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via twitter from @garyvee

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For me, the one thing - well actually the many things - that I simply couldn’t part with are the numerous images I’ve collected.

I have pictures that I’ve taken, pictures I’ve been given by my grandmother, and very old pictures of past generations of my family. I have photo books, photo boxes, and just loose photos laying all over. I have drawings that I did, drawings from my sister, and various paintings. I have a really neat framed picture I took of Dana Point Harbor in San Clemente, California during a vacation there.

The image above is of a painting that hangs over the fireplace in my den. The painting features a herd of Hereford cattle grazing in a pasture at the foot of a mountain. It used to belong to my grandfather. It always hung over the head of his bed. It reminds me of him and all of the times I “helped” him do his chores, feeding the cattle, planting his fields, and doing odd jobs around the farm. I, of course, was there mostly as moral support because I was usually too young to help much, but I’ll always remember the great conversations we had as I got older, riding along with him in his pickup truck.

If you hadn’t noticed, there is a photo tucked into the left corner of the frame. This is a photo of me at about age 2 sitting on my great grandfather’s lap. This would have been the father-in-law of my grandfather, who owned the painting. I have only a few memories of my great grandfather, but I do remember that he taught me to chew gum (prior to age 3!).

I have discovered that the most enjoyable moments in my day are often those that let me remember some past experience I’ve had, and relate that experience back to that moment. I’ve done this many times with my favorite bloggers, I do it each time I listen to my favorite radio program, and I’m constantly doing the same thing with these images that are so present in my life. Each time I come home and sit down in my den, this painting brings back all of these great memories.

If you suddenly started over with little or no “stuff”, what would you miss the most?

A quick video of one of the garden railroad exhibits I visited at Lauritzen Gardens is here:

There is more in a series of posts I have started over on Researching the Railroad.

My next opportunity for recreation came in the form of a four-day vacation. My parents invited me to visit the Black Hills on a trip they were planning. I gratefully accepted their kind invitation and returned to the Black Hills of South Dakota for the first time in about twenty years.  Much has changed, but many things remain as I remember them.  Bonus:  Our tour of the Badlands inspired the new header image.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last couple of weeks of leisurely summer fun, and I’m looking forward to a few more enjoyable breaks before fall.  To my folks - thank you, the invitation came at the perfect time and it couldn’t have been any better.

Straight from the horse’s mouth

Below is a video produced by the helpful folks at LinkedIn to help newcomers understand the whole bit a little better.

What is LinkedIn? from LinkedIn Marketing on Vimeo.

From Chris Brogan

Next, I wanted to recommend one of Chris Brogan’s many excellent posts that discuss LinkedIn and making your LinkedIn profile work for you. He gives specific tips on making the profile that is displayed publicly much more functional for both employees and freelancers. There is much more useful info on a host of social media topics at http://www.chrisbrogan.com, as well.

A Related Note

While reading and commenting on a post on Chris Brogan’s blog, I met the guest author, Becky McCray and she ultimately asked me to write a guest post for her own blog, Small Biz Survival. She suggested discussing how LinkedIn can work for small town professionals. The resulting five tips were published last month on http://smallbizsurvival.com (thanks for the opportunity Becky!).

Other Resources:

http://www.linkedin.com the main site

http://www.linkedintelligence.com a helpful site for users

http://blog.linkedin.com/ the LI blog

My real passions are small town life (love the people), travel (because sometimes you need to get out of the small town) and food (love to eat it). I really want to make life better for the people in the little town where I grew up and then I want to be able to repeat that good turn for people in small towns all over our great country. The challenges faced in small towns that aren’t necessarily present in larger cities include adequate housing, affordable energy, transportation, accessible goods and services (including food), and cultural choices. There are more, but these come immediately to mind.

I’ve been recently inspired by Chris Brogan and his series of posts on social media, especially those posts specifically addressing small business. I’ve also been so impressed with Britt Raybould.   Her post on agriculture in Idaho really struck a chord with me. Finally, Chris Pirillo’s YouTube video about the slow way tech is being taken up in Iowa also stirred something in me.

