Unbelievably busy
Well, I haven’t gotten around to doing anything at all on my new combined blog in the past week or so. Part of the problem is the new job and the tremendous workload as I transition out of the old and squeeze into the new. Another part is the two courses I’m taking for my masters program. (That was a huge mistake: two courses plus a full-time demanding job plus a family plus some friends equals absolutely no time for numero uno.) I’m looking forward to December, because on December 1 I will have (God willing) completely all my papers and assignments for my courses, and I’ll be able to slow down a bit. I just submitted my last assignment for ETEC 522 - a education venture capital course - last night at midnight … and I have one last paper due for my ETEC 511.
It’s a 3000-word paper, though, so it’s not a minor project. Such is life: intentional imbalance for short periods of time to accomplish set goals. But I hope to regain some semblance of balance soon!
On being interesting
Russell Davies talks about how to be interesting:
While I was at the U of O I kept going on about how the core skill of any future creative business person will be ‘being interesting’. People will employ and want to work with (and want to be with) interesting people.
And since I’d spent quite a lot of time telling them all the things they should stop doing I’d thought I’d try and teach something useful. Since I don’t actually know anything useful I had to make something up. Which is below. It takes about 10 minutes to teach but it’ll take a lifetime for people to work out if it works or not, and by then I’ll be long gone. Ha!
A quick summary: first, be interested, and share. Then …
- Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
- Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
- Keep a scrapbook
- Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before
- Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
- Collect something
- Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
- Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it
- Make something
- Read
The only caveat I’d have to this list is that if I had to do them all, I’d be so busy being interesting that I’d have no time for anything else.
So I’ll take the list in moderation. But it is a great list.
Global gunk
Sickening story in the NY Times on hazardous waste disposal in the new millenium:
It came from a Greek-owned tanker flying a Panamanian flag and leased by the London branch of a Swiss trading corporation whose fiscal headquarters are in the Netherlands.
This is getting to be a very complicated world.
Tags: NY times, hazardous waste, globalization, john koetsier
Jackie deJonge
Jackie deJonge is the wife of Hendrik, a friend and colleague of mine.
Right now she, Hendrik, and their 5 kids are going through a very tough time - just as they were about to move to Australia, she was diagnosed with a very severe form of cancer in her left arm. She’s recently gone through multiple rounds of tests and surgery, and may still require radiation and/or chemotherapy.
The family has set up a blog, which they’re updating with more information as they get it.
Our family’s prayers and thoughts are with them!
Twinkie
Had my first Twinkie today. In 34 years of life.
The guys in the Art Prep department of my company forced me too. Or, more accurately, Dave Mazer forced me to.
Yuck. Fake. Gross. Twinkies are one unhealthy food I won’t have any trouble resisting. Unlike chips, hamburgers, chocolate, etc.
Well, at least there’s one.
Tags: twinkies, health, food, yuck, john koetsier
Waging a living
I just saw POV on PBS: Waging a Living, and I am ashamed that I am ever in any way discontent with my life or my job or my salary.
Waging a Living follows the lives of 4 individuals who are “working poor.” (More details about them.)
One’s a security guard in downtown San Francisco, making $9-10/hour. A raise of 25 cents an hour is a big deal to him. One is a nurse in New Jersey who supports 5 people on $11/hour. Another is a waitress whose husband left and didn’t pay any alimony or child support. Another is a woman who was abused through childhood and has slowly, painfully been getting her education and increasing her standard of living: 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.
These people are inspiring. But their stories break my heart.
I’m a social, political, fiscal, and moral conservative, but:
- it is not right that some make hundreds of millions and some make pennies
- it is not right that a waitress could be paid less than $3/hour in New Jersey
- it is not right that the gap between executive management and rank-and-file is wider now than ever (200-400x more, I think)
- it is not right that many of us make so much money we don’t even think about spending it, or even know how much exactly we have, while others have basic living expenses that outpace their wages
- it is not right that people die because they cannot afford medical insurance
- it is not right that single mothers working for very limited wages have to spend half a week’s pay for over-the-counter medicines
- it is not right that we have so little respect for people that we think we can pay them a wage that reduces them to living in inhumane circumstances
We can call a spade an implement for digging, or we can just simple say that this is evil. And - yes, I’m a Christian too - God will judge us for this sin.
That said, if I was counselling young people in school today, I would say the world is not fair, and you should never expect it to be. Get your education. Get your education. Get your education! It will improve your life.
And I would say to spouses: divorce will not only kill your relationship. It will not only scar your children for life. It will reduce you to poverty. All of the people profiled in this POV were divorced, and it adds greatly to the strain of trying to make a living.
May God make us thankful for what we have, and generous to those who have not been so blessed.
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And, PS: I’m glad to live in Canada, where anyone, anytime, anywhere, is guaranteed to get the medical care that he or she needs, to the best of our ability to provide it, regardless of the size of his or her bank account. Choosing not to help someone who is sick because they can’t afford medical care is revolting.
Tags: POV, PBS, waging a living, working poor, poverty, america, minimum wage, ceo compensation, social justice, health insurance, john koetsier
Strange feeling: no pain
I had a strange feeling today. For a while, I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Then I realized what it was: for the first time in months, maybe years, I was pain-free. I’m sitting here typing with the same kind of wondering, puzzled, amazed emotion. I can hardly believe it.
As I’ve mentioned recently (one, two, three) I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my neck.
It all stems from two rear-ender accidents that I’ve experienced in the past 14 years. Somehow, over all that time, even with countless physio appointments, doctor’s visits, stretches, and exercises, my neck has never really been right.
And just a few weeks ago, I really totally and completely massacred it, somehow, in the middle of the night.
But today, I feel good. I’ve been going to a chiropractor who has amazed me with his knowledge of my body and it mechanics. Dr. Grant O’Neill (he’s also an M.D.) in Surrey, BC, figured out just by looking at me that I’ve had issues with my shoulders (one has been dislocated about 6 times, the other about 4 times) and my ankles (severe repetive sprains).
And everything he’s said and done with the main problem, my neck, has made sense, and, more importantly, helped to fix it. Frankly, he’s like a physiotherapist with a better understanding of the mechanical underpinnings of the human skeleton. He’s slowly fixing the skeleton while giving me exercises and stretches that are re-orienting my muscles and nerves.
It’s still a little freaky, truthfully, when he cracks my neck and back vertebrae. After my first appointment, it was more painful, not less. But the pain was different: joint, versus muscle. And now, after every appointment, it feels better immediately.
It’s working, and I’m thankful!
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About
Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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