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What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Learning

January 27, 2007 by Chris Cree 11 Comments

“Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” –Sir Winston Churchill

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I took Friday off from my “regular” job and went to a local blogging conference here in Savannah. I was surprised by the folks who attended.

What surprised me were the large number of folks who were there because they didn’t know much of anything about blogging and wanted to learn. In fact there were so many that the organizer of the conference adjusted the schedule and added an impromptu session to cover some of the basics of terminology so that those folks could get more out of the rest of the sessions.

That was very cool.

However there were also one or two folks there who didn’t share the enthusiasm to learn. One lady in particular seemed to have her understanding of blogging all worked out before she got there (although I don’t think she’s blogging herself) and spent a large portion of the conference time attempting to convince the rest of us to accept her views.

Apparently she was too smart for the rest of us and certainly wasn’t interested in learning from us.

She apparently didn’t like being taught.

Of course I’m not one who enjoys life’s forced lessons either. I was being taught how not to completely bite someone’s head off.

Fortunately for me while I was talking my wife happened to be sitting behind the challenging person and was able to help me out by signaling me to keep my cool. I hadn’t realized before that public speaking can be a team sport.

I sure appreciated my teammate helping me keep from doing something foolish!

But I didn’t much enjoy the learning process for that one Friday.

Sometimes my attitude toward learning is similar to my attitude toward exercise. I like having learned, not learning in just about the same way I like having exercised, not the act of exercising itself.

The best part about working out for me is finishing!

Oftentimes life’s lessons are painful to learn. However the benefit of having learned them makes that pain oh-so worthwhile.

How about you? Do you always enjoy the learning process?

What are some things we can do to make that process a little less challenging for us?

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Chris-Cree, Churchill, Learning, One Way to CC It

The Politics of Money and Race in the South

January 24, 2007 by Chris Cree 13 Comments

Storm on the Horizon

There’s a political storm brewing in my current home state that I only became aware of because of an attention grabbing headline at the Drudge Report this morning.

White Atlanta suburbs push for secession…

It’s just the sort of thing to make this former New York Yankee now living in the Deep South here in Savannah perk up and take notice of some state politics. So I did a little quick poking around ala Google and here is what I found out.

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Background

Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton county although a portion of the city extends over into DeKalb county, which seems to be a curious result of the original sight selection for a railroad terminal. Apparently there was a strong “not in my back yard” mindset in North Georgia in the 1830’s because the residents of Decatur were worried about train noise and insisted the proposed terminal be built well outside of town to the west across the Chattahoochee River. From what I can gather Fulton county was formed from the western half of DeKalb count round about 1853 as the area west of the river grew (due to the railroad terminal, of course).

Then skip ahead to the Great Depression in the early 1930’s. The two poor, rural, scarcely populated counties just to the south (Campbell county) and north (Milton county) of Fulton county were all merged together because the poorer counties were going bankrupt at the time. It created a sprawling elongated Fulton county, with the areas of the two former counties being referred to as North Fulton and South Fulton. It seemed all was well. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Chris-Cree, Georgia, Money, One Way to CC It, Racism, South

What’s Up With The Weather?

January 17, 2007 by Chris Cree 37 Comments

What’s going on?

Things are crazy right now. Winter is not behaving normally. California is freezing their oranges off. Seattle has gotten pounded. Again. New Mexico has seen cattle killing blizzards.
Current US Temperatures
I heard about a town somewhere in Nebraska yesterday that has been without power since around the first of the year and isn’t expected to get it back for several more weeks.

And then here in Savannah we’ve still been wearing short sleeve shirts with 70 degree days. I mean look at the current temperature map. There’s a whole lot of pink in places that are usually yellow this time of year.

Don’t get me wrong. For my part I’m not complaining. We’ve had it easy so far this winter.

But wildly unusual weather like this does make it a bit challenging to continue to be a global warming skeptic.

A Convenient Theory

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Now I admit that being skeptical on the global warming thing is probably not so popular. But please don’t think that I am anti-environment. Fuel economy is high on our priority list in my car purchases. And even though the places we’ve lived in the South make it challenging to recycle my wife and I have recycled on our own through private concerns when we could.

In spite of the fact that I care, I’m still skeptical. It just seems too convenient to hear the high priests of the environment declare “Global Warming” at every single unusual weather thing that happens. Record high temperatures? Global Warming. El Niño? Global Warming. Oranges freezing in California? Obviously Global Warming!

I find it a tad suspicious that the theory seems to bend just a touch each time so that regardless what happens it can be incorporated as evidence the sky is falling. No, wait: The earth is warming.

Perhaps I’m a little simple minded or ignorant. But I have questions about the whole deal.

But how does record cold weather somewhere provide evidence that the planet is warming up?

Comparing how ever many millions of years our planet has been around with the few thousand years folks have been walking around (and the few hundred we’ve actually been recording the temperatures) how can we really be sure this isn’t some cyclical thing that is perfectly normal for our world?

When they take ice core probe temperatures they have to make some assumptions about things such as build up rates and stability of temperature at various depths. While these assumptions may be reasonable, how can we be sure they are true?

Different Biases

Now I admit I bring my own biases to the topic. Personally I think it is a bit arrogant for humans to believe we have that much influence or control over our planet.

As evidence exhibit A I’ll point to the science of Meteorology. In spite of all our technological advances and know how it is still pretty much a crap shoot whenever the weather guessers try to predict the future conditions in any particular location.

If our best scientists have such a hard time telling us accurately whether it is going to rain on the kids soccer game tomorrow night, how can we be so confident that what they tell us is coming down the road in a few centuries is any more accurate?

