hmatt's blog

Learning is my top strength, and since it is such a part of me I wonder why people WOULDN’T want to learn stuff.

I want to learn the best practices, learn the best way of doing things, and the best ways I can improve myself.

In this last week of 2010, I’ve decided that the past ways I learned weren’t as productive as possible. The cheapest way to learn is by reading a book. However, this is only isolated learning. Rarely do people share the enthusiasm I do when telling people what I’ve discovered- unless they were there to uncover it for themselves.

What I’m getting at here is that it is time for me to start taking classes. Yes, I COULD learn things by myself, but then I become a hermit. I try to re-convey the lesson to others- which is fun too, but I don’t get to experience the questions that others have that maybe I didn’t think up. Sometimes too I get so beligerent in my way of thinking that I don’t realize I’ve been pushing around falsely interpreted information. *shudders* If you know me, you’ve probably seen me be completely confident in made up facts. Most of the time I’m right, but it is rare that people call me out. This is because most people hate to do research themselves. My Dad was one of those, ‘I don’t know, look it up’ types- especially when it came to spelling of words.

I however, could research all the time if I wanted to- but I’m a bigger fan of experience and application of knowledge. That is where the real handiness of lessons are learned.

At church yesterday Hank suggested we make 2011 the ‘year of’ something.

For me, 2011 is the year of Focus. Or rather, the year TO focus.

I’ve tried accomplishing so many things myself that I get burnt out or have a trove of half-done projects that are still on my to do list.

I’ve thinned out my 700+ to do list to around 500 now. I still have some trimming to do. There’s no WAY I’d be able to get all those things done in the coming year. Some things I have to postpone indefinitely, some I can assign to a specific month.

I’ve been trying something new thought that I’m quite proud of- that is doing some thinning and re-arranging of the to do list, then doing on every so often. That way, after a day of thinking I have something to show for it instead of a plethra of text files of my thoughts.

[Note: ‘plethora’ is that fancy word meaning “An excess of” whereas ‘plethra’ means “A long measure of 100 Greek, or 101 English, feet; or a square measure of 10,000 Greek feet”. Sometimes I’ll use the later as an inside joke to myself. Then I feel like I’m being a clever exaggerator referring to stacking up a lot of something to equal that of 100 Greek feet. As you could guess, no one ever gets this.]

So anyway, I was looking at some video footage that I need to edit and found that constant problem of the video light flickering on my T2i when I zoom. I searched around and lo and behold– all I needed to do was disconnect the lens sensor. That’s it!

Amazing. Learning stuff is so awesome.

This morning my roommates and I went to IHOP for Christmas breakfast. When I was ordering my eggs we had a discussion on all the ways eggs could be made. I can only cook omelettes, scrambled or hole-in-the middle with bread.

Since I’m crafting my 2011 to do list, I thought it would be fun to learn how to cook various types of eggs. However, since there are at least over a 100 ways I’ll start with just 10.

1. Poached
2. Tuna Deviled Eggs
3. Sunny-side up
4. Fried Egg
5. Shirred Eggs with parsley p. 38 of The 1910 Hotel St. Francis Cookbook
6. Eggs Brésilienne p. 42
7. Shirred Eggs with Bananas p. 149
8. Eggs, Fedora p. 155
9. Eggs Suzette p. 221 (it has potatoes too)
10. Eggs, Conté p. 302

That book by the way is amazing. There is a meal-plan for a complete year! I can eat like it’s 1910!

I put “buy a teapot” on my to do list, but I’m super picky.

Target and everybody else sells them, but they are all super tacky IMHO. When I buy one, it will be one of three things:

1) Classic Teapot. Okay, think of a teapot. That’s the one I want to get. The one you see in cartoons, or on robot heads.

