Level 20 -- The New Work Force Frontier

As I drove back from Idaho Falls, I had a series of thoughts that kept running through my mind. It was Friday night about 12:30 when I started writing, and 6:48 in the morning when I finnished... that's a long ole time to hack away at a keyboard.

I had eaten a great dinner earlier with Trent, (my brother,) and Millisa (my sister in law,) it was great to see them and their kids are just plain awesome, man, I'm most likely biased... but I think that I have the best nieces and nephews in the wole wide world!

Anyway, after dinner I helped get Trent started on transfering his files over from his old computer to his fancy dual procesor new one. What a cool rig he has!

I left their house, and visited with danny while he worked at albertsons... while there I did down a big ole Tripple Shot of the energy Rock Star... so part of my 'all night' writing spree can be blamed on the caffiene rush from that I suppose.

but on to the meat of this post.... the Ephistle that I wrote down and posted on my Entrepreneurial blog.

I will post it now for your amusement.... it's always fun to me to come back after a late night typing experiance and read what I wrote. Often the results are hilariously terrible.

However, on this endeavoure, I have attempted some similitude of profesionalism... after a good 8 hours sleep, we shall see how that holds up.

I fear that towards the end of the document, I inserted several 'rambling' lines of text (as I'm currently doing here,) that I will have to edit down to a more consice / readable format at a later date.

(grr I ran spell check, and it said that nothing was spelled wrong... which I'm sure is a down right lie, since I know that it was 'I' that hit the key's to make the preceeding text appear on the screen... oh well, you'll have to suffer through it.. trying to de-sy-fer my phonetic renderings of the English language mixed in with my attempts at conformity to the modicom of speach most comon to my native country.)

Wade -out

(here's the long level 20 post in it's entirety)

-----------------

Level 20:
What it is = The new Work Force Frontier.

What that means :
This is a company dedicated to utilizing the technology of today’s world to bring teams of people together who:

• ...desire to get rewarded directly for the efforts that they put into their work.
• ...desire to have ownership privileges of projects that they build.
• ...are looking for a way to increase their income and their quality of life.
• ...can see that the new frontier is the internet, and who want to be a part of the development of communities and marketing strategies based on that technology.
• ...are comfortable working remotely.
• ...can work well as a member of a team that most often will be separated by large distances, teams whose primary means of connecting with each other will be through the internet.
• ...can work well as a member of a team that will most likely contain teammates that are culturally diverse, i.e. if you are an engineer on a team you need to be able to get along well with the marketing people, and marketing folks, have got to be able to communicate with and get along well with the engineers of the team, (and everyone has to love the accountants… because they need love too and… well… they help us all get paid.)
• ...can use, or are willing and eager to learn how to use, modern internet communication tools to coordinate efforts with the teams that they work with, (most often, access to broad-band internet will be a requirement.)
• ...work well under a management structure that will most closely resemble managed projects. (i.e. project coordinators that plot out a projects development that is based on the completion of objectives or milestones by team members.)
• ...can make realistic estimates on when work objectives can be completed, and then consistently deliver high quality results by those deadlines.
• ...are exited by the opportunity of the great potential returns on time investments, and who are willing to forgo the security of a regular paycheck in return for receiving their reward that is directly based on how well that the project they helped to produce or market does in the market place.
  

Based upon the principle that the people that build a thing should get to reap the rewards of their creation, Level 20 seeks to provide the infrastructure necessary that will alow professionals, to designate how much time that they can allocate to a project, then become part of a team that develops and markets internet driven products and applications to the masses, and reap the rewards for doing that.

If that definition fits you at all, then by all means read on. (even if you found nothing in common with the preceding list feel free to read it as well.)

Here’s the preview… keep in mind it's a ruff draft:

Here are a few definitions to keep in mind while reading this document :

Green = Good – on target with budget and schedule (the norm.)

Yellow = Caution – possible delay is sighted or an overage on the budget becomes a possibility.

Red = Criticle Failure Eminent -In eminent danger of missing the deadline, or not meeting the expected quality requirements. Also red means that additional funding is required and will need to be allocated to this objective. (this will of coarse decrease the expected returns for everyone.) Red also means that failure in this area may require for the project to be placed on hold.

Placed on hold = all work towards the project is halted while feasibility and profitability are
re-evaluated. This would be executed to allow the architect and project coordinators to re design the project plan.

Inactive project = a project that has been placed on hold, and then has been added to an
inactive project list by the Supervising Architect. Personnel can then have their time freed up so that they are eligible to be re assigned to other more feasible projects.

In the event that a project goes to the inactive project list and later is placed back on active status, a provision * in project design document will explain how rewards will be determined for teams or agents who’s work from the inactive project that is used on the now active project will be awarded.

• Level 20 Architects build a basic project idea, and a brief outline of a
  suggested reward program, and select a supervising Architect for the
  project.


• Project Coordinators are selected by the supervising Architect to run a particular
  project or a portion of a project.


