I wrote a segment a while back about ‘Corporate Responsibility’ highlighting corporations that I felt where doing a responsible job at their business, and thus, were worth shopping at. Since then, I now do a monthly Corporate Responsibility segment on a world-famous podcast. It’s important to have a chance to educate others on where to shop, because so often the excuse for not buying responsibly is a plea of ignorance.

However, even after you get educated about ‘fair trade’, ‘eco-friendly’, socially responsible options, you still have to make a decision and make that purchase. Capitalism is a system that is run by your purchases, much like a democracy functions through peoples votes. Boycotts in a basic sense are simply using your purchasing power as a vote, banding enough people together to ‘vote’ a particular corporation to make a decision. On a smaller scale, every purchase you make, as it aligns with your values, is a small vote toward a particular business and value system and/or away from another. What’s my point? Though your purchasing decisions can be a powerful tool to enact the kind of global justice you’d like to see in the world, if you do not have firm values, that purchasing power can become worthless. Let me illustrate.

This past week I need to paint. Not something you do every day, but definitely a very common and frequently purchased item. As I thought about the idea of purchasing paint, three values came to mind: environmental concerns, supporting local businesses and price. I’d noticed a local coop that advertised non-toxic paint and gave them a call. To purchase a 5 gallon bucket of non-toxic paint I’d have to pre-order and the cost would be somewhere around $200. Sounded expensive, but this would support my value concerning the environment. A quick call to Home Depot revealed that I could purchase a 5 gallon bucket of white paint for about $50. This definitely fit into the price value, allowing more money to go toward debts and others needs. Finally, I stopped by my local hardware store, 5 gallons= $80. Three different options, each supporting three values of mine, but seemingly in conflict. So, what was I supposed to choose?

The problem with the way I went about this purchasing decision is that I was vague on my values. Had I waited, thought through what values was most important in this decision and then stuck to that, the decision for what paint to buy wouldn’t have been a difficult decision. Not only would it not have been difficult, but I believe it would have given me more purchasing power.

Businesses don’t necessarily recognize this on an individual scale, but when they look at the big picture they can see the trends. They can see that people like me, who might tout the environment on my blog, but when it comes down to making a decision, I’m going to go with the cheaper option. When they look and see where the ‘votes’ really are, they recognize whats really important for their business, and my ability to sway them with my purchasing decisions grows weaker and weaker.

The point of this story is to help us recognize the importance of being clear on our values. Especially, when it comes to any collective efforts. The decision to shop locally, if done by an entire community can have an incredible impact on the well being of that community, but only if it is done consistently and collectively. The decision to purchase environmentally friendly products can have a great impact on the planet and you and your household, but again it should be done consistently (non-toxic paint, cleaned with toxic cleaners might balance each other out). I’m not advocating always buying the cheapest possible thing, but I want to encourage you to think through your values before you begin considering your purchases, which should help you both make your decision and promote your values.

The habit of sitting down and writing every day is a good habit to be in. It’s also a good habit to read every day. Both are positive things, and I think in a large degree can be positive no matter how you go about them. If you just read Sports Illustrated and just write on your friends facebook wall, that is better then nothing at all. However, if you really want to be intentional about those skills keeping you sharp, educated and continually thinking, it’s good to refine them every once in a while.

This blog is, has been, and will continue to be a useful tool for me to express my thoughts through writing. Based on the feedback of those reading, I’ve continued to try and write one post a day, hopefully interesting and engage. My intention is to continue to do that. At the same time, I’ve found my best writing and thoughts, which is what I try and present you with, don’t often come at that small window of time that I sit down at my computer, while the kiddo is napping, and attempt to have a deep thought. That being said, lately, writing things I felt were post worthy has become more difficult. Thus, the need for the title, What you Are About to Read is a Recording.

Here’s how I plan to refine my writing. I’m going to continue to write, a lot. But, there are certain, non-bloggable avenues I want to pursue with my writing, trying my hand at a children’s book, some spoken word experimenting, trying to get into a magazine or two. I also really want to comb through the hundreds of random text files and notebooks and other pages of writing I’ve written in years past, a time consuming, but hopefully thought provoking task for myself. All that to say, my goal for this blog is as follows. I’ll try to continue to make routine posts, and hopefully still thought provoking and engaging, but I’m going to try and pull away from current events, linking to other blogs, etc.

