Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on hope http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic hope Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Okay so what's next? Tue, 09 Jul 2002 20:38:57 +0100 Strangely enough being made redundant on Monday was not the most unnerving that has happened to me this week. What is more unnerving is my decision not to look immediately for another job.  Instead I have made the decision to see if I can make an adhoc mixture (as I see it now) of blogging, k-logging, knowledge management, intranets, collaboration and communities into a compelling business proposition and make a living from it. For some time now I have wanted to strike out in my own direction.  To lead rather than be led.  It seems fate just handed me my chance. This is not a risk-free strategy, and I'm just beginning to admit to myself what I'm letting myself in for. So from here onwards I will happily entertain any offers of work, suggestions about what works (and what doesn't).  Ideas, novel solutions, novel problems.  It's all good.   I've also got an acre of understanding to do, here goes! Suddenly I feel like I am growing into my weblog title. Matt   http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000133.html Networking is the key Wed, 04 Sep 2002 12:07:10 +0100 As so many people have told me: networking is the key to starting a successful business.  To this end I have joined both <A href="http://www.ryze.org/">Ryze</A> and <A href="http://www.ecademy.com/">E-cademy</A> which are online networking sites where you can build a profile and hopefully connect up with people who have similar or complementary interests. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000485.html Knowledge as the most reliable foundation for generous behaviour Sun, 08 Sep 2002 07:28:42 +0100 <A href="http://kflaux.com/personal/GroundhogDay.htm">Groundhog Day.</A>. I keep seeing the movie Groundhog Day. In reruns. <IMG height=152 alt="Murray running through the snow" hspace=10 src="http://dijest.com/aka/images/judaica/groundhogday.jpg" width=242 vspace=10 border=0> Over and over. I can't help it. Every time I see it I learn something new. And I am changed by it. I hope to grow up enough to get out of this cycle. And figure out what that means. <A href="http://us.imdb.com/Details?0107048">imdb</A>. <A href="http://kflaux.com/personal/GroundhogDay.htm">Plumbing the Depths of Groundhog Day</A>. [aka <A href="http://dijest.com/aka/categories/life/">life</A>] [<A href="http://dijest.com/aka/">a klog apart</A>] <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> » I've always loved this movie and when I saw the IMDB link I wanted to go see what other people said about it.  I'm glad I did because I read this: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> "The other thing I noticed, while reflecting on this movie, is how uncertainty can keep us from charitable acts. We use our ignorance like a crutch: we don't give to charity because it may be a scam, we don't offer to help someone because they may not need help anyway, and so on. But Phil doesn't have the luxury of ignorance. He knows...he knows with absolute certainty that if he doesn't buy the old man a bowl of soup, that man will die in the streets within a few hours. He knows that if he isn't on hand at the right time, a boy will fall from a tree and break his neck. Faced with such knowledge, even Phil, self-absorbed as he is, cannot stand by idly. Nor could we, in his position. This is a powerful argument for knowledge as the most reliable foundation for generous behavior. What other movie can offer an insight half so profound?" </BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000502.html Making ends meet Sun, 01 Dec 2002 19:52:55 +0000 This is a difficult post to write. The last 5 months have been some of the most interesting and exciting of my life.  When I started blogging I couldn't have imagined what a dramatic impact it would have on me.  I've been thinking more during this time than at any other time in my life and, having found a voice, sharing more.  It's been very liberating.  It also seems to me that the path I am on now may define my course for years to come. Starting a business was something I really wanted to do.  But I wasn't ready for the challenge, economy or no economy.  I've learned so many things, like the supreme importance of your network and, by extension, your brand relative to things like products and services.  But it's hard to run a business when every little thing is a lesson.  Despite good advice I've made mistake and after mistake and they keep coming.  On one hand I'm constantly learning and that's fun, but on the other hand it doesn't necessarily make for good business. I want to continue, I hope to continue.  I believe (dangerous as that is) that k-logging has an important future, my inability to come up with the right message or pilot site not withstanding, and is going to be a good business to be in.  I also want to continue because I'm talking to and sharing ideas with some great people and that's always cool.  But the hard reality is that I haven't made it work yet and I'm almost at the end of my rope. I've started looking for a job, posting my resume to various recruitment sites.  So heres where we come to the difficult bit: Please, if you or someone you know could use my skills (CV will be up when Word agrees with me about what HTML is): <UL> <LI>Java application development</LI> <LI>Technical consultancy</LI> <LI>Web development (Servlets/JSP, Perl, Cold Fusion)</LI> <LI>Knowledge Management (+quite a lot of experience with Livelink) implementation or consultancy</LI> <LI>Systems Management (Quite a bit of Solaris & WinNT/2K + a smattering of linux)</LI> <LI>Tech support / Client support</LI></UL> please do get in touch, I could really use some help at the moment. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000939.html Look to the sky and remember that you were loved. Mon, 17 Mar 2003 13:17:41 +0000 Between Hope and Memory I'm interested in memory because memory is all we have. We are unable to perceive the temporal singularity of the present, which is a razor-sharp edge. It cuts our experience into past and future. We understand the division, but cannot comprehend the blade. I have nothing but my own quickly fading memories out of which to build my reality. These memories lose focus and detail as they disappear behind me, drifting far into the past. How hopefully I bind them together even as they fall apart. How boldly I proclaim reality even as I forget it. We live in the transition between the future and the past. We are the moment that hope becomes memory. Someday I will be dead and my children will cobble together their ragged memories and create me anew. They will create me in their own image. I will be clay in their hands with only the breath of their memories to give me life. So I spend a fair amount of energy trying to create good memories for my three daughters. This may seem rather contrived, but Im of the opinion that parenting is mostly contrived. Theres really no time for much else. Plant good memories while you can, mommies and daddies. Our time on earth is short and hope becomes remembrance in the twinkle of a little girls eye.   AD 2063 A 70-year-old woman points her grandsons hand toward the Eastern sky on a November evening. Orions belt of three stars hangs low near the horizon, forming a nearly perfect vertical line. The middle star, that ones mine. Its name is Alnilam. That means string of pearls. My father gave me that star because I was his middle daughter. He said I was his string of pearls. She stares at the star and tilts her head slightly. I was his string of pearls. What about the other stars, Grandma Well, the top star is Susans. She was the oldest. The last star is Sharons because she was the baby. Each year they rise in the east, just in the order we were born. See? Most people call it Orions belt, but daddy always called it The Three Sisters. He said he had as much a right to name the stars as anyone. He used to say, Look for the three sisters in November, when I am gone. Look to the sky and remember that you were loved. <IMG src="http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/images/starpeople.gif" border=0> The Preacher [<A href="http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/">Real Live Preacher</A>] http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001278.html