• Project Coordinators work with the Supervising Architect to put together a project
  design document with time lines that estimate what positions / roles will
  be needed to complete the project and how many hours will be needed by
  each roll to complete the project on time.


• Project Coordinators will plan a budget for the project.


• Project Coordinators will work with the supervising Architect to refine the reward
  structure that will be offered to the team that works on the project.


• The reward – will most often be
  based upon the direct result of the team members.
• In other words, the Project Coordinators break down the project into
  milestones, and objectives that need to be completed.


• Then the PC (Project Coordinator) assigns a priority to each objective:
  


• Critical – the most vital parts of the project. These are the objectives that
  would be the hardest to replace teammates on or would severely cripple
  the project were they not completed with high quality and on time.


• Normal – most objectives will have this status.
  These objectives are definitely important to the over all
  success, but have some flexibility on time lines or would be fairly easy
  to replace team members if the objective remained in a yellow status for
  very long.


• Non Critical – These are the areas that would be easy to replace team
  members on if they went to a yellow status or are very flexible as to
  when they could be completed during a project.
  


• The PC assign a value to each of the objectives.
  


• The value assigned will be based on the objectives priority and based on the
  time estimates and budget that was determined in conjunction with the
  Supervising Architect.


• The value assigned will be designated as a percentage of the return of what
  ever profits that the project generates.
  


• The team or agent that completes that objective is awarded the predetermined
  value of that objective.
  


• Bonuses will be awarded based on exceeding expectation.


• Penalties will be subtracted from the assigned value and will be based on failed
  deadlines, or expectations not being met.


• A penalty that was assessed to a team or agent will go directly into the
  bonus pool which is shared by those that exceeded expectation.


• i.e. an agent completes an objective several weeks in advance of the
  deadline – based on the priority of the objective, the value of the
  objective, and the degree of exceeding the expectation a point value **
  will be assigned to the team or agent. (1-6)


• i.e. a team is late on completing an objective and the end result doesn’t quite meet the expectation. – based on the priority of the objective, it’s value and the severity of the failed expectation a negative point value will be assigned to the team or agent. (negative 1 – negative 6)


• Any penalties that were assessed to an agent or team will be added to the bonus pool for each objective that a negative point assessment was given.


• The bonus pool is calculated as a percentage of the profits. The starting
  size of the bonus is defined in the design document.


• To determine what amount of the bonus reward goes to which teams or
  agents, the point totals of each team are added up. The total amount of
  points that were awarded is considered to be equal to100 percent of the
  bonus pool. From there it is easy to figure up what percentage of the
  bonus pool every point is worth. Each team or agent then converts their
  point total into the percentage that those points represent, and then
  pool is divided up amongst the teams and agents based on those
  calculations.
  


• If the resulting project is sold outright, then the profits of that sale are
  awarded as follows:


• The gross value of the Sale of project result minus the expenses and minus a percentage of the profits (not to exceed 10%) that will be reinvested into the growth of level 20.
  


• If the project result generates a continuing revenue then the profits of that continuing revenue are awarded as follows:
  


• The gross Quarterly value of the revenue, minus the expenses that were used
  to complete the project (as a general rule the expenses should be paid off within 5 years, but the exact details of repaying expenses will be defined in each design document,) minus the costs involved in maintaining the project minus 10% of the profits which will be used to reinvest in the marketing and growth of the project itself and minus a percentage of the profits (not to exceed 10%) that will be reinvested into the growth of level 20. The proceeds
  will be awarded on a quarterly basis to the project teams and agents that participated in the projects creation.


• If the continuing revenue project is sold, then the profits of that sale
  are awarded the same way as previously defined.
  


• The Project Team is put together by the Project Coordinators. This is done by
  selecting members / agents that have indicated that they have available time commitments to allocate to the various roles that will be needed to complete the project. This is done by reviewing and interviewing members / agents of Level 20 and going over
  the design document with each agent or team lead. (Team leads determine how rewards will be distributed amongst his team…This enables contractors who reward their employees in a more traditional manor to participate. However the Team Lead does need to be a registered Level 20 agent designated as a team lead.)


• During the interview process, the projected budgets, and time lines need to be
  discussed and agreed upon between the project coordinator and the agent or team lead. This part is very crucial. This is where Agents and Teams commit to meeting deadlines, and where expectations are explained and defined as well as the penalties and rewards for exceeding or failing to meet expectations are discussed and reviewed. This interview meeting needs to go over the same things that the kick off meeting goes over, except the focus should be more on the specific objective instead of the overall project.
  


• The Supervising Architect should be consulted with on any major revisions to
  the design document or timelines.
  


• If the needed personnel resources haven’t been met then the Project Coordinator would be responsible for utilizing the Level 20 resources to recruit new Level 20 agents to fulfill any roles that are not filled by existingagents.