As to reading, this is the other area that needs refining. I love reading others thoughts, blogs are a great way to do that, and I love keeping up with the blogs of others who happen to read my blog, but I need a break. I’m still on track with reading a book a week, which has been a great habit for me, but it’s also caused me to feel sort of overwhelmed due to a backlog of unread blog posts in my rss reader. What I’d love to do instead is have more direct communication, friends and others reading what I write who email me links to blog posts they’ve written or read that they think I’ll enjoy. Rather then personally combing through 100+ blog posts every Monday as I’ve been in the habit of doing, I’d love to just get a handful of emails from friends who think I’d be greatly encouraged by this blog post or that. Maybe that’s what Thursdays will be, rather then linking it will be a day to call for worthwhile online reading material. (that’s what I get for thinking out loud).

Oh, and I think I’m going to be writing short pieces. I want to work on my writing, and writing short will force me to be more creative and engaging with my language, and hopefully make it easier for me to edit and improve. That’s what’s up with me.

Last week I read The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss. Considering I currently don’t have any ‘workweek’ to speak of, I figure 4 hours might be a step in the right direction, especially if he’s suggesting that’s all you need to work. It was a decent read.

Like many of these self-help, get-rich types of book, most of his ideas could have been summed up much more concisely, but then he wouldn’t of had a book to publish, sell and hit the top sellers list with. It did have some unique ideas in it as well though.

The reality that interruptions, from email, phone calls, and meetings, seriously hamper ones work productivity, is nothing new. Ferriss, however, suggests you radically cut down on those distractions. Not just limiting your email and phone checking to once a week (or less), but even how to avoid meetings in the corporate world. The reason is the ultimate goal is to work remotely, thus being able to travel and anywhere.

After cutting back on your communication channels you’ll be way more productive and thus can suggest to your boss that you work at home a couple days a week, proving during a trial run that your way more productive that way, and eventually, cutting back to nearly complete remote work. I’m sure there is a lot of jobs this could work for, but none of my previous ones, or my wife’s current one fall into that category.

The last unique idea was to get a personal assistant for yourself, basically to do all the boring and time consuming things you have to do for both work and personal life. The idea is to ‘outsource’ and thus free up your time to do what you really want. Your Man In India is one of the sites to find a virtual assistant.

All that to say, the book was a decent read, but nothing phenomenal. If your ultimate goal is to work 4 hours a week and make enough money to travel the world on mini-retirements while doing so, then you might want to pick this book up, but it certainly isn’t a full proof guide.

His website, The Four Hour Workweek has some bonus chapters you might find interesting. I’ll leave the password in the comments

If you’ve commented on the blog recently, You’ve probably been confronted with a Error 500. Never fear, your comment has still posted, it just didn’t send you back to the page.

Anyways, I was going to post, but with limited time, I’m going to try and fix these errors today. Hopefully you’ll know the results soon.

I think I fixed it. Please do me a favor and comment below, let me know if you are able to comment without it going to a blank white page that says Error 500

Peace.

Once again, I’m slacking on posting. Fortunately, it’s not because I and the kiddo are sick, indeed we’ve been in great spirits and have been out enjoying the beautiful Minneapolis weather. Also, Mindy has been off for a bunch of days recently so we’ve enjoyed the almost mini vacation exploring our city. It’s been sweet.
At the same time, our internet service has been sub-par. I’m going to call them out on this one and just say that USI Wireless, who has been hired to provide wireless internet service throughout the city of Minneapolis, has done a horrible job thus far. I won’t go into all the details, but I will say that I have spent far too much time on the phone with them and far too much time with no internet to feel happy with the internet service I am paying for. Hopefully they can work out all the kinks, but in the mean time they have done a pretty poor job of treating their customers kindly. The service is considerably less expensive than any other service around, but you should still get Internet if your paying for Internet. (that’s my rant).

