Tony Chung: Creative Communications

This message is long overdue. While I can’t go into specifics as to what has kept me from my blog for the past few months, I felt it necessary to post a message to celebrate the turn of 2010. Several technical communicators have had a hard time reconciling the value-add proposition for renewing their membership with the Society for Technical Communication. Some have been very vocal about the society’s lack of support, lack of expertise, lack of understanding, and lack of relevance for the communications field. In blunt terms, the STC is a dinosaur, with a business and operations model that doesn’t fit the current trends.

Some of the outspoken include volunteers like myself who thought we could help initiate and support change from the inside. When my own project, (the STC Forums), got pulled I felt the sting of bitterness which may have clouded my judgment. Fortunately I am involved in the very active Society for Technical Communication – Canada West Coast Chapter, which is experiencing a new wave of volunteers who thrive on connecting within this community. As well, I participate in a couple of really experienced special interest groups, the Single Sourcing (officially), and Contractors and Independent Consulting (locally).

Volunteering: Strength in numbers

My back door into the STC was its newsletter. For some reason I really like newsletters, having cut my teeth on manual paste up on a community centre youth newspaper during my teens. What can I say? I love the smell of hot wax. Desktop publishing was a natural progression, so I leaped at the opportunity to leverage my Pagemaker/InDesign skills on the STC CWC newsletter. I maintained the web version after our chapter executive weaned us of print, and this year I tasked myself with revamping its page layout to new design specs (a work still in progress–ergh! Maybe with this announcement I will finally start working on it!)

While it’s true the cost of STC membership skyrocketed this year, and I don’t have an employer to foot the bill, I realized the main reason I didn’t want to renew my membership was because the strategic initiatives committee shut down the STC Forums, which I had just upgraded to the new version on a new server. To me, the forums were a good resource for discussing relevant TC issues. Its sister site, the STC Wiki, was a good place to store the resolution of various issues for future reference.

Note: read only versions are hosted at the STC Carolina site (forum | wiki). Thanks to Rick and the team for putting that together.

Another time, another place

What made the forum shutdown sting so much was the familiar feeling of something I was used to. I worked for fourteen years in a very illogical logistics department. While I knew I had the skills to move beyond my job, I held to some ancient notion that the hard worker got noticed and was given more opportunities to grow and succeed.

It took a long time, but that idealistic vision eventually came to pass, when a long time colleague started a new data integrity and verification team in our office, and she specifically asked me to help lead the technical end. She considered it a promotion, and I agreed. After the first few months my extra efforts were squashed by new management. I equated the death of my STC volunteer work to the death of my data integrity leadership position.

Just like starting over

However, in the dead forum’s wake arose many new content silos on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Some STC members created new social networking sites using the Ning platform. At the time, I commented how we as an organization failed to consider that we sanction single source content, but work in silos. Instead of a single unified resource came the flood of many resources of different flavours.

As I review the events since leaving the forums behind in July, I began to see these different silos as positives, not negatives. Think about it. Now we have a variety of sites, mailing lists, discussion groups, and repositories:

• Combining different levels of STC influence
• Dedicated to further the field of technical communication
• Catering to the unique communication styles of their contributors
• Harnessing a variety of social media networking tools and technologies

Where before I wanted to focus on only one method of communication that reached a small percentage of the population, several rose in different arenas to reach people based on their preferred communication methods.

Tom Johnson posted an introduction to his screencasting webinar on the STC Notebook. While not directly related to the subject, it definitely got me thinking about the transition the technical communication field is undergoing.

The future of TC (Technical Communication)

After the 2006 summit a fellow chapter member observed that technical communicators are expanding from the traditional plan/interview/write model into the facilitation and editing of user authored content. User generated systems including forums and wikis are part of this model, as are collaborative authoring systems like FLOSS manuals. Other specialties not specifically related to content specialization include usability and user experience.

This exciting trend from writer to enabler has always appealed to me, because as technology gets more complex, it becomes less necessary to understand the details first hand. Instead, we can apply our strengths to making complex information make sense. This shift to enabler may also involve incorporating video and multimedia services–whatever it takes to get the job done.

The future of TC (Tony Chung)

I’ve always been on the periphery of traditional technical writing. While I am technical and I love to write, I also have a passion for music and multimedia, web design and programming, graphic design and illustration, and performing. It’s been difficult finding jobs that match my level of interest in technology and my love to write. That said, I’ve found lots of work in the web development arena, and am excited at being able to harness these skills and abilities in my current job, along with writing and editing.

I’ve always been into the media. I drew comics as a kid, played music in a band, record videos of my various life experiences. More often than not I prefer to watch a video showing me how to do something than read a book on the same subject.

The STC needs me, and they need you.

