Wide awake in Seattle

Did you see what I did there with the title!? SO CLEVER!! lolololololol

Seriously though, I can never think of good titles for blog posts. But I am in Seattle now and I am, in fact, awake. So I guess that will have to work for now.

Anyway, I don't really have anything specific to say and I feel weird having to type this at a public computer. I don't actually know if there are people that read this, but in the slight chance that there may be somebody that does and could possibly be interested in what's going on in my life, I figured I would post an update.

I arrived in the Seattle-Tacoma airport at about 1:30, picked up the keys for the rental car, and started out on a wing and a prayer (and some directions I could only hope were right) toward my temporary home. While contending with Seattle traffic, I had to chastise myself over and over for thinking too Nebraskan. My mind was racing with thoughts like "this place is so big" and "there are so many people, so many cars!" and "why is everything so close together"! This is definitely nothing like the busiest parts I've seen in Omaha. Perhaps it was the stress of traveling, but that's all I could think about as I was driving from the airport into the city. I had to check myself and try to overcome all the stress to appreciate the beauty I was driving through. Washington really is a beautiful place, and the weather was stunningly amazing. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but I hear that isn't really a common thing around here. Either way, I'm pretty thrilled Seattle came up with some good weather to welcome me.

I get to stay at the Harbor Steps apartment complex. I looked up the address before I left Nebraska and I was pretty stoked to see that it was right by the water and right in downtown Seattle (at least I think this is downtown). That being said, nothing could prepare me for how beautiful and impressive the whole thing is. I get to stay on the 21st floor of the North East tower of this complex. I can throw a rock and probably hit the harbor, but odds are I would probably hit an unfortunate person walking on the streets below instead. I can see massive buildings and beautiful architecture. This is definitely a city! As I would come to find in the following days, there is still a homey atmosphere here and the people are so nice.

I spent my first night alone in the apartment. I went out to explore the streets below. It was kind of funny because I opened the door and stepped outside and I was immediately lost. The funnier part of that was I absolutely loved the feeling. I loved being able to just walk around and take it all in. It also helps that my love of having a sense of direction and knowing where North is at all times works out well with the fact that the harbor provides a great landmark (or water mark??) to help me keep my bearings.

I ate dinner by myself at a little Mexican restaurant right outside of the apartment complex called Guayma's. It was actually kind of pleasant to be able to sit by myself to decompress and unwind. It was even more pleasant to enjoy a beer with some chips and I couldn't have been happier in that moment. How wonderful it is to just be happy and feel taken care of even in the smallest things. Anyway, I ordered these ceviche tostadas that is kind of like 'pico de gallo' and a bunch of seafood blended and dumped onto a crispy tortilla. It was pretty good! Hooray for being able to enjoy good seafood again!

I got my little car back on Saturday, and I feel so much better to have that now. I was blessed to be able to rent the Corolla and get me from the airport to the garage of my new digs. Even so, it was still kind of big for my taste and the windows aren't set up as they are in my Scion, so I felt like I was driving a boat with no windows through the crammed streets of downtown Seattle. That's probably just the stress and my hatred of traffic talking though. With my little bean car handy, I feel much more comfortable zipping around the streets now (when I do feel courageous enough to go out without walking). I saw some ridiculously steep hills and for the first time in my life I considered a having a manual transmission to be a bad idea. However, I'll get used to it--just like all the other drivers here...kind of--and I even learned a cool handbrake trick from the truck driver who delivered my car. Hopefully I don't get a ton of chances to use it.

I spent some time walking around while I was looking for a grocery store. The concierge here did me a solid by telling me of the place and giving me directions.

"Sure, you can walk there!"

Actually, next time I'll probably drive. It really wasn't that close at all (View the route here). Either way though, the weather was nice and the city beautiful, so I didn't mind walking and I got to learn some more about the city. I did walk past the Space Needle and the Music Experience Project place and those both seem really cool. I'm excited to check them out someday. I also walked by the future site of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building and I got pretty excited for that too.

I found a different way to walk back that took me through the Belltown neighborhood and then down 1st avenue to see that whole stretch of restaurants and shops. How much cooler this place will be when I'm not so broke!

Last night I ran into a lady I had met on the elevator on Friday and she invited me to a small work party on the big deck of one of the buildings here. I got to meet some people and they took me out to some pub here in town. I started to realize what a beer snob I had become in Lincoln, but apparently that flies here so I'm in good company. Either way, I hope the USPS is ok with sending beer through the mail because I will be missing Emperean.

