Review: Trust Agents

I just finished this book and for most of the people who follow this blog this post is going to be boring. Of course there's always the chance that I'll make it interesting with some quip about monkeys or something. So maybe you should read the whole review.

Why would I pick up a book like this? On the face of things this isn't the typical book that I read or review. First of all the I despise self help books and this is arguably a self help book. Second I usually read for fun and that, generally speaking, means fiction. Third, and perhaps most importantly, monkeys are funny. Just making sure you're all still reading.


Recently I decided that I had some skills with technology that I could share with the less tech-savvy folk out there. In making this decision I had to understand how I was going to offer up that help and get word out that I was available. Being something of a geek and enjoying immensely the use of my new (free) Google laptop, I decided to start a website that I would call my "business" and offer up my help as a Social Media Consultant. CnctNow (read: connect now) is born. The only problem now is that I don't have a reputation to leverage to make this venture successful or even useful. I began my search for social media professionals and advice on how to become a social media consultant. The result of this search revealed Chris Brogan. Reading some of his blog posts and seeing the way he treated the business of social media gave me some perspective. I noticed that he had written a book and the first chance I got I picked it up at my local library.

It took me a lot longer than normal to read this book. It's not that I didn't enjoy the book. On the contrary I enjoyed it more than I expected. It took some time to get through this book because there's really so much to digest in this book. It's not just a book about social media and how to build an internet identity. It is about being human and treating people like they are human. It's about creating a sense of community by being friendly, helpful, honest, and, the buzzword of the book, transparent. I learned a lot from this book and it helped point me in the right direction for how to build my reputation, identity and how to make my own game.

You don't have to want the same things as me or even be interested in social media or the internet to get something from this book. Those things are good but this book really transcends its intended audience of entrepreneurs and business leaders and becomes a guide on how to treat people and live a life of influence and usefulness. I encourage you to read this book and get back to me on your thoughts. If you made it this far into this post I think you deserve to have one more bit of entertainment. Wasn't it worth it?Image via Wikipedia

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Yesterday we went to a movie. Yup we didn't rent a movie, we actually went to a theater with four kids one of which celebrated his second birthday that very day. We had the whole experience. I ate too much popcorn and drank too much pop. That, however, is not what this post is about. We watched as you may have noticed by the title of this post Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was an awesome movie. We didn't watch it in 3D but it wouldn't have made the movie better. I have read the entire series of Chronicles of Narnia and enjoyed them very much. I have watched The Lion Witch & The Wardrobe as well as Prince Caspian and this one is easily the best of the three. I'm not going to suggest that the acting was better because it wasn't. The thing that made this one the best of the three is how closely it followed the book. I would normally not compare a movie to a book but in this case it couldn't be helped because they were so similar. C.S. Lewis was an incredible author and created one of the best fantasy worlds of all literature.
I loved the overt Christian theme and the awesome way that the world of Narnia came to life. Having read the book and now watching the movie I felt like I was having deja vu. The way the islands felt like I had visited them along side Caspian, Reepicheep, Edmund and Lucy was almost surreal. The snotty way that Eustace spoke and the humility that changed his very countenance after changing back from being a dragon.
I encourage all who haven't seen this to watch it as soon as you are able. It's not necessary to watch it on the silver screen because it's about the story and not the venue and the story is phenomenal. Remember that Aslan is with you always and remember he's just known by a different name in our world.  

Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card

This week I took my son to the library and we both got new library cards.  I helped him pick out some books to read and then I got some for me.  I picked up Hidden Empire for my entertainment and I wasn't disappointed.  Having read Empire by Orson Scott Card a couple of years ago I was excited to see the sequel to it and a little intrigued at how this near future/alternative reality sci-fi thriller would twist and turn.  The first novel was interesting because it dealt with the civil war that happens between Red States and Blue State and is ultimately resolved in a series of dramatic and heroic twists that leave you just a little hopeful for the world.  This book starts off with something just as tragic and perhaps more dreadful than Civil War.  A virus that has the potential to kill as much as half of the worlds population starts in Africa.  It is this virus that becomes the tool of bringing peace...that and war.  As the President in the story says ( and I'm sure he's quoting someone) "There is no road to peace that does not pass through war".  One thing that really surprised me was the use of Christianity in this book.  Historically speaking the Roman Empire was lost in large part to a plague that devastated the population and eventually led to Christians becoming the influencing factor in succeeding governments.  The reason given for their success is that they cared for each other through the plague and for their neighbors and because of that they died at a significantly lower rate than the non-Christians.  The Christians in this story act the same way and in doing so drop death rates from the virus from 30-50% down to 15% or lower.  This theme in the middle of the larger story is something that struck me as the purpose behind the novel.  Not the political story and not the similarities to world circumstances today but the theme of civilization existing on the backs of people willing to care for one another.  I'm not suggesting that Christians are the only ones that do that.  I'm simply saying that this book brings to light the real success of civilization and that is not the technology, the economy, the politics, it is the lives we share one with another.  Orson Scott Card in the end of this proposes an incredible moral dilemma and to me the answer was in the middle of the book and not in the ethics of political posturing for the benefit of mankind.  If you enjoy a political thriller on top of world class moral dilemmas with just the right twist of Science Fiction then this novel is for you.  If you don't care for those things I encourage you to read both books anyway because they are well written and the characters are worth caring about. 

Ugh...I'm sore.

So I started the P90X work out routine yesterday.  I started with the "Core Synergistics" workout and today I woke up very sore.  Yes...you'd expect a nearly obese man of my age to be sore after almost any workout...but this is my blog and I'll complain just as much as I deem necessary.
Last year just before our 10 year anniversary my wife and I did this workout together and we both lost quite a bit of weight.  After we got back we both sort of quit the workout and over the ensuing six months I put on most of the weight I lost.  That's what happens when you have a desk job and you don't do any exercise and don't adjust your diet to your sedentary lifestyle.  So less than a week into my diet and workout efforts I have lost two pounds.  Not bad for starters.
My experience with this workout is that it works.  I was impressed with how I could do the work outs week after week and not get bored.  I was impressed that Tony, the instructor, didn't get annoying with his cheesy puns and strange motivational tact.  The workouts are Tough with a capital T and invigorating / tiring sufficient to let you know you're accomplishing something every time.  The pounds will drop and the toning will come if you follow this workout program (including the diet...although I personally have my own diet to go in combination).  I have suggested this program to everyone who says they want to lose weight.  So now I'm suggesting this workout to literally everyone within the sound of my virtual voice.  Let P90X help you with your personal fitness goals and you'll succeed like you never have before.

P.S.  If you liked reading this post I would LOVE you forever if you clicked one of the sharing buttons below!

Kickin' it old school: "Clear and Present Danger"

I stayed up last night and watched "Clear and Present Danger" for the first time in quite a few years.  This show was first in the theaters in 1994 and at the time this suspense thriller was very modern.  Technologically speaking the show was contemporary and maybe even bleeding edge tech.  Watching it last night (late night) I was as much entertained by the tech as I was the great acting and the story.  Harrison Ford is a classy actor and he "is" Jack Ryan of the Tom Clancy series.  This intelligent series still is entertaining no matter how dated some things may be.

The monochrome "green" screens and the floppy discs were there and almost as entertaining were the "Star tac" cell phones.  It's amazing how far we've come.  The "floppy" discs have infinitely more capacity and are a fraction the size of the 1.44MB discs we put our word perfect documents on in the mid-'90s.  The screens generate millions of colors and we walk around with cell phones that have more computing capacity than the space shuttle.  To me it seems like the '90s just ended.  With over 15 years passed since this movie was first screened it's astonishing to see just how far we've come.  Still I'm entertained immensely by this movie because the story is compelling and the acting nearly flawless.  I dare not burden you with the recap since most of you have seen it...but I will encourage you to watch it again and wonder at the awesomeness of technological progress.