STC member 2007 to 2010

In light of the current recession, the STC offered several options to pay for our memberships. 400 financially-strapped members will be granted subsidies to balance the difference from last year’s membership dues to this year’s increase. The STC is concentrating on video casting their presentations, and offered a gold membership package that includes seven webinars and a certificate course. Members can elect to pay their membership dues in equal installments over three months.

Great things are happening in the field as a whole, and the STC is working hard to react appropriately. My gut reaction at first was, “too little, too late”, and that the people in charge don’t really have the best interests of the group at heart. But the more I look at it, it’s because of the connections I made through the STC that I’ve been able to break from 9-to-5 office worker to independent communications consultant in only two years. I consider many of my associates my close friends, and count on them for their insight and advice, and the occasional job or two.

So the STC has me for another year. My wife/bookkeeper helped me to realize that I do have a company to pay for my membership.

I am my company.

The way I see it #26: Po Bronson

Still later, while out for lunch with my friend, a Starbucks shift supervisor, I told this story, and referred to the quote on the cup that I kept encountering. As if on cue, the sleeve from my grande sized beverage fell to the table, revealing the same quote on that cup as well.

I have since seen that quote several times in the past six months.

The infamous quote

A quick email to Starbucks customer relations provided this story:

Cup Number: 26

Author: Po Bronson

Category: Author of stories, screenplays and non-fiction, including What Should I Do With My Life?

Story: Failure’s hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever.

Why success is dangerous

Several years ago I landed a temporary clerical position in health care purchasing. Through my computer skills and willingness to learn, apply, and train the business processes of our organization, I eventually earned full time status with benefits and accrued vacation time. I had a long run of success in that job. I learned what I was supposed to do quickly and my desire to grow led me to drive the position.

That success proved to be dangerous because it soon became apparent I was not passionate about the work even though I did my job well. To make matters worse, I wasn’t driven to succeed in any alternate career paths because I knew I had the stability of my job. Even though I developed and applied new skills outside of the scope of my job, I felt locked into this position, trapped from doing anything outside this job.

I had already been working side contracts, but not enough to convince me to leave the stability. Eventually I had wrestled with myself long enough, and hit the point where I was prepared to leave my successful career and start over. I pushed myself to send out one resume every week, and interview at least one prospective employer every two weeks.

It took outside involvement to break me out of the cycle. One of my technical writing course instructors called me up out of the blue and offered me my first full-time technical writing and illustration gig. The bonus was that I didn’t even need to apply for it. That started a new process of self-discovery where I could apply my ability to learn new technology quickly, write about it, illustrate it, and develop web-based and other content management systems to explain it.

Looking back, I realize that it would have been better if I arranged informational interviews to develop business relationships with interesting companies rather than apply to job postings. In this way I could better find the type of work that suited me, rather than a specific position to fit into.

Why failure is hard

My new path hasn’t been easy, and after losing two jobs back-to-back due to external circumstances, I experienced moments of self-doubt and depression. Even though I was appreciated by my employers and clients, and many of my former co-workers are now good friends I would not have met in my old job, the loss made me feel like a failure.

Every day I need to rise above my feelings consciously decide to lay those cares down at the foot of the cross. God continues to open the doors and I continue to get more work than I can handle without Him. I am grateful for a supportive family, and several friends and colleagues who send work my way. Over the last few years these friends have taught me a lot about networking, business relationships, and prioritizing, all of which help to overcome any feelings of failure.

Something funny

When I searched the Internet for Po Bronson, the quote’s author, I was amused that the front page links to articles published in October 2007, on the science of how consistent sleep makes your child smarter and thinner. Being a father of two energetic boys, I was particularly interested in any science that could help me convince these kids to sleep more.

Ironically, on Oct 15 2007 I posted a link to this very same article on my Facebook page: Can a Lack of Sleep Set Back Your Child’s Cognitive Abilities? — New York Magazine. The same article, by the same authors. I couldn’t believe it.

I knew that I feel connected to certain authors because of their writing styles, but this was the first time I felt that connection even through uniquely different publishing streams. Coincidence? I think not!

Know your calling

I agree with the sentiment that it’s easier to recover from failure because it helps you to find out what you’re not good at. Success can blind you to your true calling, and it may take more than just hard work to break yourself out of the cycle once you realize you’re on the wrong path.

My long-running purchasing career provided me with opportunities I wouldn’t have experienced any other way. I don’t regret the long years, because they helped me to realize the truly important things in life. My new career in technical writing, web development, and music production provides me with more time to spend with my family, which I know is my true calling.

The final word: if you’re in the same boat I was in, where you find yourself growing distant from your present job, don’t lose heart. Decide to live each day focused on your goal. Keep the job if it’s your sole income source, and reach out to your community to find others who may be able to give you opportunities to prove yourself.

