After a long, cold Winter, Spring brings forth new life from frozen land. Birds populate the now budding trees, and the air takes on a scent of life.

Unquestionably, Spring is my favorite season. I feel a very strong connection with nature and the seasons. Every year, I dread the return of Winters because it’s like my body goes through a near death cycle, just like the land around me. Things of cheer and beauty fade away and I go into a dark, cold, slump for several months. Then, when it seems there is no hope for beauty or joy in life, Spring comes and both the world and I come back to life.

Hope rises with the blades of new grass, clearer vision comes with more hours of sunlight, and new found energy bursts as the buds on the trees do. Hello world! I’m alive!

To celebrate this first day of Spring, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite quotes about this wonderful season. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

~Anne Bradstreet

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

~Bern Williams

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.

~Doug Larson quotes

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

~Margaret Atwood

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

~Hal Borland

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”

~Robin Williams

Happy 1st Day of Spring!

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation. –Herbert Spencer

Marinate on that for a little bit.

Recently, my buddy Samir Balwani tagged me with the meme 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me. I’m a pretty open guy here on this blog, so it’s a bit of a stretch to come up with 7 things that I haven’t already put out in the wild here. Regardless, meme’s are a fun way to get to know people and this is my first, so let’s see what little tidbits are hiding behind the scenes.

1. I’m actually quite shy in real life: Yes, I know. This must come as a complete shocker. After all, I’m a blogger, consultant, am involved in open source and numerous social networks. How could anyone who is so far out in the public eye be shy? Simple, this medium we share empowers people. There is a certain safety a person feels as they sit in their home or office pecking away at the keys on a message destined to the endless abyss that is the Internet. There is a sense of disconnection that makes being social in spite of being a shy person possible. Having done this for several years, I’ve been able to port this mentality into the physical world and thus give lectures, teach classes and approach people I would have normally crossed the street to avoid. Yet still, I do not like crowds and do not like to bring attention to myself in real life. It just goes to show, you can be anyone you want to be online.
2. I was voted most likely to be dead before the age of 18: You know that crazy guy in your old highschool who was always up for some insane adventure? You know, that guy that was the hardest partier in the crowd who would do keg stands then jump over fires. The guy that thought climbing water towers when totally trashed was ‘cool’. Um, yeah, I was that guy. Fortunately, a back injury at 19 took away my ability to walk upright for a few months and that was pretty much the end of my ‘crazy’ days. I’ve since settled down quite a bit and now have an appreciation for prudence.
3. I use to work in construction and food service, among other things: Yup, before meeting my wonderful wife, I was a GED educated, hard working, back breaking laborer in construction and the wonderful food service industry. I’ve also done various jobs in appliance repair and delivery, I’ve worked in the fields flinging watermelons, I’ve worked in auto repair shops, and for some time, I even worked as a Machinist where I made the structure for high speed CO₂ etching lasers. Still have scars from that job. So, yeah, I know the value of a hard days labor.
4. I come from a big family that I never knew: Some total, I have 7 siblings. There is only one I have spent any real time with, that being my sister on my Mom’s side. Even then, we did not fully grow up together. My Mom chose to move to Florida when I was 7 and she raised me there until my mid teens. By the age of 17, I was on my own in the real world and never looked back. I keep contact with my Mom and her side of the family, but that’s about it. It’s not something I really talk about because, honestly, growing up so far away from them, you grow disconnected.
5. I’m not an SEO, or SMM, or Web Developer, or Server Administrator, or…: In fact, I reject your labeling and will not adhere to it! I don’t like labeling as a whole and nobody I know online can agree on ‘what James is’. The fact is, I don’t fit into anyone’s tidy little box. I do all of the above and many more things. While I’m certainly not unique as a whole, there are many ‘jacks of all trades’ out there, I am unique in that I am me. I label myself as a ‘web-a-holic’ so people have some clue what I do, but if you want to tag me with a professional label, the only one that fits is Consultant. That’s because I do a little bit of everything.
6. I’m a nature lover trapped in a geek’s body: I love nature, animals, tranquility, simple living, being one with my environment. I’d love nothing more than to grab a backpack with only tools in it and disappear into the mountains and become a part of nature. Just me, some basic tools and nature. However, having a wife, a child and a business does kinda put a damper on the whole mountain man gig, so I’ve put the gray matter to use online, doing what I do. Don’t get me wrong, I love my wife and kid and I’d even want to take them with me, but that isn’t going to happen, they’ve made that quite clear!
7. I have been diagnosed with ADHD, Dyslexia, and Anger management issues: In other words, I’m a bass ackwards jerk who can’t sit still. Seriously though, these are real issues that I struggle with daily. I don’t like to be quite this personal out in the public eye, but my story does serve a purpose. If a guy with a GED, mental health problems, a background of manual labor and physical injury can go from most likely to FAIL to being a college graduate (with honors) and who has become a success online, anyone can! If you want it bad enough, work for it, it will come.

