A Sticky Button

I have an alarm clock that has a sticky button.  It is the button that turns on the alarm and sets it to wake me up to either an alarm beep or the radio, or to turn it off completely so I can sleep in on the weekends.  Sometimes I have to hit it a dozen times to respond, and sometimes I hit it once and get the equivalent of two hits sending it past the setting I am looking for.

I know it is time for a new alarm clock, but...

...I am not ready for a new alarm clock.

This one is special.

This one has meaning too me.

This alarm clock does more than one alarm, it can be set for two different alarms.

So what is the big deal you ask.

This is the alarm clock I purchased shortly after I had a need for two different alarms.

This is the alarm clock I purchased shortly after I got married.

It is funny the little things we can look at that have special meaning in our lives.  This just happens to be one of mine.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

forgotten access

I must be getting old.  I forgot my password again.  Or did I.  I think they made me change it and I was still locked into the old one.  Security is so tight I am even protected from myself. 

So I finally got back in and noticed that half a year has gone by since my last entry.  Shame on me.  It isn't like I haven't had any thoughts in that time.  Fact is I have had all kinds of thoughts since then.  Many of those thoughts I wish I had shared if only to leave a trace of a memory.  Many of those thoughts were not to be shared and of course many of those thoughts would have been best left unthought.  (If your spell check highlighted that last entry, just ignore it.  If you can't make up new words every now and then, you aren't really trying.)

So a little visual to so you what kind of day I have occasionally.  I know I am not alone.  I parked at the store, did my business and came back to find a fairly new Mustang had parked behind me.  Remember, the white pickup was there first.  Notice the line.  Notice the clean shine on the Mustang.  Really???  The appearance of my pickup is generally scary enough to free me from the traditional worries of public parking but people still manage to surprise me.



I did look it over and I good see no evidence of actual contact, so climbed in and went my way.  I felt sorry for the owner of the Mustang because eventually their behavior may catch up to them.  I would prefer they change their ways (and sooner rather than later) and all is quickly forgotten.

Along those lines you will notice that there is no inclusion of any thing that might identify who the owner is.  IT ISN'T IMPORTANT.  That and I also hope that when I am the one making those silly mistakes that others will forgive and forget my errors.

I will keep my eyes open if you will.  There are still alot of "people" out there.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

My thought for the day...

...comes from Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

I have had to watch myself constantly and yet I am still prone to make mistakes.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Today I was pondering on the words of a song

The words were penned by Anon, a most creative person that has done much wondrous work.  This creation came from time spent in Boston around 1805.  The words struck accord with me.

Know This, That Every Soul Is Free

Know this, that ev'ry soul is free
To choose his life and what he'll be;
For this eternal truth is giv'n:
That God will force no man to heav'n.

He'll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love, and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.

Freedom and reason make us men;
Take these away, what are we then?
Mere animals, and just as well
The beasts may think of heav'n or hell.

May we no more our pow'rs abuse,
But ways of truth and goodness choose;
Our God is pleased when we improve
His grace and seek his perfect love.


This needs no comment from me but it does deserve a re-read, a slow read, a fast read, a poetic read and a blessed read.  I guess it deserves many reads.  Let the comments not come from me.  Let the comments be your own.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

A Sense of Community

A group of us older gentlemen were discussing various things today when the topic turned to a change in the world which has resulted in a downturn in the sense of community of late.  It seems that many didn't feel the connectedness they once did and missed past times when there were people who related with each other better and looked out for each other.  There were tales of remembrances from youth when they had felt more of a part of the whole.

As the discussion ended and no solutions were presented or explanations given, I was left to ponder on the subject and came to my own insights and conclusions on the topic at hand, but had no one left to share my discoveries with but you my dear reader.

As one that has often found himself an outsider and disconnected for the rest of the world I know how important it is to be included and have that sense of community, and how hard it can be to find sometimes.  The very definition of loneliness is one that stands alone or apart from his community.

So what then can be our definition of community? Above all it seems to be those things we have in common that bind us together.  It can be a shared interest in one thing or a common interest in a group of many things.  It can be items that we have selected from by personnel choices and decisions.  And it can also be found in items that we have had no input in whatsoever.

Through the years I of have seen groups come together naturally and seemingly without effort and I have seen other groups that look like a perfect fit on paper but never quite gel.  I have seen groups of individuals that are so different that they would never be able to relate with each other under normal daily circumstances but somehow manage to come together to create a unity for a common cause that they all felt deeply about.