Click image to view The Other Coast February 18, 2009

When I saw this comic strip in the paper this morning, I had to laugh. So much of today’s communications media: phone, text/SMS/MMS, email, TV, online publishing—are only available as long as there is enough storage to keep them. The Way-Back Machine on the Internet Archive helped me recover my Tablet PC Blogs posts in a jam, but if all the hard drives in the universe were full, what would have happened then?

In contrast to my post about what happens on the Internet living forever, I present the alternative view. My friend Wayne Radford, the self-proclaimed “King of Poco”, put this bug in my ear over lunch one rainy afternoon. The short version is that our online publishing efforts, though wide reaching, are only temporal.

Way back in the dawn of time the human race shared stories of their heritage through the spoken word. In each family or tribe was a storyteller who entertained, provoked thought, and presented their traditions and history to the current generation. Before that storyteller died, he passed the mantle to the next in line, to carry on the tradition.

In our electronics-crazed age, we are disconnected from one another. We listen to our personal stereos. We play portable one-person video games. We share a sense of community, but that largely occurs online. Which reminds me of another great cartoon I saw this week.

Click image to view Zits for February 15, 2009

The sad fact is that Social Media encourages online activity that makes us feel like we’re connecting with others. In reality we are still playing by ourselves in a large room with several others. When our kids were in preschool we arranged play dates so they could “get to know other kids”. It was an interesting phenomenon that even though they were in the same room, each of them enjoyed the experience of playing with a different set of toys—they rarely interacted, or played the same game together.

It soon became apparent that we arranged those play dates for other reasons besides our children’s social development; we arranged these dates for us to socialize with other parents. This became clear to me when I compared my wife’s impressions of the play dates where the parents of the children stayed to chat, with the ones where the parents dropped their kids off and left to run errands. My wife always felt a greater sense of connection when given the opportunity to socialize with other adults. Go figure.

Back to my original point. I wrote this blog entry and published it for the world at large to read. Well, actually, only the interested three or four of you will take the time to read this post. While my work makes me a published author for however long the post is kept on the server, when the lights go out, it’s over.

This is a different experience than that of a printed book, which has the opportunity to live for on centuries (or not!) on a library bookshelf. Even then, the written word is still temporary. What matters most are the real-life connections we make with each other, right now. It’s easy to hide behind a pseudonym or a web site façade, an instant messaging nick or an avatar. It’s far more difficult, and scary, to present ourselves as we really are.

I’ve had the great pleasure of joining various meetup groups, technology user groups, and other business/social networking groups that meet face to face. It’s fascinating to watch the dynamic within each group. There are those who use these occasions to promote their services, but still more who want to meet the real “you” behind the online “you”.

Which leads me to my next point: I’ve been invited to speak at Northern Voice on February 20, 2009 about “Putting Your Blog to Work”. I’ve been keeping this pretty quiet, as I’ve been too busy to even think about my presentation. Plus, it’s my first time ever going to this conference, and I am not sure quite what to make of the whole thing.

One thing is certain: Face-to-face connection is what is required to create true permanence in the hearts and minds of others. I intend to share the real “me” behind the online “me”, and meet and get to know the real “you” behind your online “you”.

I hope to see you at Northern Voice. Let’s put the “Social” into “Social Media”.

The Tony Macchiato ~ AKA the Triple Venti Peppermint Soy Caramel Drizzle Macchiato Style Latte

As the new year rolled around I thought I would stop drinking coffee, or rather, espresso—more specifically, my Triple Venti Peppermint Soy Caramel Drizzle Macchiato-style Latte, which I want to officially label as the Tony Macchiato. I first stumbled onto this drink the morning after my wife and I celebrated Christmas 2007 with the staff from a previous employer at a hotel in downtown Vancouver.

Starting from its humble beginnings as merely a Caramel Macchiato with peppermint syrup instead of vanilla, the drink evolved over the last year and a bit  into its current incarnation. I have my barista friends, and even Starbucks itself, to thank for that.

Old Faithful

For the last five years, I predictably ordered a Venti Six-Pump Toffee-Nut Long Americano every time I set foot in a store behind the green logo featuring a mermaid in a circle. My only deviation from the norm was during the summer, when I learned the iced version was 10 cents more expensive than a quad-shot long espresso, on which the drink was built. (Note: purists assure me that a Venti Americano is supposed to have five espresso shots, but most of the time they only give me four anyway).

However, once I stumbled upon this new pepperminty/caramelly/soyee espressoy beverage, it became my drink of choice. I even started making them at home.

Stirred, Not Shaken

One of the baristas suggested adding a third shot to compensate for the additional soy in a venti cup over a grande. I immediately fell in love with the boldness the extra shot offered. Sometimes a barista even offers to throw in the fourth shot that would normally be discarded anyway, giving it a double dose of boldness.

Regardless of the number of shots, the only way to enjoy this beverage is to stir it with a venti straw, and lick the foam off the straw before even sipping the drink. Like that scene from Tanpopo: look longingly at the caramel mesh as you slowly blend it with the foam, sensuously mingling the flavours into a divinely exhilarating experience. Caress the straw gently and enjoy the candy bar taste of the caramel exploding in your mouth. That sort of thing.

