Blog Move

Google changed there blogging system so you can no longer physically host your Google blog on your own web space. Blogger's pretty good as is, but I'm a tech guy, I pay for web hosting and I'll be danged if I ain't gonna use it.

All that to say that I'm no longer using this blog and have moved everything over to http://todd.borings.net

So update your bookmarks and RSS feeds and I'll see ya over there.


Todd

Finishing

I am an ideas guy. So is my brother. We love to kick around new concepts: business ideas, book ideas, wild money making schemes... Ideas are so cool. I love to imagine some new concept and the extrapolate it out to it's logical conclusion.

Here's an example:
My bro and I have been kicking around ideas for making email and the Internet accessible to the elderly. We've got all these big ideas about revolutionizing the nursing home industry. Of course that will lead to us becoming billionaires when the baby boomers start hitting nursing homes in the next few years. I'll travel the country speaking at conferences on accessibility for the elderly and eventually get into politics. I'll run for Texas govenor, then push in to the White House where I will usher in the greatest period of prosperity and freedom in our nation's history - and in global history.

This is the way my crazy mind works. What it does not do is figure out all the little steps and stumbling blocks along the way - the raising of venture capital, the slogging along on beans and rice for 10 years while the biz takes off, the eventual fights that break out between my brother and I over how to run the biz, leading to a parting of ways and our eventual estrangement. Finally, it leaves out completely my assasination while campaigning in San Francisco for the Libertarian party.

My point being that I prefer imagining the high points to dealing with life in the trenches in the nasty now and now. My brother and I have just been taking this week about a book he's starting to write. The concept is great, and his initial work is facinating. I just want him to plow through. I know it's going to get hard. I know it's going to be brutal writing and re-writing with no guarantees that anyone will ever even look at your work, much less publish it.

And I need to push on several key ideas as well. Just keep slogging through.

I'm hoping to start teaching improv again. I've got a class supposedly starting Sept. 14th, but I haven't picked up any takers yet. I'm probably going to have to reschedule the class. I need to stick with it, though. I need to push through and try again to come at marketing my class in different ways. Part of me just wants to say, "Oh well, I guess no one is interested. I'll just quit and do something else."

I need to practice the discipline of finishing.

Improv your Creativity - Class Starting Soon!

Course Description: As adults we learn to edit ourselves, frequently stifling our natural creative instincts. This course uses Improvisational Theater exercises and games to release your natural creativity by kicking your internal critic to the curb.

About the instructor: Todd Boring has been coaching and teaching improv and creativity classes since co-founding Massive Improv in 2004. He has performed professionally at the Del Close Marathon in New York City, at the Playground Theatre in Chicago, and the Hideout Theatre in Austin, TX.

Classes will be held for 6 weeks on Monday nights beginning September 14th at Talento Biligue Houston - 333 S Jensen Dr., Houston (East of Downtown)

Cost: $200

More info or reserve your space - email boringo at borings dot net. Make sure to include your contact information.


Todd Boring

The End of Reason

Yeah, this is what the health care debate has degraded to in this country. Obama is now Hitler because this Healthcare plan is specifically designed to what? Kill Jews and old people?

I posted back in May about how it concerned me that we no longer seem to debate the issues by talking about the issues. Instead we demonize our opponents and the media just seems to lap it up. This pic is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

I was listening to episode 378 of "This American Life" and in it Trisha Sebastian mentions having a discussion on religion. The person she was talking with brought up Hitler as example of evil. Trisha said that if you bring up Hitler in an argument, immediately you lose.

I actually will go further and say that we all lose. Hitler brings a lot of emotional baggage (and justly so). Now - to bring all of that emotional baggage to an argument about health care reform? You lose. It tells me you have no other method for arguing your point than to stir up fear and emotion.

In the Throes of Desperation

My wife and I have had a lot going on lately. In fact, I probably should lyricize the last several months into a country song. We've both been plagued by illnesses, injuries, car troubles and other mishaps falling in the "Shit Happens" category.

There have been definite positives - she landed a fun show this summer, I had a great time at my 20th high school reunion. Of course, my grandad passed away the week before. Nice.

The big thing on my mind lately has been MONEY. I took a part time job delivering pizza with the express intent of earning some extra cash to apply towards debt reduction. Soon after I started I determined that saving up for a replacement for my 1992 Mitsubishi had to be a priority. The car has numerous issues including brakes and engine emissions. This December the registration expires and the state of Texas is refusing to renew it (since it hasn't passed state inspection since Feb. of 2007.)

I thought I had saved up a nice cash pot towards a car, but I added up my total pizza delivery savings last night and it amounts to $900 and some change. To make matters worse, we just had a $500+ car repair bill on my wife's auto this week, and one of our cats has been diagnosed with pancreatic disease to the tune of another $500. So, the piggy bank is going to be raided this week to cover the needs of the moment and the ailing automobile problem has no clear solution in sight.

I'm considering taking out a loan to get a car. Nothing fancy, just a solid, dependable used car under $10k. But the thought of that KILLS me. Our budget is already pretty tight. The week before each paycheck we are scrounging to find food to eat because we're out of cash until payday.

We've managed for the first time in a long time not to incur any more debt in over a year. That's huge. HUGE. We've had the standard array of "Shit Happen" but we've had savings that enabled us to cover it. We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - granted it's a damn long tunnel and the light is pretty dim, but it's there.

The thought of setting ourselves another $10,000 back in the tunnel is devastating to me. Working as a pizza delivery guy sucks. And it requires a car... which did I mention is on its last legs? I don't want to guarantee another 5 YEARS of having to deliver pizza by signing a note for a car. And yet I'm out of answers.

And maybe that's because that is right where God wants me to be. (Yeah, I said 'shit' and 'God' in the same blog post. Get over it.) Our past solution for problems has been credit and other obligations instead of turning to God. But you know what? Turning to God is a hell of a lot harder than getting into debt. I understand debt. I see the solution tangibly. I have no clue what God will do about this situation if I give it over to Him. And how does one do that, by the way - "give it over to Him?" And what if He does do something amazing? What if somebody gives us a car? What if we don't really like it? What if it's a Hummer that gets 5mpg and doesn't fit in my garage?

And that seems to get down to the core of what God wants to work on in my life: "Does God care about me?" Yeah - He does. I learned about that stuff in Sunday School as a boy. But I find that God is very different from me. He doesn't do things the way I want them done. His perspective is different from mine. DO I TRUST HIM? But what if...? No, I don't trust Him. I haven't really had to because I've been able to trust in credit instead... but it looks like that's changing. I'm going to have to start trusting Him.