So much to blog about…so little time to blog

During my years of life in big corporations, I was constantly seeking projects that would give meaning to my life. For many years, I considered myself successful in that regard.

The challenge of creating new computers, new ways of solving problems, and new products to improve life as we knew it kept leading me on for more years than I care to admit, before I realized that creative endeavors in a large organization required more political knowhow than creativity.

The plain facts of the matter was that I found most of my personal satisfaction in the activities I did outside of work. Work provided a livelihood and a professional reputation while my outside activities became the focus of much of my adult life.

When I was laid off from Sun Microsystems in 2001, it was a wake up call and an opportunity to put into practice every idea I’d had about creating a career that gave real meaning to my life.

As we all know, you have to be careful what you wish for…

It took five years and two major moves, but I am engaged in the most
challenging and satisfying activity of my life managing the Jacksonville Center for the Arts, a regional non-profit residential craft school and business incubator.

The only downside is that I barely have time to write about this on Ripples. I write articles for the Jacksonville Center weblog instead. 🙂

I take almost a hundred photos every day, I write press releases
every few days. I get to meet new and fascinating people every week who
are actively engaged in changing this region for the better, and I have
a team of hard working staff members who are a delight to work with.

I get to write articles and newsletters about interesting people,
works of art, and events that inspire and entertain. The only slight
drawback is that these articles and newsletters are going out on other
channels and weblogs.

Since I wrote the article about the quadruple stop signs, I am maintaining a better balance between worklife and homelife and I have started catching up on projects around the house.

I will be tackling the woodpile very soon. I have enough logs to make 8 cords of firewood and I need to get the logs cut, split into firewood and stacked in readiness for the winter.

On the other hand, I have a regional branding project in the works,
which is called "Made in Floyd" and that will kick off an entirely new
set of activities, once it get rolling.

It is very tempting to go off in a hundred directions at once, but I
want to continue writing this weblog because it has been the primary
driver of much of the activity I find myself doing today.

The primary focus of this blog will remain on assessing the
potentials of post-corporate life and applying basic business concepts
to improving the quality of life for myself and others.

My other weblogs; Floyd County Live, Floyd County Scenes,
and the upcoming Floyd County Arts, will provide a place for in-depth
stories and photo albums of the local topics that I highlight in this
weblog.

The Danger Quicksand weblog and the Danger Quicksand Career Forum continue to accumulate career-related material to help those encountering a career crossroads.

Looking at my search engine traffic, it is increasingly apparent
that there is a value in preserving these stories and images in a way
they can be easily accessed and cross referenced. I think that separate
topical blogs are easier to use for research than one humongous blog
that attempts to cover everything.

So, there you have it. Things are going well and eventually I will have time to write more about it.

I am not getting time to read many other blogs, so if you are
writing something I should know about, send me an email with a link.

If you are passing through Floyd, send me an email and we’ll get together for coffee or lunch.