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Posted by email from Matt’s posterous

So a little while back Blaine Buxton and I started hinting at a new meeting/group for Omaha and got quite a stir.  Here is the information everyone has been waiting for!

A meeting for ideas, brianstorming, and creative thought in general.

We all have great ideas, but wouldn’t it be fun to have more of them?  And, wouldn’t it be even more fun (I know! italics even!) if we had other people thinking about our ideas and making them better?

That is the basic premise behind the new group.  We want to get all of the creative minds in Omaha (there are a LOT of them) together and collaborate on this… help your brothers and sisters out, so to speak.

The Basic Outline

When Blaine and I threw this together, I initially wrote down some rules, and then when I got back to my computer, refined them with Blaine and others’ help.  Here is the outline we are starting with… expect this to change over time as we know what the hell we are doing:

Each month a new person runs the meeting (as decided at end of prior meeting)

Each Meeting consists of:
1. Creativity exercise(s) (15-30min)
2. Success(es) from last meeting (15 min)
3. Problem/idea presentations
Per problem/idea: (max 4)
5min  Presentation
5min  Q/A
5min  write down ideas on cards
collect idea cards -> presenter
4. Think about a “big” problem (ie “Solve World Hunger”)
15 minutes to discuss/brainstorm
5. quick retrospective of meeting (ideas on how to improve the next one) (15 min)

Total time (max): 2 hours 15 minutes

Stress the implementation of ideas (by giving time to go over successes from last meeting), but not too much.  No-one should feel forced or intimidated to actually /use/ the ideas discussed.

Rules:
1.) Be positive
2.) Be open minded
3.) Be receptive

This is an idea generation / brainstorming activity.  We are not here to validate or invalidate an idea.  We are just here to help develop each other’s ideas.

When / Where

The first meeting will be help September 23rd at the 132nd and Maple Panera Bread, in the meeting room.

UPDATE:  the meeting is at 7:00PM
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Panera Bread
13410 West Maple Road
Omaha, NE 68164
(402) 964-1110 | phone
(402) 964-1115 | fax

“Yeah, right” I tell myself immediately after righting those words in the title. But then why the heck am I up at 4 in the morning typing this instead of going to sleep? There are too many more important things to do.

I AM GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

How? Simple. By starting. I am going to change the world by starting.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

I am making the world a better place. I am giving people the chance to be more tomorrow then they are today. I am giving of myself so that others can reap the rewards. I am changing me to change the world.

I am sick and tired of my life as it was just 15 minutes ago. I have, for far too long, just lead a ho-hum existence. Going to my day job, going ot the grocery store, picking up the milk. But I can do more than that. I can do and be MORE. I can help people who need it. I can use my abilities to make their dreams come true.

I will find a way to make people who I’ve never met enjoy their lives more than they ever imagined.

I will change the world.

Care to join me?

207. Thats right. 207!!! WOOHOO! Only 7 pounds left for my first goal. I started this as part of the office competition, 7 weeks ago, and had planned on getting to 200 in 12 weeks. I have 5 left, so I am excited! I am going to start aiming for my final goal weight of 185, and if things keep going the way they are I might be able to get close to that!

I am over 20 days into my Information Diet trial period. So far I can’t say that I feel like I’ve missed too much as far as blogs and news go. However, I am seriously missing my comics. It was the one thing that I looked forward to in my daily schedule. Unfortunately, I am pretty certain that reading my comics first thing every morning helped kickstart my procrastination cycle, and I may not be able to go back to them, at least as part of my morning routine.

That said, the goal is to rid myself of procrastination vehicles, and I have a long ways to go. I catch myself replacing my news/blog reading with other things: email, twitter, this blog… and of course now BarCamp Omaha (which I will talk about in another post soon). Anyway, the point is that I am replacing a bad habit with my other bad habits, and not seeing much positive gain.

Plan going forward:
I am honestly not sure what to do… there are options that I am willing to explore: going on a complete info diet (my boss probably would not like that), hypnosis, practice meditation, etc. I am thinking that meditation practice is the most accessible to me right now… I have some books on it already, and could easily pick up a CD or two to help

So, I said that I would be updating the site with where I am on my quest to a healthier lifestyle, and so here is an update.

