Hello readers (whoever you may be). It's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I'm at it yet again. Admittedly I've started a handful of blog entries with a similar line, because I intend to write more than I actually do. Life is full of variety and sometimes the hammer misses the nail.
Let's get to it.. It's been quite hot these days, and it's safe to say that summer is here. Maybe not in the calendrical (yes, apparently that's a word) sense, but rather in all other senses. My kids are nearing the end of their school year, family time away from the home is being planned, and I suddenly find myself outside working on things in the yard again (a passion that I've had trouble following through with over the last couple years). I'm also finding that I have a significantly higher amount of energy than I did months ago, but that could be due to a number of other reasons which I won't get into in this entry.
While I don't really keep my ear to the news, it feels like we're experiencing a heat wave in my current area of residence, and naturally the window AC units have been dusted off and installed in their respective seasonally-permanent locations. Temperatures are in the upper 80°'s and have been over 90° on more than a few occasions so far. Maybe this is a foresight into what's to come later this summer, but I certainly hope not. Who knows..
The last few months I've been quite busy starting a business. It's a seasonal business that involves the outdoors, and while the social media presence has grown a bit, it hasn't taken off as quickly as I expected. I only registered the business a few months back, and much of the effort went into planning and finding the right price for equipment, and all sorts of other logistical and operational planning. The active season for this business began just a few days ago, and I am yet to receive any calls, but that is expected. One thing I have learned in life is that growth is rarely every linear, and rather often compounding. I'm pushing along a very small snowball, which I think will grow significantly as time moves on. I also realized that I now have all the prerequisites handled, which gives me more time to focus on things like marketing, customer engagement, and building a more efficient operational model. That coupled with some advice from a neighbor who had started a business of his own years ago and is now retired: "word of mouth moves slow at first", has left me feeling hopeful about the future and grateful that I've not become overwhelmed by adding an additional item to my list of things "to-do" in a day.
Seasonal happenings and changes aside, I wanted to share with you another blog that I frequent. I spend more time than I would like scrolling through a certain message board website, and every few months a thread is created that asks users if they have a personal blog, and why. In fact, reading one of these threads is what lead me to take the leap to create what you are reading. Among the technical writers, and writers who share their opinion on news topics, and all of the other various types of writing that gets shared in those threads, I came across one called Life is So Beautiful. The writer only publishes the most recent posts publicly, so I cannot speak on their earlier works, but I find it to be a breath of fresh air amidst the status quo of internet writing. This author writes a short entry followed by 5 links to beauty that they have encountered in the world. The author has a few other blogs, but I'm yet to delve into them.
Anyways, I found this to be a bit of inspiration on what I may write about in this blog. It's possible that characteristically the content on my blog varies from entry to entry, but I still have this notion in my mind that I will settle on some topic, niche, or general theme across my entries. Of course, this has yet to happen. However, I would like to begin adding a short line or more towards the end of each of my entries that share something positive that I have encountered in the time between entries.
This was another relatively short entry for me again today, but I hope it is enjoyed. Anecdotally I read somewhere (you guessed it, another blog) that blog entries are like fine wine. They are not so notable when they are initially produced, but in time they become more worthy of recognition. I'm not seeking to monetize this blog, so I don't think this analogy applies to the monetary value of my entries, but I think in time I will look back on, or maybe some reader in the distant future will come across, these posts and gain something from them. Whether a different perspective, or maybe just appreciate the variety of entries across the many topics I have and will have written about.
So as mentioned, something positive. (Hopefully I'll come up with a better term for this ending portion in the future):
After a few days of sweating in the heat, and precipitation not present on the forecast for another day or so, a short lived thunderstorm drenched my area. It lasted for about 20 minutes or so, but it was a relief. The best part? When the rain drops against my roof became audibly less frequent, a certain scent permeated through cracks in the walls and frame of my workspace. It was almost as if the dry dirt and plants in my area all sang and danced happily for a few moments to express how grateful they were for the drenching.
Thanks for reading!