And, this is quite easy for me.  In a nutshell, I don’t write every day and never really have.  The closest I’ve come was during the Best of 09 Blog Challenge by Gwen Bell and now this month long exercise.  For me, writing is not my passion, so it’s not something I work to explore.  But, I used to have a way with words, and ended up with a degree in History because I was fascinated by the past.

Could I write more if I pushed myself? Yes. I spend too much time on the computer playing games. I also tend to avoid anything that isn’t “fun” out a lack of focus.  So, for me to write more, I’d need to find something I could be passionate about and focus on and it would have to be something I was keen to explore and share with the world.

I’ve had this kind of focus before.  Two years ago, I spent 7 months working out and watching my food intake both for quantity and quality and lost a bunch of weight.  This actually took me away from the computer some and the positive results kept me motivated to keep at it.  Thus, for me to do any amount of writing, there would need to be positive results – feedback and encouragement from others.  I tend to get into my own head so my own feedback wouldn’t be the right kind.

Perhaps this month long challenge will get me moving in the “write” direction!

If you have any suggestions or feedback, I’m quite receptive.  What do YOU do to eliminate writing roadblocks?

If you have followed my blog recently, you know I participated in Gwen Bell’s Best of Blog Challenge 2009 in December. I tried to recap my year thru the 31 topics she laid out for the monthlong blogging challenge.

The highlights of my year include:

• Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as President of the United States and knowing my daughter was in attendance.
• Learning to kayak and joining my friends on 6 different rivers in Middle Tennessee and taking the rope swing of my life.
• Going to Barcamp Nashville 2009 and attending some mind-blowing sessions.
• Really starting to use Twitter and understand the utility and reach of it.
• Making new friends based on my attendance at Barcamp.
• Discovering new blogs that are changing my life: Zen Habits, My Wife Quit Her Job, Gwen Bell.
• Learned about Kiva.org and even used my 45th birthday as a catalyst for helping others have a better life.
• Created a website dedicated to helping other people achieve their dreams: The Dream Shepherd
• Joined Postcrossing and sent 68 postcards around the world and received back 64 postcards for a combined travel distance of almost 1 million miles!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsGZHoAImY

These are the highlights of 2009 for me.  2010 will see these things continue and expand.  My goals for 2010 include:

• Meeting many of my Twitter friends so that I can make them real life friends, including: Lauren, Nikki, Joi, Mirjam and Gail.
• Expand on my Kiva activities with a year long birthday celebration.  I want to turn up the giving by a factor of ten.
• Expand my new website and create a “store” to start  secondary income stream.
• Keep control of my weight.  I lost 50 lbs in 08 and it’s starting to come back.
• Do better to stay in touch with friends and family.
• Mostly, just try to stay positive and work to make life better for others.

So, stay tuned to my blog.  You’ll not only see my progress, but you will also help me stay focused on my goals.  I’ve learned that doing things completely alone isn’t the best way to succeed.  Your support and well wishes do much to keep me motivated.

Peace!

Now, that doesn’t mean I abandoned my friends and family. I just didn’t do what I had hoped. So, the question is: will I be able to step it up this year and do a better job? I think it’s best to NOT set goals for things like this and instead just focus on the little things. As long as I make it a point to say “hi” via Facebook or post updated pictures, this will help. And, perhaps I can combine my new hobby – Postcrossing – with my goal of staying in touch and send postcards to my family when I mail postcards to other people around the world. I think the personal touch of a hand written postcard would mean quite a bit, especially if we haven’t talked much in the past few years.

So, tell me what you think? I’m sure you’ll suggest letters, but I can tell you that I’m not a big fan of writing long, drawn out letters.

One last thing on a completely unrelated note. I’d like to thank Gwen Bell for creating this awesome challenge. It’s been a pleasure to work on these posts. I haven’t caught many of the other bloggers posts but the ones I have read were eye opening and thought provoking. This is such an awesome thing to be a part of. I’ve managed to write about each topic and posted my answers each day. So, Gwen, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your enthusiasm and heart are a real inspiration. It’s an honor to be in this “company” of bloggers even though I’m much more of a casual blogger. And, actually, I hope to change that this next year. All the best to you in the coming year and forever after.

I would also like to thank all of those that have commented on my posts. Your feedback is truly appreciated. I’m honored that you would take the time to not only ready, but also to add your thoughts to mine. Thank you for reaching out to me. And, while I believe I have thanked everyone for their comments and tried to comment back on their blogs, please know that you are in my thoughts and I wish all of you the best for the coming year and forever after as well.

All the best to everyone for 2010!!! Peace!

And, in thinking about how to respond to this topic, I decided that I would rather talk about what is wrong with advertising these days, rather than which ONE ad caught my eye or made me pause and take note.

Because, in reality, I can’t think of any ads that DID get me to think, except for the ones that made me think, “What on earth were they thinking???”

For instance, this gem by Burger King ran afoul of women’s groups and rightly so!!!  I mean, this is exactly the kind of crass, sexist crap that Madison Avenue so desperately wants us to believe is “ok”.  Now, I’m certainly no prude and I enjoy a good joke or play on words.  Even crude language humor is fine by me, generally.  But, this goes too far, in my opinion. Not only does it use a sexist play on words, but a juxtaposition of the woman and the sandwich, implying a sexual act.  And, the look on her face does not leave one thinking she’s about to enjoy the sandwich, leaving the viewer to wonder if the sandwich is even appetizing. But, sadly, this is becoming the “norm” for advertising.  Sex sells.  Exploitation sells.  And, quite frankly, I’ve had enough of it.

While researching this post, I came across this ad for a Nintendo Wiiware game called “Super Meat Boy”. However, the ad text is a fine example of another inappropriate type of advertising. Using an evil person from history to sell a video game? Really? Hitler is hardly an appropriate role model or even personage to compare against. I mean, it may be true that he was a vegetarian, but certainly, not all vegetarians are like Hitler. That’s just ridiculous. According to this post the ad was pulled almost immediately.

Lastly, there was THIS ad from a Brazilian ad agency requested by the Brazilian WWF chapter and run, strangely enough, in Israel of all places. Apparently, they were trying to say that mother nature is far more destructive than the events of September 11, 2001 and that donating money to the World Wildlife Fund will help protect us somehow? I thought the WWF was meant to protect animals FROM us, not the other way around? You can read more about the details of this ad and the controversy here.

Basically, I’m just wondering how far Madison Avenue will go to keep us interested in buying stuff?  I mean, the Romans resorted to blood sport to entertain the masses and keep them fat, dumb and happy.  Based on some of these images, it seems that we might be only a few steps behind the Romans on the same path.  Let’s hope that history has a lesson for society AND Madison Avenue and they pull up short.  Otherwise, I fear advertising will only get worse.

Sorry for the downer today folks.  Peace to you all!