I had this great epiphany recently about people that are successful in business. The biggest thing these people have going for them is not that they are really intelligent or brilliant in their field, it’s that they know how to talk to people. OK, I know you all have realized this a long time ago, …

I’ve noticed that there have been a few of these fake twitter accounts cropping up recently. They seem to be found out quickly, but I’m always suckered into following the people before they get exposed as fakes. The latest couple have been the Dalai Lama (@OHHDL) and Christopher Walken (@cwalken). I was really bummed that …

I have this problem where I can’t multitask my thoughts. So, if I am driving, I can’t carry on a conversation without losing concentration on my driving (which is bad). I can’t talk to someone very easily while trying to work at the computer. Basically, I can’t carry on a conversation while being actively engaged in some other task.

Now, maybe this sounds pretty normal to you. I know it’s not unusual for guys to not be able to multitask. But, consider this. I was watching a little bit of the live video stream from Leo Laporte earlier today. He has a tech call-in show where he answers questions people have about their computers/gadgets/etc… So, Leo is carrying on a conversation with someone on the phone/Skype AND watching a chatroom full of people giving him ideas of how to answer the questions AND doing research online about all these things. All of this happens while he drives the conversation with the person on the other end of the line and never loses his train of thought. Oh yeah, and he’s hosting a 3 camera live show while he sits/bounces on his exercise ball. During one show, the ball he was sitting on popped, and he would have just kept on going except that someone asked what the noise was.

So, I know it’s just a movie, but Rocket Science portrays a high school debate team. The kids on this team talk so fast that I can’t even hear what they are saying. My mind can’t even keep up with this fast of a train of thought. Now, I know with debates, every possible talking point is prepared before-hand, and I know that you could easily speed up talking on film without changing the pitch, but dang. There are just some people that have that really strong brain to mouth connection and can keep one line of thought with plenty of other distractions going on around them.

I would like to train my mind to have more than one active process at a time. A kind of hyper-threading if you will. Anyone have ideas for how to do this? Perhaps a more efficient conversation pipeline? Let me know your best tricks of the trade.

So, the last couple of weekends…one was a wedding in Indiana which also consisted of interesting conversations late at night and some relaxing time in the hot tub. The other was filled with things such as watching Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, karaoke with friends, etc…. OK, so nothing too out of the ordinary, but these past two weekends provoked a thought: “Live free. Live with grace. Listen. Let go.”

Last Sunday at the C.R.A.C.K. House, Mitchell told us that life is so much easier to live when you stop trying to fix things yourself and let God work on them. I still have an image in my head of Mitchell leaning over with his ear out saying that this is like God’s ear on the earth. He can hear what you are thinking…like you listening to your parents conversations downstairs through the vent in your room. So, let God take your problems on Himself…His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It’s not that He takes all your problems away, it’s that He helps you with them and He does a much better job than you. In fact, His work is perfect every time.

So what I am saying is that God cares about how you feel and it’s OK to let Him take care of things and rather than spending your time worrying about them, spend some time talking with God about them…spend some time with other people…have some conversations…experience some new things.

This is why I like movies like Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Juno, Garden State, Sideways…and the list goes on. I like these movies for the fact that they are all about the people…the character development. Sometimes they are screwed up people (albeit in various stages of life), but aren’t we all in some ways? So, if you haven’t already, let God handle the things you are trying to control yourself. If you are already doing this, encourage someone else to do the same. I have the feeling it will be a worthwhile experiment.

Let me be the first to tell you that I’m not much of a news junkie in the traditional sense. I have been at times obsessive about keeping up with tech news online and on podcasts, but I don’t typically read newspapers, watch news on TV or check out msn.com for the latest news stories every day. It’s my opinion that we should make a drastic change in the way that the news is reported in this country. Now, I get my general news updates by word of mouth from people who have done the watching or reading already for me. A common emotional response to the news that I hear from these people is fear. They are afraid of what will happen with the economy, afraid of gas prices, afraid of criminals on the loose, etc… Now, what I have also found when I have listened to the news and heard something that I knew a little bit about (technology related pieces), I see that there are all kinds of inaccuracies and misinformation presented. It makes me wonder about the subjects that I’ve heard reported on that I am not as familiar with. Are they also full of false or exaggerated information just to increase the shock factor which seems to boost ratings and viewership?

I think we all know that the media will present news to us in the most shocking and negative way possible because it garners a response. The question is, what is our reaction to all of this? Do we live in fear of the future? Are we simply fascinated by the shocking stories? Do we hold out hope for citizen journalism to gain more credibility through sites like Current TV and Beat Blogging? Or, do you have another solution? You tell me…

There was once a cat that lived with a family of dogs. She had a great life and got everything she desired. Still, she never really felt at home. So, one day Whiskers decided that she was going to leave the house to find out if there were any other cats out there in the world. As she bid adieu to her family of dogs that she had known her whole life, whiskers let out a little meow of delight. It was finally time to hit the hit the pavement and find out what the rest of the world was like.

Whiskers found that there many things she had never heard of before. Catnip, in particular. The longer she spent living in the wild, the more catnip she had to have to feel happy. Sure, whiskers made many friends. She met big cats, small cats, cats with no hair, and even a three-legged cat named Tripod. But, as Whiskers trekked farther and farther from home, she began to look more and more haggard. Her friends all got their fill of food from their owners, but Whiskers found herself stealing food and trading it for catnip because she just couldn’t bring herself to go without. Alleys where steam rose from the sewers were her favorite place to sleep. As Whiskers awoke one morning from her catnip induced sleep, she heard a faint gobbling noise in the distance. Some creature she had never encountered before was waddling through the steam – it seemed to hop over the piles of trash almost as if it could have flown in another life. As it grew closer, Whiskers heard a voice: “Hey there cat, watcha doing?” Whiskers answered back, “Oh, just trying to get some sleep before my next meal.” “Why are you sleeping out here? Where is your family?” asked the Turkey. “What?” said Whiskers. “What are you anyway?” “My name is Thomas. Thomas the Turkey”, replied the strange creature. “Well”, Whiskers said “my family is a bunch of dogs and I’ve left them to discover the world. I was sick of being the only cat in that house.” “Look at you now though”, said Thomas. “You have nothing to eat except this one bite of catnip.” As Thomas reached out his wing to point, Whiskers hissed back, “Merooowww. Don’t you touch my catnip.” With pity in his eyes, Thomas said softly, “Look, if it were me, I would go back to my family even if they were all different from me. I’m sure it must have been much better than you have it out here on the street.” “Whatever…” Whiskers mumbled as she turned to walk away. But, she couldn’t get that thought out of her head. Life was so much better when there were dogs around that loved her. So, Whiskers decided to head back home and the dogs all accepted her with open arms…err paws. As she was coming into the house, one of the dogs said, “You’re just in time for Thanksgiving…and we’re having Turkey!”.

Moral of the story: Be thankful for the life you have.