Sometimes You Just Gotta Look

All too often the answers are right in front of our noses. WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT.

 

Finishing

When I think about finishing things I first go back and think about starting them. When does something really begin? At the first thought that pops into your head, or when it begins to substantiate in some material form? It is easy to say that starting something is "easy", and at other times it is easy to say that it is "hard". What is finishing then?

I just finished a book I started two years ago. I was stuck at page 284 until last Sunday. Today as I came to the end at page 700 I felt the joy of finishing. I have done this many times. The next book lined up is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. I think I started it about six years ago. I have read the first twenty-five pages somewhere between eight and nine times, and I will probably do it again today.

Finishing is achievement. It is the reward for the effort. The end. In reality, it is just another start. To talk of finishing is the recognition that something else must now be started. We don't finish things to just finish things. Instead, we finish things to move on. This often occurs without realizing it, but it should be realized. Finality, is not really final at all, because it is essential to continue to build. If something is really final it is an oppressing reality in which we deny ourselves the lessons learned by the pursuit.

With that bit of enlightening rambling out of the way I will continue on to a more important matter. The finishing of a quart of Mississippi Mud.

I realized last night that I had not had a beer in a while. I went and purchased this little brown jug in hopes of being able to play on the street later if the job front doesn't pick up. The combination of dark and light beer pleased my palate. Upon finishing it I was sad to see there was no more, but I am confident that finishing this was not the end.

Reading

Lieutenant Commander La Forge loves to read

Reading is an instrumental part of conveying information. It is easy to take for granted the amount one can learn from a book. I have grown to enjoy reading more and more. It is a skill just like any other. It takes time, patience, and the understanding that you get a little bit better with every page you read.

Every book is another opportunity. If you walk into a bookstore it easy to see just how much is out there. Like life there are an almost infinite amount of directions to go in. Learn to cook, learn about economics, journey into a fantasy. It is interesting to see that when people have told me to read I have shyed away from it. As I have matured I have become better about finishing the readings assigned to myself. Further, there is so much to do in a normal life, where you actually have a job, family, or things to do, that reading can take a back seat. It may be unrealistic to dedicate a great deal of one's time to reading.

That being said the one thing I think is unique to reading as opposed to other forms of information conveyence is the uniqueness of the imagery created in our own heads. The pictures that develop in our own thoughts are unique to every individual. I know movies have made it possible to see characters therefore making them less unique. Fortunately, not all books have been warped into movies. I like thinking of characters of fiction in my own ways. In a way I am contributing to the story, albeit on a miniscule level, by adding in my own details. Too many other forms of information just try to tell you want to see, feel, or think. A book may try to do this, but in the end it is really left to our own interpretations.

Further, the process of finishing a book is analogous to many obstacles in our lives. Each new endeavor starts out in a different way. Some things may push us away, and we may be afraid to really get through those first stages. At some point it begins to fall into place and we become hooked. Each page, and chapter becomes the reward. Then before you know it the end arrives.

Book Review : Outliers

Outlier- "a statistical anomaly that deviates from the other members of the sample in which it occurs."

Many books have attempted to convey success as attributable to a certain trait or characteristic that an individual possess. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell seeks to dig deeper into what makes someone successful. It is another work that seeks to challenge conventional wisdom in order to understand the world around us. We often think that professional athletes, technological moguls, and financial gurus are products of one innate trait that allows them to achieve great things. Society often views the successful as those with "talent" or "god granted ability". While this may be part of it Gladwell seeks to convince readers that Outliers lay outside the average for multiple reasons.

When you start is important to where you finish. One of the themes that runs throughout Outliers is the incorporation of the "10,000 hours to mastery" idea. Gladwell incorporates it early by looking at what makes successful Canadian youth hockey players. The best players, in a study conducted by Gladwell, were those who were born closest to the cut off date to play in a respective league. Essentially, the boys who were the oldest in their given league were the most developed physically when they began to play hockey. Those born on January 1, played with those born on December 31. The older boys start with the advantage of physical maturity which is combined with more practice, and selection on better teams that practice and play more. The effect snowballs and seems to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A boy selected for his potential, really his slightly greater physical development, over time becomes a better hockey player than the boy who was born later in the year.

What this shows is that aside from talent, circumstance plays a big role in the development of the successful. Bill Gates was born in the time frame that allowed him to be ahead of the technological curve. His location allowed him to sneak to the University of Washington and program on one of the few computers in the United States for hours on end. Without the unique opportunities his hard work would not have mattered. Acknowledging circumstance, in particular the time period people were born in, is a major part of Outliers.

The book draws on examples like Gates, The Beatles, and  Robert Oppenheimer to show success. At the same time the book shows how one trait often associated with success, for instance IQ, is not always a guarantee. Gladwell attempts to convey that while having a high IQ is most definitely beneficial. All that really matters is being smart enough. All the brains in the world won't get you very far if you don't have the ability to relate and work with others. In this way Outliers makes the case that success is not based upon one variable alone, but instead the sum of all parts. Not a revolutionary idea, but the book is interesting nonetheless.

What makes it interesting is the tendency for the general public to oversimplify success to one particular thing. Money, IQ, or innate ability are easy variables to point at. Outliers makes the case that, like many things, there is often more than meets the eye.

My own thoughts are that success is complicated. It is a ball of many inputs. To isolate one is to overlook the fact that a great deal of the time the WHOLE is greater than the sum of its part. It is not an exact science, but instead an art. There is no guarantee of success, but failure can be guaranteed if you don't take the necessary steps to work towards success.