Membership Has Its Privileges?

When Starbucks introduced registered cardholder benefits, of which the free addition of syrup and soy milk into beverages is the easiest to quantify, I was in a quandry. When I paid with  my registered card, I’d lose the free syrup benefit, as it was already included in the price of a caramel macchiato.

To further complicate matters, Starbucks still must charge for specific syrups like cinnamon dolce, white mocha, and caramel sauce. However, this requirement is not usually enforced, as baristas are rather ticked with HQ for closing so many stores in the US, and for hiring management from outside the ranks of current sbux employees.

Bad, bad, bad PR Mr. Schultz. This reeks worse than the breakfast sandwich. When your staff turn against you, all you have is your product, which is only part of the concept, but not the central idea. People don’t visit Starbucks for the product, but rather the ambience of an environment rich in coffee knowledge. But I won’t go there in this post.

Working Around the Red Tape

As the special syrup charge is not widely implemented, I found the best way to order this beverage is to ask the cashier to ring it into the till as a Triple Venti Peppermint Soy Caramel Drizzle Macchiato-style Latte. Paying with a registered card saves close to a buck fifty on the syrup, drizzle, and soy. Even if the barista charges for the drizzle, I save a buck, and the total cost works to be five cents less than a Caramel Macchiato.

Sometimes I may not even care if the espresso shots are poured on top, and skip confusing the issue by ordering the latte as a macchiato.

Not Cutting Out Coffee After All

I mentioned earlier that I started the new year looking for alternatives to drinking  my espresso beverages. After suffering for about ten days, I caved and ordered my Tony Macchiatto. I tried the new fruit infusion beverages that Starbucks offered this year, and preferred the Berry Chai over the Apple Chai.

Then I stumbled onto Starbucks online beverage nutrition comparison chart and was amazed that among venti sized drink, the Tony Macchiato has 60 percent of the calories of the new Apple Chai Infusion,  50 fewer calories than the new Berry Chai Infusion, and just about on-par with, (well, 40 calories over), a Black Tea Soy Latte. The fruit tea infusion calories are all from sugar!

Starbucks Online Beverage Nutrition Comparison Chart

Of course, this isn’t taking into account any calories derived from fat. Soy milk definitely wins that comparison hands down, with a higher fat content than even whole milk. This nutritional information is still all my easily swayed mind needed to justify my espresso habit.

Next time you visit Starbucks, order a Tony Macchiato; I am certain that you will enjoy it. Print this article to remind yourself how to order it, and show the barista how to make it. You won’t even have to state a specific size: This drink is best enjoyed Venti.

Answer: “You can’t force Google to do anything!”

A search for this question returns several tales of woe from developers caught in the midst of updating their websites, but found Google already indexed their content, errors and all. When we least expect it, search engine spiders work their magic. However, when we most need to update our indexed pages on Google, we are forced to wait. And wait. And wait.

Another running joke is that what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet—forever. I consider this a joke because this has always been, but so many people think it’s something new.

I received an email from a fellow STC member who was concerned that her posts on the international STC Member Forum were viewable by everyone on the world wide web. Yes Virginia, there is no santa clause… everything that is public on the Internet lives on in some exebyte of storage somewhere. I can still find my circa 1990 Usenet posts on music theory when I search archives for my very first internet email address. Send me a private message and I’ll email you that address so you can search Google Groups for yourself and see what a total dweeb I was.

What this tells me is that on the Internet time stands still: At the same time, people can be judged for their failings even as they are praised for their achievements. How many times have you seen political leaders brought down due to their undergraduate affiliations? These remnants can haunt them long into their retirement, because posts from the past can share equal billing with those of the present.

On one hand, this can be used to our advantage. When Tablet PC Blogs was hacked I managed to recover and recreate most of my own blog entries using the Way Back Machine. The blog owner, Laine P. Heiny, also used the archive to restore most of the work for the rest of his site.

Another advantageous incident for me was when I  blogged about cloud computing for Duo Consulting. Immediately after the post went live, I received a request to reprint the article in its entirety from Jeremy Geelan, the editor of another online cloud computing zine. This other magazine is a type of content aggregation factory, only they contact authors personally, and provide credit, a bio, and backlinks. I am honoured they considered me a “fresh new voice”, and likewise I have no qualms about referring people back to them. I even Duoed the experience.

There may be times where SEO may not work in your favour, especially once you are on their radar. While on the one hand I am fortunate that my site is picked up to be indexed on a regular basis, one update caused the marketing and legal departments of a previous employer serious concern due to my wording choice. On the upside, I’m glad that my wording commanded attention. On the downside, that was attention I didn’t need. Because of it I lost five hours of paid work while I made the changes to appease my past.

