The Lost Art of Penmanship

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Many people look at my handwriting and wonder how a male can write so incredibly neatly. I get it all the time, especially from girls, “You have better handwriting than I do!” When I was young, my parents stressed the idea of good penmanship over and over. Both of my parents have exquisite handwriting, and I find mine holds techniques from each of them. My signature features many of the same attributes as my mother’s, where as my combination of ALL CAPS and lowercase lettering comes from my father.

It seems though, that the idea of penmanship has been falling to the wayside. So much of what we do these days comes not from our hands, but from the computer screen. Although I despised learning to write in cursive letters, and could not wait until I reached high school where they no longer required you to write in cursive, I still believe that it is an art students should learn. I think it is one of those things you look back on and realize “yeah, I am glad I learned how to do that!” More and more, pens and paper are being replaced by a keyboard and Microsoft Word. Although I believe computer skills are necessary in today’s technological world, I also believe that the basics should not be overlooked. As it is, conversations with friends are moving from ‘real life’ to posts on a facebook wall, tweets, and AIM conversations. Instead of calling up a friend, we check facebook to see what they are doing.

So much of the time now, business professionals are bringing laptops and crackberries into meetings because it is much more “productive”. I tend to disagree, as I find I remember something much better if I write it by hand rather than typing it on a computer screen. Try taking notes by hand at your next meeting and see how much you miss your laptop (and I don’t mean for surfing facebook or your newsfeeds).

I think we need to really take a look at how much handwriting we are doing. Here are some tips to getting back to using your handwriting:

· Keep a Handwritten Journal that you jot 3-4 sentences in each night. I talked about how important journaling is before, and I admit I am horrible about it, but it is a great way to break out the pen and paper and use you’re penmanship.

· Move out of your inbox and send a hand-written note. In my opinion, it is so much better to receive a handwritten note than it is to get an e-mail. We get enough e-mail, try sending your love or a family member a hand written note, and see what kind of response you get.

· Take notes by hand. More and more I am seeing students breaking out their laptops the minute they get to class. Now mind you, many of these are not taking notes but are on wifi playing on facebook. Try taking notes by hand, I find I remember stuff so much better by just writing it down. It seems to cut my study time in half.

· Practice, Practice, Practice. Yeah, I know, we all have too much to do as it is, but handwriting is important! Try transcribing the notes you took at class earlier in the day. Not only will it let you use your handwriting, but it is also a great study technique.

Penmanship and handwriting are becoming a lost art in this world of technology and virtual documents. We should really make sure we don’t lose the idea of writing by hand, and replacing our pens and paper for keyboards and LCD panels.

Let me know your opinions in the comments!

New Laptop

I haven’t posted in a while on here. I’m still trying to get into the groove of regular blogging.

For almost a year now Since I bought it 3 years ago, I have been having problems with my Averatec Laptop. It went back to the company three times while it was still under warranty. Within the last year the battery took a crap on me as well as the motherboard battery went kerplunk. It was getting to be rather a pain to reset the clock everytime I disconnected power from the thing.

Well, I have been looking around at laptops for the last couple weeks, really wanting a very portable one with the amount of traveling I do. Switching to Mac was definitely on my mind but the thought of having to re-buy a great deal of software (Office 07, Adobe Suite, DJ Software, etc) turned me off to the idea at this point. I was also looking at the Dell XPS m1330, but a lack of funds and a unsure opinion of Dell was  turning me away from that route as well.

Last weekend I was in Best Buy just browsing their laptops while talking to my cousin (who is a manager there), and I came across the HP dv2752 which was on sale for $650. Even though I was wanting something “light and portable” the 14.1″ widescreen makes it not too much bigger in size to my 12.1″ standard screen. It came with an extended life battery and they also threw in a kensington Bluetooth adapter (one that is small enough to stay in all the time).

So far I have been very pleased with the machine. It is pretty fast with the AMD Turion 64dual core processor with 2 gb of ram. The 14.1″ Brightview screen is crystal clear and views dvds very nicely. I haven’t had time to try out the dvd burner with lightscribe yet because I still need to pick up some lightscribe discs. I have had a couple little quirks with Vista but I hope to get those worked out in the near future.

Being just over a week since I’ve had it, I still don’t have everything transferred over from my Averatec, but have the majority of necessary docs and programs (firefox, thunderbird, office 07, adobe, etc).

If anyone wants to buy a Averatec 3270 w/ 12.1″ screen, 1.67ghz amd processor, 1 gb ram, XP home, DVD burner, etc, it will be up for sale very soon :).

Urban Immersion 2008:CHICAGO (Personal)

When you think of Chicago, there are many things that come to mind: the glitz and glamour of Michigan Avenue, skyrises, deep dish pizza, and the history of Wrigley field. This spring break, I got the opportunity to see a side of Chicago that many have never seen, and some may not even know exists.

