Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Okay, I'm back.

Last week was pretty crazy: in addition to my normal two nights at school, I also worked late two nights, and then we spent the weekend on day trips to visit each others' in-laws. Special mention to my lovely wife for driving both days during daylight to allow me to study for my test this week in the car. She's especially gracious in doing so as she is jealous of my ability to read while traveling in the car; she gets carsick.

So some of the things that I wanted to talk about last week: First, a special recognition to Ken for doing an awesome job presenting a concert in the gallery on the 30th. He read about a blind busker who was trying to do a cross-country busking tour in order to raise money for seeing-eye dog training. This excited Ken's imagination, and so he called the artist and arranged to have him perform a charity concert in our venue. The audience was small but appreciative, and they raised a couple of hundred dollars for the charity, which certainly perked up the artist.

For my own efforts, I worked on trying to reduce negative actions and going extra steps from time to time. So instead of being silent in class, I contributed to discussions, and when I was dominating the conversation, I stopped to let others speak. It's a weird thing for me. I normally like to stay in the background, but at the same time, I just can't let the instructor hang there waiting for someone to speak. And once I get going, I find that I enjoy being a part of the discussion, so there you go.

I still prefer my quiet alone time to recharge my batteries.

So I have some other things that I've done over the past week, and I'm kind of embarrassed to be proud of them. Posting to a blog that I haven't been as passive-aggressive or unwilling to do a little extra at my job doesn't exactly come across as an accomplishment. But I have to acknowledge that I have been trying to improve my outlook and my commitment to helping people, and I'm seeing some effects from that.

That said, we come to today's cliche:

Admitting that you have a problem is the first step in solving it.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I Haven't Forgotten

Just a quick update to say that this has been a crazy week, but I haven't forgotten or given up.

There have been a couple of things that I've done, but to talk about them in this forum would embarrass the persons involved.

I'll take a quick moment to mention that Ken at work did a great job promoting a charity fundraiser for a blind street musician, and his efforts raised over $200 for the Seeing Eye Dog Foundation.

That's all for today; I'll try to get a true update tomorrow.

js.