Depending on when you read this, those posts may still appear on search engine results. See? When we most need the spiders to crawl….

Travel the Internet carefully. Nowadays just about everybody “Googles” the people they meet. Your Internet persona as characterized on all the different social media services are open game for prospective employers and clients, teachers, classmates, your kid’s softball coach—everybody, actually—to find out more about who you are, what you’ve done, and where you’ve been. A strong online persona can help you win business over your competitors, whereas a negative online persona could be detrimental. Likewise, in some circles, no online profile at all could be a sign of a lack of maturity in your chosen market. But it all depends on your goals.

Where do you fit in the grand scheme of the high I-Internet? Are you a blatantly public person who could care less how people perceive you? Or are you of the select mindset that no persona is a good persona?

[Edit: Okay, the secret is out: the main intent of this post is to provide search engine links to my colleagues' sites in order to improve their SEO traffic... ooh how I hate spilling the beans!]

Web programming

My favourite graphic designer, Keli Manson of Kelman Design, who is also gifted in art direction and set design for film and tv, and interior decorating, has me working on her site, a version of which I plan to have up this weekend. I’m behind on her site because she also provided layouts for three different websites at the same time. Then I went into looking-for-work mode. I’ve been converting her PhotoShop layouts to W3C standard markup, and even built a database backend and a flash video player for one site that features information about transportation careers in Canada. I’m planning something special for her site, too. So let’s just keep it a secret. Shhhh….

SEO consulting

A client who found me through Keli runs a YouTube-like video site that calls attention to the market opportunities available in a variety of sectors: Mining and Exploration; Energy, Oil and Gas; Clean Technology, General Technology, Life Sciences, and Diversified Industries. Along with the standard fare of corporate videos are special opportunities for accredited investors, and of course some funny stuff to lighten the fact the economy ain’t doing so hot right now.

This concept could really go far. Most of these videos are only presented on cable networks’ TV Listings pages, industry events, trade shows, and corporate boardrooms. I see how this type of service would help corporations work more creatively with their video departments to generate more interest in their companies. For many companies, the video is an afterthought. In the age of rich media, it’s almost a necessity.

As for me, I get to hack this really cool PHP app called Social Media, that provides the framework for running the entire system. I’ve been getting gut deep into the app, helping Investment Pitch improve their searchable text, to provide better indexing options for their site. The more I work on their site, the more I see how much they need me.

WHY (What Have You)

Before I started Tony Chung Creative Communications, I was the “master of the jack of all” for my other enterprise, Jake Communications Link. I never realized that my email address at the domain  “jakethespud.com” proved to be a hindrance to my getting work. My credibility improved a lot since adopting a domain with my name in it. Now people take me seriously. You do, don’t you?

However, my “master of the jack of all” skills haven’t left me, only become more refined. I helped my favourite content strategist, Rahel Anne Bailie of Intentional Design, work out some quirks in the training materials she needed for a course in component content authoring and management.  And I started a new venture that I can’t announce yet, but will, soon enough.

It really helps for me to share the news of the various projects I work on. Too often writer/web dudes like me work in a vacuum, set apart from the outside world. I like the relational aspect of work rather than the work itself, and find I get a little loopy when I spend too much time by myself.

Do you prefer to work on your own, or would you rather have company? One of these days I should take a poll, but for now, the comments form is OPEN.

Paul Boutin’s justification:

Scroll down Technorati’s list of the top 100 blogs and you’ll find personal sites have been shoved aside by professional ones. Most are essentially online magazines: The Huffington Post. Engadget. TreeHugger. A stand-alone commentator can’t keep up with a team of pro writers cranking out up to 30 posts a day.

30 posts a day. Wow. I’d like to be able to generate enough ideas to write 30 posts a day. But if the only reason to do so is to drive content to my site in the hopes of increasing my ad revenue, then I  might as well quit now. I have a feeling that bloggers write for other purposes than making money. In fact, even a local dot-com mogul, John Chow, whose blog title says, “I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money I Make Online” wrote in his eBook that “People who blog only for money seldom succeed.”

From the beginning, blogs have always been about conversation and sharing. Yes, several have advertisements on them. Yes, several have hired pro writers (for instance, Duo Consulting hired me). And yes, many do read more like online magazines than personal observations from the field. But nobody’s forcing you to read them. You can select what you want to read.

I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds through Bloglines, recommended through my friend and fellow Duo blogger, Anne Gentle. While the sheer volume of posts can be difficult to manage, I don’t have to read all of them in one sitting, only the ones I want. And Bloglines links back to the original post so I can still offer comments to be part of the community.

John Chow continues:

Blogging is about forming relationships… between you and the readers… and other blogs in your niche. It is up to you to get to know them and form this relationship. Many readers have stated that when they’re reading my blog, it’s like a one-on-one [conversation]. That was not done by accident. It’s all part of relationship blogging.

