Happy Birthday Jeff Pulver
Today is Jeff Pulver’s birthday. Jeff celebrates life every day in several ways. He praises people, hears their dreams, and as often as he can, contributes to making their dreams a success. One of his biggest passions in life (besides music and Tel Aviv) is to help people realize that they can take a swing for the rafters and try to live from the center of their passion. You have to admire a guy for that.
I’ve learned lots from Jeff, and continue to appreciate his perspective on life. Between his inspirational blog posts and just following his jetsetting on Twitter, he’s definitely a great guy to know, and someone who’s contributed a great deal to the betterment of aspiring young futurists everywhere.
Mazel Tov, Jeff.
Happy Birthday Liz
Today marks the birthday of Liz Strauss, one of the best community people I know out there. She gets it. She loves people more than she loves pretty much everything. And she’s the kind who shares all the damned time. When she published a beautifully written ebook about how to blog, she priced it so that anyone could buy it, not just big businesses (even though I told her to charge more). Why? Because she loves you, dammit. And I love her.
If you’re going to get to know someone over this next year, give Ms. birthday girl a try. Liz is the type of person who takes any idea and brings it ahead about seven notches. She’s full of ideas, a community superstar, and someone who I think has already made more of the web than lots of us will get to in the next five years combined.
Happy Birthday to Liz, one of the good guys.
Happy Birthday Violette
Happy Birthday to my daughter, Violette, who turns six today. She is probably most proud of the fact that she can ride a two-wheel bike, but later, I will ask her what she’s most proud of, and we’ll edit the post together. She might also tell you that she loves being active.
She lives a different life than the average kid in some regards:
She makes me so proud. I love her sense of humor, her ideas, her quirky smile. I think she will grow up to be quite the talented performer, no matter her field of study.
She gets to play the role of princess often:
Even though her Dad is sometimes a frog,
maybe some day, I’ll turn back into a prince, and we can live happily ever after:
Happy Birthday, Violette. I love you, and I’m glad tools like blogs and Flickr are around, so that I can share my thoughts with you for years to come.
Happy Birthday Dad
My Dad is responsible for quite an interesting cross-section of my personality. He’s where I get my calm under pressure. He’s where I get my sense that all people are probably good. He’s where I get a lot of my quirkier bits in my sense of humor. He’s a technologist and a lifelong service professional, so I get that from him, too.
So, quite simply, Happy Birthday, Dad, and I’m glad you’re part of my life and a strong inspiration.
Who Am I Really
I am 38 years old today. I am a child of two parents who were brilliant and creative, and who believe deeply in who I am. I’m the grandson of a candy salesman / bodybuilder / artist / comedian and a nurturer / cook / giggler. I have a brother who is far smarter than I will ever be, and far more interesting than I will ever be, too. I’m husband to a creative, passionate, empathic wife. I’m father to a sparkly-hearted, brilliant daughter and a happy son.
Definitions
I’m mostly defined by my passions, and my passions are quite often YOU, so I’m a person who’s given a lot of his time, thought, and consideration to studying how you do what you do, and to giving you ideas how to reach others for your particular needs and interests. If this sounds wishy washy or hippie, it means you’re an evolution behind, or on another path, and both are okay. I’m not here to explain it to the other “you,” the ones who get me.
Job
I have a job that challenges me to deliver the evolution of how people meet face to face, and to deliver an improved value for all involved. It’s complicated, because the part of my job where I falter always lies in the details, and yet, my role is currently defined by details instead of the part I’m passionate about: the “experience” that people will feel. This make it fun for my employers, who are clever people with a great track record, and a passion for seeing this evolution turn successful.
Everything else I’m doing relates to future trends in these technologies we call social media and how businesses and engaged individuals can make something out of them.
My Friends Matter
I have friends who matter a great deal to me. Most of these are in other states, other countries, and other points in their lives. Each of them do something different in my life, excite some part of my being, and give me hope that the future will continue to be comprised of friends like you. When I talk with you, when I email you, when I send you 140 characters or less, it revitalizes a connection in me that rarely fades the way you might occasionally worry that it does. It’s always there.