So there you go. 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me. Clearly, people are more than what meets the eye. I think the quotes that sums this meme up quite nicely are the immortal words from Shrek…

Shrek: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.
[sighs]
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.

Like most people, I have my hobbies that I like to turn to when I need an escape from reality. Oddly enough, my hobbies mostly center around what I do for a living. For example, when I’m feeling particularly stressed out or in need of escape, I like to fire up my favorite text editor, Notepad++ and hack away at some code. Today was one of those marathon coding days.

All in all, this week was good. I accomplished some important tasks for work. Got a decent amount accomplished around the home, and generally had a decent week. Still, for some reason, I’ve been in an absolute funk most of the week. I’m sure part of this is due to fighting a sinus/respiratory infection. Regardless, I really needed a release today. Since my wife is also sick, I couldn’t really escape to my first choice escape, hiking, but I could remain around the house to help and still get quite absorbed in coding.

I like coding because it has a tangible result. When I’m done tackling a particular task or project, I can stand back and say, “Look what I did!” Given that the vast majority of what I know about programming I’ve taught myself through trial and error and through resources like W3 Schools, I take a lot of pride in what little I can do. Granted, a LOT of people out there can do more. I kid myself not. Regardless, I can do what I can do and it feels good to be able to do it. This is especially true when there is a particular problem that’s been eating at me for a while and I finally figure out a solution on my own. That feeling ROCKS!

Today, I needed some quality time with code. Non-geeks might read that sentence and say, “WTF?!”. Geeks/Nerds/Programmers, or whatever you want to call them, will understand entirely! There’s something about hacking away at code that takes away much of the illogical insanity of the world, even if for only a little while. Code, in its truest form, is pure, devoid of emotion. It will only return a result that is already defined. In many ways, it just makes sense. Now, many of my programming friends, and even I at times, will argue that code can be completely illogical. Sure, but only when it’s programmed that way. Hence the reason why I say, in its purest form.

Today was one of those days that it’s probably best I don’t know how to program more than I do. I had one epiphany after another. If I knew how to program more, I’d probably allowed myself to get sucked into a 72 hour coding bender! Ignorance is bliss indeed!

Sorry, I’m not going to share my code with you this time. The code I wrote today was for one of my sites. I had to take one script I paid for and one I got for free and figure out how to merge them to fix the shortcomings of each script. The people who wrote the original programs know a heck of a lot more PHP and MySQL than I do, but the both lacked attention to detail. As a perfectionist Virgo, this bugged the HELL out of me! So, hacking away I went. The end result is that I fixed a site that has been very problematic due to those half-assed scripts. Well, I mostly fixed it. I still have a little debugging to do, but what I did accomplish is functionality 10x greater than the original author’s achieved. That feels awesome!

Now, after sitting here hunkered over my computer for many, many hours today, I feel somehow cleansed. My mood is better, I feel a sense of accomplishment, I feel like I’ve invested my time wisely as it will save me many hours later and even though I didn’t get some stuff done today I needed to and I still have some work to do on my scripts, I feel comfortable in what I have done today.

So, why am I sharing this with everyone here? Simple, regardless of what you do for a living and what you enjoy doing for a hobby, sometimes you just have to let yourself get absorbed in a hobby for a day and let it take over you. As I stated earlier, even though this week was OK, I wasn’t in a good mood. That was having a very negative effect on my overall well-being and, most importantly, the people around me. By allowing myself to just get completely immersed in something that I thoroughly enjoy, I was afforded a much needed release and I will be much more productive and pleasant to be around.

Now, as with all things, moderation is the key. If you’re turning to your hobby every day or you are investing more time in your hobby than you are family or responsibilities, then you’re taking it too far. But for those of us who rarely get to invest time in something just for the sake of relaxation or self-improvement, taking such a diversion can be very rewarding.

I know I’m not the only Type-A personality out there. Honestly, many of my friends and family fit the profile! Type-A people often find it hardest to take that needed break and many of us feel guilty when we do so. Ironically, we are often the ones who need a break the most.

I’m glad I got to take this diversion today and I’m equally glad I shared it here. I may not have a wealth of programs or designs, or marketing tips to share with the world, but what I do have is my experience, strength and hope. That accounts for something.

If you haven’t done so lately, take a break and enjoy a hobby, whatever it is!

You Are 91% Tortured Genius

You totally fit the profile of a tortured genius. You’re uniquely brilliant – and completely misunderstood.

Not like you really want anyone to understand you anyway. You’re pretty happy being an island.

Are You a Tortured Genius?

Well, Genius might be a strong word. Tortured? Hmmmm… The jury is still out on that one.

What I found particularly interesting about this subject is the lack of credible information. It seems that the above quiz dominates the SERPs for this subject. I couldn’t even find a Wikipedia article!

Does anyone know of where I can find some credible information on the personality characteristics of a Tortured Genius? This is a subject I’ve been curious about for many years, but have never been able to find any good information on.

Sigh, even in seeking to find out if I’m a tortured genius, I am yet tortured more by the lack of information. How ironic.