• Once the whole project team has been selected and everyone has been assigned to all of the objectives and agreed to the deadlines and rewards andpenalties, then a kick off meeting is held.
  


• In the kick off meeting, introductions are made so that the team gets to know who all is involved.


• The overall project is reviewed and the desired end result is explained and reviewed.


• The definition of success for this project should be defined in this meeting.


• The expected rewards should be reviewed including what the expected sale amount and expected profit margin will be. Or it is going to be an ongoing revenue project then the expected quarterly income amounts should be reviewed.


• each project objective is reviewed.
  


• The entire time line for the overall project is reviewed.


• Clear expectations are set, and agreed upon for each objective. This should be done in front of the whole team.


• The reward system for the project is reviewed.


• A clear understanding of when an objective will be put in a yellow or red status needs to be understood by each person for their objective.
  


• All of the communication tools need to be explained, and previous to the kick off meeting a check list needs to be completed that shows all that all of the team members have access to all of the communication tools that will be used and that they have access to the tools that will be used to trackthe status of the project.


• Reporting needs to be explained:
  


• Exactly who needs to do exactly what
  reports?


• Where, When, and How each report should be submitted.


• Clarify that reporting accurately and on time will be reflected in the overall
  rating of whether or not a team or agent met the expectation for the
  objective.
  


• Any potential issues need to be noted for review later. Each team lead and agent that is responsible for an objective should have the opportunity to list any areas that need to have special attention paid to them.
  


• The next group project review meeting should be scheduled.


• Objective review meetings should be scheduled.




• After the kick off meeting the PC will play the roll of monitor making sure that
  all the tasks stay on task, and moving any objective to yellow or red status.


• If an objective moves to yellow or red then the PC needs to determine whether to
  bring in new team members to complete that objective or exactly what needs to be done to get the objective back to green status.
  


• The PC will also work with the Supervising Architect to determine if a project needs to go on hold to be reviewed or re-designed.


• Objective Owners can be Solo Agents or Team leaders who are responsible for delivering an objective but rely on others to help them accomplish this.


• Teams can be made up of a group of Level 20 Agents (called an ‘in house’ team,)
  or the team could consist of a group that the Team leader is in charge of, and who are not members of Level 20. (called an ‘outsourced’ team.)
  


• If the team is made up of Level 20 Agents, then the rewards for that team should be defined in the design document.
  


• If the team is made up of non Level 20 Agents, then the rewards for that team are determined by the Team Leader, and only the Team Leader or thecompany he represents will receive the rewards from Level 20.


• If a Level 20 agent is working in an outsourced team the agent’s reward for that objective, will not be defined in the design document. The agent CAN still work on other in hose teams or operate as a Solo agent as long as the agent can meet the time commitment requirements.
  


• Objective Owners are responsible to make sure that the objective stays in the green status.


• Objective Owners are responsible for accurately and promptly reporting status via the reporting tools. Also regular communication between objective owners and team members is encouraged via the communication tools provided by Level 20.

* Inactive status - When a project goes from inactive back to active, the whole process is started new. A new design document will be created for the re activated project. All the roles are filled just like they would be if it was a new project. Many or all of the roles may be filled by new agents. The original teams would still need to be rewarded for any work from the old project that was used in the new reactivate project. The new design document would include the provision from the old project design document that lists how the reward will be distributed to the old project members for work that is used in the new project. What ever gets used from the
old project should be listed in the new design document. The distribution of the reward to old project members should be defined in the new document as well.

** Point Value – the more Critical a task the better the opportunity to earn a bonus of course the opposite is true in that if expectations of time lines are failed, the penalties are worse.

A Critical task at normal value would get either 5 or 6 points. (positive or negative)

A Normal task at normal value would get either 3 or 4 points. (positive or negative)

A Non Critical task at normal value would get either 1 or 2 points. (positive or negative)

In the Design Documnet the objectives will be defined as High Value - Normal Value - Less Value - objectives. Depending on the value of the task, a point can be added (high value), no change - (normal Value) or Subtracted (Less Value.)

-to be continued and refined- by Wade Hone – Saturday November 18, 2006 6:59 am. --

cleaning up the ole' web page

I just cleaned out the ole web page, and I'm gonig to dump some of the stuff from there, over to here.

heh, it was sort of like a 'log' of what I was doing... but it was getting long, so I moved a bunch of these links over to side bar areas, and heading topics etc... anyway, I'll just dump it here incase I missed anything I can come back and snag it from here later:

Photo Album of this past labor day weekend Family Camp out (2006):
Here

A Flyer that I'm working on for Imperial Asphalt:
Here

A small review on what's going on in the Game world.
Here

My
Mission Statement has been updated for 2006 .

My world on the web.

My world on the web.

So, I have this idea. It has sort of drifted around in my head for a long time. I, like most humans in the world, have this desire to leave my mark on the world. Most folks can achieve this via their children. What greater impact can a person have on humanity, than adding to humanity?

Since I have no children, and at the moment, haven’t fulfilled the self imposed requirements to allow my self to be involved in the procreation of such, I look to other methods to leave my mark. For the curious, my self imposed requirements include readying myself to commit to a successful marriage, and then committing to afore mentioned marriage. Until that time, I’ll continue to enjoy my life here on this earth as a single, non reproducing male. It is not nearly as bad an existence as those that are in relationships fear, to that I attest whole heartedly.

That aside, I still wish to leave something of myself behind in this world. From my study of great men, I have come to believe that the events that men are involved in play largely into whether or not a person is considered great. In other words, it is my belief that it is not so much ‘the man’ as it is timing and the event that took place that makes one great. I believe that in many cases had the person that ended up getting the credit for something not existed, that some one else would have easily filled his place and ended up being that ‘great’ man that history remembers. I think that all of us can think of men and women that we know personally, that if placed in a critical situation that would impact the world, would most likely rise to the occasion and perform heroically. The only thing lacking for the rest of the world, and history, to recognize the same noble qualities that you can see in them is an event in which they can participate that has the adequate attention attached to it.

If I’m not reproducing, and don’t exactly think the lottery of exceptional events will match up with my particular set of strengths, (strengths of which I’m not sure of entirely myself even,) then I must find another way to leave my mark on the world. I have noted that writers often have the ability to effect the world, long after they are gone their stories, or educational documents can be used by mankind to uplift, inspire or teach. In today’s world we even have the ability to write something and then instantly make it available to most of the world via the internet. I still get shivers just thinking about the power that gives the average man.

The plan then, is to use the internet as a place for me to leave a mark on the world. I’m not saying that it has to be an important mark, or even that many people need to know about it, it’s just that I like many others feel the need to have something that is around after I have passed on, and I think that creating web pages can help me to feel that I have achieved that goal.

I have a few Blogs that act as journals, and my wadehone.com page will act as my ‘home base’ that sort of tie’s together the other projects that I work on.
Level20.com I’m not completely sure what that will finally become, but for now, it is sort of the ‘entrepreneurial’ side of my internet projects… I often use it for gaming projects though; I hope that I might be able to somehow have my gaming habits actually bear some financial fruit. If that happens it will probably be though level20.com

Intagoal.com that is an online educational program that I am working on with my brother Blaine. I have high hopes, the furthest out there dream is that it could someday be an online educational tool where anyone with internet access could get up to a high school education and diploma (at no cost to them)… that would be a dream come true for sure.

Semerial.com this is what I had in mind when I began this document. Semerial.com is inspired somewhat by the book, ‘the never ending story’ where it encourages people to imagine, and create imaginative works so that they can fill the ‘nothing’ that was seeking to destroy all previously imagined works.

What I hope for that to become is a tool for writers where you can develop plots, characters and stories that form worlds, and that via this web site those worlds can be linked. I imagine it to be a place where authors will have a dedicated area, where they can write characters, and store them in a sort of file, do the same with plot’s and places, then put them together into stories. The author should have complete control over what the general public can see, and should be able to authorize helpers to see works in progress.

I hope that through these ways I can leave a part of me with the world. Reading has enriched my life, if I can provide a place that helps to facilitate more creations that enrich the lives of others, then I will feel that my time here on earth hasn’t all been in vain.

Wade Hone.

Accountability and Responsibility and More:

Accountability and Responsibility: Wade Hone 11-05-2006

This is a very long post, it started out as a response to a comment from Aztlan in the preceding blog post from Nov 3, 06. It turned into a long essay and I figured it might as well go in this blog as it’s own post. I will figure out how to ‘trim out’ some of the body of this post so that I can keep a couple of main paragraphs here on the main page, but hide most of it behind a link that you can click to read it all unabridged, till then your stuck with the whole 7 page non edited enchilada.

--- enjoy ---

The whole idea behind being held accountable is so closely tied to being responsible for something that it is hard to really distinguish between the two. Some people seek more and more responsibilities in life; they enjoy being held accountable for the results of something that they were responsible for. Often when things go well, there is great glory involved for those that were responsible for making it happen.

Some would prefer not to have the normal acclaim and the glory that being the responsible person can often bring about. At least some might like to receive the reward of successfully completing a responsibility in a different way than today’s western society rewards those who succeed. Public honors and such just might not be what that individual really wants. It may be different in eastern, or other societies I really don’t know.

If a person falls into the category, where they are not motivated by the glory they might achieve from taking on a responsibility and making it work, then that person would need to be motivated by something else. Fear of failure would be one thing that motivates. Fear of failure, is a powerful motivator, though perhaps, it’s not one of the most desirable. That fear might make one seek instead to avoid responsibility altogether so that they never face even the opportunity to fail.