I, along with 10 other SVSU Campus Crusade for Christ Members (CRU), traveled to the windy city for a mission trip called Urban Immersion 2008. Meeting up with us were 90 other college students from Michigan State University, University of Toledo, VirginiaJames Madison University, and North Carolina State. We didn’t stay at one of the fancy hotels in the downtown district, on the contrary, we stayed at the AgapeCommunity Center in South side Chicago on sleeping mats, in what is called the “wild 100s district”. It was one of the many neighborhoods in need of a great deal of help. Tech University,

The first day we were split up by school and each sent on the “El train” to one of the over 100 campuses in Chicago to talk about our faith with students. This was followed with a tour of Pacific Garden Mission which is one of the nation’s oldest rescue missions, offering food, shelter, clothing, medical, and dental care to those less fortunate. PGM has beds for over 800 “overnight guests” and feeds up to 650 people per meal. They were blessed with a brand new building this past year, featuring renewable energy solar panels and a self sustaining greenhouse, encapsulated in a 150,000sq foot facility.

The rest of the week was spent at different mission projects around the city. These included work projects, youth programs, food depositories, helping the homeless and assisting the elderly. I had the opportunity to go back to PGM on Tuesday and work in the kitchen doing dishes, prepping, and making spaghetti sauce for 650 people, as well as hearing stories from individuals there. Wednesday I had the opportunity to get a tour of the “Real Chicago” with the Salvation Army. Each and everyday they have 18 stops across the city where they take meals to feed the homeless (such as under overpasses, near liquor store areas, and in the projects). This was by far my favorite day of the week, because it really opened my eyes to how much need there truly is in the city. On Thursday I was able to go to Chinatown and work with the Pui Tak Center, which is a Christian based center helping Chinese immigrants adapt to American culture and ways. This included helping work on brochures, putting together immigrant “welcome bags” and spending time with the kids at the Pui Tak Christian School.It was such an awesome experience that I can’t wait to have the opportunity to do it again. I met a number of other college students who have a heart for mission and helping, and we all had a lot of fun and joy from serving.

If anyone would like to see our pictures from this trip you can see them all at my flickr page.

Procrastination

Well, it is 2:22am and I have just finished writing a horrible paper on the Emerald Ash Borer for a freshman level geography class (that I am taking as a Junior due to unavailable classes).

Yes, the paper is due in the morning. It is only a rough draft, but none the less. So why do we as college students procrastinate to such extents? We always complain about how much stuff we have going on, how we have to study for this or that, write this paper, do that project, but it seems that we talk about these in great detail before ever actually sitting down to do them. I know this paper was talked about at the beginning of the semester, some six weeks ago, and I waited until the day before to try and slam it out. I don’t know whether I feel like I work better under pressure or not (which I don’t seem to) but I know I need to start doing these things farther in advance.

Well, I am off to sleep to dream about Ash trees and the tiny bugs that feed on them. I need to try to at least work on my assignments due next week this weekend.

Converting an Outlook User

As I posted here, I regularely use Outlook 07 for all my business e-mail, dates, to-dos, et cetera. I have had the dilemma that the new outlook is horribly slow with handling gmail’s IMAP. IMAP is great because it allows me to check my e-mail on the go, as well as from my phone. My e-mail servers are all setup through google apps so I can have the gmail interface for my business mail too.

So, over the weekend I dug up Thunderbird from the land of long lost apps on my laptop, upgraded to the new version 2, and set out to try and speed up my e-mail. I setup IMAP accounts for both my business e-mail and my personal gmail account, and couldn’t believe how fast it handled e-mail! It seemed so refreshing. Outlook was a dog with IMAP, but Thunderbird seems to handle it like a pro. I haven’t had time to play around with Mozilla’s calendar app yet (Sunbird/Lightning). Spent the weekend getting stuff setup and cleaning and updating my plaxo address book.

The one thing I find I miss with Thunderbird seems to be Xobni. I was really getting use to using it with my Outlook inbox. So, it the devs over at Xobni are listening, we need a thunderbird compatable version!

Hope everyone has had a good week. Let me know what you guys have experienced with Thunderbird, or if you have any good suggestions for me!

Encouraging Youth to Be Entrepreneurs

Trent over at the Simple Dollar, a great blog about personal finance, wrote a post today about the importance of entrepreneurship while you are still young.

That’s a true shame, in my opinion, because I missed out on the best years to be an entrepreneur - late childhood until you settle down with a family. You have the time and the freedom to really let your sails unfurl and let that entrepreneurial wind push you towards your dreams.

We need to take advantage of entrepreneurship while we are in our high school and college and start to understand the ins and outs of working for ourselves. If you are in college, there are so many resources to help you. My college has started an entrepreneurship minor for students in any major. Also, the business school hosts quarterly lectures by some of the top business people in the state. Many want to hang out and party throughout their college years, saying that work is for after college. By doing this, you may be missing out on the prime opportunity to get a jump start on a booming business.

