The Reinvention --A New Web Presence

stevegammill.com

About six months ago, I began to seriously consider modifications to my internet presence. I had a website, two blogs, a couple of other features through Google, an E-Magazine, a podcast site and a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Nothing was particularly coordinated plus I had different logos on various sites. 


Fortunately, much earlier I had used a professional, Vickie Collier, to help me write the header for my Blog. That was a major plus and showed me what professionals could do for my ideas. Soon, those baby steps began to morph into an entire “reinvention” plan.


The first step was to rebrand myself. With the help of a graphic designer and webmaster guru, Casey Winterbower of NIMBLL, I designed and adopted  a new logo, coupled it with a new branding masthead (keeping Vickie’s language) and put that up on my blog and podsite. By now you are likely used to seeing that new look.


Then I tackled creating an entire new website. Even with Casey’s help, that turned out to be a learning experience, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, I was able to launch the new site on Tuesday, April 17th. That is still a very exciting event for me and I invite you all to take a look and then, hopefully, take the time to provide some feedback. So far, I’ve received some very positive input, some of which I will be adding to the site in the near future.


Here is some of my thinking on site design for any who may want to learn from my experience.


As an interesting aside, I accidentally misspelled the word “library” on the home page. It was unintentional, but if I had it to do over, I would deliberately misspell it.  It caught the attention of many who pointed it out. Likely I would never have known a person even saw the site if they hadn’t been driven to point out the spelling mistake. That was pure (unintentional) genius on my part.


The site is not designed to attract browsers; it is designed to provide information to someone who already wants to learn more about me and what I do. Thus, the text is designed to let some people select out. I don’t really want tire kickers contacting me.


I also tried to use less text, more white space, more photos, some audio and video including a slideshow. That approach is more apparent on the home page than on the informational pages, but my best critic, Jan, tells me that my home page still contains too much busyness. The video was produced by Ken Dravis of Aspen Leaf Productions.


I plan to make revisions to the site fairly frequently and so I value your suggestions. Do you think the overall site is too wordy? Is it understandable and does it communicate me? What else?


Thanks for taking the time to look it over.

My First Job

Here’s a great idea. The next time you are sitting with a small group of people, maybe a family gathering, maybe a get acquainted dessert with neighbors, or a birthday party, try this party game.


Ask the question, “What was your first job and what do you remember about it that causes it to come to mind when you hear that question?”


Often, the job they will tell about isn’t the first one, but a more memorable one from their early years. A paper route is a frequent example and is filled with wonderful recollections if you allow the story teller the uninterrupted time to tell it all.


 Lay down the ground rules.


• Think of your experience, usually the first one that comes to mind
• Tell the story in as much elaboration as you want
• No one else can interrupt or look like they are bored, even if they are!
• The story teller can have as much time as he/she wants, but is limited      to one story per turn
• When the story is over as announced by the teller, move on to the next person in the circle. Often it is better to go in order rather than asking for volunteers.
• Name someone in the group to facilitate the event. For example, if the teller responds with two or three bullet point answers to the question and doesn’t begin to “break into song” (tell the story), the facilitator will ask her to think back and tell us what  she remembers about it that causes her to choose that particular event.


Here’s my own example. I didn’t actually think of my first job (the paper route I got because my dad was the managing editor of the local paper when I was about 11). I thought of my first filling station job when I was probably 16. I knew the local Skelly station was looking for an employee to pump gas and do all else that happened in a gas station in 1956. Johnny Groff was the owner’s name and his Skelly Station was on a corner in Security, a suburb of Colorado Springs, Colorado.


I walked up and asked for the job. Johnny asked me if I knew how to grease a car. I snorted. Of course! I’m a sixteen year old man and, well, of course! He hired me. Fortunately, he had to leave the premises for an errand. I strolled over to another guy who had been working there awhile. I didn’t know him from Adam, but I urgently pled, “Hey, show me how to grease a car.”


He did and I was fine. That actually started a career that lasted through my freshman year in college at Colorado State College in Greeley (now Northern Colorado University). I even “managed” one in that I opened, closed, and made the bank deposits at age 19, I think.


It’s a good story, made better by age. Give it your own try.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

And, do we care? I blogged  recently on my opinion that we can’t trust national and local media to provide factual truth and so we’re left dangling to create our own. I’ve been called on that, not so much on that statement, but on my “brush being too broad.” True and honest journalists go to great lengths to research and fact-check their publications. Truth is critical to them.


