In my last season our coach finally convinced us that staying in our positions was much smarter than huddling around the ball.  We went from never winning to finishing 2nd place in the league with nothing more than a simple attitude adjustment.

Fast forward to high school and after playing and starting in football I decided to switch back to soccer.  Unfortunately I was forced to quit early due to a foot injury.  It appeared my soccer days were over (either that or I really should’ve stuck with football).

Fast forward again to my military career and an intramural league.  Because I was one of the few players on any team that was familiar with the sport I was a star player (given the amount of beer we drank when we weren’t playing actually just being able to run more than 10 feet made you a star in that league).  I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the footwork had stuck with me though.

Fast forward (next to last jump I promise) to last year.  My daughter decided to play soccer.  I was ecstatic because it meant I wouldn’t have to fight to stay awake at softball games.  Also, since I had played soccer on and off I thought it was great that I could share that with her.  Unfortunately her coach left a lot to be desired such as organizational skills, training skills, physical stamina, and knowledge of the actual game.  We had our first game before this guy even set the kids up for a scrimmage.  They had absolutely no clue what the game was about.  I volunteered to assist but he was so disorganized he didn’t know what we would do next in practice.  Every time I’d ask he would start frantically thumbing through printouts.  It was a disaster.  I decided late last year that my daughter would not have another coach like that.

So as the way overused saying goes “If you want something done right do it yourself”.  I decided I wanted to try my hand at coaching.  While my wife was working with the Parks and Rec to get my daughter registered for the season she also found out they were collecting coaches applications.  Not sure whether or not I stood a chance of being selected being a relative stranger to the Parks and Rec folks I still wanted to throw my name in the hat.  Amazingly (to me anyway) I was selected!  I do think Gardner Parks and Rec should apologize to my current employer because for a few minutes after receiving the e-mail my productivity was shot:)

So now my lunch time consists of coffee (absolutely no surprise to anybody who knows me) and reviewing various sources of information on coaching.  I already have a central web site set up for the team (where I will start up a team blog and see how that goes:) ), have downloaded training plans and drill definitions, and of course pictured myself leading a bunch of happy kids through the season.

I better get back to my day job but on future lunch breaks I’ll be posting more updates on my adventures as “Coach Smith”.  Also, if you have any tips for first time coaches like myself please send me a message (or two).

“Prior to your previous email regarding your Compensation Claim, I am writing to inform you…”

Did these folks invent time travel? They are writing me now which (in their words) is happening before my previous message. If you think about this too hard you might get a headache.

The letter then states I will be receiving $2.8 million dollars. To quote a line from The Dave Chapelle Show “I’m rich biatch!!!”

Then comes this profound statement:

“You are your Name, Address, City, State, Zip Code, Country and Telephone Number(s)”.

Is that anything like “You are what you eat”? Also, why did they stop there? Oh that’s right, asking for an SSN would make it *way* too obvious it’s a scam!

Finally, in order to get my money I need to e-mail all of the above info to UPS so they can send my check. I’m supposed to mail it to “ups-shipment@excite.co.uk”. UPS (a multi-billion dollar corporation) apparently can’t afford their own server. Maybe I’ll give them some of my 2.8M to get them one.

So “Melinda White (Commissioner United Nations Compensation Commission)” gets the Knucklehead of the Week award for not even trying to create a believable scam. Hopefully that’s the most he or she ever gets from that message!

Actually, my daughter finds this and other games through a site called PrimaryGames so that site will get first mention here.

Primarygames is a great site for playing free games for kids of all ages (it has some classic 80s arcade games for nostalgic adults). There are lots of games with hidden educational value as well as some that are just for fun. If you have a Wii console it also works well on the Internet Channel.  I found that with a little positioning of the screen the gameplay using the Wii was just as smooth as playing any other Wii game.  In this sense it may be the preferred method to visit the site as sometimes a PC will hang up momentarily (I suspect the ads off to the side may be the culprit).

There are a lot of unique puzzle games as well as a few twists on Tetris (that game was as addictive for me as Farmville is for most people today). Never thought I would be staying up late playing kids games but I had to beat “Blox Forever”. The games on this site are better than anything I’ve seen on Facebook and given the amount of time people waste on Facebook games this site is well worth checking out.  Plus, unless you manually do it you won’t be flooding your friends with status updates on achieving level 99.

Now on to the extremely short review of Monkey Go Happy 2. This game is actually a collection of mini games such as duck shoot, wac-a-mole, and other carnival type games. Most of the mini-games require only the directional arrows, space bar, and mouse (or touchpad) so even little ones can play. This game definitely falls under the “just for fun” category since there is little educational value.

