by Josh on June 14th, 2009 5 Comments

Video Games Saved My Life

video_games

Going about my usual blog reading, I was reading this post (which linked to this Mashable post). Great thoughts. I’d like to add a few.

Video games are the movies of the next generation. Games can suck you into their worlds so easily, it’s not even funny. I remember playing Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic for days and days, totally immersed in the story. I think that game might be one of the reasons I like writing stories so much.

But as much of a bad rap as these games get, they do teach us something. They keep our minds active (and now with the Wii, the rest of us too!), they make you solve problems, they make you work with others. These are all very important in the working world. Use this to your advantage.

As an aside, I know there are games out there that are over the top. All things in moderation.

What have games taught you?

by Josh on June 10th, 2009 1 Comment

How Do You Consume Online Media?

With all the means to get news, blog posts, and almost anything else on the web, which tools do you use? How efficient are they? Could they work better?

I was inspired by this post to think about my subscription practices, and I’ve found they could use some work. For my RSS feeds, I use Google Reader. I love it. But the number of articles per day has grown beyond what I can read everyday. What the above article suggested was to use email subscriptions for your must-read feeds. This would act as a filter and let you spend less time checking your feed reader. Cool.

So, my mind is taking that idea one step further. I find that for the few sites I frequent daily, I end up just checking their actual website. Why? Well, I comment on the posts. To do that, I have to be on their site. So why go through the RSS middleman? I did subscribe by email to these sites to see if it helped me at all. I think it has, at least a little.

I’ve found that I will probably end up with three categories of “feeds.”

A-list feeds that I just go to their site, but will also have some subscription to alert me (probably email and/or Twitter),
A-list feeds that I really like, but I don’t generally comment on or frequent the site, so I’ll get an email subscription,
Other feeds that I like enough to subscribe too, but that I just consume.

Of course, the feeds are always in flux. If I really start liking a feed in the third category, I’ll jump it somewhere above.

So what’s your way? Any cool tools you use to make it easier?

by Josh on May 25th, 2009 2 Comments

What Am I Worth?

tomb_of_the_unknowns

What am I worth? What is the value of a life?

On this day, Memorial Day in the U.S., we remember those who have fallen in our armed forces. We remember what was sacrificed so that our nation could be safe. I pray that it is worth it.

A scene in Saving Private Ryan stirs me every time I see it. A solider stands over the grave of the man who saved him in battle. This is what he says:

My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. And I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.

Let us remember always that someone has paid for our freedom. Let us remember those who made those sacrifices. Let us remember those who have endured the losses those sacrifices entailed.

And I pray that you and I remember the sacrifice our God also made in our stead. Let our warriors’ examples be a picture of what we all owe to God.

[ Image by dbking ]

[ Quote is from Wikiquote ]

by Josh on May 24th, 2009 3 Comments

HOW TO: Make Your Mistakes

So, here’s one for all of us who tend to act before we think. Sometimes, we make an assumption that is incorrect. Others, we go on ahead without full knowledge. Still others, we just plain do something stupid.

Now that you’ve done something, you can’t go back and do it over again. Ok, now what?

Take Responsibility

There’s not much I dislike more than someone who has obviously made a mistake try and act like it wasn’t really their fault. Own up to mistakes that are truly yours. It takes some honesty on your part, and it isn’t very fun. But it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes, the mistake is not completely your fault. Even then, take responsibility for the part that was yours. Don’t let people walk over you, but own your own actions.

Learn From Them

Now that we’ve taken responsibility for our goof, learn from the blasted thing! In other words, don’t do it again. Take stock of what led to your mistake, and note what choices you made that were wrong or not the best. Sometimes the decisions you made will not initially seem wrong or less than optimum. Next time you are in the situation, remember the previous outcome. With that in mind, you should be wary of decisions which lead there again. Don’t waste a mistake!

There’s not much else. Pretty simple.

Also, remember your mistakes when someone else makes one. Some mistakes deserve hard consequences, but do not act as if it makes that person anything less. It’s not like you’re perfect either!

What mistakes have you learned the most from? Which ones do you laugh at in retrospect?

by Josh on May 19th, 2009 No Comments

Catalysts: The Web is Changing the Music Business

Was on ChurchCrunch and I saw this post on the Catalyst Music Project. I got all excited about it.

[ Catalyst Music Project | Aaron Keyes from Catalyst on Vimeo ].

