The Era of Rocky “Boyoh” Comes to an End

Today, I bid farewell to a friend. His name was Rocky, affectionately referred to as, “Rocky Boyoh”, or simply, “My Best Boy.” I’ll miss him.

It may take days or weeks before I adjust to not having to listen for his footsteps at night. This little dog, who could go 10-12 hours during the day with no accidents, somehow could not go more than 3-4 hours at night without the need for relief. I was there for him.

Clicking his nails on the floor as he walked from the bedroom, he would stop at the corner of the hallway (like he was waiting for a cab), just before it turned into the living room and (hopefuly, I got there in time), I would pick him up and carry him to the back door, slide the door open, strip off his diaper and drop him into the cold night air on the patio. This was our routine for so many of the past months.

Before all of that, he was fairly happy, even after losing the one eye he had when we found him. In spite of his blindness, he was quite capable of negotiating corners and doorways, and always able to find his water bowl and a bowl of food. He was like a sturdy little tank, still capable of putting up a fight, if he disagreed with being man-handled.

Rocky came to us with his girlfriend, Savannah. He may have never recovered from the broken heart of losing her in 2008. We rescued the two of them in Marin County, California, to save ourselves from being without dogs. Greg Kihn (yes, that guy) used to have a radio show in the bay area where he profiled dogs in need of rescue and Margaret learned of Rocky and Savannah through that medium. She jumped on the website and saw pictures. Initially, she saw Savannah and sent me a link. Then, she saw Rocky and said; “forget about that last one, I want this one!” When we went to get him, he was tethered to Savannah on a split leash. Margaret loves to tell this story. All of this was in 2002, while I was working as a consultant to Yates Advertising, a company in San Francisco.

So, imagine having to sum up twelve years of your time with a dog. We’ve had many and we still have two. I’ve been through this five times now. Champagne, Beijing, Savannah, Lady, and now Rocky. It doesn’t get easier. There’s no way to avoid it. I still love having dogs. Rocky is gone.

Found on the Way to Finding Something Else....

Leaves Of Gold will be there waiting for my attention again, tomorrow.

“For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his [or her] happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” - Andy Rooney

I found that at - http://conal.net/quotes.htm - funny how the simplest website or blog may have just what you needed to find at that moment….

Happiness, it’s easy, once you’ve decided.

Elements of Style

Leaves of Gold and Doubleday

Brothers: Statue of Brothers on Wikipedia

”There is a destiny that makes us brothers;
None goes his way alone:
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.”

Edwin Markham (1852-1940), U.S. poet. A Creed (l. 1-4)… Family Book of Best Loved Poems, The. David L. George, ed. (1952) Doubleday & Company….

In one of those rare instances, where laziness pays off….
After searching to find this brief quote in two different places, I decided to look in another of my books; The Best Loved Poems of the American People (also published by Doubleday) - and there, I found this second verse:

I care not what his temples or his creeds,
One thing holds firm and fast -
That into his fateful heap of days and deeds
The soul of man is cast.

Edwin Markham

Leaves of Gold - Foreword

Enriched by some phrase of lasting truth and beauty….

It is almost as if every word of this great volume drips with kind and inspiring sentiment.

Poor indeed is the man whose mind is not enriched by some phrase of lasting truth and beauty which serves to restore his soul in the exigencies of life. Each of us needs in his heart’s treasury the memory of a lovely line to renew fellowship with the great and noble of this earth - and, indeed, almost as great as the ability to write a line of strength is the ability to use that line to higher levels of emotion and achievement.

Sharing another’s thoughts and feelings on this work….

Beautiful Handwritten Letters dot com

Beautiful Handwritten Letters dot com
- where Theodore Twombly plies his craft, spurred me on to an inspired search. Alas, the results were abysmal! Go see the movie, “Her”, anyway. It’s a pretty good exploration of what we create for ourselves, with our own internal dialog.