As an added bonus there is also a little monkey watching you play. While you are playing the monkey is crying. Once you complete each game the monkey “goes happy” with a wide grin and dance. While the monkey’s happy dance was a reward in itself the even bigger prize for me was my daughter’s laughter. It made my smile rival the monkey’s (no happy dance for me though…I have no rhythym).

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Using my psychic powers (like the ones Dionne Warwick’s friends claimed to have) I will guess your reaction(s) to the title:

1. “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I’ve heard that before.”

and/or

2. “That’s easier said than done.”

If so then we both are absolutely correct (and I am going to explore a new career field)! There are several fitness experts out there with great advice and several gadgets that can help you. However, nothing can help you without first eliminating the negative attitude.

As I wrote before back in 2006 I was rapidly approaching 300 pounds. Each day I felt I had less energy than the day before. With a very young child and an incredible workload at the office I often felt twice my age.

I would see these fitness experts giving really good advice but I wouldn’t listen. I figured they were probably fit all of their lives and that I couldn’t possibly relate to them. Therefore whatever worked for them wouldn’t work for me. Whenever a new fitness guru burst on the scene I too had a reaction of “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I’ve heard that before.” The only thing truly stopping me from achieving my goals was my own attitude. Once I decided to eliminate that attitude I saw results: 90 pounds lost in 1 year.

Whatever it takes for you to get rid of this attitude DO IT. If you think you can’t tell me why and then I will tell you why you’re wrong. Then you can listen to the fitness experts and get moving.

As for “easier said than done” that’s obvious. It was a LOT easier for me to say “sure I’d like to run the full marathon” than it was to actually run it. I think too often in trying to portray fitness as fun and rewarding (which it is) experts often gloss over the hard parts. Injuries or just plain sore muscles are going to happen. They will also go away. The feeling of accomplishment will stays. Even though I could barely walk for 2 days after finishing the marathon I look forward to running it again. The sense of accomplishment outweighed the soreness. Or maybe I am just too prone now to focus on the positive:)

As for the picture it is a roadblock I encountered biking that almost shortened my ride. However, having a mountain bike has its advantages and I was able to ride through some fields to find another safe place to cross. I didn’t let a train stand in the way of my fitness goals…don’t let yourself stand in the way of yours.

First, the work hard part. Unless you live in a cave or are fortunate enough to be independently wealthy you know companies are big on doing more with less. This not only requires that each employee does work that used to be belong to (4) employees but that they must also push themselves harder to learn new skills.  For example, in the IT industry (which I am hoping to break into after spending years in the dwindling telecom industry) there used to be a division between programmers and network engineers. Not anymore…these functions have been combined. In fact, further consolidation in IT has these folks doing more telecom engineering as well (wait…that’s my job). Of course I use this example because it hits close to home for me but across all industries this is happening. While it would be tempting to be negative about it I just look at this as an opportunity to learn new things and push myself harder.  Nothing wrong with that.

Now for the play hard part. A lot of people deal with this stress by hitting the bar after work. Not only does this create additional problems for them but also for others who have to pick up their slack when they called in “sick” the next day.  I know this from experience -  several times I had to get involved in co-workers projects while they recovered from partying or fill in for them while they felt it necessary to sneak out Friday afternoon to catch a movie.  It almost drove ME to drink:)  (By the way, before I start to sound too negative or even better let me add that I was privileged enough to work with some great colleagues…as well as the not so great ones:) .)

I have a much better definition of playing hard – exercise. Nothing relieves stress better than a nice 6 (or 3 or 2 etc.) mile run. Add strength training and you’ll be living stress free (well, almost:) ).  Also, engaging in a fitness program can help build skills valuable to your career such as:

1. Setting goals and achieving them.

Setting goals and achieving them at a bar (“I’m going for at least a 12 pack tonight.”) is sad really. There is no sense of achievement there…only a hangover which doesn’t help with stress at all nor does it prepare you for future career challenges. I don’t think anybody has felt capable of beating an expedited deadline after an all-nighter.

However, setting and achieving fitness goals can do wonders for your career.  Nothing relieves stress better and prepares you to work harder the next day than some intense exercise.  Have a bad day at the office?  Go for a run.  You’ll lose that angry feeling (especially when your realize you just ran faster than you ever have before).  You can then show up at the office the next day filled with energy rather than dread.

2. Project Management

If everything could be accomplished in an hour or less nobody would need project management skills. Obviously this is not true and the biggest achievements require strong project management skills.  Let’s say you start out with a fairly lofty and long term fitness goal such as my goal a couple years ago: lose 90 pounds in a year.  That has to be a long term goal (unless you can get yourself on ‘The Biggest Loser”) which requires research, planning, progress tracking, and execution.  Sounds pretty much like the steps required of project managers doesn’t it?