Holly Harkness’s post supports this argument. As a TechCom niche blog, her readers include other Technical Writers like Anne, Tom Johnson, and myself. She reminds us that not all TechCom’s will approach the same subject matter the same way. She uses the example of writing about oysters as a subject:

In the blogosphere—even the narrow tech comm corner of the blogosphere—there is room for two, or even five or ten simultaneous oyster diatribes because we all have different audiences with some overlapping on the edges. If we are truly speaking in our own voice, we won’t be talking about oysters in exactly the same way. This may or may not be useful to our audience.

There is some truth in what Paul said. As the web expands, it incorporates more rich media, and text-only sites are losing popularity. Heck, my seven-year-old surfs YouTube, and my five-year-old mashes up Transformers videos, so I know what he’s talking about when he says:

Social multimedia sites like YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook have since made publishing pics and video as easy as typing text. Easier, if you consider the time most bloggers spend fretting over their words.

From my perspective, rich media and microblogging applications complement, rather than replace, a well-written blog. That’s the subject of this post. A blog should be well-written, and well-managed. I wrote a post for Duo about how nobody wants to read a stupid blog. The concept is that your content should have meaning to you and to your audience, and put a personal face on an otherwise sterile business website.

Also, a self-hosted blog can be customized more easily than the well-used rich media sites. I may share the story of how I’ve hacked the theme to play with the meta tags and the Google search box. In addition to learning how to hack a WordPress theme, I want to improve your experience when reading my blog. I wasn’t able to customize my pages to this extent using blogger or wordpress.com.

Which reminds me: I’ve been hosting with Bluefur (formerly MonsterHosting) since 2002. If you’re in the market for web hosting, sign up using promo code: jake, to get a discount.

Saleema Noon is an attractive, 30-something, sexual health and family life educator with a wide range of experience working with children, teens, and adults. I lifted part of that statement right from her website. She has a B.A. in Family Sciences, and later completed a M.A. in sexual health education, a decision she says that was provoked by her counseling grade 10 boys and pregnant teenage girls with little or no factual sexual knowledge. The teenagers she counseled were vulnerable to peer pressure, due to their ignorance of sexual responsibility.

Introducing the night’s festivities

As a dad I didn’t know what to expect. On one hand I want to be the one to discuss sex with my children, but at the same time, I’m not sure about at which age I should broach the subject, and how much I should tell them when I do? Noon was completely straightforward and came across as matter-of-fact. She explained that this is the stance she regularly takes in her workshops, which were offered as either two night sessions where parents joined their children, or as a single session for each age group held during the regular school day.

If the school was offering parents the choice, they were unequally weighted: For the parents-included nights, the students would be split into groups grades K to 3 and 4 to 5, and there would be room for only about 50 of our school’s 470 students in each session. However, the daytime course would be separated into individual grades, except K and 1 are usually lumped together. This provides Noon with the opportunity to dig deeper at an age-appropriate level, to arm kids with the correct information before they make erroneous assumptions while talking about it with others on the playground.

Three reasons for bringing the topic up with kids:

Saleema gave three convincing reasons for discussing this material with young kids:

1. To remove the stigma associated with sex. Sex is a beautiful act that has been confused by incorrect perceptions, which is why you often hear of sex as being “dirty”. By the time kids reach grade 5 they have already developed an embarrassment toward it, and this group requires additional calming to get the giggles out.
2. To revert the damage done by the portrayal of sex in contemporary media. In one of her sessions a young girl spoke out, “Sometimes people have sex when they’re drunk!” Noon always addresses the reproductive and pleasurable aspects of sex, but breaks down the image that everybody is doing it. She gives older kids the opportunity to ask questions anonymously on paper, which she collected into a book to share with us. One anonymous child asked, “Do they really ‘do it’ in 007 movies?” Even if we don’t think they’re learning about sex, they are.
3. To protect kids and youth from sexual predators, peer pressure, and abuse. She uses scientific language, (body science), to arm our kids with the correct vocabulary to identify their parts. Scientific language is important because it removes the stigma. Rather than describing touch as being good or bad, she teaches children about appropriate and inappropriate touch, and what to do about it. Studies have shown that the majority of predators are known to the child, so the children are always better off knowing that some touch is inappropriate and that it is okay to tell a trusted adult.

Noon was armed to the teeth with books and handouts, stories, anecdotes, and practical knowledge that set us all at ease. She had the entire room singing her song before the night was out. The books she recommended spanned the globe, some from England, several from American Girl (I prefer Being Girl from Saleema’s resources page of links), and others written by her mentor, Meg Hickling. I quickly glanced through: What’s Happening to Me? (for Boys), (there is also a version for girls), The Care and Keeping of You (Girls), and It’s So Amazing!, which has the least enticing drawings of boys and girls through various stages as they age.

