Digital Common Sense

I’ve watched this meme float around for a few days, half expecting to get tagged along the way. I mostly don’t jump into these things, but I’ve been tagged quite differently. My life and business partner Sheryl tagged me, after our friend Pat Phelan tagged her. Think about it for a moment. How do you respond when the person you live and work with, your life partner, asks for eight things they don’t know about you?

That means this meme takes a real twist for me, because Sheryl knows an awful lot about me, about my failures and shortcomings, and about my strengths and abilities. For me to answer fairly and honestly requires some real thought. I’m really aiming for eight things she doesn’t know. The rest of you are simply along for the ride.

1) I actually don’t mind being diabetic. It may sound strange, but, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year. It’s not the sort of thing most 54 year old men take as good news. I saw several men in my age bracket in a healthy living class I took that were really in denial. For me, it was a wake up call to really pay attention to my diet, to be more active and to take care of myself. I’ve done pretty well with diet. I’m still not as active as I want to be, but Sheryl’s helping me get there. For me, learning I was diabetic forced me to re-examine my lifestyle and behaviors. That’s a good thing.

2) When I was young (teens) I was an avid bicyclist. I lived in the greater Los Angeles area and rode to both San Diego and Santa Barbara at different times. Today I barely ride at all, but I’d love to get a tandem mountain bike and spend time exploring back country roads of the Pacific Northwest on weekends. I would also love visit Italy and bicycle across the country exploring food, wine and local culture along the way. Sheryl?

3) I spent a few months as a barber while in the Navy, many years ago. I’ve probably cut 3000 heads of hair, but none in a very long time.

4) When I began my career in technology, while not introverted, I was not at all comfortable in a public forum. Later in my career I gradually transitioned through sales and marketing evangelist roles. By the time I was teaching on platform weekly, I’d acclimated to being completely as ease in front of a crowd. I once had to fill in and speak extemporaneously for 50 minutes to a group of about 1000 people at a conference.

5) I can talk a lot. Sheryl will claim she already knows this, but she’s yet to really see how much or how long. When I was teaching technology, one of our prerequisites for a qualified instructor was to be able to teach with the complete absence of material. With nothing more than a white board, teach a week long class (assume 32 hours of lecture) each on IP networking, routing, network security, ATM, frame relay, SNA, VoIP. SS7. etc. Given that each of us teaching was expected to teach a minimum of 18 different courses in the technology curriculum, that means stand up and lecture for 18 weeks with no prep time or supporting material. That’s 4 1/2 months of lecture. I haven’t made Sheryl sit through that sort of thing…yet. Maybe when she’s bad.

6) At times I’m terribly insecure as a writer. I’ve written books, more than one. I’ve written hundreds of industry papers and thousands of blog posts. While I’m reasonably comfortable as a wordsmith, there are times that words utterly fail me. It’s as if my brain vapor locks and can’t move. Sometimes the confidence and conviction are there simply to help me work through that self-conscious doubt myself.

7) My father died when I was seven years old. Now that I’m 54, you’d think I’d be over it. The truth is that for much of my life, I felt lost and adrift without a father’s example to follow. It left me always wondering if he’d have been proud of me as a man and as a father. Mostly I think not, but I still hope.

is just too many things and I think I need to maintain some slight aura of mystery with Sheryl. I’ll leave number eight open for discussion some other time.

As we were muddling through this meme, Sheryl said she was going to tag some of her Facebook friends. I’m not sure it it’s fitting or not that Pat’s tagging of Twitter friends spins across to Facebook, but I’m going to do the same and tag eight friends who use Facebook. Then, like Sheryl, I’ll import the note and tag those friends inside Facebook as well. And I’m going to specifically tag people I’d like to get to know better, and in person in 2008.

Moshe Maeir, who’s tirelessly working to make Earth a flat planet.
Blogger, cartoonist and philosopherHugh MacLeod.
One of my most highly respected friends, Jon Arnold.
The newlywed, Frederik Hermann.
Garrett Smith. We’ve met but had almost no time to talk.
Thomas Howe, the undisputed king of telecom mashups.
Howard Thaw who will have to find a way to post it on Facebook since he doesn’t actively blog.
Neil Vineberg, PR thought leader and all around neat guy.

Filed by Ken at 5:48 pm under General