I hung out with those guys for a while and then walked a few blocks (more like a mile) to meet up with one of two people I actually know here to a small party for a girl that also works at Microsoft. Turns out Microsoft people like to get together and throw parties and they are just the way I like them: kinda nerdy. I had some fun with that and eventually went home.

This morning I got up and went to Mars Hill church. I checked out a few churches online before coming here and I was really excited to check this place out. Apparently the building used to be a really seedy and problematic club before the city relieved them of their liquor license. The church bought the building and started up a congregation in downtown. To be honest, the building was smaller than I expected and I drove right past it the first time. Inside it was pretty amazing.

Sitting at church, for the first time since I got here, I felt homesick. It was weird though because I felt so at home. It reminded me a lot of the people I came to love and know as family back at Lincoln Berean, but at the same time it was awesome to see people worshiping God the same way we did back home. It was cool to see God's church glorifying His name. It was a good reminder that God definitely is everywhere and that this whole experience is very pervasive. It was kind of an emotional morning for me and it was weird because I rarely get emotional. Either way, I was thrilled to be there.

I came up with this philosophy when I was younger: "don't date the first girl you meet." I figured this out because I moved a lot. Being the new guy. It's pretty easy to work that angle with the ladies. When I moved to Texas though, I starting hanging around with one of the first girls I met there and was immediately locked out of meeting other people in a more natural way. Plus--and this sounds terrible--there is always the danger of jumping the gone and not enjoying the best relationship out there.

I think the same can be said of looking for a church. I want to keep the mentality of checking things out, being open minded, and staying out of the way until God moves me to the right church. However, if I end up sticking around at Mars Hill, I think I'd be a happy camper. We'll see how that goes. I think they have some kind of worship service tonight and they're going to try to get me plugged in to some smaller groups and communities around the city so I can meet some people. I'm looking forward to this.

So this ended up being pretty long, but that was my weekend! Or the things I cared to write down anyway. To the readers back home, I miss you guys! But be happy for me. This is a cool place and I think I'm going to enjoy figuring out what my life is going to be here.

I start work tomorrow so I might spend some time preparing for that.

Take care everybody!

Forgot to mention! I don't take many pictures, and I don't have any cool photo album for you to check out. However, I do take some pictures on my phone and send them to Twitter occasionally. You can follow me on Twitter to catch any pictures I might toss on there

Only in Texas...

Texas high school football is probably everything "Friday Night Lights" tried to convey, if not more. I was there for a few years and I loved it, but looking back I can only laugh at the ridiculousness of some of it.

In exchange for unquestioning and absolute devotion to the football program, the coaches would put these shirts together to encourage us to submit ourselves to physical torture known as strength building and conditioning.

I'm going through old clothes to sort out things I'll give away and things I'll keep before I move. I found a shirt I absolutely can't give away because it's so hilarious.

The front says "IF THE BAR AIN'T BENDIN' THEN YOU'RE JUST PRETENDIN'" with a picture of a heavily loaded bar. The poem on the back is just epic and I thought I'd share it.

THE SQUAT
WAY DOWN THIS ROAD, IN A GYM FAR AWAY,
A YOUNG MAN WAS ONCE HEARD TO SAY,
I'VE REPPED HIGH AND I'VE REPPED LOW,
NO MATTER WHAT I DO MY LEGS WON'T GROW.
HE TRIED LEG EXTENSIONS, LEG CURLS, AND
LEG PRESSES TOO, TRYING TO CHEAT, THESE
SISSY WORKOUTS HE'D DO.
FROM THE CORNER OF THE GYM WHERE BIG
MEN TRAIN, THROUGH A CLOUD OF CHALK AND
THE MIDST OF PAIN.
WHERE THE BIG IRON RIDES HIGH AND
THREATENS LIVES. WHERE THE NOISE IS MADE
WITH FORTY-FIVES, A DEEP VOICE BELLOWED
AS HE WRAPPED HIS KNEES. A VERY BIG MAN
WITH LEGS LIKE TREES.
LAUGHING AS HE SNATCHED ANOTHER PLATE
FROM THE STACK. CHALKING HIS HANDS AND
MONSTROUS BACK, SAID, "BOY STOP LYING AND
DON'T SAY YOU'VE FORGOTTEN, THE TROUBLE
WITH YOU IS YOU AIN'T BEEN SQUATIN' [sic]."


Yeah, sometimes good poems don't have to rhyme the whole way through. Or flow. Or look like poems.

