There are lessons here for all of us

At the weekend, I dropped my HTC Desire from my hand and onto the ground. This was the result:

There were no tears, but it took a moment or two to overcome the temptation to "blame" somebody. In the end, it's just something that happened to a thing. Not the end of the world. Not even close.

Especially as I'm still able to use the thing...

So, I'm thinking that life is about learning and wondering what lessons can we learn from this?

I'll start: don't hold your phone in the same hand you are using to open the car door.

Please join in - add your "lessons" in the comments!

you are not alone

A couple of weeks ago, I got a wee bump in followers on twitter.

Then later that day, I got a message from someone saying:

"@theWeir I read "the egg" today and it blew my mind. How did you come up with that?" (it's here)

I didn't recognise the author of the message, and more importantly, didn't remember writing anything called "the egg". A quick check of blog

titles and writings confirmed that I was being mistaken for someone else.

But who were they looking for, and what was "the egg"? I replied thanking the person, but suggesting it was a different Andy Weir. They passed me this link.

Now I knew that this wasn't me as my relationship with God doesn't lead to reincarnation...

I thought not much more about it until I opened up Google Reader and found a whole load of results in my "tracking" RSS feeds. I'm sad (or vain?) enough to keep an eye on what my name shows on Google and twitter searches.

Not because I expect to find some scandal about me, but just to know what's being picked up about people with the same name as me. Mitch talks about it a lot in the area of Personal Branding. While I'm not in the game of building a brand of Andy Weir, I do want to be aware what Google says about me as that can impact the perception a prospective employer might have of me.

And here we are ten days, and an 800% jump in website views for my homepage later and I'm still getting results about "the egg" and a steady stream of new twitter followers. When I tweet about Jesus, do you think they'll be confused?

Too late.

I posted this earlier:

"thoughts of future, possibilities and faith mingle with weariness and uncertainty to leave me open to grace & peace. a re-drawing of things."

And got a reply:

"@theWeir Dude, did you write "The Egg" or not? Am I following the right Andy Weir? :) But seriously..."

The answer, was clearly "Nope"...

What's my reply to "the egg"? I have a future and a hope in Jesus that lasts longer than I can understand. There is enough Grace and Peace in the Love of God to calm the most tormented soul and there is one life to live for the Glory of the King and that's what I am all about.

I have no pity for the other Andy Weir. I have respect for his writing. It's a beautifully created narrative. My worldview is different and I can cope with his being different too. Some of the ideas in "the egg" resonate with truth I can agree with.

But my hope is built not in my attaining God-likeness but in being given the gift of life in God, of losing my self and finding wholeness in Christ.

Of being reborn into His likeness...

is out walking the dogs. There's neighbourhood in here somewhere...

So here we are in the heart of July and there's a pea-souper of a fog at 6am. What a laugh...

Posted via email from theweir's posterous

What's your story?

I spent some time clearing out my desk today.

Fortunately, this was not at the request/instruction of someone else or a prelude to leaving the building. It was time to clear out some old clothes. By clothes I mean mostly paper.

With the recent departure of my director, there is a sense in which a chapter is over. I've written before here and here about how this chapter started.

There's a new day ahead. It is time to close that chapter of my work. Not the end of the story, nor the end of the relationships of that chapter, just preparing what is next.

There were loads of old memories in the folders I emptied today. The notes from my review meetings from 1999 to 2005 tell the story of my contribution to the business in that period.

There were notes from previous projects - some completed, others abandoned.



There were also stickers. Lots of stickers. I used to have all of these 'round my old CRT monitor as far back as 2003. Why did I keep them? Some kind of desire to remain connected to my younger days, I guess. And then earlier this week, McColleague A1tch found a picture of me from back then. Well, didn't I look young...

Most of the material - notes, papers, plans has now gone to be reused or recycled. Why? Most of the stuff doesn't matter. It's part of the story, and that's it. It's part of what got me here. To this point. The next stage is what's next.

I've been thinking about my story, about what it means to be me. I want to update my LinkedIn profile.

The question I have been keen that people I work with answer the question: "what do you need me to do you?". Perhaps another, equally relevant question is "what would I like to do now?"

 LinkedIn