairly large (1200+ employees) company. I help to maintain and protect almost 2000 PCs. That's pretty close to that dream job I envisioned as a kid. Now, my ideal job would probably be "retired millionaire"... but I digress. What would your ideal job be like? What would you do on a day to day basis? How does that job differ from what you do now?
I've always wanted to write a novel, one that becomes popular enough to become a television series or movie. I have no idea what that novel would be about, which is why it has remained a dream. How about you? What is one of your dreams? How might you go about achieving it?
I realize that, on balance, I've had a pretty good life. There hasn't been a lot of pain and loss. Still, I find that it's very hard to let go and move beyond the things that have hurt me... insults hurled at me in high school, unrequited loves, lost friendships, etc. Why is it so hard to let go of pain? Is it, as was said by Captain Kirk in Star Trek V, our pain that makes us who we are? Or is it that we never really get over pain? Discuss...
As I've gotten older, I've wondered about the legacy I may leave behind me. Unless something changes dramatically, I won't leave behind any children of my own (but there will be two step-children). I haven't written any novels or reference books. I haven't painted any pictures, composed any symphonies, or sculpted anything. So I'm not really sure just what, if anything, my legacy will be. How about you? What will your legacy be? What would you like it to be?
Here's a little experiment for your blog... Imagine that you're no longer you, but one of your friends. Then, describe yourself as you think that person sees you. Then, without sharing what you've written, ask some of your friends to describe you to someone else. How does the image you have of yourself match up with their image of you?
Pick a product or service that seems popular, such as the Apple iPhone. Do a bit of research on that "popular" item and tell your readers why you think it shouldn't enjoy the popularity it does. Is it poorly made? Does it not work well? Is it too expensive, too heavy, too ugly, or lacking in some critical feature? What about the product should make it "unpopular"?
If you look at the other male members of my family, then at me, you'd probably conclude that I somehow missed some gene that they all got. My dad and his brothers are all sports fans, hunters, and fishermen. I, on the other hand, could care less about sports, don't hunt, and rarely fish because I don't like to eat fish. One could argue that I'm missing a gene that's otherwise common in my family. How about you? Are you the "black sheep"? Is it someone else in your family? Without being mean, what's different about that person, or you? Do you think it's genetic, or was it brought about by something external (like a bad experience as a child)?
Pick an advertisement that resonates with you. Maybe it's one that annoys you. Maybe you like the ad, but hate the product. Maybe both the ad and the product are stupid. Whatever inspires you about that ad is fine. Now, create an image using a tool like PhotoShop, the GIMP, or just pen on paper, and parody the product or advertisement. Share the parody in your blog. Are others agreeing with you?
Go to your neighborhood library or book store. Select a book that you would like to read and take it home (make sure you check it out or pay for it first!). Before you read anything inside the book, describe what you think about the book. If it's a reference book, what do you hope to learn from it. If it's a work of fiction, how do you think the story might go? Will you enjoy reading it? Will you be inclined to read more by that offer? What drew you to this particular book?
Then, actually read the book and describe the book again. Did you judge the book well, based on its cover? Were you misled by the cover? If so, how? What did you learn from the exercise?
On my blog, back before the release of The DaVinci Code movie, Google was doing a contest involving a number of puzzles. Each day, a new puzzle came out, and you tried to solve it. I decided to post the answers on my blog, and was amazed at all the traffic I got from it. I was getting tens of thousands of hits a day as people came by to check it out. I remember being very proud of those articles and solutions. (I even won one of the minor prizes.) How about you? Are there some posts on your blog that you're particularly proud of, or that seem to bring a lot of traffic to your site? What are they? What makes you proud of them?
One of the blogs I write covers a technology topic. Each January, I like to publish a list of my predictions for the coming year. For example, what technologies or devices might come out, what ones aren't going to make it, how a recently-introduced product will or won't do well, or what might happen with a famous court case in the industry. The nice thing about this blog topic is that you get to revisit in a year for an easy second article. If your predictions tend to be on target, you may develop a following. So, in your fields of interest or expertise, what predictions can you make for the coming year?
