Personal, Writing, Editing & Journalism

A Better Tomorrow

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I’ve been working my tail off on my business-development work lately, in an attempt to substantially augment my meager hospital salary with some home-grown work product.  Highlights of my recent activities include —

  • Finishing a substantial overhaul to gillikinconsulting.com, including adding business-specific social-media connections (realtime IM, new Twitter, Facebook business fan page).
  • Updated my LinkedIn profile and joined a ton of affinity groups.
  • Became a (paid) contributer for Demand Studios.
  • Agreed to a (volunteer) edit job for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • Set up a PayPal account for accepting client payments, and applied for a DUNS number to facilitate commercial credit.
  • Accepted a personal client.
  • Did a thorough under-the-hood site update for Anthony M. Snyder and Associates.
  • Joined Guru and Elance, a pair of clearinghouse sites for freelance contractors.
  • Forwarded my resume and clips to the new editor of The Grand Rapids Press, for freelance writing assignments.

Things are looking good.  There’s just a handful of things left to finish.

Personal

Update

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Tempus ab Iasone fugit.  Here’s the latest scribble in the Chronicle.

  1. Work has been steady at the hospital.  We are busy, but a “predictable” kind of busy, although development of the Central Scheduling Data Mart has been a significant calendar and brainpower investment.
  2. Horror-movie night on the 31st was a success.  I had Charlie, Rick, Sondra, and Kate over for an evening of pizza, alcohol, and three decent horror films:  Valentine, Dead Silence, and Bubba Ho-Tep.  A good time was had by all.
  3. From what I can gather, Brian seems to be doing OK in Iraq, although he’s so busy he can barely keep up.
  4. Mom’s new house is coming along nicely.  She has already re-floored her bedroom, the 2nd bedroom, the bedroom hallway, and the living room.  Lots of progress.  And she has an absolutely adorable new puppy, Gunner, a German Shepherd with razor-sharp teeth and a fascination for my toes.
  5. Jonah, Gradey, and Kingston are still chugging along.  They all have respiratory infections, but they are getting treatments along with home oxygen.  All things considered, they’re doing pretty good.  And it’s exciting to see Jackson get ready for school and Camden and Kellen and Harper prepare for daycare.  Plus, Ryan will be attending GVSU this fall.  Lots going on!
  6. I continue to work on Gillikin Consulting development, focusing right now on the journalism aspect — query letters, mostly.  Tons of work.

All for now!

Personal

12,000

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So today I turn 12,000 days old.

A milestone, to be sure.  A time to reflect.  A time to make a simple observation and be ridiculed on Facebook for it.  Whatev.

Today I turn 12,000 days old.  And I think that’s interesting.

Personal

In the News …

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The last few days have been interesting.  Today I was interviewed by WOOD AM 1300 for the Kent County edition of Red County.  I also picked up a pair of kittens — two adorable orange ones, the replacement for Murphy the Puppy who nearly killed Ryan by means of strong allergens.  Yesterday, I took Murphy to a new family, which was tough; I bonded with the little fellow.

The holiday weekend was pretty decent, overall.  I haven’t felt all that hot these last few days, but I’m doing OK.

In addition to my encounter with the mainstream news, my brother was at the epicenter of a high-speed chase in Houston yesterday.  He captured 18 minutes of footage of the drama, which made his day.

Personal, Writing, Editing & Journalism

End of an Institution

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The Western Herald, the independent student-run newspaper at Western Michigan University (and the paper I used to edit), announced that this fall, it is moving from a Monday-to-Thursday publication week to a Monday and Thursday cycle, with an new emphasis on the paper’s Web portal.

This is a depressing turn of events.  The Herald had a twofold purpose — to provide daily news and commentary to the university committee (a task fulfilled by the ubiquituous and free press boxes scattered around campus and in many off-campus locations), and to serve as a learning lab for the hundreds of students who worked with and for the newspaper through the course of an academic year.

In my day, the Herald was independent, managed by a board of directors and free of university control.  Its funding was 100 percent derived from advertising revenue, and the editor in chief — always a student — enjoyed absolute editorial control over the newspaper.