Sexual health, education, and prevention

Sexual health and self-examination is a primary concern for her. In 2007 she was diagnosed with first-stage breast cancer without any genetic history whatsoever. Fortunately, through early detection and immediate treatment, she is now cancer free and continues her work raising awareness of the disease. Her recommendations are for boys to test themselves weekly, and girls monthly, a discrepancy she noted because girls are less at risk of developing cancer until they reach adulthood. Plus, as the genitals often produce healthy nodes during development, she doesn’t want to raise concerns that lead to fear.

I was completely surprised to hear that our boys and girls are reaching the beginning stages of puberty as age 8 or 9 nowadays, when previously these signs didn’t appear until they were 12. A question came from the group as to why this is, which led to a discussion about the ongoing research into the effects of the additives in processed food. Studies have shown that children in rural areas who eat organic or other naturally grown food still experience these changes at a later age.

At the end of it all, parents should feel comfortable that Saleema Noon’s talk will be helpful and not harmful. Her sessions are geared to discourage experimentation and dispel the myths before the kids reach middle and high school grades, by teaching respectful language, healthy choices, how to set boundaries to avoid peer pressure from TV, movies, and other kids, and how to protect themselves from entering into relations against their will.

My favourite question from an anonymous child was, “are u sure we’re responsible to handle this information?” Noon reinforced her stance that she teaches along the guidelines set by the ministry of education, and only gives children the scientific knowledge about how to discuss the changes in their bodies. She leaves any discussion about when it’s okay to have sex, and under what conditions, up to the parents. Often parents have their own rules, set by culture or religious background, and she doesn’t want to impede upon the parents’ right to provide that guidance to their children.

By working cooperatively with health departments, education systems, and parents, the end goal is to produce a society of sexually mature adults who make decisions based on accurate information, mutual respect, and personal Religious and cultural beliefs .

As most people know, I am a coffee addict, even though I recorded “get off coffee” as one of the short-term objectives in my quest for a healthier lifestyle. So far that hasn’t come of age because my Achilles heel, Starbucks, just won’t die. In fact, since Howard Schultz resumed the reins at the beginning of this year, he’s had his lead foot firmly planted on the gas pedal as he drives up the company’s market share.

While I was enjoying my slow wean off the addictive espresso, curious girl had been recording very astute observations about the direction the company is heading. She even caught the on-and-off cancellation of the breakfast sandwich that Howard complained didn’t line up with the company’s core product line. I never knew they were secretly working to reformulate the product to have a coffee-friendly scent.

However, I did think it odd that just before the summer, Starbucks really pushed the registered prepaid card program. Years ago there was really no benefit to using a card. While other coffee companies (like Caffe Artigiano in Vancouver) used prepaid cards to reward guests with free drinks, Starbucks’ card was just like a debit card you didn’t need to authenticate. Even the staff complained that patrons using the card were lousy tippers.

Enter the new card program that still doesn’t give free drinks on a regular basis, but rewards registered cardholders with free flavoured syrups and soy milk. It’s this reason alone that makes it difficult for me to get off coffee, what with my triple-venti sub-peppermint soy caramel macchiato now close to a buck cheaper. I can now order it as a latte macchiato and add the flavourings later.

Curious girl noted that Howard was so impressed with the $11,000 Clover coffee maker that they bought the company. (This reminds me of that old ad: “I liked the Philips Philishave so much, I bought the company!”) Expect a roll out into all stores eventually.

The point of this whole post was really to add my thoughts to extend her point number six:

6. A mystery concoction: There’s a new concoction that Schultz refers to as “a game-changer in the coffee space, something in a cup.” I believe this is the Sorbetto frozen beverage that the ‘Bucks released in LA & OC early in July.

That could be true, but I was thinking this could also refer to… Hello, Vivanno! My Shift Supervisor friend stopped drinking coffee at work, favouring instead this new whey protein–based shake. He seems to be in better spirits lately, so I guess his caffeine purge is working out successfully. I, on the other hand, still have yet to try this drink.

Sadly, a lot of the promotions that Starbucks offers aren’t available yet in Canada. For instance, I’ve had some discussions with their customer service about free Internet access while sipping my macchiato. Part of the reason I signed up for the card program was because a barista in Victoria told me that I could get a free hour of WiFi if I bought my drink with a registered card. I later learned this deal is only available in U.S. stores, because of a partnership between Starbucks and AT&T, who provides WiFi service to U.S. stores.

At this point no similar plans are in the works with Bell, who provides the Hotspot WiFi in Canadian stores. I have a lot to say about Bell’s Hotspot pricing, but that is a subject best saved for a later discussion.

Another co-worker introduced herself as someone who loves working, loves her job, and loves her team. But when she goes home, she shuts it off, because she has a life. She has a family. She likes to cook dinner, talk to her husband, play with her kids. You know, normal stuff. She’s not interested in hacking her router’s firmware. In fact, she rarely uses the computer after the kids go to bed unless she needs to post pictures of her family vacation on Facebook.