People can come together from simple little things like a love of cars, or quilting, or football.  They can also come together for groupings defined by location and geography as in this side of the track, river, valley or man made groupings as belonging to this city, county, state, nation.

The funny thing is that depending on what level you place your focus is how inclusive or exclusive your grouping seems to be.  Liking the 2002 red convertible Corvette with automatic transmission and 12 cd changer in the trunk is pretty specific.  The next level may include all 2002 Corvettes, then all C5 Corvettes, then all Corvettes, then all convertibles, then all American made convertibles, then all American made sports cars, then all sports cars, then all cars, then all cars and pick ups, then all planes, trains, and automobiles no matter where they are made or year or ability.

In a political climate that does everything it can to divide us and challenge us to define who we really are, I think it would be much more beneficial to look to those things that we have in common with each other.  After all, at a high enough level, aren't we all God's creation located on the same sphere in the middle of a universe that is greater than we know.  That gives us all something in common and that should make it easier to build and strengthen those bonds that build a sense of community and to follow the commandment to Love One Another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Which brought me to another thought about what makes for a good sense of community.  In each one there is a special person or several such persons that one might term a bonding agent or a catalyst.  They are the ones that extend themselves into the group and ignite the chemical bonding that takes place, adding that special something that makes the word synergy more than just a cliche.  They are the ones that extend the hand of introduction to a stranger, the one that welcomes others into the conversation, the one that cheers on the accomplishments of another, the one that plans the party, the one that takes a good idea and runs with it.  They are the people of action.  A community will thrive by the presence of these people.

Are you one of these people?  Do you have what it takes to overcome your fears and overcome the fears of others to create the actions necessary to generate a sense of community for yourself and those around you?  If you can recognize the need for connectedness in yourself then you can recognize the need in those around you.  Even if you can't picture yourself as the chief catalyst of your group, you can find one who is a catalyst and throw your full support behind them.  That way you can be the catalyst for your catalyst.  And when two or more catalyst get together, well, then you really have something.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Thanksgiving Thursday Thanksgiving

With best of intentions I flubbed up again.  I was going to do a Thanksgiving Thursday on each of the Thursdays in November but this is my first entry and as you can see it isn't the first Thursday in November but I at least got one in this year.  You may have seen my attempt to do a Thanksgiving Thursday each and every Thursday on the blog or Facebook or anywhere just to get in the habit of being grateful for the many blessing I have received through my lifetime and to keep myself mindful of the fact that these gifts to be thankful for are not a fluke, not a rarity and not a mistake.  They are truly a gift from God who has blessed me with the people in my life and the experiences I have been able to enjoy.  He has blessed me with wisdom and knowledge from sages past and present if I would but listen.  He has blessed me with opportunities to enrich my life and those around me.  He has blessed me with opportunity to be an instrument in his hands to bless others.

I don't mean to be ungrateful for these gifts and many others.  Its just that sometimes I get forgetful.  The longer the period of forgetfulness the harder life seems to become.  I am one that needs to remember and needs to be ever mindful of the blessings that surround me.

I have heard of others saying that they start the day with gratitude by thinking of three things they are grateful for and then ending the day by review and finding at least three more.  You can see by the number of entries I have made that list of good habits is still a work in progress.  So I will not commit to one a day entries or even every Thursday in November because chances are good that I will forget...again.

But I did remember today...and that's a good thing.

Thank you.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

I am ready to give up on Twitter

I know someone that was into Twitter.  He was excited about it and for a period of time was addicted to it.  He found some of the comments humorous and involving.  He enjoyed the commentary on politics from national to local and even used it for his own run for a local office as well as raising awareness for local causes.  This went on for awhile but after a few months his interest waned and I believe he only gets on Twitter infrequently to check out the latest current happenings but not with the same level of passion.

But he did have passion at one time and that passion aroused an interest in me to try it out.  The other factor was all the attention that Donald Trump was getting from his use of twitter.  For all the media reporting about what he had said or didn't say on Twitter it made me curious as to whether he actually did say or didn't say that on Twitter and was it real, fake, sound bites, taken out of context, incomplete or just spin.  I wanted to see for myself.

Twitter sounds straight forward enough and is probably the reason we have #hashtags everywhere.  In fact, that is one reason it took me so long to take an interest in Twitter, you have to learn to read code.  Tweets are limited to 140 characters which should make for some short, lively, thoughtful and concise exchanges between a community of tweeters.  The #hashtags are used to link the tweets by subjects and can be a way to explore topics by searching for your favorites.  You can choose to follow an individual or subject/topic and any new post will fill the news feed on your homepage.  So far so good.