My weight is now: 211.4 for a total of 16.4 pounds lost to date.

I am feeling really good about this number.  My first goal is 200, and I am well on my way to that.  After 200, my goal is 185.  Feels really great to be taking these steps to create a more healthy lifestyle for myself.

Running..
I have not gotten as much running in as I hoped I would.  I have yet to complete a week of Hal’s schedule.  This is OK, since I am aiming for the 10K’s and not the Half Marathon.  I really need to improve my  running habit.  I am getting there.

True refinement seeks simplicity
- Bruce Lee

I am listening to the 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris again, and just got to the part about going on an Information Diet.  Going on an info diet entails removing any information that is unnecessary, negative, or not immediately actionable from your attention.  The idea is that your attention is valuable, and that you need to use it on the things that will give you the most return.

The news, blog posts, email, tv, etc, do not provide you leverage to get your necessary tasks done, and most likely, distracts you from what really needs to be done.  I know that in my case, I read WAY to much.  Up until today, I had 196 subscriptions in my Google Reader account, and had “1000+” posts to read.  In fact, last month I marked everything as read… within a week of CONSTANT paring and pruning, I was back over “1000+”.  Its just too much to keep track of.

For the next 30 days, I am going to follow ZERO blogs, rss feeds, news, etc.  None.  Not even my friends’ blogs… they will tell me if there is something I should read.  All the rest can wait.  So to that end I have removed all of them.  (here is my OPML file incase someone wants to fill my shoes).

Slow down and remember this:  most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness. Lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. …Being selective and doing less is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.
- Timothy Ferris, “The Four Hour Work Week”

I’m trying to decide if I want to run in the Omaha Corporate Cup and/or the Omaha Marathon this year. The dates are September 21st and 28th, respectively. The corporate cup is a 10k, while the Omaha marathon has 10k, Half and Full marathon lengths.

With 23 weeks to prepare, I am not overly concerned about being prepared to run at least the 10k’s or even the half marathon… as for the full marathon, I’m thinking next year I will be ready, especially if I complete one or two of these races.

Actually, my biggest concern is that I am planning on taking Colorado hiking trip in early September with my good friend Doug. If we do that this year, that would take a week and a few days out of my training at a pretty crucial time.

Right now I am thinking about doing the Corp Cup 10k and then the Half Marathon the week after. With 23 weeks to train, I think I should be able to do it.

I am going to follow Hal Hingdon’s programs. Starting this week with the 10k Novice plan, I should be 10k “ready” in about 8 weeks. At that point, I am going to switch to the Half Marathon Novice plan. That puts me at about 3 weeks before the Corp Cup.

I am also continuing my current training program with my trainer, and he is kicking my ass into shape. So far I have lost about 8 pounds, but have converted over 8 pounds in muscle mass. I am feeling great, and enjoy making healthy decisions about my life.

So today marks my first day back in the rank and file.  For the last six+ months I have been working as an independent consultant, helping a local startup write some rails applications.  This last week has seen them make me an offer to come on fulltime, me counter it, and finally a mutually acceptable agreement was struck.  And so as I walked in today, I became the latest employee at Sojern.

Its bittersweet… the last six months have been very liberating for me.  I’d always had a ‘boss’ up to that point, and then to have the freedom to make my own decisions was awesome… and taxing.  I am usually a risk-adverse sort of person, which is not an ideal character trait for someone in business for themselves.  However, I know that I will be in that position again in the not-too-distant future. I think that once it bites you, being your own boss becomes a part of you, and does not leave.

Future Plans

One thing that I really like about Sojern is that it is a startup, and you really get a feel for the challenges and risks involved with running a business, but instead of being by yourself (like I was), you have others who have more experience dealing with these types of things.  And you can learn from them.

While I am learning these lessons, I am also going to (continue to) look for the right opportunities for me.  I have plenty of ideas, and I hope to share those and start implementing something ASAP.

I have started to write down all of the things I want to accomplish in this life. I think the last time I did this I was in my early twenties, and really didn’t know. Things have not really changed much since then, but now I intend to do something about it.