A good friend of mine, the one who called me out on this (she was responding to an email from me that claimed our general public, including me, is simply too ignorant and too lazy to dig beyond the talking heads on the evening national news), finally ended up saying, 


“There is an amazing study that just came out from University of Michigan or Minnesota,(I) can't remember, that shows that very thing: In most cases, even when presented with cold hard facts that disprove the dumb perspectives that people believe, they will still hold on to their dumb perspectives. It’s a phenomenon called ‘Backfire’…. Not all people, but most people when they are hell bent on believing something, no matter how wrong they are and no matter how solid the evidence against their belief, will dig in even deeper to defend their wrong beliefs... A very interesting species we are indeed!!!!”


She, incidentally, authored an article on the op-ed page of our local newspaper’s Sunday edition that came out of this email exchange. And, then she provided me a blog article that included this quote from Harry Frankfurt, author of On Bullshit (PDF):


“Bullshitters aim primarily to impress and persuade their audiences, and in general are unconcerned with the truth or falsehood of their statements.”


Stephen Colbert has said, “truthiness means the quality by which one purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or intellectual examination…and is a more effective political tool than truth.”


And so, I conclude that the question, “what is truth” may be an irrelevant question.  


What do you think?   Please respond by appending your thoughts to this post as a comment. It will encourage more comments I think.

Big Banks and Oil Speculators-What’s Wrong with this Picture?

My Turn to Rant.

But first this disclaimer: Like many of us, I take a lot of my information from the broadcast media, a group not famous for its credibility. The persons behind the desk of the media, and their employers are entertainers disguised as journalists and reporters. But with this disclaimer said, I am hoping to encourage comments and some discussion with this Rant including your opinion that I am being too simplistic. 


First, some facts as gleaned over time from CBS, NBC, ABC and, believe it or not, even FOX and PBS.  And I use the word facts guardedly because all of these sources arrogantly broadcast their opinions as fact, but without any disclosure of that. So I am accepting that the broadcast media is reporting fact even though I am highly skeptical of that assumption.


• Gasoline prices are very high
• Some of that can be traced to the unsettled mid east, especially Iran
• Most of it can be traced to speculators in commodities and the investment businesses
• Those speculators are either unregulated or irrelevantly regulated
• Those speculators are making tons of money with the gasoline purchasing public paying the price
• Big banks are among the investors making money in the oil futures market
• Big banks are making record profits and hoarding cash
• Big banks are reluctant to lend to small business owners
• Big banks borrow significant sums from the Federal Government at extremely low interest rates
• Big banks purchase Government securities (bonds) which pay a return substantially higher than the interest charged by the Government when the banks borrow from it.
• Big banks make a, literally, huge profit off of this loan exchange  
• Big banks make a, literally, huge profit off of their oil and gas speculation.
• Those who pay income and capital gain tax in this Country are footing the bill for all of that profit


Do I have my facts wrong here?  Am I just an average joe being simplistic and buying media hype?


If no, then what’s wrong with this picture? My conclusion is that here we see the “haves” increasing their “have” at the expense of the rest of us who are struggling to make ends meet and gain employment. We’re in a recovery stage from an extremely devastating recession, caused at least in part by these same “self love above all else” people who claim purity and innocence by reminding us of the “free market – survival of the fittest” justification arguments. There is no apparent moral consideration, at least as some of us define morality. The line seems to be, “I am not my brother’s keeper.” And, of course, there’s always “trickle down.”  Best I can remember, very little ever trickles down. That may even be an established fact by now, rather than a media fact.


Many Republican politicians point their finger of shame directly at the President when it comes to the not-so- calm discussion over energy prices. Of course, this is an election year, but, I understand from both the mainstream broadcast media and from Fox News  that these very same, identical, individual politicians and pundits (even including Bill O’Reilly) proclaimed during the Bush era and also, believe it or not, during the early months of Obama’s administration ( I am told it included O’Reilly), that no president could ever possibly control energy or the price thereof to the public.




So, please, chime in. What’s wrong with this picture? Even you tea partiers can be heard if you do it with kindness. 

Technology Made Simple

Here’s a story to enjoy. That’s the reason for this blog in the whole first place.


I know this younger woman, a good friend of mine, who has had a basic Windows PC for years, plus a smart phone that will sync with it.  She enjoys her PC and uses it mostly for email communication, collecting and organizing contact information for people she needs to stay in touch with, collecting, storing and organizing her many, many photos and videos (mostly of her grandchildren), and exchanging recipes with people. 


But the times they are a changin’.