2) Retro-futurisic. 1930s designs? Yes. Robot inspired? Yes.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wagner-ware-magnalite-1930s-art-deco-tea-kettle-4133
http://www.flickr.com/photos/citywalker/2286947946/in/photostream/
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinox-TEA040-Liter-Teapot-Infuser/dp/B0014ABT3W/ref=sr_1_370?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1293130233&sr=1-370
or the steam-punk http://www.amazon.com/Alessi-9091-FM-Sapper-Kettle/dp/B001KPPXYM/ref=sr_1_178?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1293129428&sr=1-178

3) Super Cheap. Like $10. Something for now until I can get an awesome one.

I’d also prefer it to whistle, which unfortunately some cool looking ones don’t really do.
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Mountain-10129-Pre-Seasoned-2-Quart/dp/B001AT5CF8/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1293128999&sr=8-30

I was thinking thrift store, but tea stains always look so terrible. Plus I couldn’t stand having a coffee stained version. Yuck.

Also on my ‘to buy’ list is a tea set. Not that I’m going to have tea with Randy the Reindeer and Buttons the Bunny- I want it for tea and crumpets with friends. When the weather allows, also playing croquet.

I just read an article in Newsweek written by Michelle Rhee. If you’ve seen Waiting for Superman, you might remember this one-time D.C. school reformer.

She made some good points about how there’s no union for the kids, only for the teachers (pay and job security).

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to help. The school issue is so big, and I know I can’t solve it all myself, but I can’t just sit back.

I wonder if there is a way to teach kids to teach themselves. I mean, kids by nature want to learn, but often all those other things in the classroom get in the way.

Reading Rainbow was cancelled because PBS wanted to focus on other academic aspects. Whereas RR focused on why you should read. I remember watching episodes in our elementary library and wanting to check out the book.

I want to be able to affect kids lives that way. The Internet has so many wonderful things about it, but often I see these kids playing silly games or watching YouTube videos that don’t inspire them to do anything productive.

I’m busy creating a gameplan for my kids show meeting next Friday. There are so many issues to tackle, and I can’t do it alone. I hope that I am able to inspire others to help improve the education of kids today.

Ready. 2011 will be a great year.

I just woke up from a nap dream and it goes like this:

I was with a bunch of friends at some sort of hotel or vacation like space. We snuck over to a different area and there wasn’t anyone using this space so we looked around. What we found was magical! The rooms were like giant hamster rooms where people could be alone or congregate with ease. One could mistake their pristine new looks for that of a 60s space-age living quarters. In one sense they were like a college dorm, a place for people to study. In another sense there were rooms for watching movies on the ceiling.

I remember thinking that I wish I was a designer so I could make these rooms a reality.

When I woke up I realized that I, in effect, *had* created the rooms. Then I looked at the darkness of my room and thought- how can I make this, my space, a fun and enjoyable one. I’m not much of an interior designer, but I can still identify what I like and what would be fun.

This past week was a new experience at a wonderful home. A home like the one David, Michelle and I stumbled upon. I want a fun living space like that. I want to live with my friends and have an awesome time.

What is stopping me? Well, I don’t have the ideal place yet.. but apparently it is a very LA thing to do (to look at houses). I can explore and have a blast redesigning things..

I’ve been busy redesigning my life.
*
I have these pants that I really like, because they are all stylish and way comfortable. They have been washed so many times though, that the pockets are fraying. Michelle told me that I could probably take the pants to a seamstress and have them recreate them for me. Shock!

I guess that is all it takes to get things done, just take the designs to the people who can carry them out. There is a car part factory I saw on television once. They specialize in creating parts that aren’t made anymore. They even have this machine that they can enter in any computerized part and it will carve it out of metal! How awesome is that!

I’m such a fan of old-time retro-futuristic designs, but unfortunately no one makes anything like that anymore. I don’t know why. I think the 60s space age idea was pretty cool. It *can* be done, it just takes perseverance; perseverance and a way of connecting the dots and resources to get things to the right people.

Above all, it takes money. People who are good at that likely charge a lot, but you know what? I can find people who are good at these things and learn from them. Resourcefulness can be learned, and the rewards are 100-fold.

Now to brainstorm…

I realized today that very few people want to hear funny stories about things that babies do. I mean, people will listen out of respect, but most people don’t really get it.