“Jonze peppers the lovers’ conversations: “The past is just stories we tell ourselves,” “I’m afraid I’ve felt everything I’m going to feel”).” Borrowed from this website: http://www.fastcocreate.com/3023517/spike-jonze-imagines-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-mobile-design-love-and-pants-in-h

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/why-it-works/letter-style
http://www.vletter.com/products_vl_pro.htm
http://blog.wantist.com/2012/02/your-words-beautifully-hand-written-love-letter-transcriptions-by-paperfinger/

Praise For Friends

Cover Image from AmazonThe Past

PRAISE - “A noted editor once noticed a particularly fine achievement by a friend, also an editor. He thought he would write immediately a letter of congratulation to his

friend. But he didn’t. There was a day or two of delay, and then he said to himself, ‘Oh pshaw! He will get hundreds of other notes about it, so I shall not bother him with

mine.’ Then he met his friend and told him how it happened that he failed to send his letter of commendation. ‘How many do you think I did receive?’ asked the friend. The

editor guessed many scores. But the real answer was, ‘Not one.’” (John T. Faris)

The Present

Today I will write and send uplifting messages to more than one person.

The Future

From now on, I’ll be open to the likelihood that there are many opportunities to praise and I shall do so.

Leaves of Gold - "think on these things."

Leaves of Gold
An Anthology of
Prayers
Memorable Phrases
Inspirational Verse and Prose

From the Best Authors of the World,
Both Ancient and Modern

Edited
by
Clyde Francis Lytle

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report … think
on these things.” — Philippians: 4-8

Past, Present, Future 01032014

The Past:

Stagnant Truth

“Do not mistake acquirement of mere knowledge for power. Like food, these things must be digested and assimilated to become life or force. Learning is not wisdom; knowledge is not necessarily vital energy. The student who has to cram through a school or a college course, who has made himself merely a receptacle for the teacher’s thoughts and ideas, is not educated; he has not gained much. He is a reservoir, not a fountain. One retains, the other gives forth. Unless his knowledge is converted into wisdom, into faculty, it will become stagnant like still water.—J. E. Dinger (Lyte, Clyde Francis., ed. Leaves of Gold. Coslett Publishing, 1948. pg 59)

The Present:

With nearly 30 years of experience helping people with computers, I still cannot tell you how you got that virus. Wisdom is the ability to inject humor into the situation with: “I would have had to have been watching your every move, to know what you did to get that bug.”

The Future:

https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/ida-executive.pdf

Twice a Day?

Maybe.

On page 7U of the USA Today for The Desert Sun, in one little paragraph, there was this gem.

Print rules: Sales of print books dominate the lists as holiday shoppers buy the real thing to wrap as gifts. It goes on to say that only one book in the top 50 is selling more digital copies.

It doesn’t seem like much, but there will always be (and currently, there’s a majority of) people who would rather have a book, than some digital version of that same indulgence. Personally, I like both. But, I know if I get tired of looking into this computer screen, I can always open up a good book and enjoy real life.

What do you think?

BR

Past, Present, Future 122014

The Past:

From Leaves of Gold - Page 47

WAIT - Many times, this little verse

by Harry Chester has fallen on my heart

like a benediction:

The Scripture says that in His own sweet way

If we but wait,

The Lord will take our burdens and set

Crooked matters straight. (Jowett)

The Present:

My response to the lesson from the leaves:

Let God sort it out.

The Future

- from Psychology Today Website

In The Willpower Intinct, I wrote about the importance of feeling connected to your future self. People who feel close to, caring toward, and similar to their future selves are more likely to invest in their well-being — an excellent state to be in as we enter a new year.

Love Over Fear

We saw the movie, “Frozen” on New Year’s Eve. It was pretty good. The title of this blog post sums up the central theme fairly well. I keep telling Margaret, the opposite of love is fear. After reading that in “Conversations with God”, by Neale Donald Walsch, I’ve seen many examples that support the premise.

It’s only 9:36 p.m., and I can barely get my fingers to move along the keyboard. Exhaustion rules!

Good night.

Walter Mitty - Daydreaming as Entertainment

I’m all smiles reading the reviews of this movie, likely posted by the same people who gave “thumbs up” to Inside Llewyn Davis! They got it wrong, on both counts.

To be clear; I’m saying, movie critics have little value, in my humble opinion.

Let me also clarify these facts: We saw “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” today and last weekend, we saw Inside Llewyn Davis. One was fun, one was not so much!