Now for the reality.  Not all of your friends are on Twitter and if they are they were only there for a short time before losing interest and don't post regularly anymore nor are they likely to be monitoring what you have posted because they just don't check anymore.  They do Facebook.  Everybody does Facebook.  Facebook does not have 140 character limits.  Why bother with Twitter when it is all on Facebook.  Hard to argue that.

Twitter had a 'right now' feel about it. In other words, you could get on right now and make comments about, or read comments from others about what they were thinking about some event that was taking place right now and there was a good chance that someone somewhere was also out there witnessing that event right now just waiting to share opinions and comments right now.  If you are in the moment and have a need to share with anyone in the moment but are separated by distance and acquaintance then Twitter may work for you, if not you are probably on Facebook which for many can still be an in the moment tool.

It isn't for lack of trying on Twitters part.  From the moment of signup they have tried to connect me into their world by way of multiple e-mails asking about all my interest as well their willingness to link me with all my friends if I just give them access to my e-mail address books.  Sorry Twitter, my respect for my friends trumps your desire to access their e-mail addresses.  But I did take them up on initial suggestions for subjects/topics and Donald Trump.

Speaking of the Donald, least you get the wrong idea, I am not a fan and I am not a hater.  I think he is arrogant, egotistical, not nearly as bright as many would like him to be, and going all the way back to his first book, one that is more about the show than the substance.  Can he get things done?  Like all things political it depends on your definition.  And like all things political if it is something he favors he will take the credit and if it is something he does not favor it is the other guys fault.  So what is new here?  (Replace the name Donald with any politicians name and it will read the same.  Kind of like a horoscope.)

For good measure I also signed up for a couple of other politicians to get a lay of the land.  Most were deleted in short order, but I did leave a couple of the more active current noise makers to get a sense of the state of the union, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.  What I have learned from these three could fill a thimble.  Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.  If I stuck it out long enough it might fill the thimble part way.

What I have learned is that if voters were willing to pay just a little bit more attention to what these people where saying there is no way, shape or form that they would have this kind of power and influence upon this great land and it's people.  Funny what we allow when we aren't paying attention.

So again I ask, what is Twitter?  The one thing that is left when you strip away the value of original intent: advertising.  Twitter advertises like most web sites and I am okay with that.  If however, you pretend that your advertisements are part of the real content then I lose some respect for you.  Also, most advertising is supposedly selected for you based on your interest, tailored if you will, but I have yet to see it work well in practice.  I imagine that after many months of participation they might get lucky and hit a few ads that are relevant but I also imagine that I still wont pay much attention to them.  As long as ads pay the bills and keep the service free to use, I can live with that.

So, since real people that spend time on Twitter are hard to find and phony popular celebrity people are a dime a dozen with mostly one way dialogues, the only other players on Twitter are the businesses that are trying to draw attention to themselves in any way they can.  That also means noise.  What is missing in content is made up for with volume.  I have seen some tweets done 4 or 5 different ways on the same story with a slight variation but with the intent of causing action on the part of the viewer, a ploy of marketing.

Which brings me to my biggest complaint with Twitter, namely that 140 characters is never enough for today's messages and so 98% of the tweets are little more than links to some other page in some other location in some other corner of the world wide web.  That's right, the goal of Twitter is to draw you in so that it can send you away.  As a launching pad or gateway it is no better or worse than what a lot of the internet has become other than you can make better choices for launching down a rabbit hole if you have more to go on than 140 characters and #hashtags.  And with that I have to state that for me Twitter is

No Value Added

and that is the only measuring stick that matters.  Time is too precious to squander on something that delivers so small a return on investment.  It would be interesting to see real statistics on usage, retention, membership new and old and participation rates for Twitter.  I am betting that the stock would not trade so highly if logic and reason prevailed but then if logic and reason prevailed we wouldn't have the Twitter we have today, nor those that make the most noise on it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

I am a podcast addict

I don't even remember when it started it has been so long ago.  I think the forerunner was when I discovered a place you could go to download old time radio programs.  I love those things.  In my search for those I found that there are people that are making the equivalent of radio talk show programs with current news and topics that you can download and listen to at your own time and convenience and best of all for me at your own listening speed.  I have been hooked ever since.