I think much can be done to improve life in places like small town Iowa. Technology certainly has a role and the emerging class of young people with electronic connectedness - people who are being called “digerati” by the likes of Tim Ferriss) can certainly help, too. This is likely to be a major direction of my online presence as I move forward, although I may spin the effort off into its own site or community or whatever.

Note to Chris Pirillo, just in case you happen onto this somehow:  I get what you’re saying about Iowa’s need to stop exporting people and I agree.  I know that we can do more to improve creative opportunities in places like Iowa, but in fairness, you are arguably Seattle’s leading geek.  Your expectations of culture change in Iowa with regard to technology are comparable to sending Duffy Lyon to Seattle and having her wander around asking “Where are all the butter sculptors?”   Although Seattle surely doesn’t have anything against butter sculpture, it just isn’t the best atmosphere for that particular brand of culture to thrive.  Can/should we change that?

Stay tuned, much more to come. Please add suggestions or ask questions in the comments and pass this along to others who can help.

Why visit Soldier?  If you’re reading this, it’s a 50/50 bet that you might have family or friends here or you may have even grown up here.  In addition to that excellent reason to visit, here are five other reasons I can think of.

1.  Year-Round Activities. In warm summer months, we have active people of all ages doing all kinds of things.  For example, Sunday evenings provide summer softball opportunities.  All ages and skill levels are welcome at the local ball diamond.  The townspeople are readying the ballpark for another summer with some extra special TLC this year.  Throughout the year, there are always outdoor opportunities available either in town or at the nearby Oldham Recreation area, including bicycling, hiking, birdwatching, hunting, fishing, camping, swimming and even horseback riding.  And if you aren’t really the outdoor type, there is a bookstore in town stocking over 20000 titles, there is a community center with an indoor fitness center / Yoga classes and winter fish fry Fridays, and there are ample opportunities for driving tours of the Loess Hills, a one-of-a-kind land mass that forms the geographical backdrop for Soldier.

2.  Cultural Curiosities. Soldier was founded by a small group of Norwegian immigrants over a century ago.  The town’s history provides the backdrop for the many cultural opportunities located here.  Traveling around town will provide opportunities to view historic Scandinavian architecture (including the historic country church), observe unique reproductions of Norwegian Rosemale painting on some of the commercial buildings, and maybe even run into an old-timer and take the opportunity to trade greetings in Norwegian.

3.  Historical Rarities. Soldier is home to many unique historical tidbits.  The oldest continuously operating 4H club in the USA calls Soldier home.  The local Community Building, itself a cultural gem and a memorial to World War I veterans, played host to Lawrence Welk when he came to town to perform for the townspeople.  Indeed the town’s name itself, Soldier, was given because of the legend of a Union Soldier apparently found lying near the river, also named for this soldier (Soldier River).

4.  Friendly Neighborhoods and Business District. Soldier has two beautiful parks inside the city limits, and a baseball / softball field at the eastern edge of town.  Interwoven with these green spaces are tidy shops, clean streets, and well-kept homes all tended to by friendly, welcoming people.  A wide assortment of shops and services is available in town and the immediately outlying areas, from picture framing to automotive service, from banking to archery supplies.

5.  Accesible and Affordable. Soldier is easy to get to and easy to get around, and a trip to Soldier won’t set you back much.  There aren’t many tourist traps in Soldier, just honest value for your dollar.  You can fill the tank with gas, find a quick snack or a more complete meal, visit one or more of the unique shops (gifts, consigned items, books, and much more), and meet some of the most interesting and engaging people on earth, without the big city expense or theme park “captive pricing” that you might be used to.  Soldier will send you back home with best wishes for another visit soon, and with much of the money you came with!

There you have it - my top five.  Two airports serve the area, each about an hour away (Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and Sioux City’s Sioux Gateway Airport).

If you’ve been to Soldier and you can think of some points I missed, please comment!