3. Leadership

Too often when working as part of a team in a day job many people may not feel able to push others to achieve the group goal.  However it is a requirement in fitness (why else on every movie or TV show involving fitness training do you see one person yelling at another?).  Find a way to translating this method of “leadership” into your professional life and you will get results.

This does not mean playing “the boss” and shouting orders at everybody.  For example, as an engineer I was not the direct supervisor of anyone yet I was still required to lead them on projects.  Since it was not my place (nor my style) to shout orders at my colleagues I tried to convey my determination to meet any request to them and my optimism that it could be done.  That approach must have worked pretty well – I was by far the most productive engineer in the group and became the “go to” guy for high priority rush projects.

4. Building Self Confidence

I would argue that nothing can build self confidence more than achieving fitness goals.  The reason is that although achieving career goals at work is rewarding you have to rely on contributions from other folks.  Sure, your self confidence will get a boost but not nearly as big as accomplishing something entirely on your own. This mainly has to do with the fact that unless you are extremely narcissistic you have to acknowledge that without the efforts of the team you would never accomplish anything.  For example, as a engineer I would often receive praise or receive instant cash awards for finishing a rush project on time.  However, I never felt entirely satisfied and often felt guilty about receiving them.  After all, if I hadn’t had the opportunity to work with so many awesome colleagues the projects never would have been completed.

Whether you work out on your own or in a group ultimately your success is dependent upon only one person – YOU.  Unlike work, if you are having a bad day nobody else can pitch in and work a little extra hard to help you out.  This discourages many people who incorrectly believe they don’t have the discipline it takes to get fit.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  If you don’t have difficulty walking to the fridge to grab a snack then you will not have any problems getting fit.

5. Networking

Although I exercise alone I have still had the opportunity to meet people.  For example, when I set out to lose 90 pounds in a year or less as folks noticed my progress I found more of them introducing themselves to me.  So although the discussions had nothing to do with my career accomplishments I gained respect from them.   In a few instances when I later would have to collaborate with some of these folks they already saw me as somebody who can get things done.  In that year my professional network expanded greatly.

Also, participating in events allows you to meet new people.  When I ran in the Kansas City Marathon last October I had plenty of time (since I am by no means a fast marathon runner) to talk.  Although in this particular event I did not meet anybody that would be directly beneficial to my career goals the number of people I even had a small conversation with proved this can be a valuable networking tool.

Hopefully I have provided you with more reasons to start (or maintain) a fitness program and also demonstrate how fitness can benefit your career as well.  Most people believe exercise is strictly a recreational activity and that the key to success at work is to stay long hours and run themselves into the ground.  Nothing could be farther from the truth though.  Yes, you do have to find a way to make time for everything but that’s just another goal to feel good about accomplishing:)

On the way home from a big Thanksgiving dinner with family I decided it would be fun to stop by the nearest Toys R Us and participate in some Black Friday midnight madness. My daughter has been wanting a Zhu Zhu pet for quite some time. We were going to be passing right by a Toys R Us anyway and the first 100 families get one. Since our daughter was spending the weekend with her granparents this appeared to be too good of an opportunity to paas up. After all, how hard could this be?

For a little bit of perspective our daughter has made it relatively easy for my wife and I on Christmas.  Up until this year the toys she really wanted were not on any “Hottest Toy of the Year” list.  We never had to worry about hitting early bird sales or fighting anybody to get what she wanted.  Therefore I had no prior experience with Black Friday shopping which explains my naiveté.

My optimism was quickly dashed when we arrived at the store.  Given that folks usually show up at least an hour before store openings like this I knew we were too late to be one of the first (we arrived about 15 minutes prior to opening).  However I was gambling that all of the Thanksgiving turkey had everybody sleeping that night.  I was wrong.  Traffic around the store was a mess. I dropped my wife off as close to the store as I could so she could get in line.  After fighting traffic (never fun but especially not at midnight) I was finally able to park and run over to the store. Here is the sight that greeted me when I arrived:

Front of Toys R Us by the Time I Got There

It may be hard to see but the actual line had formed off towards the back of the photo and stretched past the parking lot and down an access road (total length of the line was approximately 3 blocks).  The people directly in front of me were either just watching the action or planning to cut in line (which by the way I learned later is a violation of Olathe city ordinance).  Also not visible is the line of police officers up against the doors (apparently Olathe takes their line cutting ordinance very seriously).

