Brainstorming & Inquiring

Standing in the hallway amongst the company’s top executives and engineers was Dave McMillen. Faded blue jeans, a multicolored flannel button-up and some Nike sneakers normally were not acceptable attire when the executives were in town, but everyone made an exception for Dave. Dave never even noticed that everyone was wearing fancy thousand dollar suites and even if he did, he could have cared less. “I was thinking”, he said loudly as if he was on the brink of needing hearing aids, “I was thinking” he repeated. You see, that was Dave’s line, and when he said it everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. They all knew that whatever followed next was worth their time.  

 

My word web went very well; I narrowed down my list and have decided to do my profile essay on Dave McMillen who is a senior engineer and my company. He is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met and is instantly a mentor to anyone who will have him. His quest for knowledge and his love for sharing it with others are infectious. His ideas are always out of the box and he has no fear of what others think of him, or his ideas. He has these great words of the day, most of which I have never heard of, nor know the meaning of, but nonetheless I listen and learn. It will be fun and exciting to write about Dave, I think everyone will enjoy his story.

 

“Museum Missionary” is a tremendous short profile essay. David Mills is unique is so many ways, but is also very typical, in other words he is just like you and I. He is interesting to talk to; he has some great one liners, that are not only funny, but instructive. He is willing to share his knowledge and has a point of view that others can relate to and respect.

 

“I had been an inner-city pastor, I marched in Selma, that sort of thing, but didn’t really change any lives.”  - David Mills. The critical component in this statement is that he was not changing people’s lives and he wanted too, God saw that and lead David down a different path. Ultimately, you don’t need to be a pastor in a church to touch people’s lives you can do it wherever you are, in whatever you are doing.

 

The writer of “Museum Missionary” talked about his interactions with David Mills and used those interactions to support his positons. There was a good balance of writer involvement in the essay, in my opinion it helped give the essay more feeling. It seemed easier to connect with the “Museum Missionary” essay than with the “Passengers” essay. The “Passengers” essay felt a bit distant to me, I was not connected to the story by the writer’s experience as I was with “Museum Missionary”. After reading these two contrasting essays I am thinking that I am going to insert myself into my profile essay. Not exactly sure to what capacity, but I will definitely find a way to make that happen. I just think it will help connect my reader to the profile subject better.

My Weekend Adventure

Keeping Up With The Times

 

               I am aware of the influence that marketing has on our lives and that not every product or idea that comes across my television is a good one. However, I also know that marketing is a very powerful tool for getting out the word on things that do work well and can add value to your life. For a while now I have been seeing advertisements for Google Chromecast and Sling TV and became more curious with each occurrence.  Normally, when I become curious about something I do a little research online and then move on without changing the status quo, which in this case would be Comcast.  

Now that I am back in school and have three young boys who are becoming more and more active with traveling sports I don’ t watch as much television as I use to, which is obviously a good thing. But, I was paying over $150 for cable from Comcast for television that I am no longer watching which seemed like an obvious problem that needed to be fixed. So, in the spirt of taking full advantage of the weekend adventure challenge I went out and bought Google Chromecast, which is a onetime purchase, and then signed up for the free one week trial of Sling TV. Sling TV is a monthly subscription which starts at $20/month and is streamed through to television using the Google Chromecast device. You can also have the Sling TV app on your mobile devices as well. Ultimately, making this change has saved me about 40% of what I was paying previously through Comcast.

The Google Chromecast works great and has many additional functions that are helpful, such as being to cast my Spotify over to my television, or YouTube Red.  It also works in conjunction with Google Home, which we plan on getting at some point in the near future.  The Sling TV on the other hand has been a bit of a disappointment so far, mainly because of the buffering. I figured that there would be some buffering from time-to-time, but some of the channels, like Fox Sports North, a very popular sports channel, are almost always blurry/fuzzy, or buffering. Now, before you say, “ it’s your internet connection” note that I have 100 mbps service and a tricked out Netgear modem, so that is not the problem.  Moreover, I have substantial digital library on VUDU and there are no issues streaming from their site.  At this point, a part of me wants to just cancel Sling TV and move on, but the other part of me wants to support the changing television marketplace. I like the idea of not being locked in to just the giant telecommunication companies of the world, such as the Comcasts and the Century Links. I feel that streaming service with more of a la carte style of television such as what Sling TV offers is the way future. The challenge at this point is hanging in there while the technology evolves.

My big take away from my adventure is that you can’t always be a skeptic, sometimes you just have to jump in and try it for yourself, regardless of the outcome. You never know, you may find yourself supporting a cause that could change the world for the better.

All Smiles

Spending time with the people you love helps you remember the little things that matter so very much, and in that moment you smile.