I certainly hope that fear of failure isn’t the main motivating factor in my life. Since I’m not really motivated by the glory and recognition of success, one would have to start to wonder at least, if fear played at least some part in the motivation behind my desire to avoid responsibility. If fear of failure was the main motivation, it’s not doing that good of a job motivating; as I don’t really fear ‘failure’ or at least, I don’t fear others thinking that I have failed according to their view of what is successful.

I imagine that my definition of success is not one that would readily be accepted ‘in the main’. That being the case, how could I look to the approval of others for my motivation? I just could not do it. That is all.

Thus we come back to the point of this article, Self Accountability. I’m in the process of setting up a monitoring structure that is based on my own definition of what success is. Feed back from that structure is what I’ll use to judge my successes. The status report I mentioned in the original post.

Something written will do much better than my gut feeling at keeping me up to date on where I am really at in my quest to achieve success. It is very important that a person knows whether he has won for the day. If the current social support network that surrounds a person does not have exactly the same idea of what success should be, then a person should not look to that social network to monitor their progress. Instead they should look to themselves to know weather or not they have won for the day. I once read, though I can’t remember who wrote it, that;

“Every day a man should know whether he has won or lost.”

I completely agree with that.

It is interesting that Aztlan brought up something that when compared to a conversation I recently had with my father, illustrates this point very clearly. Dennis, (my father,) and I were driving along and I got to talking about games and my gaming habits. You see, I like to game, and I like to game allot. I was explaining how many of the successes that I have had in this life related directly to the relationships that I had developed through my association with other gamers. I spoke of how one fellow who went by the name of ‘Slick’ had sent me some training materials and encouraged me to follow my desire at the time to get into Information Technology as a career. His interest and mentorship, directly influenced my actions which landed me a job on a project doing Y2K remediation for AT&T Wireless. That path eventually led to me managing a branch for that contractor company, then, by mutual decision to a nice corporate career type of job with AT&T Wireless.

While working and traveling I actually utilized my online gaming friends as a sort of permanent social network that provided some emotional stability that frequent projects and moves would have made difficult to develop using traditional methods. In one case, no, at least two cases, skilled people that I hired came from that very group of online gamers. Their skill and expertise were a benefit to me and the companies that received their services. I mention all of this, (though I don’t think I went in to quite so much detail in the conversation with my father,) to illustrate the benefits that my gaming habits had brought to my life. I didn’t even begin to touch on the technical skill acquired through having to tweak a computer system to get it to run the game, and play said game on line with other people. At the time, back in the long lost days of Dos, console prompts, 640 k chunks of memory to work with, batch files, Winsock, and processor speeds measured in megahertz instead of gigahertz, you really had to learn some stuff if you wanted to play, and learn even more if you wanted to play with friends online.

Heh, I sound like the old timer that ‘walked up hill in 6 feet of snow just to go to school… both ways!’ but the truth is that today it’s the exact same situation, if you want to connect with others and play with the latest toy’s you still have to learn how to use technology. Ok, so I made my arguments about how beneficial and what a strong motivator my desire to play games on line has been over time.
As a parent even though your kids grow older, and in my case I’m 35, well into middle adulthood, (at least according purely to statistics,) you still concern yourself with your children’s well being.

A strong dedication to gaming and computers is not something that can really be fully understood by anyone who doesn’t share that same passion. To Dennis, (and lets be honest, many people would agree with him,) all that time could be spent in better pursuits. While I’m sure that he is right, can’t that same argument be made about almost anything that we do in life?

I really don’t think that most of us have attained that level of, as maslow says ‘Self Actualization’ where our pursuits in life are geared towards the betterment of society all of the time. So for the dedicated golfer, fisherman, football watching Couch Coach, the same thing might be said. Computer gaming is new, and has yet to really find it’s true niche in society as a whole as of yet. Or at least not with the older gamers yet. So, it is totally understandable that a father would be concerned and have an opinion on what time spent on the computer could better be used for. That being the case, Dennis, In a playful tone so as not to offend, said something like:

“Well wade, you can rationalize all you want to, but the truth is you’re actually addicted.”

Here is where the point to all this reminiscing leads. However first, let me add that the short conversation that I was having with my dad, didn’t really have all of the above arguments in it, and I’m glad, because had they contained them all, Dennis may not have made that comment about addiction, (though he would argue that he would have, I’m sure,) and had he not made such a comment, I would not have all of this material to Blog about.

Ok, and now to the point of it all; I tried to explain to my Dad that in the gaming community, I was really a light weight. I don’t think that he was buying into any of that, so that’s where Aztlan’s comments really come in handy. You see for all of my time spent and the perceived dedication to the craft of gaming, I’m really not ‘that’ dedicated. Well to gaming in whole I am, but to the level that true respect in the gaming community is gained, no way.

Light weight is the best I could be considered. While I doubt that any of my close online gamer friends would argue against the fact that zWolf (my online alias,) loves to play games, or even that he spends a lot of time playing. It really takes a special effort to make your mark in a game. As for the gaming group that Aztlan and I are a part of, we go back for years and years… I think when I started planning to play, and then playing Ultima Online with Aztlan I was 25 or 26, and he was probably only 16. I’m 35 now so I’m sure that several years have passed, and that he too has increased in age.