What I did not know at the time was that my wife was surrounded by the group of “line cutters” fairly close to me.  When the doors opened she got caught up the crowd that was pushing past all of the other people in line.  Of course tempers flared and small skirmishes broke out.  A little old lady even slammed her cart into my wife’s heel which was a bit uncalled for.  Isn’t being forced to break a city ordinance by the crowd surrounding her bad enough?

I realized I had no chance of snagging Mr. Squiggles so I walked around the line taking pictures.  As I walked toward the back of the line people looked at me as if to say to me “why bother…the store will be empty by the time you get in”  As I walked back toward the front I got dirty looks (apparently I looked like a line cutting ordinance violator).  One individual actually made a snide remark to me as I walked forward (and away from them).  I reacted by turning and staring them down (I was too tired to engage in conversation).  It was amazing how this person’s big mouth suddenly snapped shout at that point.  To give you an idea of just how far the line extended here is the view from the back of the line:

The Back of the Line

Meanwhile, my wife was using Twitter to report what was going on inside while dodging parents behaving poorly (ramming carts into each other, dumping whole shelves of toys into their carts, and using plenty of “sentence enhancers”).  I was trapped outside feeling both helpless and left out.  After all, this was probably my only shot at ever playing bumper carts.  I did briefly talk to her while she was inside and it sounded like fun (if you consider absolute mayhem fun that is).  At that instant the song “Kung Fu Fighting” was stuck in my head where it would stay throughout the weekend (catchy song).

Once reality set in that all the good toys were long gone the folks standing in that nearly 2000 person deep line people calmed down and started being friendly again.  I felt like I was surrounded by a bunch of Jekyll and Hydes.  I think at that moment folks began to realize how absurd their previous angry behavior was and were trying to make up for it with kindness.  I have to say I definitely admired them for their devotion to their children (except for the little old lady who slammed my wife with a cart…you are old enough to know better).

Sunday 11/29/09

Toys R Us advertised that they would have Zhu Zhu Pets for the first 50 customers so I found myself standing in line at 6am for the store opening.  This time my wife stayed home recovering from her cart injury. It was MY turn to play bumper carts (FINALLY).  Unfortunately (for me) everybody there with me was behaving like adults and laughing so I didn’t get a chance to smash carts into anybody.  However, I did get to hear stories from all of these Black Friday veterans about similar incidents happening at other places which was sort of a consolation prize.  In return for my sacrificing sleep on a weekend I was awarded with Mr. Squiggles AND an accessory.  No fighting, no slamming carts, and no sentence enhancers on this trip.

I wanted to share this story both to show how crazy people really can be and also to demonstrate my basic attitude on everything.  I set a goal: get Mr. Squiggles.  I put forth some effort to get it done (of course my wife did as well).  I achieved my goal. If you know what you want and are willing to work to get it good things will happen to you:

Here he is heading home with me

While many people tend to think a blog or web site tend to benefit only those with careers (or aspiring careers) in journalism or graphic design I (now) disagree.

I am a telecom network engineer by trade. I have spent my career designing cutting edge networks. The networks I set up helped disaster relief efforts, created the GPS constellation of satellites, and made my civilian employers a lot of money. I never actually got to be a user on these networks but I did accumulate an impressive list of acronyms for my career portfolio: ATM, IP, DWDM, SONET, and MPLS among others.

After spending all day at work in front of a computer creating system drawings, equipment diagrams, and technical specifications the last thing I wanted to do at home was sit in front of a computer. (If you want to know what I do like to do on my own time take a look at my fitness posts). Therefore, I never actually got to experience as a user the technologies I was deploying.

That changed when my engineering group took an especially large hit in what had become an annual tradition since 2001. I was fortunate enough to receive a decent voluntary separation package so I looked at crossing into a new industry – several years of layoffs was quite enough. I decided to to get deeper into IT and become an IT network engineer.

Having been out of the job search game for a decade I was more than a little rusty on current trends in job search. As I read more and more career advice one theme emerged: an online presence is essential. The first (and perhaps quickest) way was to establish a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, Naymz, Ziggs, and Visualcv which of course I did. The next thing I heard repeatedly was start a blog which I also did (as evidenced by the page you are staring at now:) ).

At first I looked at the blog as strictly a promotional tool….an online billboard more or less. I started a hosted blog on WordPress.com but for somebody like me who likes to see HOW things work it was a little boring. However, for those who want to put together a nice blog for free it is excellent. I also noticed many of the network engineer positions I wanted included the terms PHP and SQL which I also saw in books I was reading to learn more on blogging. Suddenly my “billboard” could become a job training tool.