Now, it appears that a university employee, the general manager, has a greater role over the editorial division.  As the pressure of producing daily papers wanes, so also does the discipline of print journalism.

Web portals are fine in their way, but the mindshare of the university community will inevitably move away from the Herald.  This is a shame, and a reason for sadness.

Personal, Philosophy

Temptation

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This morning I was shopping at the Meijer in Standale, purchasing birthday gifts for Ryan.  As I passed through the book aisle, I noticed that a volume — a book about parenting small children, as I recall — had a $100 bill sticking out of it.

Yes, a random C-note in the book stack at Meijer.

So what did I do?  I left it. 

The way I see it, that cash wasn’t mine.  Who knows who put it there, and why?  But I can see the scene in my mind — an hour after I passed through, a depressed working mom or a man who has been unemployed for months wanders through.  He or she isn’t quite sure where the next meal will come from.  If anyone has fair claim to that $100, it’s the person whose need is more genuine than mine.

Yet it prompts some thoughts, doesn’t it?  Who would see if I grabbed the money from the book?  The odds that some TV crew would jump out and say “Aha!” are pretty slim.  No, I like to think — based on nothing more than wishful thinking — that a good samartian somewhere put it there for a struggling person to find.

I’m not made of money, but I’m not starving.  I have a roof over my head, and steady income.

Yet I wonder — did the rich guy who was five minutes behind me pocket that cash without a second thought?  A spoiled teen, perhaps?  Or a drug addict, who will use it for his next fix?

I have no idea who put that money there, and why.  I have no idea whether it was a deliberate act of random kindness, or an accident (perhaps the book was a return?).  I have no idea how many others passed by and looked, but didn’t touch.  I have no idea who will end up pocketing the money.

I do know this:  Unstructured generosity is an interesting social phenomenon.  The donor contributes guided by nothing more substantial than blind faith.  The recipient may or may not be worthy of the the donor’s largesse.  What would happen, then, if the Franklin-in-a-book mode of public charity became more widespread?

It’s been said that one’s odds at beating the stock market aren’t much different whether one chooses careful financial analysis, or allowing a helper monkey to chuck darts at the daily stock reports in the newspaper.  What if philanthropy operated in similar fashion?  What would society look like if donors quit trying to leverage money for specific purposes (which may or may not be sound), and instead tossed it to the wind, to be a seed for whoever stumbled upon it?

Crazy?  Maybe.  But is it any crazier than seeing a $100 bill planted in a parenting book at Meijer?

Personal

Of Late

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It has been a while since I’ve done an omnibus update.  Herewith some tidbits:

  1. My brother leaves tomorrow morning for a 12-to-24 month stint as a contracted firefighting instructor, in Iraq.  The last month or so has been consumed with preparation, and now he’s finally about to depart.  This is a sad day for us, but he is making a solid decision for his family and I trust that all will be well in the long run.
  2. Jonah, Gradey, and Kingston came home from the hospital on Fathers’ Day, but have all had to go back in for monitoring for respiratory distress.  The triplets and their mother are doing well, all things considered.
  3. Ryan and Jess are in Grand Rapids, bringing Jackson, Camden, and Harper with them.  Liam and Kylee are going to be adopted by Jess’s brother Declan and his girlfriend.  I got to play a fun secret-agent thing with boxes of presents with Ryan and Jess last night — and hey, I always appreciate getting gifts. 🙂
  4. I’ve been working very closely with Tony on some interesting joint business-development opportunities.  We are looking at developing an end-of-life planning session (estate planning, ethics of palliative care, etc.) and present it wide-scale to clergy across the area.  More to follow.
  5. Gillikin Consulting is doing well.  In addition to the extraordinary amount of work I’ve done lately on preparing freelancing queries, I’ve provided some counsel to Bryan, a recently reconnected friend from college, about a start-up he is considering.  Biggest accomplishment:  Finishing my clips portfolio.
  6. You can now follow me on Twitter.
  7. And I got an awesome short URL for Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/gillikin.  Yay!
  8. Stuff at the hospital has been interesting.  A recent controversy over IT policy has put the unique contributions I make to the front-end revenue cycle in sharper focus.
  9. I upgraded my BlackBerry Curve 8330 from OS 4.3 to 4.5 last night.  Biggest observation:  My apparent throughput (on Sprint’s CDMA network) increased geometrically.  Jason = pleased.  Oh, and the reason for the upgrade?  With the new OS, Sprint now permits true MMS, so no more “sorry, I can’t text you that cool pic I just took” nonsense.
  10. I am settling in well into my new apartment near Standale, a two-bedroom on the very quiet top floor of a building in a larger rental complex.  I overlook a lawn with trees and a garden — very lovely.  I have a temporary boarder; my mother has been with me a few weeks, and will be with me for maybe 10 days more or so, while she is temporarily homeless after selling her condo and before she can take possession of the house she just bought.  I love my mother but it will be nice getting my office back!
  11. Brian’s departure means I’m taking his very manly Dodge Ram instead of incurring a massive new car payment after the inglorious destruction of my Grand Cherokee a while back.  Downside — Brian tells me something broke (perhaps a tie rod), so it’s not safely driveable until it’s repaired.
  12. My uncle Mark was killed on Memorial Day in a motorcycle accident.  May he rest in peace.
  13. I’ve made a few new friends lately — Tim, Aaron, Matty.  That is cool.  Becca is at Mackinaw Island for the summer.  I haven’t really heard from Emilie and Jon in a while.  Duane recently returned from Korea.  Rick and Sondra were engaged last weekend — from what I can tell, the proposal was perfect (it touched the inner nerd in both of them) and I am very happy for them both.  Charlie is doing well.  So is Stacie, it appears; she is excited about the extensive home renovation she is doing with her husband.  Corey is advertising a “brew tour” coming up; not sure yet if I’ll attend.
  14. Katie’s allopecia appears to be doing better.  She has a GORGEOUS wig that was donated to her by a manufacturer.  She is a brave and strong girl and I’m proud of her.
  15. I am now the editor for Kent County of Red County, a center-right political news and commentary blog community.
  16. A month or so ago, I returned to participation in United States Government Simulation, and I forgot how much I missed it.
  17. I think I figured out the issue with my blog database corruption, and I believe I can begin restoring (slowly, a few posts at a time) the archive back into the production domain.  A few posts will not be brought forward, and a few others may be edited for content, but over the next few weeks, I’m going to try to get the old stuff restored.
  18. I haven’t been going to the gym or karate since the car accident, and I’m not pleased with this.  I don’t feel right now that I have less access to quality exercise.

All for now.

Personal

Cycling Bliss

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Yesterday I spent three full hours on my bike, navigating the heretofore unexplored wilds of the Kent Trails along the Grand River.

I took the long way.  From my point of origin near Standale, I rode south along Maynard and O’Brien to a spot near Milennium Park.  I toured the nice bike paths at the park before heading down Veterans Memorial Park Drive and finding pre-existing bike trails in a county wilderness preserve.  Who knew?

From Millennium Park, I ended up circling around a while until I arrived near the Coca-Cola bottling plant by John Ball Zoo.  I then turned around and rode to Grandville, to the trailhead of the West trail by the riverboat.  Then I rode back to the Zoo and toured the neighborhoods of the lower Westside until I took Fulton up the big hill to Lake Michigan Drive, and from there back to Standale. 

I was gone just short of three hours.  I have no clue as to mileage, but given the ease of the cycling and my time on the road, I’d guess I went perhaps 30-35 miles or so.

What was interesting about the excursion — which was recommended by my brother — was that Kent County has some very nice and very scenic bike paths that are a stone’s throw from where I live.  Nothing beats a quiet ride along the river on a nicely paved path, with the sun breaking through the dense forest canopy and not a car in sight.

I’ll have to do this more often!