I should look into joining some sort of nanny support group. Then we can all share funny stories about the kids we work with, and help each other with nanny type of issues. Like today, I’ve been quite cautious with the child I work with, but I know it is important to let kids explore with acceptable risks. That fine line can be tricky to discuss with the parents. Especially in a case like mine. I’ve noticed that I risk offending a parent because of my training in early childhood education. Some people are intimidated by that. I remember my mom asking me questions and my grandmother trying to get ideas from me. Now, THAT is weird since I was raised by them! It is difficult because I feel I have to downplay my knowledge to ease situations, and balance that with offering suggestions etc. It’s not like I have all those motor-skill charts memorized in my head! It’s very difficult to explain..

Ugh, here I am.. trying to go into vagueness and detail at the same time. Generalities and specifics. This is why I need a support group. = /

Anyway, I’m very excited about my job and the family I work for is absolutely wonderful! The little boy I watch is a hoot and he’s quickly warming up to me.

Sometime next week I plan to take him to a YMCA class so he can interact with other children and new surroundings. I’m VERY excited to see how that all plays out. It is all such an adventure!

Tomorrow I’m going in the evening to see his night schedule. Pretty soon everything will be ingrained, but right now I’m trying my best to soak in all the information about him as I can.

November 21, 2010 5:35 PM

I just read an article on http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?_r=1 about how kids today are used to “multi-tasking”. I used to think this it was a good idea to multi-task, but I’ve discovered what is the reality… everything becomes ‘sub-par’.

I’m frustrated with hearing things like “multi-tasking” being propped up as a productive thing. I can vividly recall manager types of people touting how important it is to “multi-task” at your job. What they really mean is that they don’t want to pay people to specialize in anything.

Now, perhaps I’m on a rant here, but I am not blaming anyone in particular. I do the same things. The past two video shoots I’ve done, I’ve gone straight to my iPhone between takes. The other actors have done the same with their iPhones too! I’ve really got to let that go.

I even caught myself at a party-potluck last night, pulling out my iPhone and checking facebook and my email. What!?! I’ve also been wasting TONS of time on this stupid Smurfs game that I downloaded. I’m not much of a gamer, as it takes up WAY too much of my time. Time I could be using to create or connect with people.

I wonder what will happen to our world in the future if these are the things our society is valuing. Things like partial attention and constant interruptions.

My friend Marina told me last week that when she’s sitting in class and she gets sick of translating English to Spanish, she’ll go into a stand-by mode. (this was a funny conversation by the way, as she had to act it all out while I provided the English words for her)

What type of stand-by actor have I been becoming? Sure, the last two shoots weren’t heavy on the dialog. One was a direction for each shot and the other was only facial reactions. Yet, I had to make a conscious effort to talk to my costars! Yesterday I was ‘planting’ some berries in that Smurf game when I realized how much attention I was giving to my phone.

I’ve often been at home, alone, wanting to find out what other actors were doing out there. Wishing I could talk with others and ‘network’ to find out what classes they were talking. I had to force myself to put my phone away and strike up a conversation with Lindsay. I was certainly glad I did though because conversations are MUCH more rewarding than some silly game.

Games can be great, but only if they help get people together, like board games and such. I haven’t been much of a gamer, and I’m rather glad. This Smurf ‘game’ is a lot like Sims back in 2000. I promised myself I wouldn’t let my life slip away.

I started thinking about what really matters in my life. It was hard to admit, but Amanda teased me last night and she was totally right.

“I’m just playing until I get the Thanksgiving statue. I need 15 Smurfberries”
“At least you have goals”, she said.

Why was this little goal important to me? I’ll tell you why. I knew I could accomplish it if I stuck with it. Getting this little goal would show myself that I CAN accomplish goals even though I’ve started and stopped so many things in the past.

Isn’t that life for you? You get so worked up, so passionate about one thing… and then you give up. I’m sick of giving up. I’m also sick of wasting my time on useless endeavors. Therein lies the problem once I discover that certain things are indeed pointless.