I have participated in the leadership of the group several times, and been happy as a member. Some times, as I think all of the members have done at one time or another, participation has waned somewhat when life’s adventures take up the time that was previously dedicated to gaming.

Here is the thing, and I know that I am not alone in this. I’m sure that every one belongs to a few if not several different social groups. If one of those social groups borders or is fanatical about something, then in the social groups that are not as passionate about that thing, conflict often arises.

Let us take my case as an example. I am heavily involved in one social group, consisting of friends family neighbors and most of the people that I would meet on the street near my home. In this social group the general perception of success would be things like Marrying well, Home / Property ownership, A decent vehicle would be nice, with an SUV or Pickup being a nice indication of success in at least in that arena.
Other things that social group would consider being a success, would be financial wealth of course. How good your children were. Pretty much success is defined in my social network of which I write in the same way that most anyone who watches T.V., reads the news or generally participates in this civilization has come to define it.

Though added to the mix would be quite a big dash of religious adherence. Since even if someone reached the panicles of all other points of success, but had failed in his religious duty, true success, in the eye’s of this society which I belong to, would definitely not have been achieved.


Since I typed it, I’ll leave it in, but after typing the whole paragraph I realized, this is just an area that I’m hyper sensitive too heh, thus the additional remarks regarding marriage:

In the society in which I belong to marrying well would mean finding some one who was of the same faith, who had a good work ethic, had an attitude of helpfulness to their neighbors, was pleasant in bearing and to the eye, having money wouldn’t hurt, but isn’t really as important as being in love, but… they would probably need to be a Republican, Conservative Independent or at least a democrat who seemed to be conservative and didn’t really talk about that shameful character flaw much.

Ok, now contrast this to the online gaming community, where respect is gained when can play a game exceptionally well, how much time you dedicated to playing that game, how fast your computer processor is, what graphics card you were using, what phat lewts you had in game, how much you helped your online guild, the amount that you participated with the out of game community irc chat’s, forum board participation, and your technical skills which are valued for helping others in the community get their rig’s running, and online, as well has helping with advice on what to get for your machine or what not to.

There are many things that add to the definition of success, the point is they are very different things than marriage, house owner ship, what kind of car that you drive, or how cute / nice your girlfriend / wife is. One thing holds true though, those that are perceived as the most successful are those that on a regular basis, can spend their time online with the other members of the community associating or playing the game. It’s not like the person that spends the most time is the most successful though, there are many additional factors and nuances that help to raise or lower your position in the perceived but never discussed higher arch of gamers.

Over all success is measured by your dedication to the games that your community is playing at the time. if the group is between games, then your success as a member is measured by your participation in the community through chat rooms, forum boards, helping out, sharing jokes, tech info, goodies ill gotten or obtained through legal means etc.


The key here is that while in social network #1, for some one to tell you that they feel that you are addicted to a game, it would be considered a negative statement to your character.

The opposite is true of Social Network #2.

I absolutely love to play games where I can tell that many of the players that I associate are “addicted” to the game. The term addicted definitely has positive over tones though perhaps it is used in a playfully derogatory manner amongst friends; it’s unspoken that by me saying you’re ‘addicted to the game,’ that I’m giving you props. It is most definitely a compliment.

So, and here is where it all ties together, in order for an individual to attain success, that person must first define success for themselves.

If I based my measure of success on getting, doing, or achieving the things that I thought would win me respect in the eyes of the various social networks that I associate with.

If I belonged to several of these social networks and based my perception of my own personal success on what I perceived the members of that social network judged success to be, then it could become very messy, trying to attain success in the various groups, especially if the objectives of those groups varied. Even if at the end of the day I did have the respect and honor and glory from the various groups, have I really succeeded? I imagine that the only way that answer could be yes would be that if my own personal definition of success was to please the various social networks that I was a part of.

Reading back over that last sentence seems almost obvious that one wouldn’t define personal success based on pleasing some one else. At first glance that sounds like a rather frivolous and shallow goal. A long time ago, I gave that very topic quite a bit of consideration. I really thought about it, and really took a good honest look at how much of my time, and whether or not any of my life’s goals were there in hopes of getting approval from others in the social networks that I belonged to.

That is an interesting exercise to say the least. How many things do you do each day to get others to like you, to respect you or to love you?

The question that follows that one then is; Is it wrong to do things do each day to get others to like you, to respect you or to love you?

I’m going to have to say no, personally I came to the conclusion that no it’s not wrong. I also decided that to think that is not wrong didn’t make me an all together shallow person either. What it DID do for me is be very careful who I selected to be in that group of people from whom I seek approval, love, and respect. It also made me very aware of how much freedom that I have in choosing how to succeed.