Walter Mitty was predictably corny, sweet, and stupid, which can also be said, I suppose, for Ben Stiller. You know what you’re in for, before you go. It matters little to me that the whole thing was ridiculous. If a movie makes me feel something, in this case, inspired to become a better writer and take up photography again very soon, then I win. This was the case for me, because I went in with a curiosity about how anyone could properly represent the classic Thurber story (one of my favorites). I quickly learned it could not be done. So, I resigned myself to simply enjoying some entertainment.

Contrast that with the other film, which made me want to hang myself about a minute into the drama.

Last year, at Christmas, we saw, Les Misérables and as expected, that’s how I felt about the experience. So many hours of my life are now irretrievable, for the sole purpose of seeing a classic represented in song and drama. History lesson, Homeric heroism, some pretty good actors and a few pretty girls still did not justify the waste of time.

Well, humbug, I really don’t know how to wrap this up from here. I’m glad they won’t be making a movie of the Catcher in the Rye (my favorite book). I’m happy I saw and enjoyed Walter Mitty, even if I correctly guessed the “surprise” ending. If nothing else, I may do some research on the end of Life magazine, which figured prominently into the story line.

Merry Christmas to you.

Did you mean: brian rowley

That’s what Google says to me when I search: “brian rouley” —-

I want to say, “No. This is the REAL Brian Rouley. The guy who has been putting stuff on the web since the Internet was young. I’ve been here since before content was king, way before dominating search was a great idea.”

But, then I think, hey, the young people are the ones creating the future. They may know nothing about an OSI stack, or PSTN, or what role Ma Bell played in all of this, or even what NCSA stands for, but they still get so many things right, I guess I can let it slide that they think I might not know how to spell my own name!

Heck, I’m over the hill now. Fifty-five is on the downhill side of things, right?

Next, a brief review of Walter Mitty. I wonder if they know who he was….

13 Things To Do

This list was compiled in direct response to an article posted last month on the Forbes website. Brian Rouley likes to look at things from the positive point of view. Turning around the “13 Things They (Mentally Strong People) Avoid” made this work possible. Thanks to Cheryl Conner for posting the work by Amy Morin, as it inspired this author to do his own reflective discourse. With gratitude to all who push us to succeed, here are 13 things you may already be doing, or might consider doing, to develop the mental strength it takes to become, or continue to be, successful.

1.      Take the time to learn the lesson. You know what you did and why you did it. Find the place where things went wrong and do your best to analyze your motives, the thinking that led you to take that approach. Discover the error, find a way to correct it and be grateful for the new knowledge. If you never fail, you might not be trying hard enough!
2.      Manage your power and apply it with discretion. Knowing you are in control of your actions and emotions is one of the many strengths you bring to “the game.” After careful consideration, your response will likely demonstrate your superiority in trying circumstances. Be stoic, be analytical, and then act with confidence.
3.      Embrace change. New challenges require growth. That growth will certainly become your new strength.
4.      Decide in advance how you will respond to adversity. Things you cannot control can be seen as opportunities, if you have preconditioned yourself to that response. Stuck in traffic; use that time to ponder some topic that requires careful consideration. Lost luggage? This is an opportunity to demonstrate your resourcefulness. Do what makes sense and you’ll feel better.
5.      Be kind and fair in every circumstance. It is almost always the best course. When you have to speak up, even if what you say may not make everyone happy, be sure to say what is true. You are entitled to your observations and the opinions you’ve formed as a result. State your true feelings and you’ll never have to worry about who is (or is not) pleased by your counsel.
6.      Weigh the risks and benefits to your actions. Taking calculated risks is what strong people do. Realize that almost any action, even if it turns out to be wrong, is better than indecision and inaction. If you’ve considered carefully, you have already made room for adjustments.
7.      Look to the future. With all the benefit of lessons learned (see #1, above), you are well equipped to invest your energy in the present. Doing this, without suffering the pain of past failures, will enable you to make better plans for a brighter future.
8.      Introspection is very useful. You must be willing to review the lessons of past failures, if you are to apply them to future endeavors. When you have the opportunity to take a different approach to solving a past problem, reflect on what did not work and do something else. That is sane logic.
9.      Celebrate the success of your peers and learn from them. They did the work, they took the calculated risks, and no doubt they learned from their failures, too. Emulate, take examples if you can and apply them to your future plans. Doing this is the very meaning of not having to “reinvent the wheel!”
10. Fail as often as necessary to achieve success. Each failure has valuable lessons you’ll use to add to your learning and experience. Many stories are written about the failures of Edison and Lincoln. Write your own story with corrections you make in situations like these. You only fail if you give up completely and we all know you are too strong to accept that fate.
11. Use your alone time for productive things, like writing. You owe it to yourself to make yourself happy. Do the things you enjoy doing that don’t involve others – relax, be lazy or be productive. If it makes you happy, prepare for the time you will soon spend with others. Quiet time might also be your opportunity for simple things like meditation, music, whatever it is that allows you to recover from the noise and stress of a workaday world.
12. You make your own way in this world. Everything you have, all you have to gain, is a result of the work you do and the preparation and training you’ve done to achieve success.
13. Genuine changes take time. You know there are no “get rich quick schemes” and you are willing to persevere with small steps to achieve the ultimate success. All of the planning you’ve done, all of the lessons learned, and all of your experience, has prepared you for the “slow and steady wins the race” approach to the result you seek. You have the staying power and the patience to see things through to the desired end, or through the continuation of your success, for that matter!