Just to let you know, my favorite app is still the for Android Podcast Addict.  It takes a little time to learn but it is intuitive enough.  It does a pretty good job of finding and managing pods and my favorite part is you can take it too 11.  Okay not quite 11 but 5X if you are so inclined. That is fast even for me.  I can run many things around 3X which means I can get it an hour program in about 20 minutes, just about right for a nice walk.  Except for Tony Robbins who gets excited and talks faster than most or Roy H. Williams whose Monday Morning Memo is so rich and deep I have to slow it down so I can take it all in.  I can set each pod to play at its own best speed and adjust on the fly if I need to.  It occasionally goes fuzzy at those higher speeds when the screen goes to sleep on my old Amazon Fire phone but beyond that one thing it is a solid app.

I am still looking for the best solution for my Apple iPhone.  They have a player but it only goes to 2X which is a step backward for me so right now friends and family look at me funny and are always asking me why do you carry around two phones?

So what is a Pod exactly?  The best way to describe it is a mini radio program though some are starting to delve into video.  The topics are all over the place and there is sure to be something you would be interested in, and it is easy to subscribe to an individual Podcast where you can work your way through all the episodes they have produced or just select individual episodes from whomever based on your favorite subject matters just search on a word and see what comes up.

If you are into lifelong learning there are pods that will teach you just about any subject you can think of.  If there is a passion you have in any area of life, there are others that share that passion and are producing a podcast about it.  If you are into self-development, religion, science, planes, trains and automobiles, politics, business, health, fitness, language, winners and losers, and everything in between you can probably find something that someone has done a show about it.  And if you can't find something then feel free to start producing your own.  Just came back here a let us know about it.  I am loving it.

Many people have gotten their introduction to podcast by word of mouth from friends and many get their first taste from one of the highly popular Pods such as Tim Ferris of four hour work week fame, Freakonomics, or This American Life or one of the NPR productions, such as Paula Poundstone Institute or the Ted Radio Hour though I think I prefer the actual Ted Talks themselves which you can also find.

The production values are better with the bigger budgets but I find the that smaller self produced stuff is every bit as good and often has higher quality content, especially if you are getting burned out on political correctness and people with an agenda.  Don't get me wrong, there is some junk out there...a lot of junk and of course some of it I will listen to anyway like a wreck you can't help but look at but my bar is getting ever higher as I realize that 1. I am not getting any younger and so time is a factor and I want to spend time to the best value added activities possible and 2. It is a big world out there, a really really big world out there.  If what you are listening to now ain't cutting it then go ahead and move on.  There is a good chance that the next thing will be better.  The more you experience, the better able you are to recognize and make the better choice.  (Hint: always make the better choice.)

This was my intro entry.  I plan on adding some other entries later telling you what I have been listening to.  I have some can't miss Pods that I look forward to anxiously.  I already mentioned Roy H Williams and his Monday Morning Memo.  I have been following him over 10 years now.  Others I have started at episode one and binge listened till I was current, or at least well on my way.

More to come.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

I heard this...

...the other day and found it rather profound.
       
           "A dog never barks at a parked car."

At first hearing it caught my attention and then I began to ponder upon it.

I have been barked at by many a dog in my days.  I have seen dogs bark at leaves, bark at the moon, bark at other dogs, and cats.  I have seen dogs bark at the wind, and unseen forces on the other side of fences.  I have seen dogs bark at basically anything that moves and some things that didn't but that they thought did (get of the couch and take your dog for a walk).  I have seen dogs bark for no other reason than that they have heard another dog barking.  However I can't say that I have ever seen a dog bark at a parked car.

I have been chased by dogs, some with intent to do me harm and some for play.  I have been chased on foot, on bike and on motorcycle and car.  I have never enjoyed it much when being the chasee, but the chaser seemed to be finding some satisfaction from it even if there was little chance of capturing the prey.  And if the dog caught the car what would it do with it?

I have heard that we have a tendency to notice motion, that our eye is attracted to it.  I am sure someone will be more than willing to say it is a link to our hunter/gatherer forebears that was a survival instinct that was handed down from the days of living in caves.  Personally I think it is handy for noticing when someone loses a ball that is coming into the street and braking or swerving before the little someone that lost that ball heads out to retrieve it.

Regardless of the source or reason, the ability to notice movement is swiftly followed by the decision to act on it...or not.  The fact that movement or action is more likely to be followed up with more movement and action is kind of a way of life.  That is why they call it reaction.  It is easier to react to something that is already in action.  The term 'critical mass' is basically a moment when the amount of reaction goes 'viral' and then everyone is doing it.

