Special guest post today by the fabulous Athens, GA band R.E.M.!

Not really, of course, but I think these lyrics sum up some of my thoughts at the moment.

I Believe

(Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)

When I was young and full of grace
And spirited – a rattlesnake
When I was young and fever fell
My spirit, I will not tell
You’re on your honor not to tell

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract
Explain the change, the difference between
What you want and what you need, there’s the key,
Your adventure for today, what do you do
Between the horns of the day?

(chorus)
I believe my shirt is wearing thin
And change is what I believe in

When I was young and give and take
And foolish said my fool awake
When I was young and fever fell
My spirit, I will not tell
You’re on your honor, on your honor
Trust in your calling, make sure your calling’s true
Think of others, the others think of you
Silly rule golden words make, practice, practice makes perfect,
Perfect is a fault, and fault lines change

I believe my humor’s wearing thin
And change is what I believe in
I believe my shirt is wearing thin
And change is what I believe in

(repeat chorus)

When I was young and full of grace
As spirited a rattlesnake
When I was young and fever fell
My spirit, I will not tell
You’re on your honor, on your honor
I believe in example
I believe my throat hurts
Example is the checker to the key

I believe my humor’s wearing thin
And I believe the poles are shifting

(repeat chorus)

[lyrics reprinted without permission, just like 100,000 websites do every single day]

Image by Kristie’s NaturesPortraits

I’m in an airport as I write this post, heading to the Netherlands for a business trip.  It’s my first flight to Europe in about 10 years and my first trip (period) in almost two years. Here’s some random (but hopefully useful) thoughts as I wait for my first flight:

• I hope there’s free WiFi in all of the airports.  Probability = slim.  However, there is free WiFi where I am at the moment.
• It would be nice to have an iPod Touch or a smart phone for this trip – it would save me having to drag out the laptop at each step and potentially drain its battery if I can’t find a plugin.
• It looks like I can carry on all of my luggage, which is awesome.  I’ve gotten better at packing light(er) over the years.
• I have an iPod full of podcasts and music, which I think will make the 0verseas flight tolerable – I haven’t had one on a trip like this before.  iPod is one of the best investments that I’ve ever made.
• I have a soft phone (I think this is the correct term) on this computer, so I think it will let me call home without incurring long distance charges.
• At a guess, I’d say about 40% of the people in this airport (a small one:  only three gates) are using laptops, portable or wireless devices.  I see a lot of newspapers and a few books.  There are about 30 people in viewing distance.  At most, I think there will be sixty passengers here.  Again, it’s a small airport.
• I’m doing much of my normal social media routine here in the airport, which is a first for me.  When I used to travel more often I always had a laptop with me but more often than not there was rarely any wireless available for me to hook into.  I never had a smart phone and rarely had a regular cell phone.
• In short, this is the first “wired” trip that I’m taking, or that I feel like I’m taking.  Maybe you’re used to that.  I’m not, so it’s quite interesting to me.  I feel like a Chris Brogan or a Louis Gray for about 15 seconds in terms of what seems continual Web access.  Not quite Scoble class connectivity (but then who is?)
• I expect to use a GPS for the first time with the rental car that I’m picking up tomorrow.
• Gee, I’m really blowing my somewhat illusory cred as a tech or social media savvy blogger, aren’t I?  (never really considered myself tech savvy or an early adopter; I just happened to join Twitter about a year before it really started to get mainstream attention).
• I wish I could Web browse on the international flight, but somehow I don’t think I’ll be able to.
• Usually I buy a ton of magazines, etc. for my flight, but I’m going to try to travel light.  Oh, OK, I’ll probably buy some.  It just seems like a waste when I would only need them for the flight.

And that’s that.  Posting will probably be light this week, but I’ll try to publish  at least one post from the Netherlands.

“Measure twice, cut once.”  It’s not just about carpentry.

Before you pull the pin, before you damn the torpedoes, before you leap off the cliff, before you charge into battle, before you commit…

Think again.

1. Do you understand the situation well enough to do what you are about to do?
2. Are you reacting in anger, fear, or hurt?
3. Do you really understand the consequences?
4. Have you told the people who need to know what’s about to happen?
5. Do you know what the costs will be?
6. Has anyone else tried something like this before and been successful?
7. Is this really going to get you want you need (as opposed to what you want?)
8. Do you really know what you need at this moment (as opposed to what you want?)
9. Is there a better way?

If you answer “no” to any of questions 1 – 8 and “yes” to question 9, maybe you’d better stop and think again.

It’s up to you, but if it were me, I’d feel better knowing that I’d thought these questions through.

Just a suggestion.

It’s a fairly simple checklist, really.

1.  Did the sun go nova overnight? If you’re reading the checklist, the answer is obviously no (you’d be free floating molecules, or carbon residue, otherwise), so continue to 2.

2.  Did Earth’s surface get buried under massive sheets of ice, indicating the onset of an ice age? If you’re reading the checklist, the answer is obviously no (frozen people can’t move, eliminating your ability to get out of bed and do anything), so continue to 3. [alternate version of this question:  is sea level rising more rapidly than a snail crossing the Mohave Desert?]

3.  Is there still enough oxygen in the atmosphere to breathe (or at least roughly the same amount as yesterday)? If you’re reading the checklist, the answer is obviously no (asphyxiated people can’t read), so continue to 4.

4.  Are the nukes flying? If you’re reading the checklist, the answer is most likely no, although timing is always of utmost importance (radiation and reading don’t usually go together; neither do vaporization and reading), so continue to 5.

5.  You’re not out of the woods yet, but your day is certainly off to a decent start.  If you’re still panicking, remove yourself from the presence of media for the rest of the day and go do something real and tangible.  Think about it first, though, and make sure it’s something worth doing.

6.  Before you go to bed, get this list ready to read tomorrow AM and start with item 1.

Look, there’s no doubt that there are bad things happening across the world and that more could happen and I may be seen as trivializing many problems.  Panicking isn’t the answer, however.  Neither is echoing the message of doom and gloom which, quite frankly, smarter people than you are using to get ahead in life.

If the essentials and basics of life (e.g. having one) are in place, you’ve got as good of a starting point as anyone else.

Think about it.

Steve Spalding provides a very important life lesson for everyone, especially those of us in social media, blogging, creative work, etc.

From the post:

Learn to be patient.

Learn to be patient in everything that you do. Learn to be patient when life is looking up, and learn to be patient when everything is going south. Learn to be patient because nothing you do will ever be easy and patience is the only skill that is guaranteed to pull you out of the muck.

Well said, Steve.