Book: Linchpin

By norm | Published: April 16, 2010

Recently I’ve been reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. I don’t typically read a lot of self help books, but every once and a while something good will jump out at you. I was tuned into the book when I heard an interview with Seth about the book on the Marketing Over Coffee Podcast.

What drew me most to this book is the idea of shipping. Capture an idea, pitch, execute, and ship. Always ship. Something that I haven’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about in the past. Not that I don’t get things done but really considering the finished product early in the process, and having an end game if you will. I’ve found with myself I’ll do great at moving a project along and even finding a great project to execute and then sputter and stall at the final stages.

5 Major Notes I’ve Taken While Reading

  1. Doing a job that is not your job is essential.
  2. Be an expert in your field.
  3. Seek out discomfort.
  4. Build a platform to help you ship. (build it before you need it)
  5. The act of teaching someone a lesson rarely succeeds at changing them

I’ve still got a few chapters to go but these points have stuck with me the most. I can think of a few other major themes he discusses so there is a lot more there. The book reads quickly and is broken down as though it were a series of consecutive blog posts. So it is very easy to read on the bus or when you only have a few minutes here and there.

Next

Seth does a good job of referencing his other books and good books other people have written. Next I think I’d like to read Tribes by Seth and Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. If anyone wants to swap or check out Linchpin let me know.

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WordPress Theme Team

By norm | Published: April 15, 2010

Isn’t it funny how things work. The other day I write a post about dissatisfaction with wordpress themes in general.

And today WordPress announces a Theme Team.

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Fun Designing With Comic Sans

By norm | Published: April 15, 2010

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Blog Themes

By norm | Published: April 14, 2010

I feel like a lot of blog themes look great but fail when it comes to presenting the content well. In an online world where we preach “Content is King” why are so many themes slopping content like the lunch lady in Happy Gilmore?

The key to a good theme is focusing the readers on your content. This is probably why I like the very basic thesis approach. No doubt about it when you land on my site you will look at the first post and most likely read it.

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Getting Things Done @MrDirby Style

By norm | Published: April 12, 2010

During my current blog hiatus I’ve been busy with three main initiatives; one work related, one church related, and one magic related. Right now the point isn’t to discuss those activities, but how I’ve been keeping myself organized. Last year sometime I bought an Omnifocus license, which for the most part worked fine as a task manager.  However I never really liked the layout and it was easy for me to let projects get buried in categories and forget about them and keep them out of sight and out of mind.

Omnifocus has an iPhone app as well as integration with iCal and Mail but I never could figure out how to take advantage of these features. Also the iPhone app costs a pricey $19.99 and has terrible reviews. Anyway I used Omnifocus moderately well and was generally happy with the program. Until I discovered Things.

How I really stay on track

Not many Apps have a major impact on my daily life. Outside of the calendar and address book I could live without most of the apps I’ve downloaded. From the first moment I demoed Things, I knew that I couldn’t use Omnifocus anymore. Things has helped me become more efficient and on the ball when it comes to task management. I can easily track projects, individual tasks, random ideas, tasks assigned to other people and keep them tagged in sight and on my mind.

Things works and feels like an Apple application so it feels very natural working with all my other utility applications. The interface is clean and intuitive and once you get used to the program keeping everything sorted is very simple. It is easy to keep overlapping projects organized within general categories.

The feature that I like best is the due date and due today feature. Everything that you need or want to do today shows up in your dashboard like unread mail in your inbox. This keeps me reminded that I haven’t accomplished everything I’ve needed to today.

iPhone App

The second best feature is the iPhone app. I think it cost around $10 but I was so into the OS X application I was wiling to take the risk. I had wanted this sort of app for a long time and what makes it worthwhile is the sync. I love how I can update my calendar and address book on the fly and have it sync with my cloud. Makes my life better (I’m a nerd like that). The Things mobile app works just as well and smoothly as their main application. Syncing with your desktop app and bringing all the organization to your pocket. The only drawback, for me, is that when you sync you have to be on the same wifi network. This is an annoyance for me mainly because of how the AiP wifi is setup. At home sync works quickly and easily.

Already on iPad

In going to their website to get a link for this post I learned they have an iPad app ready to go as well. Score. I hope that Cultured Code plans on making more applications because they have fan here.

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WordPress Mu and Me

By norm | Published: April 6, 2010

I started playing with WordPress Mu this weekend and today I was able to get it up and running. Thanks to @funkydung and @aesterisk for helping me understand the technical bits. So far I haven’t hit any issues. Only running one test site in addition to the main blog and I don’t expect to add many more. Anyway here is a link to my main mu homepage.

If you don’t know anything about Mu let me know and I’ll fill you in. After messing around with just a few of the features I don’t know why I wouldn’t want mu on all my sites. The flexibility to add new projects with a unique blog feed is very excellent. You can bring all the posts into one syndicated feed as well.

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Go Got Game

By norm | Published: January 23, 2010

Do you think you’ve got game? Apparently not. Only one person responded to my Go challenge, but I wouldn’t feel too bad about not playing. The act of playing Go is incredibly simple, just lay the stones on the board. However, understanding who is winning or controls some of the board is the difficult part. I say that because Laura and I had no one to explain the game to us and spend considerable about of time discussing the game state. I do have a call out to Jia, letting him know that when he gets back to Pittsburgh he will have to teach me is secret family Go strategy.

I did find a Go club in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Go Association. Maybe I’ll hit them up for a quick lesson or two. There are a lot of Go tutorials on YouTube.

As much as I gripe over not know thing the rules Go has been really fun to play. Again if anyone wants to sit down for a game just let me know.

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Chad Henderson on D&D and life

By norm | Published: January 16, 2010

Just watched this great video about living life and taking chances.

All I Need To Know About Life I learned From Dungeons and Dragons. An IgniteOKC Talk. from Chad Henderson on Vimeo.

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Avatar in 3D

By norm | Published: January 8, 2010

Is awesome.

Caught the movie in 3D with @jamilbroom last night and was really impressed with how good this movie looks. I was expecting it to look good but bore me with the story. I was only annoyed with the story when it tried to make a US invades Iraq reference. Otherwise it was an excellent piece of entertainment as everything about it looks amazing.

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Merry Post Christmas

By norm | Published: December 29, 2009

I was hoping to get a cherry Christmas post together on or before the 24th but we had a busy holiday. This week I’m taking off work to get it together and tend to my blog-o-sphere.

As I type this I’m enjoying some spicy tobacco I received from my sisters boyfriend. He’s trying to buy his way into the family and he’s off to a good start. Actually I asked Lucille if she knew of a good place to get some fresh stuff and I don’t think she wanted to support my habit herself. Anyway good stuff and if you want to join me for a pipe lets talk.

I enjoyed a great family filled weekend with out any family feuding. Not always the case when you cram a bunch of people into a van and drive off to see the grandparents. On Christmas Day I learned that I’m loosely related to a guy from Pittsburgh who is on track to command the next NASA mission to the moon, Mike Fincke. We are related through my dad’s sister’s husband cousin’s mother (I think). You can read about his exploits in the trib. And watch this video if you haven’t seen it already where Steeler Nation extends beyond our little planet.

Don’t worry I won’t be hitting him up for shuttle rides.

Finally I was given Go from a coworker and I’ve yet to find someone to play with. Anyone want to try a game of “oriental strategy?”

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