Everyone is doing it.  How often do we read a book, see a movie or tv show, vote for a candidate or proposition, recycle, eat kale, run a marathon, park in the wrong spot, criticize a group, boycott a store, protest a cause just because 'everyone is doing it'?

I will freely admit that I have in the past and in the present and in the future done things based on the recommendations of others, but with age and experience I have also not done things based on the recommendations of others.  I still prefer to choose my own walk.

Since the parked car does not react to the dog barking at it, the dog losses interest and quits barking at parked cars, but if the car is moving it must of course be reacting to the dog barking at it.  And if the dog is only barking at moving cars and ignoring the parked ones, it is only in reaction mode even if it things it is the one causing the movement.  In order to get the dog to bark, motion must be added to the equation.

Therefore is it better to be the dog that thinks he is driving the reaction of the car by barking and chasing it or to be the chasee that is causing the initial motion that attracts the dog that gives rise to the chase in the first place?

Another saying goes, 'If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes', but even if you are the lead dog that is leading the 'chase' the view may be different but it also never changes.  At least until you are winded and you can return to the home-front knowing all is safe and well again.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Good idea 1 June 2017

I saw a good idea today, I just wanted to share.

I stopped at the local just opened Maverick store and went in to use the facilities and when it was time to clean up I came upon the above. Someone had the bright idea to combine in one place, the soap dispenser, the sink, and the hand dryer in the same spot. Brilliant.

The last time I got impressed with restroom fixtures was the first time I came across the hand blower driers that actually blew air with real gusto. I even remember the name of the brand as Excel as in Excelerator, it impressed me that much. The time before that was in the 70's when I encountered my first sink that would turn on by itself using a sensor to know when your hands were under the faucet. Way cool stuff back then.

I told you I can appreciate the little things. This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Someone moved my cheese again

You may have read the book "Who moved my cheese" and wondered if there was anything to it.  Well, someone moved my cheese again.  Sometimes the cheese is a little thing, but sometimes that is all I need.

My current job has me located in the middle of a building, in a traditional non-descript cubicle where the only windows you can see are the ones on your computer screen.  But there was a window in the mail room and I could visit it on occasion and view the parking lots below.  I could also park in that parking lot that was so conveniently located next to my building.

But then someone got a bright idea and decided to build a new building on top of my parking lot and make us park two blocks away if we are lucky enough to find a spot. On top of that the wonderful view of the outside world I had from the mail room is now filled up with the view of a very ordinary and dreary looking new building.

It has been interesting to see it being built little by little but not enough to overcome the fact that it is still stealing my view as well as my parking spot.

So what I have found is that not all cheese comes in one big block. Sometimes it is many little bits of cheese, crumbs if you will, that add up to a worthwhile portion of daily life sustaining cheese. I can appreciate the small things. If done right, the small things can be enough, but how many of the small things can you take away before there is not enough?

Just like in the book, I have to start looking for new sources of cheese to replace that which is no longer there.  It is a good thing that I can appreciate the small cheeses. I would have a much harder time trying to replace a big block of cheese in one chunk.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

OPINIONS are like...

...noses, everybody has one.

Opinions are a great place for starting conversations.

What would you do...?  What do you think about...?  What color would you choose for...?  If you had to do...?  What would you say if...?  How would you arrange...?  Would you invite...?

These are the kinds of questions that get asked daily between friends, families, neighbors, co-workers, and total strangers.  We both ask them and we are asked them.

And what do we do with the answers?  Depends; they are, after all, only opinions.  How do you value an opinion?  Some come freely asked for or not.   Some are given without a thought and some are only given grudgingly as if an opinion is too precious to share.  Sometimes when you get your two cents worth, that is exactly what it is worth, with or without inflation.

And after all, the value of an opinion is only as valid as the source of that opinion and the level of expertise, knowledge, and trustworthiness of the person providing the opinion.  It is up do us to decide whether to act on an opinion or not.

And why do we seek opinions in the first place.  Is it to expand our list of options and possibilities, or discover insights for solving a problem?  Are we looking for a fresh perspective with a new set of eyes or are we really looking for supporting confirmation for a decision already made?

When we seek answers, do we look for advice, direction and guidance or are we really just looking for opinions?  Can we tell the difference?