So here’s the deal. The music industry is changing. No, it already has changed. Not everyone knows it yet.

The Web is empowering the artists and the listeners. People who would have never made it into the mainstream 20 years ago can make a living. And people can find just that right band even if their taste is a little off the beaten path.

Pandora gave me a band I would have never found otherwise. (It’s Tokyo Rose, if you’re wondering) I bought a few songs from iTunes once I found them. It was awesome!

We need to take heed, my friends! The change is upon us! Okay, all poetic verbage aside, there are awesome ideas just waiting to be used.

What will the future be? How has the web changed music for you?

by Josh on May 17th, 2009 2 Comments

Consuming vs Producing

Here’s a quickie for the start of the week.

I’ve taken a little break from tweeting and blogging for the last week. Part was for vacation. Dusty and I went to Pigeon Forge, TN for a few days. We had a great time! No computers, no Twitter, just us. Wonderful.

But it did cause me to think about producing and consuming.

Lately I have been producing a lot. I’ve been blogging, WordPressing, and Tweeting so much, I drained myself. I’ve blogged before on the value of silence before. I think I relearned that this week.

So, to keep it short: sometimes you need to just sit back and consume life. By that, I mean to enjoy time with family and friends, to go out and relax in the woods, to experience at art as opposed to creating art. When we overproduce, we empty ourselves. And when we are empty, nothing overflows. Our art, our work, our passions come from that overflow. Remember this next time you push yourself too hard. Take an hour, a day, a week to refill yourself. It’ll do you good.

So, what recharges you? What drains you? When do you need a break most?

by Josh on May 9th, 2009 4 Comments

Patience is a Virtue

Saw this on a post from Ragamuffin Soul the other day. First off, I used to have a dominoes set. I could never get much done, because I didn’t have enough patience (and my steadiness of hand was usually off). This is an awesome set up!

Second, as you watch, think of the patience that it must have took to complete this. And think of the patience you must have to complete your dreams and goals. They usually don’t happen overnight. Run the race with perseverance.

[ Dominoes Everywhere from Jared Lyon on Vimeo ]

by Josh on May 4th, 2009 No Comments

Turning the Internal Analyze Switch Off

music_piano_2

Ok. You’re going about your usual day. You see something related to your work, and all of a sudden, you’re analyzing the heck out of something and you jump into work mode. Ahh!

This happens to me with music all of the time! I’m listening to my iPod, just enjoying the tune, when I hear a certain chord progression and my music theory brain kicks in and I’m analyzing the song. Which chords should come next, how could I change that and use it, what chord is that? By the time I realize it, the song is over and I missed it!

I’ve had to learn how to turn my “Music Theory” switch on and off. Otherwise my music experience is shot.

I had to almost practice this daily when I took music theory classes in college. The switch had to be flipped every time I left the classroom. But eventually, I was able to use the switch to my advantage. Now I can listen to a song in a few different ways depending on what I want to do. It broadens my listening experience.

I think this “switching” happens no matter what you are involved in. Engineers start thinking about the structure of a building and miss the beauty. Writers start thinking about what words fit better and miss the poetry.

So, what “switches” do you have to turn off to enjoy things?

[Image from Dusty Wagner]

by Josh on May 1st, 2009 No Comments

Building Blocks for a WordPress Theme

wplogoblue-stacked-rgb

As a new theme builder myself, I had to ask around on what I needed to know to build a WordPress theme. So, I made a short list. Here are the basic things you need to build yourself a WordPress theme.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets are awesome. They make your whole site look great (and uniform), and can even quickly make another site or project blend in. (for example, ChurchCrunch and its forums)

You need to get familiar with this code because it will style everything on your site. Setting up columns, the width of your page, what color your text is, the background, it’s all done here.

CSS is probably the easiest way to start with themes. I used a stock theme and tweaked the .css file until I got something of what I wanted. Once you get the hang of that, you’ll be ready for more. Continue Reading…

by Josh on April 28th, 2009 4 Comments

My Blog Has New Home and Theme!

movingtruck Joshua Wagner Online now has a new home. The blog is now being hosted on DreamHost and is powered by WordPress. I’ve been working on the new theme for about three weeks now, and I think it works pretty well. I’ll be adding to it here and there for probably a few weeks.

I’ve called the theme SlateBlue (for obvious reasons). I’m considering releasing the theme in some form, but I’m not sure yet. Any suggestions are welcome as well.

Enjoy!

[Image by NeitherFanboy]