If I choose carefully who’s approval, love and understanding that I seek, and work hard at not seeking the approval and understanding of every one, then first of all I spend allot less time trying to convince people that ‘my way’ is the right way. Lets be honest, in most cases, it really doesn’t matter does it? Is there really any reason to spend pages and pages of text on an internet chat forum dedicated to fans of the play station or Nintendo gaming console, that the X-box is a better rig? Why am trying to convince some total stranger named “THUNDARCAT386” of that anyway? Do I really need him to agree with me? Do I even want his approval, love or respect? If so, why? Just some natural need that is in all humankind to seek social acceptance? Heh, I can better dedicate that time and energy in seeking those things from the short list of people that I really do care about.

I have become quite good at deciding if I am doing something to please some one else, to get their approval, or if my actions are actually more in line with what I really want, and what will help me to achieve the success that I have defined personally for me. The truth is because of how I was raised, and how I developed my own perceptions of right and wrong etc. often times the action that will garner the respect of some one in the social network that who I want to approve of me, are right in line with the things that will help me achieve my own success.

The freedom to pick and choose, to do, or not do something purely to seek approval from members of one social network group or the other, have some side affects. Which include not always doing the thing that would gain you the most respect of that person.

In the gaming community that I belong to, the side effect is that I don’t put in quite as much time as a person would on the particular game that we are playing. Or I’ll go great guns full bore ahead, spending as much time as the most dedicated “addicted” player of our group for a few weeks, then quickly just drift away, or adopt a style of play that is not as helpful to the group over all.

Lucky for me, there are plenty of areas that I can continue to shine in, to garner the respect of my gaming community. The relationships stay strong, and every one is just happy when I come back for another gaming session with the group. I’m known more for my diversity in gaming, and ability to develop good friendships quickly with the other members of the group and both of those things come in handy to the group, which garner the respect, approval, and love that I’d like to have there.

In the other group, the family, friends, and neighbors group, the side effect of my choices to selectively pick when I do things for approval purposes that are not really my own desires at the time, are that I might not attend church as regularly as I ought, though my faith is still strong, or I may miss more social get-togethers than perhaps one might were he trying to maintain the highest approval rating in his peer group.

The net effect of this approach is very very good though. You see, what ends up happening is that when I DO something it is for the right reasons, it is because I really want to do it. If I’m in a game socializing with my guild, I’m in it because I really want to be there, not just because the game designer has fashioned a devious program that forces a social system on the players if they want to be super successful in the game, all because they know that those social structures keep members coming back to pay another months subscription fee’s long after a solo player would have gotten bored and moved on to something else.

Anyway this is a lot of writing just to make the point which the Greek’s and those that continue their discussions, have been chit chatting about for Eons.

“Temet Nosce!” And no less important, “Sui Juis”

(“Know Thyself” and “One’s Own Master”)

--

Ok all that being said, I have a whole different thread that I’d like to write about sometime has to do with justifying this almost ‘selfish’ sounding approach to living life with the ‘selfless’ approach that is taught in the holy words written by profits.

For a jumping off point for the next round of writing, I’ll just say that to truly find happiness and attain success of an eternal nature; every person should develop his relationship with God to the point that that through prayer a partnership can be forged. It is my belief that there are many things that we think are so very important that when we let God in as a partner we find that they really are not really that important after all.

With a partnership formed and a clear understanding of what God’s will is, you can pay attention to those few things that really are important and attain eternal happiness. I guess the thing to keep in mind is that even if you don’t pay attention, and you really don’t take care of those few things that are really important, God is still there, arms out stretched, and beckoning for you. So develop that personal relationship with him, and know that even though you sure may not feel worthy of any help, he will still help you in your pursuits. ( I wrote ‘you’ but obviously I’m writing to myself here.. in my blog.)


Alma 29:4 in the book of Mormon has a great principle to teach:

“…for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they by unto salvation or unto destruction.”



Wade -out.

The List of Three...

You have probably received an e-mail at least once in your

life from a friend that had a list of questions that are supposed to help you learn things about each other... I get those fairly regular, and I don't really mind em, but often times I don't have the time to fill out new ones. I saved this list from about 3 years ago, and it work's fairly good, to just cut it, n paste it into what ever questionnaire comes along heh. I'll put it here to help with the intro part of this blog, and (mostly,) for a place to store the list so I can get to it with my cutting tools eh. I've left it mostly as it originally stood 3 years ago, with some minor add-ons (in parenthesis,) to update it for the 'today me'.

Here it is:

----

THREE
NAMES YOU GO BY, ASIDE FROM YOUR GIVEN NAME:
1. zWolf
2. Wesgar
3. MORPHEUSMMCXCIX

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. I like ‘who I am’ in general, and that’s a plus.
2. I learn Fast
3. I can ‘read’ others… very helpful in life.

THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. um….
2. Hmmm…..
3. oh! I Hate that I’m a Cocky Bastaige! (j/k)

THREE THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND:
1. Why they can’t synch the Stop lights so you only have to stop at one, then get GREEN the rest of your trip.
2. Why there are 8 hot dogs in a pack, but only 6 buns come in a bag… Freakin STUPID! ( I ate the last two just covered with cheese this morning… that Cured me from hot dog’s for awhile.
3. Why that in 3 Months I’m going to have to spend another 500$ to get the best Graphics card out there, oh, and I ‘why I do that’ has always mystified me too.

THREE THINGS THAT ANNOY YOU:
1. When smart people, convince themselves that they aren’t as smart as they really are, and decide that ‘computer stuff’ is hard, when in fact they could easily master the concept that they are struggling with… that bugs me.
2. this Purple color that I am writing in… why oh why did I cut the questions from ‘harugirlie’ The name should have given me my first clue! (not that the color it ‘self is bad… just that 'I' am going to be ‘posting’ in it… that’s all.) -for those of you that can't see the purple font because this has been reposted somewhere - trust me it was annoying!
3. When I’m dog tired but still can’t get to sleep… (like right now.)

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. That Chick that climbs out of the well in ‘The Ring’ – pure fear right there brother! Pure fear!
2. The slight possibility that I may not make enough $$’s being ‘self employeed’ and that I may indeed end up working for some one else again in my life.
3.That I might get tied up in the little un-important things in this life like money and power, and miss the big picture all together… that would suck.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. some sort of a dose of the internet, a game, an e-mail, browse the web, post on a forum, anything! I just gotta connect with it once a day and make sure that the miracle is still a reality and not dream.
2. Water.
3. Food. (I know the last two were boring but they help to put #1 in a better context.) (get it?)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR ARTISTS:
1. Evanescence
2. linkin park
3. Blues traveler

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITES SONGS @ THE MOMENT:
1. Jesse Cook - Tempest (Spanish Guitar.)
2. Evanescence – My Immortal (still…)
3. Europe (the Final countdown!!! Gotta love em for that!)

THREE PEOPLE YOU SPEND THE MOST TIME WITH:
1. Myself – sounds lonely eh, but it’s not, I’m good company.
2. Marcel T.
2b. three years later (2006) I just moved back to the area where I grew up so, I'm actually spending allot of time with my Dad and Mom, if you can believe heh, we work together now. It's great.
2c. another year passes (2007) later = Eric Baird he lives close, shares the passion for gaming that I do, and likes to take 'eating' breaks around the same time I do -3am burritos anyone?
3. Dan D.
3b. Three years later (2006) = Online friends, and Danny playing WoW.
3c. another year passes (2007) = my brother Trent, my Father and Mother - we work together so we see allot of each other during the week, and frequently have a Sunday dinner together on weekends.

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T DO:
1. Touch my toung to the tip of my nose.
2. Spell perfectly (yet.)
3. Speak in Cantonese (yet)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Web Design (maybe someday I’ll even get good.)
2. Video Games.
3. Digital Photography.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT REALLY BAD RIGHT NOW:
1. To be able to sleep.
2. Friday to be over. -- is a weird one... hmm, I'll replace it with 'a new video card' -see above question about 'not understanding...' I'm still afflicted.
3. To get my Severance Check from work and get to moving on with life.
-3b Three years later (2006), um... to get moving on with life? hehe, at least the first parts of #3 is done...
-3c (2007) Keep following the plan, with a successful year behind me at imperial asphalt, the ole 'five year plan' to make a bunch of money and start my own IT related bus. definitely looks to be on track.


THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Asphalt Maintenance, no.. seriously, I really am! (--- Wrote that in 2003, and now, it's a reality.)
2. Web Design.
3. One thing I’m NOT considering, is EVER working for some one other than myself again in my life. (straight commission sales baby! yah! or business owner/self employed.)

THREE PLACES YOU WOULD GO ON VACATION:
1. Southern Mexico
2. Oregon Coast
3. New Zealand - I want to Trophy Hunt the Orcs that appear to roam freely about the country side.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Clarify and achieve my vision of ‘life’, or at the very least feel good about the effort that I made at trying to get there.
2. It would be nice to say ‘Mary the woman of my dreams, but since she got hitched to some one else nearly 2 years (make that 5 years,) ago, I’m a gonna say that isn’t happening anytime soon.
3. Get some sleep! Which is what I’d best do now, lest the death part be snagging me before my time!
-----

G'night.

Wade.

Life of Wade - intro:

so, I have various Blogs posted around the web, and I wanted a place to sort of 'group' every thing together... the sort of 'un-abridged' look. the only thing, is I hesitate to make a sort of :

'a day in the life of ______'

page, as most often they can be tedious. I'll do what I can to 'not' let that happen here. Though, if you read another of my Blog's then you may see some repeats of post that appear there.

So, thus having declared this a 'catch all' I shall start in earnest to post here... tomorrow :- P

Wade Hone.