After trying several free web site hosting options I decided to buy my own domain. In order to dig further into the code and have more control I moved my blog over to my new corner of the web. Being able to remotely manipulate servers (or at least my space on one) and dig further into the code has been fun AND educational.

As a result, I have been compelled to write more often which I hope will reverse the years of damage to my grammar caused by communicating via e-mails and IMs. Yet another added bonus!

I am now learning how to put together a website to serve as a career portfolio. Another opportunity to dig into HTML and learn while at the same time gain more exposure to employers.

Even though I have no intention of becoming a professional writer or “social media expert” starting a blog has already had several career benefits. Regardless of what industry you are in the next time somebody tells you to start a blog or career portfolio web site listen to them. Take it from a former skeptic who used to believe social media and blogs accomplished nothing more than killing time.

During one of my recent 10 mile runs a light bulb snapped on in my head and I came up with a great idea to help others. Listed below is the patent pending process I used to come up with this plan:

Step 1: Identify the “What”
First I had to figure out who I wanted to help the most. The first charities that came to mind were Harvester’s International and Children’s Miracle Network (CMN).

I had joined my wife and her coworkers for Harvester’s “Day of Caring” late last year. They had a brief presentation with some surprising stats (for example a large portion of the food donated goes to children). Whatever opinions you may have about their parents having to rely upon such assistance I don’t think anybody could justify their children having to suffer.

However, I felt a somewhat closer connection to Children’s Miracle Network. My daughter was born premature but other than being small was fine. However some of her fellow NICU patients were not. I still remember the faces of one little girl’s parents. Their daughter apparently was not doing as well as mine and I could see the emotional roller coaster they were on each time I passed them.

Also, I noticed there weren’t too many CMN fundraisers in Kansas City this year so the scales were tipped in favor of CMN. If my idea is a success and raises enough donations I may add Harvester’s in later.

Step 2: Identify the “How?”
For the rest of that run and the next couple a plan came together. Remember the old school fundraiser methods used a long, long time ago (the 1980s)? As a kid whenever there was a charity run/walk I used to go to everybody I knew with a sheet asking them to pledge a certain amount per distance interval.

Shazam!!! I could do that now too. However, thanks to the marvels of modern technology I no longer have to go door to door nor do I have to orchestrate a large gathering of people. This site will be the central resource for information and Twitter/Facebook/e-mail updates will keep everybody informed. I will upload and share with everybody the GPS data thanks to my Garmin handheld and www.motionbased.com.

I am still working out some logistical issues (what information I would need to collect from donors to distribute the GPS information and how to get the donations directly to CMN without me having to be in the middle of the transactions).

In the meantime please consider helping these children and keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Also, my “Personal Me” page will be updated over time to provide all of the details as I get them.

Then I ran across this guy:

In an odd way he taught me some lessons about using social media:

1. Don’t be afraid to get out there – even if you’re not an “expert”.
This guy is not in the best position to be meeting new people. Yet instead of hanging out around dumpsters he was in the middle of a ritzy shopping area chatting with everybody who walked by. Since he isn’t a thin guy even for him putting himself out there must be having some degree of success.

There are several “social media experts” out there all dishing out what seems to be one size fits all advice. The advice is all excellent however it is all geared towards aspiring “social media experts”. If that IS your goal by all means do what they say. However some (perhaps in an effort to protect their own turf) have advised that unless you want to be like them you should avoid social media altogether. Being involved in some form of social media is becoming more important each day no matter what profession you’re in. Therefore unless you constantly offend people when you speak that’s bad advice. I am an engineer (not an aspiring writer) and began writing to differentiate myself from all of the other “Curtis W. Smiths” on the web. I have no intention of becoming a “social media expert”. Don’t be afraid to get out there…after all this guy isn’t.

2. Set realistic goals
I first encountered this individual while taking my daughter to Barnes and Noble. A couple weeks later while I was scouting out the KC Marathon course on my mountain bike I saw him again and took the above picture. Both times he was asking passersby “Can I have money for a down payment on a cheeseburger”. My initial thought was that it was a unique and memorable approach. On a planet getting more crowded each day standing out is important and this guy definitely does. However, he seemed to lack ambition. Was he trying to fool people into believing he just needed a little help? Let’s face it, he is sitting on a plastic bucket all day….he needs a LOT of help. He needs to just ask for the whole burger. This convinced me to move past just using Twitter occasionally to creating this site.

Someday I am going to buy that guy a cheeseburger to thank him for being so inspirational (actually I tried once but when I approached he was mumbling incoherently and swatting at something…must have been on a break from his sales pitch).