I often ask myself what I’m doing with my life and if it is getting me closer to my goals. I beat myself up sometimes and do things I regret. I worry when I don’t need to and over-think things.

But you know what? Thoughts are a choice. Everyone has a choice over what they allow to occupy their mind. It takes discipline (something I am always working on) and most importantly love and forgiveness.

I can make mistakes. I can let love permeate my being instead of frustration and self-loathing.

There are a lot of things I want in my life, and who I want to be. Being loving and having great friendships are important to me. I want to be able to help as many people as I can. I’d like to be able to purge all those things that are pointless in my life. =/ It is difficult though, but that’s okay- that’s life.

Now to streamline my focus so I’m not so distracted…

as soon as I plant these raspberries in the Smurf Village.

I never got into FarmVille, but I really like the idea of creating a Smurf village.

Just like everyone else has noted, the push warnings are sometimes delayed, so that renders them useless half the time.

I hope someday they obtain the rights for the theme song and voices. The sounds are in the right style, but I’d love to be able to hear the lalala song. Jokey Smurf’s laugh isn’t at ALL like in the cartoon. Every time a character speaks it is only text. What? Is this the mid-nineties or something?

Maybe too they’ll add more animations for the wandering Smurfs. Maybe when you tap them they could do something aside from waving. Have them dance or something.

Plus, sometimes Papa Smurf ends up doing the moonwalk. It looks cool and all, but I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.

Now I’m waiting, and saving up my Smurfberries to get the Thanksgiving statue.

This morning I somehow woke up early, and I decided that I was going to make the most of today.

I drove out to Burbank and began scouting a few restaurants. I’ve always wanted the flexibility that having my own consulting company would bring. I’ve been watching all the great work Matt has been doing in Seattle and I’m completely inspired. After struggling with anxiety and fears of my own, I realized that I only have one life to live and I would always wonder. Thus I begin.

I found a small room at a restaurant downtown, and I’m going to talk to the manager soon. It looks promising though.

After spending lots of time the other day, I finally decided upon a name, I chose “Mac Druthers”.

The word ‘druthers’ (rhyming with ‘brothers’) is an old-timey word that means ‘preferences’. A sort of slang of the phrase “would rather”. I felt that it aptly describes what people want to do with their computers… use them to get stuff done that they want to do. Macs can do some amazing things, and most people don’t know about all those things that can help them.

I walked over to Barnes and Noble and read from a few marketing books. Things like Twitter, web search engines, and networking. I’m pretty sure that the best way for me to advertise is with free workshops, which is why I am searching for good restaurants with rooms I can reserve.

I also read a completely fascinating idea that I am going to spearhead… a Profitable Networking Group! This small business networking group will be a place where we can all get together and really get to know people so we can refer them later on. I’d love this idea to help others out there who want to network, but don’t know where to go. Other so called ‘networking’ events have always felt rushed as people try to talk to everyone. Then the relationships never really develop. I remembered getting handed a card once by a guy who was a body guard at a networking event. There this hello how are you – let’s do business attitude that was quite jarring.

The book was entitled “Endless Referrals” and he mentioned some rules to abide by. Things like having only one representative from each profession in the group. This prevents competition over referrals obviously.

Then he wrote to get people committed to meet every week, at a time when ‘normal’ business hours are not available. I think mornings would be best, because then there’d be less conflict for people’s schedules.

Now comes the recruitment part. As the book mentioned, it will take a LOT of energy, but I know I’m helping people so it will be easier for me. I, of course, am helping myself too because they will know what I do and can refer people to me. Plus, for certain types of professions, it would be neat to interview them for the kids show! I’m eager to start!

I’ll have to go out swing dancing this Thursday and see if I can get anyone to join forces with me. Then they will have people in their world to invite etc. This group is a whole OTHER thing to do, but it is so important. Not just for business, but for personal reasons too. I’d love to help out the community as a greater whole and small businesses affect so many families out there. I didn’t grow up around such endeavors, but I’ve always admired the determination and the devotion of small business owners.

