Oh teriyaki
Seattle’s taste sensation
Such beautiful food!
Category: Personal Reflections
Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection
I Received A Phishing Phone Call Today: Beware, My Friends
This afternoon my office received a phone call from “800”. I had just finished one project and was reviewing my notes when this popped up. In a good place to deal with random distraction, I opted to grab the call. As the tech-savviest of my office mates, I’m glad I got this one.
Female Robot Voice: “Your Windows license has expired and your account has been compromised…” at which point, I hung up. Now, a malicious part of me thought I should’ve played this up and trolled the phisher, but, no. I do have a ton of real work to do. Stuff that brings money into the company. But I really did want to disturb these creeps.
It’s not the first of these phishing phone calls I’ve received, just the first one like this one. Different verbiage, different delivery mechanism, but, in the end, the same deal.
So, no, this isn’t legit. No, Microsoft isn’t monitoring YOUR computer. Oh, and Windows licenses don’t “expire”. Last but not least, whether it’s a phone call or a pop-up on your browser, your machine probably isn’t compromised. Exception: if the antivirus software YOU installed is telling you this, it might be legit. In that case, along with anything repeatedly popping up on your computer, consult an expert.
I need to remember to “Sharpen My Saw”
I tweeted this earlier today:
I’m often challenged by the simple act of remembering to recharge, to care for myself. Then I’m puzzled by my exhaustion. #ThoughtForTheDay
— Carl Setzer (@CarlSetzer) August 7, 2018
So, here’s a bit more insight. I’ve known for years the importance of taking care of yourself. What’s called, in Franklin Covey parlanence, Sharpening Your Saw. This analogy states that the lumberjack who never sharpens his saw, doesn’t take care of his tools, slowly loses his effectiveness and, eventually, the tools, the saw in this case, fails.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the busyness of the world, of my modern life. My office is running pretty short-staffed right now. (If you’re interested in working with us, all our open positions have been posted on our Facebook page.) There’s so much to do, it seems indulgent to take some time for one’s self.
Yet, we…well, “I”…need to remember that not taking care of myself means decreasing effectiveness and eventual collapse. I’m not some strange superbeing who is exempt from all the rules that others are bound by.
I spent my morning journaling time considering this. Most of my refresh time has been reflexive. I want to shift to a more deliberate approach. The main reason is to avoid hitting the proverbial wall and THEN trying to figure out how I get more energy. No, I’m going to spend time daily doing things that feed my soul, that rejuvenate me and make me better. Substituting coffee (or worse) only creates a bigger problem down the road.
So, what do you do to recharge your soul? That gives you zip in the morning? I’d love to hear what works for you. I delight in hearing what inspires folks. So, drop me a note below.
A Star Wars Mediation: Considering Grey Jedi
A couple of days ago I watched this Star Wars centric video: Why Everyone Is Wrong About Qui-Gon Jin. Thor Skywalker’s ideas about Qui-Gon and the notion of Grey Jedis really got my geek brain going.
The notions of the Grey Jedi certainly generates powerful debate within the Star Wars community. As for me, I would expect factionalism within the Force yielding community. So the existence of the Gray makes sense to me, along with other Force Yielders besides the Jedi and Sith.
Would the Gray simply be one’s “rejected” by the counsel, or folks having rejected the counsel’s edicts? I expect that the Gray Jedi maintain some sort of affiliation with the mainstream Jedi order. One rejecting the other, who rejects who?
Anyway, with this, I find it interesting that there are the gray Jedi along with other Force sensitives. Unique in this grouping. Perhaps not a complete rejection, then, by either party.
So, are the grey really just disconnected from the Jedi counsel and conventional wisdom? In terms of this video below, that seems to be the main element. I recognize that a greater comfort with the dark side is supposed to be a part of the gray theology (is theology the right word?). I think that the counsel was quite uncomfortable with any notion of acceptance of the dark side. Is this really about exclusion? And who decides orthodoxy? The counsel?
Anyway, this thought got quite convoluted. When I started writing this, I thought my idea about this was clear. And, in very short order, that, well, fell apart.
Let me know what you think via a comment or Twitter. I really would like to hear.
Sales, Dilbert, and Death For Sales Videos
I’m thinking the Elbonians might be onto something here.
I mean, who likes sales presentations?
Oddly, this morning I was reading Seth Godin (as I often do) where he wrote about how to improve your sales presentations.
Something To Read If Life Sucks Right Now, Or If It Will Again (If You’re Alive)
Oooh, here’s a great post by Darious Foroux: Read This If You’re Going Through Adversity. I’ve not hear of him before now, and discovered him through my friend Bernie Michalik (I love Bernie’s blog…go and check it out). I will take a deeper dive in Mr. Foroux’s work and decide whether to follow him further in the next few days.