Item of the Week

Throughout my childhood my family would categorize my latest wanted item as the "item of the week". One week I would be really into something like yo-yos, skateboarding, or the harmonica and the next I would move onto something else. Many of the items I would actually find a way to acquire either through my parents giving in to my constant nagging, or by using my own money. I have wanted a lot of things over the years, and it's funny to think that the things that made the most difference were the ones that I did not get. Going without makes you value the important things in your life. You can't, and shouldn't, always get what you want.

Focusing on one objective is a difficult task. Too much focus and you can burn yourself out, but too little and you will only get so far. I have changed my mind so many times in my short life that I have never really been able to focus on something for the necessary time to really see results. An undergraduate degree in a major I just kinda of picked out of a hat is the only substantive accomplishment that spans a time frame longer than a few months.

It often seems like I have let indecision guide me more than actual decision. I honestly don't know why I chose to go to Iowa State. I really didn't even explore other schools. I have figured out, to some extent, that researching multiple options is not a bad thing. My reasons for doing things have all too often been from the advice of others. This could spawn from a desire to please people, the lack of knowing what I want, or the fact that I want it all. Often, it was probably just the easy way out.

While formal education is important I can honestly say that what I learned wasn't from the subjects of the courses I took. Instead, it was about the theme of education. Learn, work through problems, and figure out what you want from your education. Learning is part of our everyday lives. I went into school thinking I could be a lawyer, or a politican and that someday I would do big things. All that was on my mind was the fact that I could someday accomplish something that would impress other people. In my early years that was what getting good grades was about. In the last few I figured out that what I really got from school was what I needed. A swift kick to the groin. Life is not about impressing people, or doing what others tell you. Life is figuring out what you want and going after it. Be confident in your abilities and live up to your own standards.

Growing up I was easily persuaded by what others thought was cool, and to some extent I am still that way. I am trying to figure out who I am as an individual while being confident that people will still respect me for that person. The "item of the week" often guided me by laying out what I wanted. I still have my wants, but I recognize that if  I decide for myself I can get what I need.

Note - This weeks item is a mustache.

Free Time

It has been a month since I took off from my parents garage. The four pounds of cashews have been eaten. I have done laundry, finally. The hat that was upon my head when I left was blown away in an unfortunate "windshield covered in dirt with no wiper fluid incident."

I think I am pretty proficient at time management. I never had a late assignment or missed class during my undergrad. I was always early for practice throughout high school and college. I always got all the lawns mowed in a timely manner during the summer, sometimes, admittedly, to fast. I was fortunate to not have to work while going to school. Sometimes this was a problem, because I had too much free time, but on the whole it was pretty sweet. Just don't get too into the mystical worlds of wisps and demons.

Let's Kill This Dragon

I feel guilty when I am not working and others are. Not to say that I don't enjoy working, I do. But I should forgive my self for the free time I create for myself. There is such a thing as being lazy. Procrastination is another problem for the free time agenda. The more you put things off the less freedom you will have. So free time in it's truest sense is not spent doing nothing, it is play, relaxation, or fulfillment. These things are not mutually exclusive, and free time endeavors can run the gambit for an individual. 

Work is a necessary condition of life. Some are able to find a job that they truly love and enjoy doing everyday. Other people find work that meets their need for money, but don't get much gratification from their job. Most people fall somewhere in between this dichotomy. Free time endeavours are humanities outlet. Sanity for an insane world. 

Honestly, I do know exactly where I was going with this post. I'll tack that up to too much free time. I am coming to the realization I will have work here in the near future, and I will not have as much time for relaying these quasi-incoherent messages to my six followers. Cherish your free time, make the most of it. Because, like the promise that this post may have contained at its outset , it will quickly slip away never to be recovered.

"Do it now, while you are young and on your own", is a phrase you hear about travel, adventure, and free time from older individuals all the time. It is a true statement. It is EASIER to do while poor, family-less, and limber. It is not impossible to seek adventure at any stage of life. Free time is about creating that adventure. Try new things, go new places, and figure things out. Squeeze the hell out of every penny of your "free time". This is not to say that I don't watch the tube, obviously this blog is 94% YouTube content, but make sure to shut off some of the tech and get out into the world and DO.

Modes of Transportation

Getting from point A to point B is an interesting endeavor for every individual. There are so many ways to do it. Legs, bike, car, and plane are some of the forms that come to mind. All have their positives and negatives. All seem to fit into a specific scenario that makes one form more appropriate than another.


The first things that comes to mind when someone says "Rollerblades" is probably a eight year old girl with a pink helmet and wrist guards blazing a path down a sidewalk. For this girl Rollerblades are an acceptable form of transportation. Take that image and warp a sixty-five year old man into the picture and you have something different all together.

The man in question was a gangly ol' coot, probably due to the immense amount of rollerblading done on a daily basis, who was jiving down the sidewalk. With his dog out in front, and his wristguards secured as he sped along quite pleased with himself. I can just hear his inner monologue, "I am saving the world one rollerblade trip at a time." It was not quite as good as this display, but he was just as graceful.

Whether or not rollerblades are a socially acceptable form of transportation aside, Ron Swanson would say they aren't, the man IS saving the environment. For that he should be commended.  Wrong, nothing good has ever come from rollerblading. More often than not you skin your knees while you zoom around with your butt wagging about behind you.

Albert Einstein is quoted as having thought of the theory of relativity while riding his bicycle. For that reason

I'll go as far as saying that the bicycle is the vehicle of the intellectual. So what about rollerblades? To that I defer to the most interesting man in the world.