I’ll no doubt make mistakes as I go, but it is nice to think that maybe having this group will help me through the hard times.

More to come as I develop http://MacDruthers.com and the Profitable Networking Group.

I love the unclutter.com website. They do a really neat thing which is to reflect on posts made a year ago. Here’s one that caught my eye:
http://unclutterer.com/2009/11/09/the-fictional-extreme-minimalist-future/

Which led me to read the fascinating comments which then led to Bill Barry’s blog:
http://18263dayslater.blogspot.com/2009/11/re-fictional-extreme-minimalist-future.html

This fellow makes some EXCELLENT points! When I was a lot younger, I kept things around for sentimental reasons. I kept collections, all of my toys and more.

When my grandmother’s house caught fire a few years ago, she was worried for all of my stuff that was in her attic. She knew my long history of what was important to me.. all those toys and memorabilia. These past couple of years I’ve come to realize that these objects are more hassle than worth. I’ve repeated the idea that a photo can do just as good as a job so much that it has become my thought process.

I still do keep things around… digitally. Last year I scanned boxes and boxes of old papers. Why? Because I didn’t want to part with them… my old thoughts and dreams… my old to do lists and plans… that is what I consider to be me.

I embrace the storytelling. I write and write and write my thoughts out. I record audio or video journals on occasion. These are the important things to me.

I’m glad for computing, otherwise I’d be like the professor in the play PROOF, with hundreds of notebooks filled with nonsense. There are many old to dos and ideas that I’ve shunned, or have lost interest in. There are many things I no longer tie myself to… but yet I still can’t part with them. I value most thoughts I have had, and even though after I die no one may sit and read it all, I always hope that some gem of an idea I had will make someone else’s life easier.

I like Bill’s comments on where our society is going and what is lost. Although people still LOVE taking photos and videos of themselves, we still do buy-buy-buy stuff to help us remember. [on an off topic, I once read an article about how the new thing is 25, 10 year reflections… for some reason we want to reflect on anniversaries… ALL THE TIME]

This got me thinking about making a segment for my kids show talking about sentimentality. I think stories and communicating with my friends and family is SUPER important, yet these moments, especially with my family, are in the distant past. I wonder what way I could showcase a ‘better’ way to communicate to one another. Email, Facebook and Twitter HAVE replaced letter writing. Yet, there’s some statistic out there about how kids create and abandon accounts with ease. I know this to be true because my little brother (14 yrs) created a ‘new’ facebook account and let the old one fall by the wayside. Does he no longer value his tech history? Or am I too attached to old stream-of-consciousness thoughts of ages past.

Fascinating stuff to think about.

I just moved all of my digital history into a locked disk image on my computer. That way, if my computer was ever lost they wouldn’t have access to all those old thoughts and experiences.

Oh, another side note. A few days ago John commented that he likes the two spaces after every period at the end of a sentence. For reasons of efficiency, I only use one space. Now, two spaces looks weird. See?

I also will sometimes use only two ellipsis.. when I’m separating thoughts. Three… seems a little long sometimes.

Okay, back to the topic-

So texting is the new form of communication and I still have old, old texts from past phones hanging out in that disk image.. well, at least the ones that didn’t get corrupted throughout the shuffling back and forth among drives. Plus my email account takes forever (more than 2 seconds) to search through because it goes back to 2004!

My digital life has become uber cluttered. I don’t feel like I have to sort it out now, but fortunately I can usually search for my ideas within a few minutes. However, my physical surroundings suffer because I don’t get rid of those things I truly don’t need anymore.

Next week sometime, I’ll continue purging old stuff. I’ve actually gotten rid of a LOT of things since my return from Spain, but now that I’m ramping up my stuff for production, another cleansing is needed.

Once I start making some money, I hope to purchase a really nice closet or something for all the costumes and such I’m accumulating. Those plastic bins aren’t doing it for me anymore. Every time I need something I end up throwing stuff on my floor. Then later I have to come back and put it all away. It gets old really quickly.