We all go through the down times. Keeping our motivation through those moments is HARD. I get that, struggle with that. Darius has some good insights regarding keeping/creating momentum when life gets hard.
Since we all go through those moments, I recommend everyone take a minute or two and give it a read.
Quote of the day from Pat Benatar
Coming of age in the early to mid-eighties, Pat’s music and style greatly influenced me. I stumbled upon this quote today and though it the most perfect attitude towards life.
Podcasts, Walking and Getting My Act Together
One thing I’ve long enjoyed doing: walking while listening to podcasts. I love how I can be selective of what I want to hear. There are so many out there, with only a little effort, I can focus on whatever my “big rocks” are right now.
I’ve been working on making some life changes. Things like eliminating debt, truly managing my career (as opposed the series of happy accidents it’s been to this point).
In support of that, I’m focusing my energy on positive change, on listening to people who are moving the needle, so to speak. Sure, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I grow up. Actually, I’ve come to abandon that mindset. I’m focusing on what I want to do now, and what I want to do next. I’m thinking my career focus shall be “I make cool shit happen”. What do you think?
Today, during my walk, I listened to Gary Vee (aka: Gary Vaynerchuck, if you’ve not heard of him). I share with him the consternation of folks my age whining about millennials. But that wasn’t the biggest thing. Gary is always reminding you that you’re empowered, that you can make your dreams come true, and that it’s not easy. That’s why it’s called “work”.
I’m reminded, yet again, that taking on the challenge of driving my life comes with fears. Fears of the unknown, of failing, of looking like a fool. Yet everyone who’s done anything of real value in this life has faced all this. It’s been done before, it can be done now. It can be done by me.
Below is the link to the podcast in question. Let me know if you like it, the thoughts you get from it, or any other podcasts you recommend. I’m looking forward to hearing about it.
If you got value from this post, please give me it a “like” and consider following me.
“Too much”, or “I need to focus”
I love to write. I love blogging. Yet there are challenges. Distributing my focus lowers my effectiveness. That troubles me. And yet, though each site has meaning to me. But each site has costs, economic and otherwise. Every time I focus on one, I can’t focus on another.
I haven’t had an objective, much less a strategy on any of my sites. I love to write poetry, about Seattle, about sustainability, geek culture, about so very much. Each site has value to me. I hate the idea of neglecting one at the expense of another. Yet I also hate writing substandard stuff. I prefer to be proud of what I put on the internet.
This time in history has so many choices; a blizzard of potentials and possibilities. And I hate letting go of those potentials. Any of them. Yet I know that must be done to achieve ANY of them. How does one choose which baby to let die?
Perhaps overly dramatic, but it captured the sentiment I’ve been struggling with.
Thinking about the past, present and future
I’m in yet another transition period. Compared to so many of my friends, I seem to spend more time reflecting on transitions than most. I like to think it’s my thoughtful nature, but it quite likely simply stems from my plethora of insecurities.
Today I fit in time for an evening walk. The heat made it a bit less delightful, but otherwise it was fantastic. Walks are times for me to get exercise. My mind gets clear, my head empties of the running rambling commentary echoing about my mental recesses.
While walking (and listening to Debbie Millman’s “Design Matters” podcast), I got to thinking about my different blogging platforms. For some time, I’ve felt I’ve overdone my blogging presence. So I’ve drawn back quite a bit. I’m now down to three sites: this one, Not Just Seattle and QuestionsAll, my poetry blog. And now I struggle. Each site has cost, with hosting, domains and, of course, upkeep time. Each one has its own success. Poetry gets the most consistent readership, more WordPress followers, and far more “likes”, my main source of engagement. Not Just Seattle gets higher page views, at least for the more popular posts, and has the most subscribers. Then there’s this site. It’s not the most well read of my sites, very few subscribers, but it’s my name. I guess that’s the most “me” there is. It’s the highest ranked page for my name on both Google and Bing (note: on Google, this site comes up on page 2, since this other Carl Setzer, who opened a brewing business in Beijing, getting featured in such publications as Forbes and Fortune, has stolen so very much of my SEO).
Each site gives me something, fills me with elements of joy. My personal challenge, though, is to streamline my sites. The goal: one site. I’m starting to think that’s a foolish dream. Yet I would like to lower my spend some. Of course, I could focus ways on making the sites cover their expenses. Hmmm….
I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Do you prefer one of my sites over the others?
I do appreciate my readers oh so very much! You all mean the world to me.
Wishing each of you joy and peace.