When you kneel before the Lord in prayer, do you ask for his guidance?  Do you value his answers as such, or do you treat his word as an opinion?  Your actions and the results you will see will tell the story.  It is just a matter of what you want when you are truthful with yourself.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Very few people worthy of real admiration

There are very few people out there that are individuals of great character.  People that have one or two traits that are admirable and worthy of emulation.  People that although not perfect are striving towards being the best they can be.

One of the individuals that I have admired through the years is Richard Branson.  If you have not heard this name, he is the force behind the Virgin brands covering everything from music to space travel and a lot of things in between.  He is a man that knows how to enjoy life.

With his enjoyment of life comes stories of life experiences that don't always work out the way he expected.  One of these stories is about a bicycle training ride for an upcoming event which you can read about in his blog post you can find at this link and it comes with some pretty amazing pictures.

https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/my-life-flashed-my-eyes

This is someone that I would like to spend a day with sometime.  We have a lot of the same interest.  We were at the same event one afternoon but the majority of the audience was looking his way and not mine.  That is understandable.  It was at Oshkosh and he was there to show of White Knight Two the plane that would lift and launch SpaceShip Two into space.  I am having trouble finding my photos but when I do I will add them.  Until then I will have to borrow one from http://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/actualites/astronautique-tourisme-spatial-whiteknighttwo-vole-20052/

It is kinda nice to have someone in the public limelight that you can still look up to, and in his case it is often done quite literally.  This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

#thanksgivingthursday 24 November 2016

It's #thanksgivingthursday again and today it is all about the family. I am so thankful to have the family that I have. And that goes for all of them. Parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, son, daughter, grand-kids, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, all of which doubled when I got married and expanded my family with in-laws.  I also can't forget all the ancestors that came before.  They are the foundation for which we have the families of today.

Families can have their moments and most of them are wonderful and memorable. Thanks to all mine that have helped build a world of awesome.  May my family continue to grow and prosper in the coming years and I wish the same for you.  This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

A new start...#thanksgivingthursday

I know Thanksgiving happens to fall on a Thursday this year but I think it is a coincidence as I had a great idea, especially what with all that is going on all around us. I am going to start my own #thanksgivingthursday and you can join in if you'd like. Every Thursday I will try to make an entry publicly, on my blog or facebook or on a sticky note, as a show of gratitude for something/anything I am thankful for. It can be big or small. It just needs to be something meaningful to me, meant for me, and without consideration of what others might think. (Insert your name in place of 'me' if you wish to try this yourself.)

So to kick things off, I must start with one of, if not the most important things in my life that I am grateful for and that is my wonderful wife. It took me a long time to find her and the powers of heaven to bring it all together but I am so glad it happened. She is the one that adds meaning to life, she is my love.

See you next Thursday.  This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Share a picture 28 Oct 2016

Today was a day without pressing needs other than to get out and enjoy.  I need to have one of these every so often.  Sometimes I let it go too long before I allow myself the opportunity to hit my reset button.  If it goes too long it starts to wear on me and I am not at my best.  When this happens, I know that it doesn't just affect me but it affects those around me and those I love.  My loved ones deserve to have me at my best so I try to remain mindful and take the time to do as Stephen R Covey says and 'sharpen the saw'.

Part of that ritual for me is to take the time to smell the roses as it were, (or the next best thing if there are no roses around).  If I put a little effort into it I can take much pleasure in some of the simple things in life.  Today it was a flower that caught my eye on this overcast day doing its best to shine before the days turn completely to winter and hide its beauty under a layer of snow.

This did the trick and for the rest of the day there was beauty all around.  It isn't about knowing where to look, it is just a matter of looking.  If I would just bother to remember to do a little looking every day, I am pretty sure it wouldn't always feel like it has been a long time in between, mostly because it wouldn't be.

See the beauty around you.  This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

“Every master was once a disaster” - David T.S. Wood

I am a fan of David T.S. Wood.  He has a few different podcast out there and I have enjoyed ever one I have listened to.  He has an interesting back story for his life and has overcome many obstacles that have been the excuses of other lesser men.  He has worked in the network marketing field and become a motivational speaker and trainer of some renown.  He is worth looking up.

The above quote is a simple one that when I first heard it I lightly past over it without fully appreciating its genius.  I have reflected on it a lot since that time.

If I can suggest one thing to anyone that has been struggling with finding and defining their place in the world it is that "Every master was once a disaster".

Know that where you are now is not where you will be tomorrow just as it is not where you were yesterday.