Are you currently pursuing an entrepreneurship endeavor? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Encouraging Young People to Be Entrepreneurs [The Simple Dollar]

Having Mentors in Your Life

Photo Courtesy of Saxon Moseley

One who refuses to seek the advice of others will eventually be led to a path of ruin. A mentor helps you to perceive your own weaknesses and confront them with courage. The bond between mentor and protégé enables us to stay true to our chosen path until the very end.
-Buddhist Philosopher Daisaku Ikeda

I believe that mentors are one of the most powerful tools a young individual, especially a budding entrepreneur can have. A great book on this subject is one written by famed actor Denzel Washington titled, A Hand to Guide Me .

When I first started my company when I was a mere 15 years old, I strived to surround myself with successful people. My father was a very successful individual in the community, holding the positions of both Chief of Police and Village Manager. He knew everyone, and I always had someone watching me. It is definitely different growing up in a small town where you are almost in the spotlight your whole young life.
There was a small Italian joint in the town I grew up in called Rocco’s. It had great food, and the best cheesecake you’ve ever tasted. It was owned by two great people, Joe and Marian. Every Monday night following the village council meeting, the ‘big wigs’ of the community would meet up at Rocco’s. It was a group of about 6-8 individuals, including my father. Every “Boy’s Night” as they would call it, they invited my business partner and I along, and we would always join them. Our friends questioned us all the time saying “Why are you going to hang out with your dad and a bunch of old guys?”. They were always out playing video games or other activities. I would always respond, “Because these are the people I want to be like when I grow up.”

I learned so much on those Monday nights in that little restaurant. From life lessons, to business lessons, and more. I know that if I ever needed advice on a business endeavor, I could call any of those guys up and get their input. I hung out with those guys because I understood the value of real life experience. They had been in the trenches, succeeded and failed, and got up and tried again. Some were influential because of the positions they held, while some were very successful business owners. I would consider all of these individuals mentors to myself and my business partner, because they took the time to take us under their wing and teach us what they knew.

I think everyone needs to reach out to those around them who have been successful. People who you see yourself wanting to be like in your later years. Most people will feel honored if you just ask them about their experiences and many are so full of stories, knowledge, and tips, that their are just itching for a young grasshopper to tell them to. Many people are scared to ask because they feel that no one will give away secrets, but you would be surprised how many are more than willing to share. Many successful people were once that young grasshopper and had someone reach out to them.

I would highly suggest reading Denzel’s collection of stories from numerous people telling about their experiences with mentors in their life. I definitely got a lot out of hearing other’s stories.

Let’s hear about your experiences with mentors in your life in the comments sections.

Move from Blogger to WordPress

Well, even though I haven’t been blogging for very long I have already switched platforms. Tonight I switched over to wordpress finding that I prefer it over the blogger blogging format. It seems as though wordpress is more widely recognized as a platform than blogger and I think that this will be a better attempt. I have moved my posts and comments over to the new blog here. Everything is still a little messy here because of the move but I hope to get it cleaned up all neat and tidy over the weekend.

Make sure to add us to your rss feeder to keep up with the most recent posts!

Xobni Outlook Add-on (Application)

A week or so ago Xobni was talked about here on Lifehacker. It is a great add-on for those of us who use outlook. I have outlook 2007 setup for all of my business e-mail so I can use it in conjunction with the calender, to-dos, and contacts that outlook seems to integrate well. I know that many out there hate outlook with a passion, but I have somewhat grown to like it. I like the idea of one program to do all I guess, but recently I have been experimenting with the idea of using all web based apps for personal use such as gmail, remember the milk, jott, and Sandy. I have been so far pleased with these also.

Now back to what we were talking about. Xobni is currently a invite only beta. I have 5 invites to give away still so if anyone would like one feel free to leave your e-mail in the comments section and I will send one your way. Xobni offers you gmail like e-mail through outlook with conversation type threads, better e-mail search and more. Here are some of the things it offers:

1) Lightning fast email search
2) Threaded conversations
3) Useful social networking features
4) Quick attachment discovery
5) Automatic phone number extraction

If you are an avid outlook user such as myself I would suggest giving Xobni a try for yourself. I have been very pleased so far!

Looking Forward to 2008

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve posted. School is back in session and my girlfriend’s Dad’s restaurant is finally up and running so now I have a chance to hopefully get back into a routine!

As I look toward 2008 I think it is going to be a great year. 2007 was pretty good, but as I look forward to the coming year I see many changes that have been in my life. I have moved off campus and into a nice little apartment in the historic district of Bay City. It seems so different than the campus lifestyle. No roommates, people running through the halls at 4 am, no ‘floor pranks’ etc. I miss it in some ways, the only thing I find myself on campus for are classes. It is a much more grown up feeling. I am now able to have a small ‘office’ in my bedroom which helps me to keep much more organized, as well as a real place to call mine, without having to move out for Christmas break and such.

I am also getting into my upper level classes and am enjoying them much better than the gen. eds. It is so much more focused on what I want to do in life than studying about history, earth science and such. While I do find this somewhat interesting, I would much rather be in a 3 hour class about marketing and management. I am still somewhat undecided in which direction I want to go once I finally get my diploma, so this is one thing that I am going to be really focusing on and praying about in the coming year.

With that, I just want to say I look forward to 2008!

Feel free to leave comments about what you are looking forward to in this coming year