Some of my best memories from high school revolved around football in Texas, and I'm glad I found this shirt. There were many like it, but this was probably the most ridiculous.

"DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!!"

I've had people yell at me to not text and drive so many times, I find myself doing the same to others now. But it makes a lot of sense. Thanks to the kind police officers pulling me over and sending me to STOP class (for turning right at a red light...how lame is that), I now have gruesome images of maimed bodies and mangled vehicle burned into my head that resurface every time I think about using the cell phone in the car. "IF YOU USE YOUR PHONE IN THE CAR, THIS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!"

It reminds me of the scene in Mean Girls where the coach says "If you have sex, you will get pregnant and die!" But that's besides the point.

So common sense says horrible things don't necessarily have to happen the instant you touch your cell phone in the car, but the point remains: operating a cell phone in the car drastically reduces your ability to pay attention to traffic and react accordingly. I've even had a minor accident because I was distracted by my phone, but thankfully there was no real damage and nobody got hurt.

So I do a pretty good job now about not using my phone in the car. The other day, I realized there is another activity we tend to do that is just as distracting, yet nobody really says anything about it. We have portable music devices that hook up via auxilary line-in inputs or other adapters. We have thousands and thousands of songs on our iPods or Zunes that we can take with us in the car. The interfaces on them are pretty cool and allow for the browsing of media with just one finger. However, we haven't really improved the way we browse through media in the car.

Back in the "old days," we grabbed a CD and that's what we listened to for half and hour to an hour. In fact, I still do it that way predominantly. Having a whole catalog of music at our disposal allows us to be more picky about our music and often we find ourselves jumping around from artist to artist. And that's a good thing! I think it's awesome we have that kind of technology. However, I was driving around with my dad the other day and watching him go through his media device to look up some artist.

I realized we should come up with a better interface for browsing through artists, songs, and genres in a media library while driving. It needs to be something that will be efficient without compromising the ability to focus on the road. The Microsoft Sync technology seems to be taking a crack at that using voice recognition, but I've never used it so I can't really say much about it.

I was thinking perhaps a HUD interface might work well in the vehicle assuming it wasn't something that distracted too much from looking at the road. If it were the kind of thing that could be manipulated by finger gestures or by buttons on the steering wheel, it would allow the driver to browse for media while keeping hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

Another interesting idea I thought about would be for the car to sense the moods or dynamics of the passengers in the vehicle and use that information to suggest music. What if it were like Pandora or Last.fm, except it could tell if you were in the mood for something upbeat or something mellow? What if the car were able to tell that I'm driving the car instead of my mother and select music from my favorite artists instead of blasting salsa music? Over time, the car could tell what the driver likes or doesn't like, and could use things like pulse, temperature, or other biometrics to determine what music to play. From there, the driver could make suggestions or alter the music as he or she saw fit.

Even other things like volume control? Perhaps the car can tell when people are trying to talk in the car and then it lowers the volume? There is already technology that can tell how fast you're going and adjust the volume to compensate for road noise. It's little features like that which allow the vehicle to be more responsive to the driver's needs.

Voice recognition technologies also probably have room to improve, and I'm sure there are good ways to leverage that to make selecting and enjoying music in the car a less distracting experience.

So I don't really have any more specific ideas or new directions to take on this, but for sure I see a need to redo the interface for music in the car. As technology allows us to take more music with us, we should figure out how to make the driving experience and the interface get up to speed. We should find a way to maximize entertainment value without compromising safety.

Ok, that's my rant.

What I think would be fun...

Sitting at my parents' home in Bellevue is always fairly relaxing, but over the last couple of weeks I've been realizing it is somewhat isolating. There's not much in the way of kids my age I still talk to. So I spend a lot of time hanging out reading or thinking or playing guitar. I was playing guitar in my parents' living room the other day since nobody was home. The acoustics of the living room had a warmer feel than playing outside on the porch or in some dirty basement. The acoustics of a space add a lot to the subtleties of music and those kinds of things are fun to explore.

Someday, assuming I make a bunch of friends who also enjoy sitting around and making racket with instruments, I would just love to rent out a space and harness it to tease good music out of the atmosphere. I would love to find some cabin or old house out in the middle of nowhere. I would love to just sit around in its living room, or explore the small nooks and crannies of the house, or even just wander around outside. You know how each house has a smell? Perhaps there's more than just a smell in the house, but a general feel or spirit, if you will. Perhaps that can be inspiring enough to make music that carries the same uniqueness of the house.