Learning As We Go

At first, I thought it might be a good idea to teach people how to blog. Then, I came to realize that for many elderly people, this might present a challenge. So, today, the goal is to find young people (maybe honor students bound for a career in journalism?) who might listen to people who have so many details to share, then use their digital talents to record these stories for us.

https://www.causes.com/causes/802498-juniors-teach-seniors-blogging?utm_campaign=home

It seems like everybody wins in this scenario. The older people get to enjoy the company of youngsters. Younger people gain a whole new appreciation for the relevance of their elders, where stories of real life illustrate some of the things they’ve only read about in those heavy history books. We, all of the consumers of content on the Internet, get to revel in the regaling accounts of things we know have happened as recently as “only last century”, as we enjoy a whole new growing resource for facts about who was involved in what happened when.

That’s all I’m trying to say. Investors, look me up. I’m eager to get started.

http://rouzell.mousehelp.com/

Proof

Working through the topics of my new e-book, entitled;

Ridiculously Simple Topics for Bloggers

I’m writing today just a few lines to show how easy it is to push something out in a few minutes. There’s no reason to think that every blog post you write must be so many paragraphs or pages long.

Just write about what’s going on now. Right now, I’m working on finishing this book, so I’ll have something to offer to my subscribers.

That’s all I have to say.

Margaret is home, so I’m going to bed early tonight.

Writing an e-Book

This is something I’ll sell for a few bucks on Amazon - if all goes well. Funny thing is, as soon as I started writing the book, the frequency of new posts on my blogs dropped in a very dramatic way! So, here is my first post since the weekend.

I’ve changed the front page of this blog, by posting the introduction to my e-book, which is what this blog is all about; Blogging. Sometimes, writers run into obstacles. I’ve had a few of my own. For the most part, I’ve come to realize that I have to live up to the one great truth; “writers write”, so if I’m going to be a writer, I simply must write.

Who will read my blog? I cannot say. What I can say for sure is I’ll enjoy writing it. That will have to be enough for me, until I have a few fans. After I’ve become wildly successful and famous, people will be able to look back at these humble beginnings. I hope they’ll say; “Gee, didn’t he have great foresight!”

That’s all for now. Watch for my post that tells you the e-book is ready. It will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, too.

Good night.

Puppy needs a good home!

Here’s an update - she looks so content! Take her home and make her happy forever. Details….

Please contact Save A Pet, or me, for the opportunity of a lifetime!

This little girl needs a good home.

She is doing so well and she is so sweet. I can’t believe how quickly she is healing, after losing a leg. Hats off to Dr. Anderson, of the Save A Pet Animal Hospital. There’s no oozing and stitches seem to be healing perfectly. She’s got a great appetite and very happy! We need to find her a good home. She loves to just hang next to me on the sofa. Very mellow. I can keep her for a few more days but need to find a foster or permanent home.

If Only I Were a SCRUM Master

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02515/scrum_2515747b.jpg

You won’t find many sentences (I’m assuming) that start with the words….

Hybridization of scrum is common as scrum does not cover the whole product

development lifecycle;

Here’s a link to the full article on Wikipedia.

You’ll have to read through quite a bit of that article to get to the part where they reference “The Chicken and the Pig” story. And, you’ll quickly be off track if you follow the link to that story.