Personal, Writing, Editing & Journalism

Full Steam Ahead

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I was off work on Friday so I ended up making arrangements to meet with Tony for dinner.  I hadn’t seen him in perhaps six weeks or so, and in the meantime, he and Jen went to Las Vegas, so we had plenty to catch up on.

The fun thing about the evening — apart from a delicious Tex-Mex feast at Cantina that was followed by dessert at Barnes and Noble Cafe — was that we zeroed in on business development as the core subject of discussion.  His law practice has been underwhelmed with clients lately, mostly because he’s slacked a bit in recruiting new ones.  My own business has been slow, as well: I’ve got the infrastructure laid but haven’t had the fire in the belly to take off.

That changed Thursday afternoon, after a particularly unpleasant meeting at my day job.  It reinforced my desire to chart a new course, so I’ve done more in the last 72 hours to grow Gillikin Consulting Group than I had done in the prior 18 months combined:

  1. I opened a commercial checking account.
  2. I revised my toll-free voice mail greetings and sorted through my email server.
  3. I completely revised GCG’s Web site and added three additional (backdated) blog posts.
  4. I verified the status of my LLC paperwork with Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
  5. Applied to be a (paid) guide for About.com and a volunteer editor for Red County.
  6. Sent a query email to do freelance writing for China Daily USA (the only decent freelancer assignment on journalismjobs.com).
  7. Developed a to-do list for what needs to happen next.

There is plenty to keep moving on.  My next goal, for today and tomorrow, is to sit down at Starbucks and completely revise my marketing materials, including my trifolds and my rate card.  I also want to start sending query letters using my trust copy of the 2009 Writer’s Market.

I haven’t been this motivated to get the job done since the March-to-May period last spring, after I had opened my Logan Street office.

Time to roll up my sleeves and get serious.

Personal

Pursuing Greatness

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Nothing like a kick in the teeth to start the morning off right.

So there I was, minding my own business, browsing the periodicals rack at Barnes & Noble, when suddenly — my eyes fell upon the cover of a magazine, the dominant image upon which was Zac Sunderland [blog], a 17-year-old from California who recently made the news for his attempt to break the world’s record for the youngest solo cirumnavigation by sail.

A few things about Sunderland’s story jumped out at me:

  1. Kudos to this intrepid young man for pursuing his dream.
  2. Double kudos for his masterful handling of the media about this trip — the magazine cover had Sunderland smiling, in classic boy-next-door fashion, wearing a T-shirt that said: “I sailed around the world solo and all I got was this lousy magazine cover.”
  3. What stops the rest of us from acting similarly?

I vividly recall my grandfather’s sunset dreams of travel and exploration, and how they were cut short by a chronic illness.  I remember listening to all the aspirations of friends and family and watching them slowly shrivel and die under the combined weight of inaction and oppressive family expectations and artificial norms of what is “appropriate” behavior.

But what stops us?  What demon taunts us with the prospect of greatness while simultaneously blocking us from achieving it? 

I know a lot of dreamers who can’t translate their hopes into reality.  And I know people who could execute the most byzantine of plans but who aspire to little more than a comfortable mediocrity.  Too few of us seem blessed with both dreams and talents, and that reflection prompts a degree of sadness.

For myself, I have been feeling of late that I have been walking on the thin edge of a very sharp blade.  My dreams grow ever sharper, but I wait.  There is a dynamic tension between wanting to cast aside all convention and obligation and plunge full-steam into the life I’ve crafted for myself on paper, against conceding that prudence demands a more cautious course of withdrawal and entrenchment.

The last few days have been interesting.  I had dinner Friday with Charlie and Cara, and went to Festival with Tim and his friends Duane, Joey, and Chuck.  All the while, the itch to leap into action continued to grow.  Perhaps I need to spend more time with Tony to build GCG strong enough to actually transition out of the hospital.  Perhaps I need to take Emilie’s advice and just take a week hiking in the solitude of the forest.  Or perhaps I need to heed my mother’s warning that it’s time “build equity.” 

Perhaps.  Perhaps.

But I do know this — Sunderland’s cover felt like a slap in the face. Whether it’s the slap of reproach or the slap of motivation remains to be seen.