Realize that anyone that is at the top of their field did not start out there.  No one.

At birth all start with a clean slate.  Any skill, knowledge, talent had to be earned.

Granted some are born into situations that provide easier paths or more apparent opportunities.  Some have life handed to them on a platter.  Some are given honorary degrees and noble prizes (sp) for unrelated causes but that is not the way of the master.  The master is not the master because of what others say or think.  The master just is.

There is a path the master must take and the point that it starts from is the point where the master was once a disaster.  The master found their path and then followed it through with whatever it took to become the master they were meant to be.

And so can you.  Find your path.  Set your goal.  Make the commitment.  Let nothing stand in your way.  Do what it takes.  Become the master you wish to be.  Start today.  Continue today.  Work forward today.  You have the same right as any other to become the master you want to be.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Why I don't have bumper stickers on my car

When I was young I thought bumper stickers were cool.  I would collect them from anyone handing them out.  I wouldn't actually put them on the family car, Dad wouldn't allow that, and later I wouldn't put them on my car either.

You see, I learned at a young age that things change over time and not always for the better.

One of the easiest to get stickers was for the local radio stations, but guess what.  That's right, the radio stations are the first ones to change.  Not just ownership but format.  My saddest day was when the hottest rock and roll station became a country western format. Ugh.

Radio stations always seem to be changing but not all.  Some have found a formula that works and they stick with it just tweaking some minor things but staying true to the same old simple format.  They will never be the latest fade or at the top of the listings but they are solid, dependable and somewhere near the top of the listings.

Restaurants also change and when they do it is seldom a good thing.  'Now under new management' the banner screams.  You ask yourself why, did it need new management, what was wrong with the old one, what will new management do that the old one did not, is this going to be worth a try or should I wait a week and see if they are still open?

I like it if a business is making a change not just for the sake of making a change but because it is trying to do something better.  If it isn't making it better, then don't bother.  If the formula is right but it is no longer working then something has changed and not for the better.  What is it about the formula that you are no longer doing right?  If you have a solid group of type A customer then why on earth would you risk alienating them just to attract a faddish type B customer.  Instead continue to serve your type A customer to the best of your ability and if you must, start a new business to try and serve the type B customer.  That sounds more like win win to me.

But that doesn't happen, and businesses change, radio stations change, quality changes, service changes, very, very few things remain the same.  So a recommendation you or I might give today may not be the same as one offered tomorrow.  In fact you might do a complete 180.  And bumper stickers are hard to remove.  (I remember reading a bumper sticker once that said 'vote for Clinton' and in smaller print at the bottom it said 'easily removed with gasoline'.)

Do you wish you hadn't put a bumper sticker on your car?  Leave a comment and share your favorite.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Too many sites, or is one too many

Last time I talked about spreading yourself too thin by trying to make a presence in every site out there on the web.  The other side of that is belonging to all the sites you possible can and then staying connected or current with all of them even if you are not a regular contributor.

I know some that have their phones constantly monitor their Twitter or Facebook account and are constantly checking it throughout the day to see what the latest is.  I on the other hand have wondered how much of my Facebook post got removed between now and the last time I was in even if I set the sort by earliest and not relevance order.  Lately it only lets me scroll so far and it still doesn't know me well enough to figure what is relevant to me.

And I think that the term relevance is the key.  People will spend time where they find relevance or at least relevance for them.  The other will get left behind.  So even if a site has 800 million members, it is how many, how often, and for how long that matter and those are the numbers we don't get to see very much of.

Another interesting statistic I saw was for a celebrity that had over a million followers but didn't actually follow anyone.  I won't name names (mostly because I can't, which tells you how truly famous they are/were) but that seems silly to me.  A social media site is designed to be social which would indicate some form a social interaction between real live people.  Anything else is a one way street that then places the responsibility on the provider to provide something of value even if it is merely entertainment.

If they can be entertaining then I can accept that.  I would relish it in fact.  I would settle for interesting, amusing, thought provoking, educational and informational.  I have been exposed to quite a lot so my standards are getting pretty high.  Well okay, not that high but with so much to choose from it is getting harder and harder to make my cut.  And with my time being more and more limited I have to make cuts.

And so should you.  If you find yourself missing out on things because you are too busy getting in on things that aren't really the kind of things that are your things but are someone else's things then you need to be cutting out a few things too.

If the choices are good, better, best, choose best every time.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Just got caught up with checking my email...

...and boy are my eyes tired.