That's what I want to do someday. Perhaps run into enough cash to rent a place like that and make a few friends that would just want to sit around and make racket all day. I know other bands have used in the same way: Led Zeppelin, Incubus, and a few others who aren't coming to mind. I think it would be fun. Now I just need to scope out some random places in the Pacific Northwest and track down other hippie music freaks.

No I'll never come back down, down from here

If my life ever ends up this way, I could totally live with that

Panic! At the Bookstore

One of the most exciting things about graduating was knowing I had time to read finally. The economics of time when I was school didn't really allow me to read much that wasn't absolutely relevant or necessary to my classes. Well, that's all over and I want to start reading again. So I went to Border's today and it was the weirdest thing. I felt like I hadn't been in a bookstore with no clear purpose in mind and I felt like an idiot that didn't belong there. Book shopping shouldn't be this hard!

I walked through the popular selections area and checked some of them out. I could sense my mind immediately ignoring books that didn't seem like they'd have any impact in my life or that just seemed absolutely useless. Other books I'd look at and I'd feel mildly saddened knowing there's a market for that kind of drivel. Still, I went into a bookstore to get some books and I had no idea what to get.

I finally wandered over to the Christian section which was a new thing to me. I have to shamefully admit I went looking for some books just because people had recommended them to me. I picked up "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell and "The Shack" by Paul Young. Both were recommended to me by a guy I respect a lot, but it still felt weird to get something just because somebody else says so. It kind of goes against my "anti-sheep" mentality. At least I finally had something in my hands.

For some reason, Thoreau popped into my head. Everything I've heard about Thoreau screams "boring" and "long-winded". Well, I'm boring and long-winded, and I've loved the small excerpts I've seen of his work. So now I have a copy of "Walden" and whatever other writings ended up in this book.

Finally, I walked over to where I knew I could find some Palahniuk. This is probably the only author I feel comfortable buying his work and knowing it will do absolutely nothing practical for me. However, he writes well and I love the way he paints such twisted pictures. It's like watching a car wreck or something. I love it.

My trip through the bookstore makes me realize my passion for things practical and useful and how uncomfortable I get when I'm just looking for something that might do me some unmeasurable good. It was strange how at home I felt when I walked over to the technology and computer section and picked through books about Sharepoint, programming languages, and Linux kernels. Have I really become that much of a geek?

Perhaps this can be a new growing point in my life. Either way, I'm stoked I got some new books AND I got a $10 gift card. I have no idea what to do with it. Right on.

Feel free to leave any further reading suggestions.

Things I'd like to do before leaving Nebraska

• Eat at Johnny's Cafe
  I've driven past this place for years on my trips to and from Omaha. It was in some movie that was based in Omaha (About Schmidt maybe?) and I have never been. I must try it.


• Visit Holy Family Shrine
  Another thing I've seen for years driving to and from Lincoln. It's on I-80 near Gretna or Ashland or something. I used to always think it was a witching tower for lack of a better idea. Turns out it's a Catholic shrine or something, but I still want to check it out. It looks beautiful.


• WHAT IT IS AS THE H-D-Z!
  This is Dahv-speak for "I want to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo before I leave." It's probably one of the better Omaha attractions and it's usually a good way to kill a few hours.


• Do something I never found time for in Lincoln
  This one is intentionally vague, but I don't think I really ever made enough time to explore Lincoln and find cool stuff. I've often driven past a lot, and I walked around downtown enough my freshman year to know things are out. Perhaps I'll find them. Any suggestions on something I might have missed? Thinking about Lincoln just makes me want to drink premium beer right now, so we'll see what happens with this one.

Have any suggestions or know something I hadn't even thought of that I should do? Please let me know. Also, I might want company so come join me if you want!

Ok so now what?

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to speak to some high school seniors from my 'alma mater' at Bellevue West. I've remained good friends with one of my teachers from that time, and have come back a few times while I was in college to talk to her classes or work on other projects to facilitate high-school/university relations. I even went back and did some recruiting things at Bellevue West. Part of me says I'm being a good alumnus, but mostly it's because I love talking to younger students and I like to help out my teacher and my friend.

It seems open-ended, and I blogged about it in my last post, but I believe the focus of my talk is to relate my life/college experiences after high school and to offer whatever advice I may have. So I'll be using this blog to organize some thoughts, but moreover, I'm seeking feedback, suggestions, or slap-in-the-face reminders of what I could have missed.

