Good news for me! I'm taking tomorrow off work which means I will effectively have back-to-back 3-day weekends! The only problem is that I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do, but I have some big plans. Perhaps lots of traveling using several means of transportation. Maybe lots of sleep, dogs and computer games. I can only wonder.
Last weekend was a blast (aren't they all?) I had a small gathering of sorts centered around a pot luck dinner. It was the first major event I've hosted at my house for several months, so I was definitely excited to work my magic. After 3 days of much-needed cleaning, my house was immaculate (at least by my terms!) and I made my first attempt at making one of my all-time favorite foods -- New England clam chowder! All in all, everything turned out as well as I could have hoped from start to finish. In fact, I was so energized by the end of the night I posted my next celebration which will be for Geoff's 30th birthday. After only a couple days, I've received a great number of RSVP's so this should work out really well. So far, I'm really liking the pot luck format. It costs me a lot less than catered meals as tasty as they are, and it's just a bit awkward (and tacky) to charge friends at the door...especially when getting people to show up is a huge objective of mine. That, and a number of my friends (including myself) seem to enjoy cooking and sharing our masterpieces. And it's something that can attract a wide audience.
So the question I have to myself has to be why I waited so long to host an event like this? There are several possible responses. First, I've been running around enough (for me, at least) this summer I haven't had time or energy to plan anything more. Second, Joe and Brendan have hosted LAN parties lately which has greatly reduced my burden which has been a blessing in disguise, quite honestly. Third, we have had a number of "alternative" social events lately such as the dining club and such, which reduces my immediate need to be around large groups...which invariably leads to number four, the fact that I'm not a social butterfly and hosting parties can burn me out quickly if I try to do too much. Fortunately, the way our birthdays work out, I can plan ahead and space everything 3 months apart for the next year or so.
A few days ago I finished Blink and have moved on to Malcolm Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point which I am now halfway through. I'm a huge fan of anything that has to do with the human mind and behavior right now, and both books focus primarily on each of these. In The Tipping Point, the author describes 3 types of incredible people: the Collectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Am I any of these? In truth, I am probably closest to a Maven for my expertise in computers, even though I'm not as comfortable with this as I thought I once was. The more I "help" people, the more I realize that the technology is evolving so fast that I'm fighting an extremely uphill battle at times. Still, I do the best I can and focus on the most important concepts and often overcome whatever hurdles are before me. At times, I aspire to be a Collector -- the type of person who remembers everyone they meet -- their names, interests, etc. and keeps a weak yet persistent acquaintance with them. While my Rolodex is still relatively small and my Facebook friends still number in the low triple digits, I find that certain parts of my personality fit the profile of a Collector. For one, I like people -- I find each and every individual interesting and like to get to know about them. I also really enjoy small group conversations which make this type of relationship possible. The question becomes whether or not I can ever achieve the critical mass of contacts to ever be considered a Collector. Perhaps one of my motivations behind pro blogging would be the attempt rapidly increase my number of connections.
In other news, I'm still LoL'ing consistently. Tried picking up Udyr but after a few games realized that Warwick is just as powerful right now. I picked up Scrabble again to the extent that I'm spending some of my free time anagramming with random 7-tile racks using a program called Wordwise. My main focus is on 3-letter words but I'm quickly mastering these and will likely refocus my effort on 4's. Once I finish reading Tipping Point, I have another wave of books coming in starting with Freakonomics. Work has given me a slight breather and has allowed me to catch up on my work for the most part. Our environment has become more fast-paced over the past couple of months and I definitely welcome the change.
I'm not entirely certain but this may be my final "personal" blog which will be made public. I will probably start over with a brand new private blog and keep this one up indefinitely. In addition, I plan on writing on my other blogs more often. Right now here are links to my other blogs and their status:
"The Future is Ours" - my "futurist" blogs covering a wide variety of technologies and predictions of life in the short and long-term future
Other ideas at the moment:
-Computer Techie discussions, especially those revolving around supporting business users
-Human Psychology and personality types
-Northeast Ohio - places to go, interesting things to see (not just the obvious stuff like the R&R Hall of Fame, etc.)
-Dogs and their behavior - they're not much different from us!
-Alternative Rock music - I'm not an elitist but I don't listen to the crap played on broadcast radio either!
-Social Justice and ideas for making a better tomorrow - lots of role-playing and hypothetical scenarios and stuff
-Genealogy - a new interest of mine and it fits me to a T!
-Games - board games, video games and stuff like that. Looking for guest contributors!
-Cavaliers and life without Lebron!
-Book reviews and in-depth chatter about my current reading materials
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