C.C. Chapman's Blog, page 21
August 19, 2015
Building Communities
We should all strive to be lifelong students and I was excited to spend Monday morning learning from Pamela Slim on herIndispensable Community Tour when it arrived inBoston.
Pam is a friend and fellow misfit, so that alone made me want to go out and see her. But, there was more too it than that.
Community building is something I’ve done a lot of over the years and something I’ve been inspired to do more of, but I was hoping that she had pulled together a framework for doing it better and I w...
August 6, 2015
A Ruck To Clear My Mind
A day of searching for focus and finding none left me frustrated, deflated and not in the best of moods.
When the wall is hit and the taste of defeat is strongest I find that getting outside and away from screens is the best cure.
“Dylan, you want to go for a ruck with me?” I asked to the my teenage boy who had lived in front of screens for most of the summer no matter how I tried to motivate him otherwise.
“Sure” was not the reply I had expected.
August 3, 2015
Is Technology Getting in the Way of Our Humanity?
Life without a phone got me pondering about our love of technology.
This morning getting a near real time update from my sister who is camping with my daughter and parents in Maine got me thinking even more.
Combine all that with my buddy Christine calling me out for not doing a podcast in so long made me fire up the microphone and hit record.
Give Episode 146 of Managing the Gray a listen and let me know what you think.
I figured since I’m testing Periscope, I might as well livestream me r...
July 31, 2015
A Look Back at the Week That Was
I finally have a cell phone again.
After a waterfall claimed my last one, I went ten days without having a phone.
Honestly this wasn’t bad for me since I wasn’t traveling and I could access everything I needed to from my computer and iPad.
The only thing I missed is always having a way to make photographs always with me and being able to share experiences in real time. Instagram was certainly what I missed the most!
I did learn though that society has come to depend on their phones and forge...
July 29, 2015
Why I Write
Chuck Wendigis a writer who can put words together better than most. His fiction
is raw and his nonfiction
is inspiring.
Every week he issues a writing challenge and while I should accept more of them, today is my first in which he asks us to share why we write.
Why I write is a complex and simple answer all at once.
I write to get the constant swirling of ideas, stories and characters out of my head.
I write because I have something to say and I want other people to know.
I write because if...
July 28, 2015
We Must Do More
WE MUST DO MORE
Black.
White.
Red, White and Blue!
A gun for every child, but a college degree for only a few.
Where the color of your skin may determine your odds of another morning.
The kids leave for school and I worry if they will return.
Active shooters. Road rage. Libraries and prayer circles.
The street I get. In a Church I never will.
School hallways are for lockers, not glocks.
Play on the swings and pray you get home.
What happened to treating your fellow man as you wished to be...
July 27, 2015
Personal Security
Growing up, I was in the Boy Scouts and we spent a lot of time outdoors learning new skills. I can sharpen a blade, start a fire and build a shelter without any worries.
I use to joke that I was the perfect boyfriend because I knew how to tie knots and I was always prepared.
Today, I’d bet that the majority of adults don’t know any of these skills. I won’t go so far to say that we’ve gone soft as a society, but our priorities sure have shifted.
July 23, 2015
TripIt: All Your Travel Plans In One Place
TripIt is one of the most important tools in my life.
Whenever I receive a train, hotel, restaurant or flight confirmation I simply forward it to plans@tripit.com and I can instantly forget about it.
I can do this because TripIt uses its magic to create itineraries of all my trips that I can access from the web or my phone at any time.
Never having to worry about any confirmation number, hotel location or little travel detail makes traveling much less stressful.
Recently, the TripIt marketin...
July 22, 2015
You Might Be Amazed at What Falling in a Waterfall Can Teach You
My family and I spent this past weekend camping in the Berkshires.
Camping is an activity that we love to do as a family and the reality that we don’t have many more summers to do this together is starting to hit home.
This was the first camping trip for Nadia and when you have a dog with you, the activities you can do become a bit limited. Hiking is an easy activity you can do with your family and dog and since I’m happiest in the woods we set out to spend quality time in nature.
Using the A...
July 21, 2015
Rockport Shoe Review
I’m the type of guy that when I find something I love, I’ll keep buying it until I find something better.
Shoes are a perfect example of this.
When I find a brand and style that I like, I stick with it.
Shoes are purely functional for me and the fashion of them means little to me so I go with what works.
When the team from Rockport asked if they could send me a free pair of their newDresSports Luxe shoes to try and review I initially wasn’t interested.
Summer time for me means that I’m weari...