So here are my points of advice that I'll start with tomorrow:

• Keep your eyes and mind wide open
  Ok, so this one seems cliche, but I can think of my first weekend at college. There was so much stuff to take in. I thought I did an ok job of trying to absorb it all, but thinking back, I had a girlfriend to distract me and my own social agenda to fulfill. That first weekend was truly a blast, and I still think it should be. However, it is also really important to start learning about your environment and setting your sights beyond the clique you came with or the booze you can't wait to consume.
  
  At UNL, Big Red Welcome is pretty much designed to do just that. Nearly every organization on campus comes out and hands you free crap in hopes that you'll sign up of something. It took me a couple of years to realize that most of the stuff I picked up I never used or looked at again, but it's a good way to pick up chow and find out what is going on at the University.
  
  Beyond that first weekend, college to me has been about humbling myself to realize I can't possibly know everything and knowing that I was there to learn. Keeping an eye out for new opportunities to challenge myself, learn something new, and growing as a person proved to be an important skill.
  


• If it seems stupid, go learn more about it
  There are a lot of things I think are just plain crap. One thing I learned over the years is that things I used to think were worthless became more valuable as I grew older. Today, if I find myself something is complete crap, I stop and ask myself if I understand it. Have I really taken the time to peer into something and justify my declaration of something as worthless?
  
  I thing we fear or hate that which we don't understand. However, when we to stop to see if we can find value in something, we open ourselves up to a wealth of new value in our life experiences. The same can be true of college or other post-high school experiences. If I thought a way of doing things or an idea was stupid, I found a book or took a class about it. If after the class I find it's still stupid, then I feel satisfied knowing I diligently investigated the issue and I know I've exercised my mind in doing so. In my experience, I came out of things valuing that which I previously thought was stupid more often than not. It seems there is a lot more to learn about life if we only put some effort into seeing its value.
  
  Obviously, there is some discretion in this point. My dad likes to put it "I don't need to jump off a building to know it's not a good idea," and he is totally right. With all things come balance. With all decisions comes a critical evaluation and a weighing of benefits. The same can be said with where how we decide to experience life. Be sure to investigate things intelligently rather than stretch yourself too thin or otherwise harm yourself.
  


• Read, Read, Read
  Having access to information is so easy these days and it is amazing. One of the things I am most excited for now that I am done with school is the ability to kick back and read when I want to. Libraries and book stores are a great place to start and there are plenty of them in Lincoln.
  
  The Internet has made getting information easy as well. If you don't have a Google Reader account or some other RSS aggregator, you should get one. If you want to learn more about finance, seek out financial blogs. If you're excited about city development, see if your city council or some other organization has a blog. It is ridiculously easy to start learning about so many things by following blogs.
  
  Another important thing for college kids is to learn to read the newspaper or watch the news regularly. College can be a fairly isolating community. Now that seems like an odd thing to say, but I remember I was oblivious to the Katrina hurricane because I got so wrapped up in college life my freshman year. Make sure you stay in touch with the rest of the world. Set Yahoo News as your home page. Make it a habit to take a newspaper with you to lunch. Do what it takes to become an informed citizen. I think it's part of growing up and life after high school is a good place to start.
  


• "Eat like a Bird, Poop like an Elephant"
  I've written about this quote before, but I just love it. Birds supposedly eat a ridiculous amount compared to their body mass. Likewise, we should be taking in disproportionately large amounts of information. However, one thing I don't like about college is that students can be tricked into becoming leeches. There is never a push to cycle the information, process it, and create some kind of useful output.
  
  The latter half of the quote seems fairly obvious. If we take in a lot, we should output a lot. This is beneficial both for the individual and for those around them. Be an effective channel of information. Doing so will teach you to communicate effectively and it will solidify concepts in your mind as you teach them to others.
  


• Learn about Leadership
  
When I got to college, I had come from the top of my class and entered into a community where everybody else was at the top of their classes. We were competitive. We all figured we were the best; each figured he or she was a leader. To us, being a leader was about technical proficiency, wrangling every problem into submission, and being better than everybody in the room.

I can't say I was any different when I started, but my view on leadership has evolved since then. I have to say it really changed the way I work with people, how I view myself in the workforce, and how I view others that with whom I work. I learned that being the best in everything isn't necessarily possible, but to be able to inspire others to bring their best to the task at hand and leverage the strengths of the group is a true skill. I'm probably still working on that today.

