Daniel Johnson, Jr.

I received an email from LinkedIn this morning. They’ve suggested I join these groups, since some of my connections have also joined them. The reasons why I won’t are intrinsic to the group names.

I find it interesting that they know so much about my social graph on LinkedIn to be able to suggest groups in the first place, and I like that they’re looking for ways for me to get more out of their website.

Here’s what the email says: Read the rest of this entry »

Our daughter Keisha has lived with hearing loss for almost 15 years – as long as she’s been alive.  We found out about this 13 years ago this month.

Today we had an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) team meeting at school to talk about the rest of this year and make plans for next year, as she enters high school. Ever since we became aware of this process, my wife and I have been passionate about understanding what goes on in this process and how well our daughter is doing.

Just as her experience with being hard of hearing is so different from children, so is our experience as her parents. And we have been passionate in our desire to see that she has everything she needs to be successful.

In the beginning when we’d found out she was hard of hearing, we wanted her to have access to whatever she could get in order that she could communicate and learn. This involved having a sign language interpreter, and FM system that works with her hearing aids, speech therapy, and other accommodations. She didn’t like having all of them and even resisted and resented having some of them.

Since she uses speech, lip-reading, and hearing to communicate, we decided that she didn’t need an interpreter. The FM system works well, and she’s matured to take responsibility to make sure it’s working as it needs to. She’s older and has grown into understanding her need to advocate for herself.

The planning process for students getting into high school starts looking ahead to life after high school. She is able to share the vision for what she’d like to do after graduation.

Today’s meeting also presented an opportunity for my wife and I to share our vision and our hope for our daughter. Here’s what we shared: Read the rest of this entry »

It is so easy to sit back and consume without giving much back. Turn on the TV, Netflix, Hulu, play a DVD, watch a video, listen to the radio, podcasts, read content like this on the web. It takes a different sort of person to create something instead.

A few years ago I first heard Garr Reynolds quote Guy Kawasaki, who said, “Eat like a bird; poop like an elephant.” Birds consume bits from multiple sources; when elephants do their business, it’s something… big.

I know for me that some of this tendency to overconsume stems from an insecurity I have about whether I know enough to be relevant to my target audience with the expertise I have to offer. I’ve had more than one friend in this space tell me, “You know enough, and you’ll figure out the rest along the way.”

As I read what I’ve written here, I’m reminded that my high school English teacher would not really appreciate the way I write. He’d call much of what I share “diary” versus “journal”. I don’t know if I’ll shake that or not in my personal blogs; part of my voice involves discussing my journey of learning as I go.

I don’t know if what I share here means anything to anyone. If that’s the case, I’m fine with it. Miles Davis said, “An artist’s first responsibility is to himself.”

I’m going to find ways to create more, even if it means opening up the blog page and typing what comes to mind. There may be misspellings or grammatical errors. The formatting may be off.

Image via Wikipedia

And that also means I’m reading less blogs, unsubscribing from more email newsletters, and possibly not reading as many books as I have been.It won’t be perfect. It doesn’t have to be. The main idea is to get it out.

I encourage you to reach out if you find I’m not offering more content. This is also part of my aim to Serve more in 2012.

Let’s get to it!

Resolutions are not my thing. Since 2010 I’ve used three words to set the tone for my year. That year it was “Be more helpful.” Last year the theme was “Focus, Intention, Deliver.”

This year the words are Read the rest of this entry »

Image via Wikipedia

Welcome to Dump Go Daddy Day.

I’ve moved my domain registrations over to Namecheap. Today only, for every domain transfer, they’re donating $1 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and their fight against SOPA.  If you’re interested in becoming one of their customers, I’d love if you’d use the following affiliate link:

Background

I think it was 2006 when a couple of other podcasters contacted me to say they had bought domain names for me. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t remember exactly what year it was; in many ways, it seemed like it was last week. The crowd was… a mixture of people. I may have been the only one who got to see all of the sessions. The best thing about it was that it was FREE. It’s the Pixelated conference, or, as others have called it… Conference in a Box. Some of these are organized around a theme. The ones I attended relate to communication and telling interesting, compelling stories.