I had let things go a little.  Actually a lot.  It took between 3 and 4 hours to get caught up over the course of two nights.  Why, I asked myself, and there must be a better way.

I like the thoughts Tim Ferriss has on how to handle e-mail in his book 'The Four Hour Work Week'.  He mentions limiting the checking of e-mail to twice a day.  Let others know so that they know not to expect an immediate response.  That way he is not pulled away from whatever he is doing every time the little notification dings saying you have something new in your inbox.  This can work well in some situations depending on your work, your interaction with others, and your scheduling.  It can also work in matters other than e-mail.

Dividing work and personal though can create a whole different set of rules to work by.

It was my personal e-mail accounts that I had let slip to the point that many items had expired or were no longer valid while some of them were follow ups or should I say predecessors to later conversations.  OOPS.

I have studied what others have done and I have some good habits of my own so I really need to focus or rather reapply those lessons I already have in hand.  The rules for old postal physical e-mail can apply here.

1.  Is it junk?  Toss it. -- Most e-mail programs have pretty good spam filters but some still slips through.  It is a good first line of defense though and we should rely on it more.  I still look at the junk folder just to make sure nothing good was sorted there by mistake.  It very seldom is.  I could probably just delete it blindly and be none the worse for wear but I still look.  Maybe I will quit that habit and just clear the bin.

For those things that make it through, if it is junk and you can tell right away then toss it.  We have all seen more than our share of junk in our lifetimes.  It is not that hard to identify.  'But maybe this one is different' I say to myself.  Wrong.  It is junk.  Do not get a case of invalid curiosity.  Do not get attached.  Do not place value on it that isn't there.  Just let it go, quickly, quietly, efficiently.

This also goes for all those little e-mails from companies we have signed up for with the hope of having an honest to goodness too good to pass up one time offer that really qualifies for a bargain.  I get a lot of these and to be honest with myself it is just so much wishful thinking.  If over the past year I have not received an offer that had me act on it or at least wish I could have at the time, then they are no longer worthy to send me e-mail and it is time to unsubscribe.  You are junk to me now.

2.  Does it require action now?  -- Yes.  All interruptions require action now, if not, they would have waited until they were not an interruption.  Question is, does the action required need to be done now or can it be done later?  How much time will it take, how important is it, how does it align with my priorities; the continual weighing of effort and importance.

If you have taken any time management courses there is always someway of ranking work and personal effort.  Whether categories of A, B, C or four quadrants of important, unimportant, urgent, and un-urgent, or some variation, it comes down to what you want, but you must decide.

2a.  In a work situation that requires you to be available real time, then my suggestion is to quickly decide if this is something I must respond to now (like a note from a boss) then by all means respond now.  If the priority exceeds what you are working on at the present time then your workload has effectively been re-prioritized and you need to respond now.  Otherwise, add it to your to do list in properly prioritized order and get back to what you where doing.  Work your list in most important to least and as long as there is not a specific deadline for it's accomplishment or if it is further out than today, then first priorities first.

2b.  For personal situations I will do it differently.  Since I am at my designated time for checking e-mail I will sometimes use available time and effort required as the first priority.  Since I have already delayed checking my inbox until I was ready to deal with it then my priority at the moment is working the inbox.  If an e-mail takes very little time to view and if needed respond then that is what I will do.  As quickly as possible read the offer, notice the event announcement, take note of the news, and move one.  If it is an e-mail from someone I know, I will take the time to view and respond as required.  If the e-mail looks like it will take a longer amount of time to read, or act upon then I will decide if it is something that interest me enough to want to take the time (I because I have such a curiosity factor at play it usually always does) to delve into the e-mail, but if I just don't have the time to devote to it now then I will set it aside for later and use other time when available to spend on these items.

That is pretty much it.  My problem arouse from when twice a day became twice a month because it had been a very busy month.  Then it becomes a catch up problem instead of a keep up problem.
As my Dad used to tell me, 'If you would just do some yard work 30 minutes at a time a couple of times a week your yard wouldn't look like that'.  Also I wouldn't hate yard work so much because I wouldn't get stuck spending an entire day off just trying to keep the city from giving me a ticket.  Some cities are just like that.

But the same principle applies.  If I spend a little time every so often and not letting it become a big catch up project, then taking care of business is not an issue.  It is probably a good thing I don't get a lot of comments on this blog.  I could take way too long to respond and you would think I didn't care when in reality I was just off checking my e-mail.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.