This post moved from Nov 28, 2010 for Resurrection Sunday!

In 2005 I wrote a simple song to use for worship. I was excited that while I grabbed my morning coffee at work, I was inspired by such a fluid-sounding A section. Weeks passed and I couldn’t think of a single thing to add to the song, so I put it away and never looked at it again.

You made me to live the love of Christ
You gave me this gift of sacrifice
Let all that I say, all that I do
Reflect the glory, glory of You
You made me to live the love of Christ

Later that year, a discussion in home group made me think of this song again. This time, I forced myself to work on a B section. The A section carried a simple message, so the B section had to communicate greater depth. The catch was that I had allotted only so much musical space, so the message had to be extremely concise as well as precise.

It’s said that genius requires 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. I don’t profess this song to be genius, but I’m pretty sure I push at least past the 80% mark on the perspiration scale. After brainstorming several pages of two line bridge ideas, I was completely surprised that I wrote this:

Pour out Your spirit as I take each step of faith
Lead me to share Your love, with someone else today

So many people in the world have been hurt, are still being hurt, or will be hurt by the church (more accurately, by the people in the church.) Let’s face it: churches are full of hurt people, and hurt people hurt people.

What this world needs is to see those who claim to live by the cross actually pick up their cross on a daily basis. We need to throw away any feelings of pride, arrogance, bitterness, and resentment, and show the living fruit born of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and if nothing else/above all else, self control.

What this world needs is to see the living embodiment of God’s love in Jesus Christ, manifest in those who claim to be God’s people.

This song is my personal prayer that I allow God to let me share his love with a hurting world. More than that, it’s a reminder to myself that God desperately wants to pour out His spirit, but is waiting on me to take that first step of obedience, in faith. I summarize this desire in the slogan: Living the love of Christ one day at a time.

I don’t mean to make this sound like a commercial venture. However, I’d be ecstatic if worship leaders around the world would consider using this song in their services.

Also, I’ve set up a couple of online stores that sell different types of products related to the concept of SOLDOUTEDNESS, of living a life sold out for the cause of Christ. I hope simple things like water bottles, t-shirts, and mugs will serve as good conversation starters.

I use both ReverbNation and CafePress because each offers products the other doesn’t, as shown in the following pictures:

Mugs, Sigg water bottles, and Thermo products at Cafe Press

T-Shirts and music downloads from ReverbNation/Audiolife

On January 18, 2012, I blacked out my site for 24 hours in protest. The expression is what the Internet would look like when the major media players own the Internet. Where I believe that creators need to be compensated for their work, I see media as being an industry of select individuals who exploit creative people in order to shape the world into their own design, rather than allow creators to shape the world organically.

The Internet was the first doorway to freedom from tyrannical oppression of the media executives. Now, we can decide what to buy, who to watch, where to watch it. We don’t need to be sold to. We don’t need to make some kind of a “cut”. We can produce our work and distribute it for a fee or FREE as we see fit, and if we post a “Charlie bit my finger” video on the Internet as a family joke it can go viral on its own.

While the SOPA and PIPA will primarily affect the US, Canada isn’t far behind with the DMCA. All laws like this will silence free speech at the hands of those who can afford to do so.

For better examples of SOPA/PIPA protests, visit Vancouver Sun’s examples of great SOPA/PIPA protest screens.

It’s been an amazing half a year. I have a lot to talk about, but not much that I’m allowed to blog about.

I’ve already got a reputation for getting so excited about our project that I now have to ask a manager to confirm everything I want to say (even to our internal group) so that we can manage expectations better.

At least I’m learning.

Fortunately someone was listening. Thanks, MindTouch for including me (as Twitter: @techcom) in the Top 50 (#24 of 400) Most Influential in Technical Communications and Content Strategy for 2011.*

I am most excited that I have met most of the 400 on the list face-to-face, and respect them as mentors, colleagues, and friends. I tip my hat to everyone who works in our field. Every day is different, and well… let’s just say every assignment comes with its own unique story.

Related links

• The 400 Most Influential in #Techcomm and #ContentStrategy
• Article that describes the process MindTouch used

* I have a feeling my sporadic yet strategic use of #hashtags had something to do with it. Plus, I know that Techcom Mobile in India is also trending quite a bit. But hey, if I did anything right, please do let me know in the comments!

Those who know me, know that I’m all over any technological gadget you can find. Here’s a recent Dilbert strip that some would say describes me to the letter. Seriously.

View the original Dilbert June 30, 2011 strip. © Scott Adams Inc.

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I was caught gushing about last year’s Summit 2010 on video by Kevin Cuddihy, the STC Media Manager (and STC Notebook blogger). Many of the sentiments I made back then, about being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of interesting sessions causing conflict in my schedule, are just the same this year.

I dare say that my feelings of “overwhelmedness” are worse this year. I just posted my Google calendar of sessions to confirm for myself that I shall be in five-way conflict throughout most of the Summit. I think most of my problem is caused by my sheer diversity in my number of interests, and all the stuff I choose to do for work.

Kudos to the organizational team for producing another bang up schedule, sent over the edge by announcing Tim O’Reilly as the keynote speaker. While he didn’t personally author any of the O’Reilly books I own, I am still excited to get into the mind of the one who showed us that technical books didn’t have to be boring.