Since I’ve been slacking on the substantive posts, I figure I should update you on other rather introspective things…

• Spring is just around the corner. The kiddo and me are preparing for all day hikes, bike rides, bus trips and other city explorations. Any other stay-at-home dad’s out there?
• Giving Up, the novel I wrote and am working on self-publishing, should be available to order from Amazon.com in the next couple weeks. I’ll let you know when it launches. For now, here’s a sneak peek at the front and back cover.
• My next book/writing project is to send some children’s picture book manuscripts off to some publishers, Lord willing I might become a published author just in time for the kiddo to read my book.
• I’m still well on track with the book a week in 2008 goal. If you have any book recommendations let me know.
• We reached our goal of 20 people participating in the Economic Stimulus Giving Spree. Feel free to join in still and prepare to share your story about how you gave the money away.
• Lastly, I use wordpress for my blog, and it’s been acting up a little lately. Not sure quite what it is, and hopefully the whole thing won’t breakdown, but if there are any experts out there, I’d appreciate your help. Is everyone able to comment okay?

Sorry again for the less then substantive posts. I promise to get back to regular posting shortly. For now, I thought I’d make another brief push for joining the Economic Stimulus Giving Spree. We are almost at our 20 person goal:

(and you can sign via Facebook now)

In other news, I know right after a serious of boring and sporadic posts is probably not the best time to pump the subscription page, but humor me okay 🙂 I’ve updated the Subscription page for those who might be interested in just subscribing to particular posts or categories of posts, you can see the options at the Subscription Page.

And finally, if you haven’t been to the site recently, please stop by. I’ve created some fancy little post banners for some of my more substantive posts and they rotate through in the sidebar. You might find one that peaks your interest. If so, be sure to leave a comment!

(Sorry, I know that was lame).

I don’t have much to write on this topic, only that it came up and I’m doing a little investigating to learn more. Thanks for the tip from Erin. I’m a skim milk drinker, so this would be a major stretch, but the basic idea is getting unpasteurized milk, straight from the cow, free of all the crazy unknown chemicals they currently inject your milk with.

I’ve been trying to be more intentional about my thoughts about food. Why? I’m not sure, except that I think it’s an area that has a large impact on not just us, but our world. Though, I have know idea where I’m going with it. I’m not that interested in becoming a vegan, nor even a vegetarian to be honest.

This is short, because I’ve got a little kiddo to play with, but I thought I’d put it out there and see if anyone had any thoughts.

In my time of attending church, college chapels, and now listening to preacher’s online and through podcast, I’ve heard quite a few sermons. Many of them blend together, sometimes taking small nuggets of wisdom or simple encouragement, but a few stick out in my mind as having had a notable impact on my life.

I’m sure many others have had similar experiences from sermons they’ve heard, and now with the reach of technology, there’s a good chance that you can share that sermon with others, to be equally impacted. So, with out further ado, I present to you the Notable Sermon Awards.

The goal of the awards is for you to share on your blog a sermon (or multiple) that have had a notable impact on your life. Preferably these are sermons for which you can link to an mp3 or otherwise make available for others to listen to. If you need help with this step, please mention it in the comments below.

I don’t think I need to tag people to get this thing going, but I might as well (Josh, Bryan, Julie, Joe, Zack, Mak, and anyone else). To participate in the awards simply name the sermons, provide links and tag others. You can also copy and paste the code below to place the Award Badge on your blog post:

<a href="http://blog.iamnotashamed.net/2008/02/17/notable-sermon-awards/"><img src='https://tryingtofollow.com/wp-content/linkedimages/upload/box.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/sermonawards.jpg' align="right" alt='Sermon Awards' /></a>

I have a few I could choose from, but I’ll stick with just one so others can point out their favorites too. This is one I myself did not actually hear in person, but was recommended to me in 2003. It’s a Wheaton College chapel message from the year I was gone, given by Kari Miller who works with world vision. Be ready to cry.

Kari Miller, Wheaton College Chapel Message (22:05 and just 3mb to download)