I'm a technologist with 40+ years experience in the information technology industry.
Pirate Paladin Poet
Sailor Soldier Speculator Stoic
Technologist Writer Navigator
Carpenter Seeker
I am a wanderer. A speculator. A poor excuse for a musician. A sometimes poet. An aspiring writer. I live for adventures. I have a gypsy spirit.
Since the work I do is important to my clients - and I value having quality tools - I don't mind spending the extra premium for a tool that will look good, and last a very long time. The weight and heft when I pull out my journal book is pleasant thing in my mind - and is intended to create and communicate a visual message to my clients: I take my work seriously, and I value the things you may say - so I am going to be sure I capture them in a well organized way.
A comment was made by a younger person that I was going "old school" by writing notes in the journal - as opposed to just typing them into a laptop. I felt certain that the comment had an underlying dig of ageism - and so I didn't want to let it just lie there.
I took a moment to explain that I have found through personal experience that if I write something down, rather than typing it - I tend to remember it much better. I also mentioned that I transcribe my notes to .txt files as a further step in helping me learn the material - and to helping me organize information - and allowing me to rapidly search for information later. Further, I explained that my web searches of cognitive research studies conducted at some universities were actually found to support my own experiential observations that the act of physically writing something down - did indeed result in better memory retention.
The look in the other fellow's eye told me he wasn't buying it.
That has bugged me since then.
So I've wanted to capture some links to have handy the next time someone makes such a remark...
"New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer (Princeton, UCLA) demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more."
"Writing stimulates a bunch of cells at the base of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). The RAS acts as a filter for everything your brain needs to process, giving more importance to the stuff that you're actively focusing on at the moment—something that the physical act of writing brings to the forefront."
"During one study at Indiana University published this year, researchers invited children to man a "spaceship," actually an MRI machine using a specialized scan called "functional" MRI that spots neural activity in the brain. The kids were shown letters before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and "adult-like" than in those who had simply looked at letters."
"It seems there is something really important about manually manipulating and drawing out two-dimensional things we see all the time," says Karin Harman James, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Indiana University who led the study."
p.s.
It should also be worth noting that I have journals going back over 25+ years - and they have survived much better than any of the electronic storage mediums that have fallen by the wayside...back-up media for which there are no longer devices being sold, cables that have connectors that are no longer supported on current devices, backup versions that are no longer compatible with current OSs or tools, etc. The journals survive. They are still legible, and because there are separate journals by year, by client engagement - I have a relatively small set to comb through when I need to find something. I've never had a journal 'crash' - and become inaccessible.
We are all flawed and frail human beings. Yet within each of us is a powerful force - an ability through our words to ignite a conflagration of light in the spirit of others that may help drive back the darkness that seeks to creep into every person's thoughts and hearts.
There is iron in the words I write - the iron of truth - and that truth comes from a place of love, hope, and light.
Powerful medicine for the ear that can hear.
When a young man, still in my 20s, I went in search of my best friend from high school - someone I had lost touch with for a few years. It was Christmas Day...his birthday...and the night before, I had spent Christmas Eve watching Bill Murray in the movie, Scrooged
The movie had re-filled me with hope, it renewed my belief in the power of helping others, it renewed my belief in the redemptive and healing power of reaching out to re-connect with someone.
As I walked up to the front door - of the house of my friend's Uncle - I was filled with hope...that he would be there visiting...or that I would be able to get his number...that I might be speaking with my friend in just a few minutes...
My friend. That incredibly bright light of intellect and adventure - with whom I bonded as a brother. We shared many adventures in our youth.
After knocking on the door, I heard footsteps inside approaching...a smile had already begun to grow on my face...
Once the door opened - the somber silence of the interior was like a dark foreboding shadow that inscribed in my heart the truth that my ears then only waited to hear.
My friend was gone. He had decided that life was too much of a burden for his hyper-sensitive soul. His decision to "check-out" haunts me to this day.
His was a bright and beautiful soul.
I miss my friend.
I do not know if there is life beyond this. If we are to believe in the teachings of some religions - those that choose to "check-out" are banished to a place that is not congruent with our idea of a good after-life.
I desperately hope that was not my friend's fate. But if it is, I have made a promise that once my time on this earth is done - I will go in search of him - and seek to redeem him from his plight, if that has indeed been his fate.
I have a ritual that I perform to his memory...
It is my hope that he can hear me - and finds some comfort in the words and energy I send out into the universe in his memory...
When I am in a restaurant or bar - if I am alone - with my first glass of wine, I raise a toast...but it is much more than that...it is a talisman...an invocation...an incantation of power...a warding of protection sent out across all the 'verses that may exist...and thus do I speak, ever so softly...
"Shane Barner,
Wherever Ye May Be,
Under What-So-Ever Conditions Ye May Exist,
Peace Be Upon You And About You My Friend.
The Memory of Your Friendship is Not Forgotten.
Hang In There Buddy, I'm Coming."
I wish I could have taught my friend an important lesson I have learned in this life...perhaps the most important of lessons...
There is incredible power in words. These words - as spoken by the Giant, Saltheart Foamfollower have always been a source of resiliency and comfort for me - when my mind has been troubled by something:
"Stone and Sea are deep in life, Two unalterable symbols of the world: Permanence at rest, and permanence in motion; Participants in the Power that remains."
Whether or not you personally feel a connection to what I have written here - trust me, there are people that you encounter every day in your life (family, friends, co-workers, executives leading your company, strangers that you will meet today that labor as service providers at the lowest paid jobs) that are struggling to just hang on for one more day.
Be a force for good - give a kind word - smile - reach out to people - find some way to bring light into the heart's and mind's of the people who enter your sphere of influence today.
It is within your power to give encouragement - a kind word, or act of kindness, might make all the difference in their fight against a darkness that may be their interior reality in this moment. Speak words of encouragement...words of power...of hope...of ideas that uplift.
People that look for miracles are misled. Be someone else's miracle. If there are angels...they are within us...they speak to us with whispers of thought...urging us to manifest them in our actions and our words...it is simply a choice we make.
2020-04-15 Addendum:
Other writers have expressed similar thoughts - but, far more eloquently than I have the capacity to write:
I spent yesterday afternoon - and far into the evening in the exquisite Bellevue Public Library.
Serendipity led me to pick-up the excellent book Of Dice and Men, by David M. Ewatt - which provided a rich glimpse into the history of the origins of the cult of Dungeons & Dragons - and in particular, an insight into one of the key originators: Gary Gygax
I did a quick read of Usable Usability, by Eric Reiss - and highly recommend it to anyone who feels they lack the necessary and sufficient insights into visual design principles (such as myself).
I also had a chance to do a quick read of Single Page Web Applications, by Michael Mikowski and Josh C. Powell - and highly recommend it. It is one of the better books I've ever read put out by Manning - and kudos to the editor who shepherded this to bring it to market.
I brought home two other books to read over the coming weeks...