The fable of The Chicken and the Pig is about commitment to a project or cause.

So, you’ve already had two opportunities to be side tracked from this article. Are you still here? In the interest of (finally) finishing something, I’ll cut to the chase. Actually, let’s throw it into reverse and back up to the opening credits.

My original question, answered by Wikipedia, was: “What is SCRUM?”
So, let’s start with that answer and see how we got there.

Scrum Master[edit]

Scrum is facilitated by a Scrum Master, who is accountable for removing impediments to the ability of the team to deliver the sprint goal/deliverables. The Scrum Master is not the team leader, but acts as a buffer between the team and any distracting influences. The Scrum Master ensures that the Scrum process is used as intended. The Scrum Master is the enforcer of the rules of Scrum, often chairs key meetings, and challenges the team to improve. The role has also been referred to as a servant-leader to reinforce these dual perspectives. The Scrum Master differs from a Project Manager in that the latter may have people management responsibilities unrelated to the role of Scrum Master. The Scrum Master role excludes any such additional people responsibilities.

How we got there (in reverse order):

SCRUM Master research leads to Wikipedia information. - The end result being this article.
Job search leads to SCRUM Master position. - Realizing I am far removed from new product development techniques and trends.
“We’re Hiring” link leads to job search. - Recognizing that I need to continue to look for a “real” job.
Email service info leads to “We’re Hiring” link. - It’s nice to know there are jobs available out there.
Email sender research leads to email service information. - An email service will help me build a subscriber base for my blogs, which will lead to potential buyers of my products and services.
One email promoting a product. - Sent by someone remotely involved in my use of web design technology - themes and frameworks for WordPress - things I use to build blog sites.

Are you still here? OK, here’s more detail - with links for your clicking pleasure.

Backtracking:

The question, “What is SCRUM?” came from reading job openings at SendGrid, where I found a position of Scrum Master, in Orange County. So, of course, Googling the question produced SERPs with plenty of resources for that answer.

You may ask, “What is SendGrid?” and the simple answer is that it is an email management program for businesses or individuals who send mass email.

How did I stumble upon SendGrid? I received an email from Eric Hamm, at Cobalt Apps, LLC. They have a product called Dynamik Website Builder, derived from “the power and flexibility” of Catalyst, a child theme to Genesis, which is a WordPress framework.

Here’s a page filled with one amazing graphic representation and more than most people will ever need to know about website design. All of this is something that comes from CopyBlogger, where I regularly go for advice on communications.

You may never have heard of Brian Clark. Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media.

This is how it goes sometimes, for me.

One email promoting a product. Email sender research leads to email service information. Email service info leads to “We’re Hiring” link. “We’re Hiring” link leads to job search. Job search leads to SCRUM Master position. SCRUM Master research leads to Wikipedia information. Wikipedia information suggests a blog post to illustrate backtracking to answer the famous Talking Heads question: “Well, how did I get here?”

The Book Thief – A Review

The story was pretty much exactly as expected, based on the trailers we had seen for many weeks. Normally, I would say this is disappointing, but it was not. It was simply satisfactory. Which, on a report card, or any evaluation, sounds just like; “meets expectations.” That’s not a stellar review.

For my time, the most satisfying bit from this movie came from one quote, which I’m sure I don’t have exactly verbatim. But, it was something like; “All those blank pages, they’re for you to fill.” This is said to the main character by a Jewish boy (who is being hidden from the Nazis), as he hands her a book of pages made empty by painting over them with white paint. She, being someone who has recently learned to read and write, would, of course, treasure this simple gift.

Given that the plot was so incredibly predictable, there’s little to rave about when discussing this film. Like I said, it was merely satisfying. A good cast, plausible characters, and a nice story, narrated by Death. See it if you can spare the time and don’t mind a couple of hours with little excitement. Had I been just a bit more tired, I might have gotten in a nap.

On the other hand, we did see Sling Blade (for like the 12^th time) – and that is nearly a perfect movie. It has almost nothing exciting in it, but the dialog and the characters are so compelling. This is all I need to make a movie memorable and worth multiple views.

If it were not so late, I might make a short list of movies I’ll see over and over again.
OK, here are a few:

Sling Blade
Pulp Fiction
Blade Runner
Safety Not Guaranteed
Source Code
Moonrise Kingdom