In my lifetime, I’ve seen several friends and family members pass away. The first I really remember, and the first to really impact me, was my great grandmother who passed just before I turned ten years old. Her husband, my great grandfather, was also very important in my life but despite remembering him and what a fun fellow he was, I don’t remember his passing (I was about three years old at the time).

Some of the saddest and most draining experiences have been losing friends at a young age. One of my good friends from college passed away over seven years ago. We were very close in age, and shared several interests and had a similar love, admiration, and closeness with our grandfathers. He was killed in a car accident one cold day in December, and I had seen him and joked with him earlier that day.

Maybe the hardest death to deal with is the slow and agonizing death of someone close to you. You don’t know if you should wish them comfort and a quicker journey or a longer time on earth to finish their last acts, words and thoughts.

It sometimes amazes me that some friends of mine can be rather unemotional and almost “clinical” about dealing with the difficulty of losing someone. For me, it’s as if an actual piece of myself has been cut away as I think back over the times we shared and realize that no more will be shared. I don’t know if these friends are in a late stage of denial, if they are actually aware of this lack of emotion and it is really a coping skill, or if they genuinely don’t feel the same type of loss when someone dies.

These were just some thoughts I had as I think back over my Memorial Day weekend. This three day weekend means different things to different Americans. For me, it is for reuniting with family and remembering and honoring those we’ve lost especially those who’ve made the supreme sacrifice for our freedom. Hope you had a happy, meaningful, productive and safe weekend.

On a wonderfully warm spring day in March, many thoughts pass through my mind.  I can remember the smell of the laboratory on my first day of work.  My butterflies and sweaty palms almost return, as I recall that original excited anticipation of my first real job after graduating from college.  Images of the people I met during that first day, people who would become lifelong friends, still roll across my mind like a “this is your life” movie projected onto a screen.

It is as if seven  years’ worth of life events were compressed into a single day, and it happened just yesterday.  The sounds of the automatic double doors that opened to the airlock separating the laboratory wing from the administrative offices, the lightly colored cinder block walls that created the corridors connecting the laboratories, the heavy oak lab doors.  The feel of the white linen lab coat and the sound of my feet on the tile floor as I walk through the halls for the last time.  The familiar ‘whoosh’ of the door opening to the walk-in cooler, and the pleasantly cool air inside, with metal shelving lined with petri dishes, small tubes, jars, bags and buckets, all teeming with life too small to be seen.  All of this experience, all of this experiencing, would come to an end today.

My friends and co-workers had thrown me a farewell party some time before.  I’d been asked to speak.  I wanted to be eloquent or funny or just memorable, but it was all I could do to choke back tears and spit out the simple sentence “Thanks, I never thought I’d be leaving.”

With those seven words still echoing in my head, in that always-stupid-sounding noise that is heard when you listen to yourself talking out loud, I handed my security coded key card over to the woman who had hired me and was my supervisor still.  For just a moment while we both had our hands on the card that had let me enter the lab for the last seven years, I didn’t want to let go.  Then I did let go.  I provided her with an official resignation letter, thanked her and said my goodbyes.  With that it was over.  I had reached the end of the day.

After a weekend to finish up moving my worldly possessions, I would begin my new job.  Still in a laboratory, but instead of a small city I’d be located in a decidedly small town.  No more microbiology, but natural products chemistry, science of a different kind.  No more weekly group meetings, no more lunch in the company cafeteria to network with new people, no more friendly competition between different laboratories.

It was a different kind of job. It was a different kind of company.  It was a different kind of laboratory. It was a different kind of town.

It was a different kind of  day.

In the photos below, you can see the SFG with plants just emerging from the soil mix and then again about a month later.  What a difference a month makes!

Note to the very observant & somewhat curious:  yes, I have moved the mower since taking the first picture.  I’ve actually mowed three times.

Anybody else doing the SFG thing?  Tell me how it goes for you in the comments!

Here’s an example of me using the cool “Call Me” button: