Recently in memes Category

Skipper, at My Life Starts at Forty-Two, anointed me with the coveted Thinking Blogger Award. I'm not sure I really deserve it. I admit I have moments in which words of thoughtful wisdom may flow freely from my fingers and grace the pages of my website. But, by my own admission, they are few and far between.

All too often it is so easy to post something short, funny, or just plain irreverent than it is to compile an essay worthy of the blogger-spotlight. With that being said, however, I do have a short series that will be a little more thoughtful in the future. I'm going to try and pull something together this weekend and be ready for it to start Monday. According to the rules I must list five other bloggers who also are Thinking Bloggers. That would be:

1. RT at Untwisted Vortex. He works really hard at his blog. What's more, he obviously thinks through his decisions about how he implements his blog.
2. Head Coach at Can't Coach That. He makes me laugh. What's more, he puts enough thought into his posts so that I don't have to think too much to enjoy them.
3. Gabrielle at Tech Chick Blog. It's more than just a cute girl blogging about technology. What I think is best about her blog is her dedication and immersion into the social scene that the Internet has become and the passion with which she pursues it.
4. Kassindra at And To Think . . .
5. Misa Gracie at My Life My Opinions My Blog

If you've been tagged for this meme the following guidelines apply:

1. List five people that you wish to award with, "The Thinking Blogger"
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. You may display, The Thinking Blogger award image or the silver version if the gold one does not match your color scheme. This is not mandatory however. The Thinking Blogger Police will not raid your website should you choose not to.

Looks like there's a meme flying around.

BigSibling has tagged me in his post about, "Five reasons why he blogs." I know I'm probably going to look a bit like a anti-social, pretentious blogger-guy. After all, I've been invited to participate in a couple of memes here and here. However, due to time and changes in my life, I've decided to pass on those opportunities.

The main reason I decided to answer this one is because . . . well . . . I already answered this question back in March. So it's easy enough for me to just throw the link out there and be done with it. I mean, us fortywhat!!?? guys really appreciate things that are nice and quick and easy to do. It gives us a lot more time to ponder the meaning of life and what's on TV and why there's hair growing in places in places that never had hair before and disappearing from the places it should be.

As for the tagging part of this little exercise - if you're reading this post and feel compelled to respond . . . then by all means, contribute. It's a fun thing to do, makes you think, and you'll enjoy the links back to you. It's like having a backyard full of hot cheerleaders jumping on trampolines.

Ok, maybe not that good, but you get the idea.

Evidently I've been tagged by Jen to participate in a little meme. I'm a good sport so I think I'll go ahead and play along.

The idea of this meme, as described by Alex, is to list your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals. The funny thing for me is that I haven't really set any "goals" since finishing graduate school. Since then, it has been just going to work and paying the bills. So, I guess my goals have mostly consisted of dreams that I can say I am working toward, but finding time to make them become reality has proved to be difficult.

• Financial Security - I'm sure you'll find this at the top of most people's list. It's pretty simple. It would be nice to be able to stockpile a little money, save enough to pay for my kids' education ( so they don't have to do the student loan thing like I did ), and retire comfortably.
• A business of my own - This kind of goes in hand with my first goal. I've been working towards my own software business for some time. Money, time, and the right idea have always been elusive, but I haven't given up.
• Publish a novel - I've already written one when I participated in NaNoWriMo. However, I never edited it.
• Move to a better climate - The Midwest isn't a bad place to live. You get to see all the seasons. However, it always seems to be at either extreme. Someplace like San Diego that has a pretty consistent climate would be my choice.
• Strong family - I want my family to have a better relationship than my parents' family.
• Independent Kids - I want my kids to become strong, independent adults with the tools to be successful in everything they do.
• Visit Europe and Australia - I've always wanted to see Europe. All of it. Traveling down under is something I've wanted to do as well for a long time.

So that's pretty much it. I think I've made a lot of progress towards many of them. Now here's a few other people I've tagged:

• Zep over at In-Sect
• Ian at Living in Canberra
• Gina at Brainfizzles
• Wonder Woman at Disjointed Intelligence
• Lady Banana

Simply Successful Secrets The Internet is truly this incredible thing. A single topic can spread like a flowering vine ( or a festering rash ) with great speed and touch a huge number of people.

As is normally the case, there is a new meme traversing it's way across the Internet and ( surprisingly ) I've been tagged by Mig to participate. If you haven't stopped by one of her sites I highly recommend doing so. She's a fantastic writer and I find many of her posts though-provoking and informative. The question, quite simply, is, "What little secrets do I have that have helped me to be successful?" Personally, I think every person measures success differently. Some people measure their success based on money, some on their accumulation of material possessions, some only by the happiness they feel. I imagine that each person's secrets will reflect how they measure success. Regardless, I have to come up with 5 - 10 secrets, so here goes . . .

1. Read every day - I filter through a plethora of blogs every day to get a feel for what's going on in the world beyond my doorstep. It's also very helpful for the next secret.
2. Write - It doesn't really matter if it's an email, a personal and private journal, or a blog. Besides speaking this is the next, most important way we communicate. Practice makes perfect ( or at least close ).
3. Be cynical - I try not to believe everything people tell me. Sometimes people have motives that they would prefer you not know about.
4. Learn something new - There is always something new and interesting to learn. The field in which I work ( technology ) is constantly changing and it requires that I either learn about new things or become extinct.
5. Don't be late - Nuff said.
6. Treasure your family - At the end of the day these are the people who treasure you.
7. Spend time doing absolutely nothing - Down time is good.

So that's my list - or at least what I could come up with. Now I have to tag a few people. Let's see . . . how about:

• Paula
• Jenny
• Coach
• Beth

Have fun with it.