I have some verbal habits that annoy me about myself. One of the ones that annoys me most is that I have a habit of calling my step-children "man", as in "Hey man, how are you doing?" or "Thanks, man." They've even poked fun at me for it, and at their mom for adopting the habit from me (I think). I wish I could drop the word out of my regular vocabulary, but it always seems to creep back in. How about you? Is there some word or phrase you use that you wish you could stop using so much? What is it? Where did you pick it up? Do people comment on it? Did you ever get picked on for it? Blog about it.
I find that I tend to carry around a lot of useless regrets. I regret that I didn't say more to my grandfather the last time I saw him alive. I regret that I didn't visit my mother more in the last couple of years before she died. I regret letting a bunch of punks pressure me into insulting a girl I really liked back in high school. I often wonder how things might have turned out if I'd actually done the thing I regret not doing, or not done the thing I did and regretted. I know it would be healthier to let all these regrets go, but that's easier said than done for me. How about you? Is there some regret, something that happened to you, something you did, didn't do, etc., that you wish you could just let go of? What is it? How has holding onto it affected your life?
Life, it seems, is always full of stress and struggle. September 2008 was an especially bad month for me. My mother died of melanoma. Two weeks later, I found out I had papillary carcinoma in my thyroid. I'm still getting my life back in order after that. When life gets so complicated and full of stress, it's easy to get "off center" and lose yourself for a while. I find that meditating, relaxing, and even blogging help me to calm down, relax, recognize what's important to me, and get my life back to a healthy "center" from one or another extreme. When you're all stressed out, how do you get "centered" again?
There are lots of blogs out there on the web. Some of them are pretty lame, while others are pretty amazing. What's your favorite blog? What about that blog keeps you coming back, day after day, to read it? Have you learned anything interesting from it? Do you recommend it to others? What do you wish the blogger did differently?
For most of us, blogging isn't a job. It's something we do because we feel the urge to write, to communicate, and to share something with the world. Similarly, and unfortunately, there's often a job we do to pay the bills that perhaps isn't our "passion" in life. How does your "day job" differ from your passion? Are they the same? What satisfaction do you get from your passion that your day job just doesn't offer?
Is there a product, service, or web site that you particularly like and would recommend to others? Why not take a moment to blog about it. For example, is there a computer program that helps you blog better? Is there a tool in your toolbox that everyone should have? A web site you think everyone should visit? Tell us about it.
Comedian Tim Bedore is featured on the daily Bob and Tom radio show once a week for a feature called "Vague But True" in which Mr. Bedore shares a little essay with the radio audience. One of his essays suggested that there is a conspiracy among the animal kingdom to do away with humans. He cites several recent (real) newspaper articles about animals causing damage to people, businesses, homes, etc. He talks about the roles certain animals might have in the conspiracy (reconnaissance, espionage, surveillance, artillery, etc.). What kind of humorous conspiracy do you see going on around you? Share it with us.
In virtually every field of endeavor, there are little tips and tricks that the insiders know and use regularly that the public isn't aware of. For example, in system administration, we save a lot of time configuring PCs by using "imaging" software. Using this software, we "build" one PC with network settings, software, and so forth the way we want it. We then use the imaging software to create a huge file, or image, of the machine that is stored on a server. When we need to configure another machine just like it, we reverse the process and copy that image onto the new machine. Instead of hours spent installing software, adjusting settings, etc., the process takes about 5 minutes.
In your work or hobby, what secrets can you share with the rest of us that might help us do what you do?
If you've heard a good joke, or there's one you always tell that makes everyone around you laugh, why not share it on your blog? People always enjoy a good laugh... well, almost always.
The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show features a group of Hollywood effects experts who examine common myths scientifically to determine if they're not true (busted), could possibly be true under the right circumstances (plausible), or are true (confirmed). Chances are there's a commonly-held myth you know about and can bust. Why not blog about the myth and explain how you have busted, or could bust, the myth.