I guess I get the feeling on this one that many folks have made up their minds that human activity on this planet is bad by definition. Therefore they seem to present everything that happens through the bias that “proves” we are flushing ourselves down the toilet.

Maybe we are. I’ve gotta admit things are definitely a bit weird right now.

But maybe the planet is more resilient that most folks give it credit for. But that’s just The Way I C it.

Chris Cree is a regular contributor here at Successful-Blog and he helps businesses fuel growth through blogging with his consulting business, SuccessCREEations.

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Chris-Cree, global-warming, One Way to CC It, Weather

What is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Kids and Dogs

January 13, 2007 by Chris Cree 14 Comments

“Anyone who hates dogs and kids can’t be all bad.” –W. C. Fields

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Before I get started on this one a little background is in order. I’m a guy who’s cresting 40. I’ve been married for nearly 9 years (first marriage – I was a bit of a late bloomer, I guess) with no children. Oh. And we have two cats in our house (no dogs).

My situation is a little outside of the norm, sure. But some folks have been known to make some faulty assumptions about my attitudes on the subjects of kids and dogs.

The Subject of Children

Some folks jump to the wrong conclusion that my wife and I have been unable to have children for some reason. They assume that we desperately want kids and therefore even talking about the subject of children must be emotionally traumatic for us, particularly for my wife.

That mistake seems to be more common among church folk and personally I am a bit amused when I see someone dancing around the subject. I’m just devious enough to let them squirm a bit before I explain that we aren’t traumatized by that. For us the child free thing is something that my wife and I have consciously chosen with much thoughtful discussion.

Then there are the folk that err on the other side and assume we are somehow anti-kid because we don’t have any of our own.

Again not true.

I’ll admit that I can sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a room full of kids. But one on one I do just fine. I’ve even changed a diaper or two in my day.

We like kids, we have just decided not to have any of our own at this point.

About Dogs

Then there are the folks who hear we have cats in our house and automatically assume that somehow makes us anti-dog.

Nope.

In fact I was a die-hard dog person before our first cat adopted us. Back then I would have told you that cats were pretty much only good for drop kick toys (not that I ever actually kicked a cat, mind you.)

Now, even after crossing over to the dark side, I still like dogs. Although I’m not sure they really are the ones that should be called Man’s Best Friend.

I think cat’s have gotten a bad wrap. Maybe it’s the company they tend to keep. But in reality they are in many ways a better pet for a guy than a dog.

Think about it. Cats are low maintenance. Put some food and water out, clean the litter pan from time to time and, with a cat, you are good to go. You can even get some gadgets to automate those tasks if you want. What guy isn’t into gadgets?

I haven’t seen a viable dog-walk robot yet. I’m just saying.

With cats you get the feeling that they can make it without you. Go away for the weekend and leave a little extra supplies out. They’ll do just fine. Now there’s a basis for mutual respect. They tend to come by for a little rubbing on their terms. What guy wants his buddy to be at his beck and call?

We hang out with guys we respect, not guys we control. Cats just have a PR problem as far as guys are concerned. I’m pretty sure they don’t much care, though. They can make it without us.

But in spite of the fact that I am a converted cat guy I still enjoy a little good, dirty, slobbery dog playfulness from time to time. I’ve got no problem with dogs.

Some dog owners, on the other hand, give me fits. When I see a misbehaving dog I figure there is usually a human associated with the animal. And it is probably the person that has somehow caused the poor canine behavior. I wan to give them a copy of Cesar Millan’s DVD’s so they can become the pack leader in their house.

But just like with misbehaving kids I figure there is an adult that is probably more responsible for what is happening.

What do you think? Is W. C. Fields on track? Are children and dogs really the menace that he claims?

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Cesar-Millan, Chris-Cree, dogs, kids, W.C.-Fields

The Joys of Family Roles

January 10, 2007 by Chris Cree 3 Comments

Road Trip

Family vacations. Sometimes they take come in the form of visiting special places for fun and relaxation. Or maybe they are wonderful holiday pilgrimages to see family and friends.

My wife and I just got back from our 11 state Holiday Tour and the whole thing has got me thinking about the different family roles we take on.

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I’m not talking about the traditional formal roles that fall to each of us such as husband, wife, mother, father, bread winner, etc. But after nearly 9 years of marriage I’m beginning to see some patterns in our informal roles each time my wife and I get ready to go on a trip.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Chris-Cree, Family, One Way to CC It, relationships, Roles

What Is He Talking About? Chris Cree on Facing Our Hidden Prejudices

December 29, 2006 by Chris Cree Leave a Comment

“No matter how horrid a person may appear on the surface, if you dig deeper, you will find some nice, unexpected little quality.” —Brooke Astor

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One of the biggest causes of conflict in this world is the snap judgments we make about people based on ridiculously limited information.

As we go through life, it is only natural to lump people into categories instead of treating them as the unique individuals they really are. And, when left unchecked, that mental lumping together creates a fertile ground for prejudice to blossom.

It is especially easy when someone rubs us the wrong way. The next time we see people who seem to fit into a category as the one who ruffled our feathers, we are much more likely to ride in with shields up and guns blazing. But all that does is further their stereotype of people like you.

Snap judgments only add fuel to the fire which can have a tendency to flare up from time to time.

I can be guilty of it myself. Interestingly my one big prejudice that I’ve had to work to overcome doesn’t have anything to do with skin color, nationality, religious alignment, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, economic status, or any of the other major categories that we tend to lump people in.

As a result, for many years I deluded myself into thinking that I wasn’t prejudiced at all. But my prejudice was more subtle and as a result much, much more insidious. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Brooke-Astor, Chris-Cree, One Way to CC It, Prejudice

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