And it’s free for you, too. You see, this particular conference is being held online. RIGHT NOW. In this blog post. Grab some popcorn, sharpen your pencils, and get ready to learn! Read the rest of this entry »

This week I’ve spent some time letting you in on a secret about why I say good morning online the way I’ve done for over 2-3 years. Just to recap, the first thing I tend to post onto Twitter, Facebook, and now, Google Plus, is “Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati!” followed by something to get me going for the day.

Last time I talked about optimism. Optimism isn’t only seeing life through rose-colored glasses. Optimism is, when faced with a set of circumstances, choosing to see that the best possible outcome is still possible.

There’s still more to this story, however. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week Matt Evins and I got ready to record the New Media Cincinnati podcast. I was all set to go when – BAM. My computer shut down.  Completely.  No shut-down process or anything. One second it was running; the next is was not.

Lenovo and I – it’s been a good run

In 2008 I had some money saved up and knew I wanted to get a laptop that I could use more for the business I wanted to get going.  Circuit City was having a fire sale, and I got their display Lenovo Y430 Ideapad for about $700.  The past three years has been a labor of love and frustration. Read the rest of this entry »

Image via Wikipedia

How important is a birthday?

There’s a discussion on the wildly popular Passive Aggressive Notes website about remembering birthdays. To be honest, I couldn’t get through all the discussion — let’s just say it’s obvious that people have strong opinions about it.

As I type this we’re weeks away from the holiday season. Already Christmas music is playing on many radio stations, and several stores are in full holiday promotion-mode, yet Thanksgiving hasn’t even arrived.  Look for many to send Christmas and holiday greetings over the next two months.

I’m reminded of what Keith Ferrazzi says in Never Eat Alone. It’s encouraging to get a holiday greeting, but it’s something everyone sends and receives.  A birthday is something special, however.  Even though you share it with many others, that day is special because you were born.

Not that you had anything to do with that. In fact others (like Mom and Dad) had more to do with that than you did. So why celebrate and encourage you for your birthday? It’s not like you had anything to do with it, right?

I celebrate your birthday with you because I rejoice in the life you’ve lived so far. I’m encouraged because, if you had not been born, we would not have become connected.  My life is different because you were born. Not just because of that, but because of the life you’ve lived since then.

Related articles

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Image by Edwård via Flickr

Your use of social media will vary from everyone else’s. Especially mine.  I’m continually refining how I use tools like Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn to make them more useful to me, based on what I want to get out of them.

I know you follow on Twitter, friend/subscribe on Facebook, circle on Google Plus, and connect on LinkedIn.  I prefer to call all of this “connecting,” because whether we’re really friends or not, I usually like being connected somehow.  We’ll work on the relationship as we go.  That’s my approach. Read the rest of this entry »

I named my business Jazzmania Productions for a reason. I believe in helping connect others and telling great stories using technology where it fits. I’ve been doing it with my own projects and love being able to help my clients do the same with theirs.

Music and all that Jazz

I’m a fan of all kinds of music. I love rock and roll, classical, new wave, and I enjoy power pop. I’ve even gone country, and I like some rap music.

But I didn’t really get jazz until I got to high school.  One of the really fascinating things I love about jazz is listening to it live.  You hear a song from a recording over and over again, and you get really familiar with the different solos.  Every solo is different by design. You’re just given the constraints of how long you’re supposed to play, what tempo to play in, and what chord structure to follow.  Within those constraints, you’re free to create whatever you want.  And sometimes those constraints can be changed, too. Read the rest of this entry »

I really love the @GoogleTalks on YouTube.  This one from Conan O’Brien from May 2010, in addition to being wildly entertaining, struck chords with me.

Conan O'Brien (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

Keep in mind that this was done within a few months of him leaving The Tonight Show. The part where he shows how he responded is what resonated with me. Specifically: Read the rest of this entry »