This is huge. Learn what leadership really is. It's not about what color personality you have. It's not about finding some label to excuse your behavior, or even taking a test. I think there is a positive correlation between maturity and effectiveness as a leader because I certainly discounted everything I learned in leadership classes when I was a freshman. I took another class with some overlapping material as a senior and it blew me away how much more it meant at that point.

If a student is going to UNL, I recommend they find some way to take a class with Dr. Colleen Jones, and hopefully she can point them in the right direction.


• Don't be technically crippled
  Writers love to rant and rave about how pervasive technology is in our society. Yet there are still students who can't find their way around on a computer. If you go to college, chances are high you will use a computer at some point. I'm not saying every student needs to be able to code up a business application, but it is so unlikely you will never have a job where you will use a computer. So it would behoove you to become familiar with technology and not waste everybody's time as you stare dumbly at a computer monitor. A computer can be a tool, and the more you practice with it, the better off you will be.
  


• Learn to do the little things correctly
  This is huge. I've spent too much time working with students who don't know how to put a quick slide show together or format a large document. Even things like formatting a paper MLA or APA style without having to look everything up are skills that will come up in college. These are little tricks and skills most high schools should teach their students if they are able. One should hope that before a student takes a job, they won't need remedial training on how to do the little things correctly. It's an unfortunate waste of time. The faster you learn to do these things without thinking about them, the faster and easier projects and assignments will go.
  
  


• Learn to write well
  This one is also huge, but perhaps I am a little biased. There were times in college where I was just dumbfounded that students were about to graduate and still couldn't write well. I won't go into horror stories with this one, but this is important repeat: important.
  
  Part of my senior assessment before I could graduate from the business college was a writing prompt. I thought it was some kind of joke or trick question. The assignment was to explain why strong writing skills in job candidates was important to businesses. The prompt was written terribly. I couldn't believe it.
  
  Nevertheless, the point remains. Writing well saves time, communicates effectively, and shows respect for the work and for the reader.
  
  Seriously, I don't know how else to put this: learn to write well.
  


• Learn to study and use time effectively
  I'm not the poster child for anti-procrastination. To be honest, I get distracted just as easily as the next person. However, I like to work hard and I can usually make up for time lost.
  
  I've heard that there are students who can study and work efficiently and actually manage to go to bed before midnight. If there were something I wish I were better at, it would be the ability to manage my time effectively.
  
  One skill I learned was time boxing. This is a practice generally related to software development, and it is how it was taught to me. However, the practice of identifying tasks, estimating the time required to complete them, and committing to a schedule was a really effective way of getting things done.
  
  Tools like Thymer or Remember the Milk are great tools for personal task management. I've heard The Hit List is a great tool for Mac. I don't own said status symbol, so I can't say anything about it.
  


• Find a way to get out of the country
  Nebraska isn't exactly the most cultured state in the nation. I know there are lots of kids who haven't been out of the country, been to either coast, or have even left the country. Today's economy is becoming increasingly more global, and being able to relate to a world that doesn't live on Big-Macs and pick-up trucks will be of growing importance.
  


• Learn the balancing act
  My mother did a great job of preaching balance to me my whole life, and I really appreciate it now. I would advise everybody to be well-rounded individuals and not lean too heavily on any one thing (note, this has nothing to do with my thoughts on faith or religion. That's a completely different discussion).
  


• Don't be a sheep
  High school is a pretty social place. Cliques are rampant. Many social activities are scheduled out. Students shuffle off to class together and everything happens according to routine. Things change in college, yet too many people want to continue acting like they're in high school.
  
  Don't do things just because everybody else is. Numbers don't always make something right. Instead, think for yourself. Take pride in being different, because it is often the courage of one person willing to go against the grain that make the most significant change.
  
  With everything that confronts you, think critically. Like I said earlier about labeling things as crap, make sure you understand what is going on before you follow the heard. Make sure it is something you would have done if you were by yourself and nobody could see you.
  
  The same can be said for integrity and ethics. I can think of too many groups or social constructs that cause people to think they can do atrocious things because everybody else does it. History and psychology experiments reveal the sad truth. However, the same things happen in college. Nobody needs to spend a night wrapped around a toilet, yet we have social constructs that encourage it.
  
  Don't be a sheep. Do things because they are right, not because they are popular.
  


• Now, find a group to join
  This seems an odd contradiction directly after the preceding point, yet humans are designed to be social creatures. We are generally wired to function in groups. In a practical perspective, this is useful because a group can do so much more than an individual ever could.
  