Recently she’s discovered the ease and convenience of looking up an something on the internet just by “googling” a word or a question or an idea. Wowie-kerflowie! Will wonders never cease. Well, it didn’t take long for her husband to decide  “we” needed one of those Tablets thingies. After some study, they settled on an Apple iPad. Now that’s snaz. If you don’t believe it, you haven’t seen it.


She loves it! I hear her husband saying “she” loves it.  He doesn’t recall how they lost the “we” part of the project. (Actually, he loves it, too.) Now, she’ll tell you she’s no geek or techie. But the next thing that happened is both she and her husband sort of lost confidence in their smart phones at about the same time. (They’ve had them just over two years.) Her smart phone was available for upgrade-- his was not quite yet. So, she bought—you guessed it—an iPhone. She loves it!, especially after learning from a 16 year old friend how to install and use…THE CLOUUUD. Now that part is truly cool. (If I ever get into the CLOUUUD, I’ll probably never leave. Talk about awesome.)


Well, soon thereafter, she and her husband began to see that her old Windows PC was acting up and responding slowly, etc, etc…. She now has a Mac Mini. What does she think of that? Well, she’s having some difficulties (learning curve?) with the Cloud. It’s not syncing like it did before the Mac Mini was inserted into the picture, she’s lost ALL of her notes (that’s an “app” that she was really learning to love), and there is more than a little difficulty downloading photos from her phone. But she loves it!!


Her husband has not seen her have this much fun yet this kind of frustration—ever. And, at one point he did tell her that in their sixteen plus years of marriage he’d never seen her so angry. My friend and her husband are actually having a blast with this. Husband is nearly ready to convert his equipment, but not quite yet…

The Fight for Our Lives

When I look at my own life, do I see the good wolf in me? Is my life “outward” looking and focused toward others? 
Or do I see that bad wolf in me? Is my life one of self, of self  focus, of “me first and maybe even only?” 


I heard old Indian wisdom tale the other day. I heard if from John Warnick who heard it from Scott Farnsworth who heard if from Lori Denison, who heard it from…. 


It is the story of a Cherokee grandfather who is trying to teach his young grandson an important life lesson. Here is how that story goes: 


"A fight is going on inside me," the Cherokee elder said to his grandson. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves." 


"One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." 


"The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith." 


"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too." 


The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather which wolf would win.

The Cherokee elder replied, "The one you feed" 

The Three Red Marbles

"Our days are numbered. One of the primary goals in our lives should be to prepare for our last day. The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives. What preparations should we be making now? The greatest waste in all of our earth, which cannot be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time that God has given us each day.”—Billy Graham

The Three Red Marbles story is one I heard from John A. Warnick. He didn’t personally experience it but  he tells it so well that I have simply quoted him nearly verbatim below.
John A. says:


I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, ragged but clean, hungrily surveying a basket of freshly picked green peas. 


I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the grocery store owner) and that small boy next to me. 


"Hello Jimmy, how are you today?" 

"H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya." 


"How's your Ma, Jimmy?" 


"Doin’ better Sir.  Gittin' stronger alla' time." 


"Good. Anything I can help you with?" 


"No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas." 


"Would you like to take some home?" asked Mr. Miller. 


"No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with." 


"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?" 


"All I got's my prize marble here." 


"Is that right? Let me see it" said Miller. 


"Here 'tis. She's a dandy." 


"I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?" the store owner asked. 


"Not zackley but almost . . .";


"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble", Mr. Miller told the boy. 


"Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller." 


I moved to the check-out counter where Mrs. Miller, who had noticed me absorbing the dialogue between Jimmy and her husband, proudly said, "There are two other boys like Jimmy in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Tom just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store." 


I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with Tom Miller’s compassion. A short time later I moved to Colorado but as the years passed I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles. 


Last summer I returned to that Idaho community for a family reunion and learned that Mr. Miller had died.  Several members of my family were going to the visitation.  So I went along to pay my respects to this fine man.  Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to greet Mrs. Miller and offer whatever words of comfort we could. 


Ahead of us in line I noticed three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts . . . all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, who was standing by her husband's casket.  Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved next to the open casket. 


I noticed that one by one, each young man stopped, briefly placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket, then moved on to leave the mortuary, wiping his eyes. 


As Mrs. Miller greeted my relatives and then me, I reminded her of that story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she led me to the casket.   "Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Tom "traded" them.  Now, at last, when Tom could not change his mind about color or size . . . they came to pay their debt." 


"We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world," she confided, "but right now, Tom would consider himself the richest man in Idaho."   With loving gentleness she lifted his lifeless fingers. Resting underneath were three shiny red marbles.