Hello Canada!

This past weekend we planned to vote in the advanced polls. Not that I know yet who to vote for, I thought it would be important to research each party’s political platform. I won’t bother telling you what I decided. You can decide for yourself.

Major Canadian political party platforms

• http://www.blocquebecois.org/dossiers/campagne-2011/
• http://www.conservative.ca/policy/platform_2011/
• http://greenparty.ca/platform2011
• http://www.liberal.ca/platform/
• http://www.ndp.ca/platform

Overview of all Canadian federal political parties and their leaders

• http://www.electionalmanac.com/canada/parties.php

Election Canada website

• http://www.elections.ca/

On It!

• http://www.voteprayserve.ca/

Do you know who you plan to vote for? Please, Canada. You owe it to yourself, your neighbour, and your country!

I downloaded the WordPress iPhone app to manage my website from my mobile phone. Why anyone would want to do this is beyond me.

Let me know your thoughts on the practice of being always “on”.

I started work in a new technical communications role at a different company last week. To help me navigate the change, I also started experimenting with a time and task management method called the Pomodoro Technique. My new teammate has used it successfully to keep himself on track, and I look forward to experiencing the same improvements in my own personal and professional productivity.

Image credit: http://pomodoro.ugolandini.com/

Pomodoro is Spanish Italian for “tomato”, and was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. Part of the key to its success is that it weans one away from multitasking (for which I am notorious). The other part is that thinking of tomatoes is silly, and our minds are all about the silly.

The system utilizes a pad of paper and a timer. The use of a multi-colour pen to distinguish between different types of activities is optional. At the core of the system, you start by collecting action items into an Activity Inventory. You select one activity from the list and write it onto your list of “Today’s Activities“. Set a timer for 25 minutes, and work only on that activity until the timer rings.

After the 25 minutes pass, you reward yourself with a focused break for 5 minutes. This could include a quick trip to the water cooler, a look out the window, or just mindful meditation. The idea is to distract yourself for 5 whole minutes so you can regroup your focus for the next pomodoro.

Since I am a chronic multitasker, I don’t make any claims that this system will actually help me at all. But I am hopeful that the short bursts of focused effort will help me to be more productive and feel less burnt out.

My colleague provided me with some interesting resources to help me better understand the system. I’ve listed a bunch in the Pomodoro Resources section. The Mac timer application is already helping me to keep my focus for 25 minutes. My problem now is that I don’t know how to stop after 25 minutes. And I haven’t yet trained myself to take the 5 minute break.

What time management system have you found help you avoid creating rotten tomatoes at work? Leave me a comment below.

Pomodoro Resources

• Pomodoro timer and statistics application for Mac
• LifeHacker article and video overview of the Pomodoro Technique
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Pomodoro Technique
• WikiPedia article about the Pomodoro Technique
• The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated (Pragmatic Bookshelf)

My brother and sister-in-law celebrate their wedding anniversary today. From personal experience, I know how busy we can get with life, work, and kids. We always need to take some time to remember what’s really important.

This is a video of a song I wrote with my brother for him to sing to his bride at their wedding.

On this remembrance day, hold your family and friends close to your heart and celebrate the freedom you enjoy because dedicated soldiers gave their lives fighting for it.

Peace out.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time. In 2009 I purchased a Yamaha Motif XS8 88-note keyboard from a store for a really good deal. The board was rented for use by the Dixie Chicks at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival the year before.

Yamaha Motif XS8 - the dream machine

The keyboard has been an absolute dream. I love playing it, recording with it, and teaching my kids to play music on it. I haven’t had as much time to record with it as I’d hoped. Life has just been too busy. But I managed to use it to help me build on a simple melody by my son:

Visit the YouTube page to leave a comment

This keyboard is a great songwriter’s tool, and perfect for use in a studio. Its only drawback is that the keyboard size is too heavy for me to pack and carry on my own to bring to a worship service or live performance. While other, more committed musicians don’t mind the inconvenience of carting this behemoth, I would prefer to work with something a lot lighter.

Trade for comparable Yamaha Motif XS7

To this end, I’ve decided I have to sell this board. Ideally, I’d like to trade it for a Yamaha Motif XS7 76-note keyboard with the Firewire card option installed. I bought two 512 MB SODIMMs to upgrade the sample RAM that I would take with me, if the 76-note board doesn’t already have expanded memory.

Yamaha Motif XS7 - the dream machine junior

Trade for just-released Yamaha XF7

As an alternative, I wouldn’t mind trading my 88-note keyboard for a base model of the newly released Yamaha Motif XF7 76-note keyboard. The XF line is a souped-up version of the XS series. It includes more instrument samples, but is essentially the same keyboard. The main difference is that sample memory is now available through non-volatile flash cards, which, unfortunately, does not come built into the basic model. However, I still think an 88-note XS8 keyboard for the cost of a basic 76-note XF would be a worthwhile trade.

Yamaha Motif XF7

More about the offer

The XS8 has only ever been indoors, in my studio, and under a dust cover when not in use. I’ve never taken it to a performance, so its appearance in Merritt was its only time on stage. If this opportunity interests you, visit my contact page to send me an offer.