  This is related to a true appreciation of diversity. Diversity should be more than skin-deep, as is so popular to preach today. Diversity of thought is what I love to leverage, and a healthy social group will seek out diversity to make sure it can take advantage of each individual's uniqueness.
  
  Thus, as an individual, it would be beneficial for us to join groups so that we can learn to work with people and benefit from the diverse mix of skills, thoughts, emotions, cultures, languages, and so on. The important thing is to join a group that would make you a better individual than you could be on your own. Be sure that the reputation of the group is something you'd be proud to append to your own.
  


• Don't wait too long to be significant
  Thanks to Van Wilder, we love to say "don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive." I do agree with that, and I've learned a lot about being relaxed in the face of life's pressures. However, I've seen too many young people take this idea to the extreme.
  
  At what age do we become accountable to our community? How long is appropriate to wait before we're supposed to give back? How many years before "I'm still in college" is an excuse for wasteful and bad behavior?
  
  The rising popularity of college created this concept of "adolescence." It used to be that kids would quickly become adults when they turned 18, but now we have this period of adolescence where we throw any responsibility to grow up out the window until it's time to graduate. And yet, as graduation approached, I heard so many of my peers absolutely panicked to have to enter "the real world." Indeed, it is a daunting prospect, but why wait until the weeks before your graduation to think about how you will relate to the world around you?
  
  Don't wait too long to figure out who you are going to be. Learn to give back and be a significant individual why you are in college. It's actually kind of fun to do and you'll surprise a lot of people.
  


• Get involved in community service
  We have a surprising amount of talent compared to much of the need in the community and in the world around us. Yet, most of it goes to waste hidden within a college campus. Community service and social activism comes with a huge wealth of benefits and it is the appropriate and reasonable way to relate to the rest of the world. There is little reason to wait and see how you can contribute to the community, region, and world that gave you so much. We are a truly blessed people and we should learn to see how we can put our blessings to work. I also think this is a blast, and it is definitely worth looking into.
  

So that's all I have so far. If there is a point I missed or you think I'm way off, please leave a comment or shoot me a note. I'll check them all out and add them in before I make my presentation tomorrow.

Slides so far:

So does this mean I'm a grown-up?

Well folks, I graduated today!

PROOF: Exhibit A

Graduation took about as long as I expected, and it was one of those things for which I would have been more exciting had I not been so tired. Our guest speaker was a fairly interesting guy. Eugene H. Cordes has apparently been involved in UNL in a big way and has done some impressive things in the realm of biosciences and medicine. Perhaps over my head, but I was impressed nonetheless. He was granted an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. After being honored, he gave the commencement speech for my graduating class. Not bad for a day's work.

His speech was entitled "Learning Throughout Life," and he made repeatedly the point "never stop learning." While not entirely thrilling or overly inspiring, the man said some things I wholeheartedly agree with and that was encouraging. I liked his specific point about scientific literacy. He argues our tax dollars are funding government grants for things like research, medicine, and other scientific endeavors. If we paid for them, the information is ours. Thus, we should seek out and demand to learn the information, internalize it, and metabolize it. Yet, information moves and evolves quickly. Merely relying on what you learned in school doesn't keep you in touch. Thus, constant life-long learning is vital. He argued that we as a society could take advantage of all the progress made by various research committees by things as simple as learning physiology or basic pharmacology. We could learn to work with our doctors and have an active involvement in our own health care.

So yeah, the speech was both generic and specific, inspiring and vanilla, and about the last thing I paid attention to before I zoned out. Thankfully, my college got up first and filed through the ranks to get our diplomas. The rest of it was a waiting game.

I am now comfortably at my parents' house and will hang out here until it is time to move to Seattle.

Past experiences have taught me that I don't like being idle and to be idle at my parents' home is just a recipe for disaster. I stayed in touch with a high school teacher from Bellevue West over the past few years and we tossed around the idea of me coming back to speak to her senior classes. I've spoken to high school students a few times before, but it has been about 2 years and the age gap was never this pronounced.

Yet, I love talking to younger students and sharing experiences I had about growing up and succeeding in higher education while it is still fresh in my mind.

I think I'll want to spend time talking about commitment to the community and learning to give back by leveraging our gifts. I'll probably want to talk about being proactive in self-investment and not "waiting until I'm old enough" to start taking things seriously.