Strengths and Weaknesses
My strengths lie in understanding complex technological systems and being able to communicate them in human terms to business people and individuals. I’m also strong at communicating, at speaking, and at building relationships.
My weaknesses lie in execution of detail, in repetitive tasks, in thinking that I’ve handed something off in such a way that others are running with it to completion. I’m a bit fleeting in what I find fascinating, which is a strength, but a weakness if you’re the something that I find fascinating.
What I Do
In any given day, I do several things. I blog at different times than most (usually either late at night before bed or early in the morning before I get my kids to school. I usually have 3-5 posts ready to go, and I schedule some of them to run mid-day, in case my day’s lead story doesn’t do so well.
I blog because it’s a way to parse all the information I absorb, and a way to share it with you. It’s a way to give you my insights and ideas, and then let you comment and add your voice. It’s a lot better to me than writing standalone papers, though I do that, too. The reason? Because sometimes people want to give someone else something a little more substantial than a URL, and you can print or mail the file around easier than printing a particular blog post. (Then again, don’t forget the Eco Safe widget in the right sidebar at [chrisbrogan.com]).
I’m working on a book. Can’t remember how much detail I’ve given, but suffice to say that I’m at the proposal stage, trying to capture the meat of what we’ve already done (there’s a collaborator, and I’m not sure if he’s authorized me to decloak). Following this book, I have ideas for two more that are in similar stages. Remember, I write WAY more than what I put up on the blog, when I have time to do so.
Ultimately, I’m working in lots of directions towards three major projects over the 2008-2009. I’m excited by what I’m doing with my job right now, by what I see coming next, and by the potential that a few books in the space might offer.
Coming Up Next
Over this next year, I will outgrow a lot of things. And I will focus on fewer things, to do them well. I will develop some new thoughts that I hope will prove interesting enough to keep me fired up, and I will share as much as humanly possible, with the hope that YOU prove out what I believe to be true.
Today is my real birthday. I LOVE my birthday. Not for presents, but instead, for presence. So, make yourself known. Tell me something about you, something about me, something. Take a moment and say more than “Happy Birthday, Chris!” Share something the way I’ve shared with you.
And thank you for another year.
Happy Birthday Harold
Pretty hard to believe that this little guy is already two years old. It’s definitely gone a lot faster, Harold’s two years, than Violette’s. Maybe in some ways, that’s because everything was a learning curve with Violette. With Harold, we knew how to be parents (or what we consider being a parent), and instead, we can just delight in the nuances of differences that Harold brings to the story.
At the age of Two, Harold is still figuring lots of things out. Recently, like yesterday, he started using signs legitimately for the first time. His favorite is “open,” ever since we started storing lots of his toys in little plastic storage containers with tricky lids. He has a sign that he uses for “help” which looks more like the sign for “milk” mixed with “you there, peasant- do this for me.”
Things I don’t want to forget about Harold: he loves cars and trains right now, despite us not pushing him towards “boy” toys. (Violette loved Thomas the Tank Engine until she was 4, and then princesses and fairies pushed Thomas to the curb). He loves music and singing along with various songs. He eats breakfast food like it’s going to be off the menu, but doesn’t really dig most other foods without a lot of prompting.
Harold gets really excited quickly, very often is happy as a clam, and has a whole different kind of energy than his big sister.
Oh, he loves her a lot more lately, too. They’re figuring out how to interact in each other’s space a bit. Harold is getting happier with that relationship.
So that’s it. I’m happy to be a dad of two great kids. I’m thankful that Harold is who he is. They’re healthy and wonderful and remind me why I do what I do. They also remind me all that I put my parents through, and make me happy we have a good relationship. For as little as I use my blog to talk about family, you should know that my family is HOW I can do all the things I do, as well as WHY I want to keep trying.
Happy Birthday, Harold.