Wow. I couldn’t have seen that one coming from a mile away. I realized that sometimes I get so obsessed with what I do that I ignore my family. Occasional moments of fatherly wisdom aside, I often find myself involved in several projects at a time that take me away from being present with my family. I appreciate comments like the one from my colleague because they keep me in check, and remind me of one source of my refreshing. (The other is the source of all refreshing, but I’ll get to that.)

List time again. This time I need to develop an action plan for improving my life-work balance (enter dramatic theme music soundtrack here).

Get a regular sleep schedule

Hm… sleep. Such a rare commodity for those in the IT field. I wrote a post in my old blog years ago lamenting on the mistakes I made coding a website while half asleep. While I was able to pull all-nighters while studying web design in school, I’ve found that the older I get, the harder it is for me to stay focused after the sun goes down. Even though I so badly want to stay awake and complete that “one final thing and it will be perfect,” I need to remember that I’m human and can only function after I get my beauty rest. Some would even venture to say I need a lot more beauty rest than most.

Eat regular meals with the family

The family that eats together speaks together. Usually. In our case, at least, our regular times of repast provide moments of light-hearted fun and foolishness that I don’t often see at work. Yes, my workplace is fun and we joke around a lot, but there is something to be said about the craziness that only a family can provide. And I am blessed that I have been provided with a crazy family.

Make use of my gym membership

My wife and I signed up for our gym memberships over a decade ago. I only keep paying the dues because to cancel them and renew them would double the fee. However, by not going I not only waste money, I bemoan my waist. The running joke is that I’ve been growing a 40 lb. turkey on my lap. Research has proven that regular physical exercise provides discipline, reduces stress, and improves mental acuity—and who couldn’t use more mental acuity? My doctor once told me, “Tony, if you treat your body like a 40-year-old, you’ll have the body of a 40-year-old.” I must be getting close to 40, because I’m really starting to feel like it.

Learn how to take a vacation

Before leaving for vacation (yeah… I published this post while on vacation) I was so focused on getting that “one last thing” accomplished that my wife single-handedly planned our travel arrangements and packed our gear. I’ve always been somewhat of a workaholic when I was working one job and completing side contracts to eventually do what I really wanted to do. Now that I’m finally doing what I like to do, I find that I can’t get enough of it and want to do more. I didn’t feel like I was ready to take a vacation, and was prepared to send my wife and kids away by themselves so I could get some stuff done.

Of course, now that I’m actually on vacation, I’ve settled down from all the anxiety, and am now kicking back and enjoying the scenery, all the while basking in this wonderful gift of life and family I’ve been given. Which leads me to my final point:

Incorporate a regular devotional time into everything

One of the things I resonated with while reading The Shack was that my daddy, God, loves and cares for me so much that he wants to spend every single moment with me. Not just 15 minutes of prayer time in the morning. Not just grace over meals. Every moment. Because he is omnipresent, he can do that, easily. He exists in all space, in all time. He is forever with me, and promises he will never leave me nor forsake me. When I realize that level of devotion to me, it’s only natural that I respond with a similar level of devotion.

In The Shack, the three representations of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shared a time of devotions after dinner. In the religious world, “devotions” means it’s time to crack open the huge King James Bible and lay down some scripture. But the characters gave their devotions much differently. As they were the holy trinity, they offered devotions to each other in the form of truly appreciating each other for a specific reason for that day. However, they didn’t do the same thing the next day. Instead, they enjoyed their time just being together. There is no rule. There was no pattern.

Now, many critics call this blasphemy. They will fight tooth and nail to protect their miracle hour of prayer, sectioned off to walk through each portion of the Lord’s prayer, the Prayer of Jabez, or some other pattern that may or may not bring them into unity with the spirit of God. While I admit that discipline is an important part of discipleship, some of us need more discipline than others in order to keep in tune with God. For me, that first 15 minutes doesn’t cut it—I finish the rest of the day more a heathen than had I not bothered to pray.

For me, enjoying God in every moment and appreciating the wonders of this world and the people in it help me to realize how truly blessed I am. The sheer size of this universe makes me feel so small, yet even in my insignificance God still loves me unconditionally. Recently a guest speaker at church quoted John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He explained that the word “world” was translated from the original Greek word, “kovsmoß”, or “kosmos”. God loves the entire universe and everything in it that he created.

So, now that I’ve had a chance to recover my senses, pick up my pride, and work out a plan, I need to act on it. I’ll continue to jot more thoughts down as they come to me as comments or future blog posts. Even though I write long posts, there’s no way I can possibly think of everything right at this moment. It’s nice to know that I don’t have to. I’m just an important part of my heavenly father’s plan. And so, my friend, are you.