Now, I've heard the Van Wilder quote "don't take too seriously; you'll never make it out alive." I can kind of agree with that, and I have recently begun to verbalize the value of being relaxed about life while still being analytical and critical. Honestly, with the way my mind works, it's the only way I can live life without burning out.

However, I kind of have a small peeve regarding college kids thinking it's fine to continually excuse bad behavior, wastefulness, selfishness, and blah blah blah (I sound like an old man), citing "I'm too young to take this too seriously." Well, at what age do young people all of a sudden become useful, contributing members of society? Is college nothing more than an excuse to be a leech? I hope not.

So I'll try to withhold going too crazy, but those are among my more significant life lessons in college. Everything comes with balance. Self-investment in both work and leisure are important. Community service and caring for one's soul are also important.

So those are my starting ideas. Does anybody else have some thoughts on things you think new to-be-college students should hear?

Realizations Regarding Online Research

This will be brief, but I am reminded why I was taught to include a searchable alternative to any lengthy collection of text I put on the Internet. We break things up to be easier to read and to make better use of screen real estate. However, I'm going through some research on the Internet for a paper, and I know I saw an article that said something about IBM. However, most publishers paginate the information, limiting the effectiveness of my trusty Ctrl+F habits.

Alternative: continue publishing great information, but also include a link to an ugly long-text version so I can search it.

I want to be epic. Let's be epic

This past weekend was wonderful because I did close to nothing but meet with remarkable people and play music.

As school is wrapping up, the Raikes School had their corporate board meeting. I serve as a student representative on the board, so somehow that justified inviting me to a lot of the proceedings and I have to say I had a wonderful time. In my mind, it is really cool to see fascinating, intelligent, and successful people take interest in the progress of a small school in Lincoln, NE. In the back of my mind, I hear the voices of most Lincoln residents who would label us as elitist or something comparable. However, I am proud to say I was counted among people committed to ensuring the success of a generation emerging from higher education and into the workforce.

Most of the meeting was focused around various goals we have achieved over the last year and goals we should have for the future. Without spilling too much of the details, I am proud to see the leaders of the school pushing the group of students in the right direction.

Friday evening, my senior class was invited to the home of Jeff Raikes. First off: what a beautiful home he had. Often I discount Nebraska or the Midwest for having nothing other than flat and uninspiring landscapes. I was blown away by that spot outside of Ashland, NE. Superficial beauty aside, I was so impressed with the conversations I got to have with some of the more noteworthy guests there. I came away from the dinner inspired to do big things like what these people were doing with their lives. Jeff's involvement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the comments of others at my table for dinner reminded me that success means more than making a lot of money. I saw so much passion for each person's work at the table. I saw a passion for using one's talents and gifts to make the world a better place. I was somewhat starstruck, but perhaps it was the wine.

We also had a benefit concert on Saturday put on by various people within the worship team at church. That was pretty awesome as well, and I actually had a good time playing and singing for a crowd. I actually hadn't done that before. I have the recordings and I still maintain my overly self-critical positions, but I'm happy regardless. We surpassed all goals we had set for the semester and the event pushed us past $6,000 raised by a college group. I am thrilled.

If you'd like to read more about the causes we supported, you should check them out here.

Church on Sunday was beyond amazing. I haven't felt that honored to be a part of something in a long time, and I had an absolute blast playing guitar with the worship team. It was a bittersweet feeling knowing it would be the last time I would play there as a regular member of our team. However, seeing how God was glorified with our service that morning subdued any feelings of sadness I could have had. How can one be sad when such amazing things are happening in that group?

So, if there was one way I could sum up the last few days, I'd just have to say it was "epic." It was a weekend full of experiences that just blew me away with how much we are capable of doing with honorable work, passion and commitment.

This post originally started with me wanting to share a song. I've been listening to this about nonstop since last week. There's just something about the way Manchester Orchestra writes raw emotion into a song. I'm still picking through the lyrics and trying to glean some kind of meaning or significance from the song. Yet, I still just feel blown away every time I put a decent pair of headphones on and let the music envelop me for 6 minutes.


I've embedded the song, and hopefully Grooveshark cooperates, but the combination of all these experiences lately really makes me want be epic. I want to do something significant with my life. I want my life and my work to be used for something greater. I want the music I write to move people and to mean something.

Perhaps these are lofty goals. Yet, I'm at a major turning point in my life. I spent most of today working with the various moving companies to put dates to my final days in Nebraska. My desire is that I'd hit Seattle running at full steam and that I'd do something epic with my life. We'll see.