Dungeons and Dragons

I haven't been blogging much while I focus on my Outsourcing site content development.

But I wanted to blog about my newly rediscovered interest in D&D.

As a kid I played D&D and the friends I made playing the game are still close to me more than 20yrs later. The game for me was an activity, a hobby, an exploration of who I wanted to be and a way to stay busy as a kid.

The benefits of playing were:

1. An increased interest in academic fields expecially European history.

2. An increased understanding and interest in the nature of things, physics, and psychology.

3. An increased expression of creative energy and exploration of my creative process.

So as I reach 40 I realize that there was something I desired in my life and that is a giving back to youth and youthfull ways.

My love of games has never really died down including 3 yrs of playing World of Warcraft. But today I find my desire is more to connect, create, and learn than to accomplish. Online MMOs are more about accomplishment since the world is created for you, the stories you can tell are limited by the lore of the game designers. So that has led me back to Paper based games.

Well recently I have been visiting gaming stores. Those gaming stores have brought me closer to another understanding. I want to be a presence in the lives of younger people. To help them find themselves and reach their potential. Gamers are my peeps. Playing games is my hobby and therefore is a perfect synergy for me.

So I'm working on a D&D Campaign and I'll begin running it next month at the local gaming store. Its going to be a blast. I'm looking forward to making new connections and exploring my creative side.

Recovering From Surgery

Over the last week I've been in for surgery for a repair of an umbilical hernia. Can't say as it was a big deal but since I've only ever had two procedures before in my life it is not normal course of business for me.

I fared well. I am healing and have been off the pain pills for more than 24hrs. The surgery was on Wednesday morning and my last pill was Friday in the middle of the night.

In that time I've done really well emotionally with plenty of rest and relaxation. I can tell you that the experience has been a good one for me and I am glad I took care of this minor health issue instead of waiting. 

Some of the things I've done to help my recovery:

1. Listened to and followed my Dr.'s instructions.
   
2. Was mentally and physically prepared before the surgery by getting plenty of rest, exercise, and healthy eating the previous two weeks.
   
3. Was mentally prepared from being away from work. As many of you are, I am an important team member. Being away produces stress for me because I have a desire for things to go well at all times. I have a very high bar around project execution.
   
4. Prepared my spiritual practice ahead of time and invited others to pray for me. 
5. Empowered the people in my life to make decisions for me. I did not stress over any detail of running the house, getting food, finding keys, etc... I let others take that burden and let whatever perceived mistakes happen just be "the way it should have gone."
6. I did not invoke stress as a coping mechanism against fear. I let my feelings come and go and kept free of worry and anxiety. When I felt fear I reviewed the information I had and if I didn't have any questions I realized I was hooked by unrealistic fear and meditated instead.

These things really helped me in staying clear, being alert and attentive to what was happening, and in the end contributed to a fairly stress free experience. 

I think I'll be doing these things more when I'm not going in for surgery.

~Dave

Giving back

Over the last week I've been really gaining a lot of new connections on twitter. Its been fun to get a chance to meet all of the new people. But for the most part the connections really haven't gone very far. They seem to stop after just a moment of @SOandSO and back.

I think this may be because we are all being plowed by so many offers. We are getting numb because we can't tell which ones are of value and which ones are just noise. 

I have been following up on every new follower by looking at their twitter profile and the web page they link.

What I've seen are hundreds of offers of lists of things to do, things to buy, or services to purchase. With 700 followers and so many offers for purchases I haven't been able to filter enough to find the offers where people want to work with me on something, offer me assistance, or just take care of something I need. Perhaps we are scared to just give away our time. Perhaps we only do that for close friends or people we think we'll do business with in the future or charities. 

Even when I thought of the idea of just giving away support myself I was scared and angry at the thought. The voices that stop me from action came shooting from inside my head, "My effort and even my idea wont be appreciated, no one will want my services, they won't value my time, they wont understand my intent, they won't see that I really do value their needs, they wont like me."

The idea almost died on the vine just then. 

But then my higher self came in and I realized that I need to be the change I want to see in the world. 

So I'm offering to do something for the first five people to ask me. The maximum time commitment I can make for each task is 2hrs per task and I will complete the task within a week. I'll be doing one or two of them a day.

Here are a few things I can do very well:

1. Project Planning: you provide me description of the project and what the end results will be I'll help you build a schedule.

2. Code inspections: you provide me some code in any of the following languages and I'll provide you my feedback. C, C++, Java, C#, ActionScript, VB Script, etc... you get the idea. I'm a senior software engineer by training.

3. Project Scope definitions: you provide me with the context of your project in as much detail as you can and I'll provide you up to a two page project scope document.

4. Design review: you provide me a software design and I'll provide you a design review against standard design methodologies.  I have been designing software since 1992 so I have some knowledge in this.

5. Project Assessment: provide as much detail as possible and I'll provide you an assessment and 10 things you can do to improve your project performance. Also, if you provide the necessary schedule and completion data I'll provide you an earned value assessment.

6. Professional coaching about a work environment or work process problem. I'm willing to make the long distance call on my dime (which is already paid for because I have unlimited calling time.)

7. Anything else you can think of that I can help you with.

I am offering these things for free. You pay nothing. I will not store your email address or contact information for any purpose. I will not bug you about the services I offer or products I sell.

Again this offer is: I will perform any of the above 7 tasks for you within the next week. I can spend a max of two hours on each task but I'll give you a full dedicated effort on your task.

If anyone who reads this would like to also participate in this giving exercise let me know and we can find a way to start spreading the load. 

The first five people to contact me I'll list here and we'll get things rockin.

My email is djkester (at) gmail.com. Please, include "Plz, help me with" followed by the task in the subject of your email.

Dave