Month: December 2016

Life

2016 In Review

2016 was a exceptionally different year for the site. Mostly because of the inactivity. As many of you know this was an extremely busy year for me and my career. I set some pretty lofty goals that resulted in massive time consumption. So, that hindered my output a little.

I tried some new stuff. Some worked and some didn’t. I’m OK with that. I like feeling new things out and seeing how they play. Also, none of the posts were featured by the WordPress editorial team this time around. I’m also OK with this. I never measure my success based on being featured or recognition of any kind. Ive been writing for a decent amount now, I learned over time every post isn’t for everyone, they just have to be for the right one.

As usual below are the top 10 posts this year based on site traffic:

  1. What If I Don’t Matter? – This one was really tricky for many reasons, So I was relieved when people were responding positively. I published it late in the year, but worked on it most of 2015. As you read it, you will see why it took close to year to complete.

  2. How I Learned To Stop Avoiding And Read My Bible – Extremely difficult to write and even more excruciating to publish. That was the point though. Honest look at my personal bible reading and how to improve. (I have a follow up to this coming soon.)

  3. Goals – Pretty much my year in a nutshell.  I used this post as motivation throughout the year. It helped then and writing it. Also, I got a bunch of fantastic, surprising emails in response to this.

  4. Making Christmas – My first attempt at “VLOGGING.” I’m not sure what the future holds for me and the medium. But this was fun. I’m always looking for exciting, new ways to capture and share family memories.

  5. Arrival – Easily the best film I’ve seen all year. My review of it. In short: SEE IT!

  6. What Makes A Movie Good? – After getting a bunch of negative feedback for my review of The Lovely Bones (I liked it.) I went on a rant about movies and opinions. It’s not my proudest moment but I’m keeping it on the site. I like the rawness of it.

  7. Age 5 – Liam’s annual Age 5 video!

  8. The Most Skippable iPhone? – The most controversial post of the year no doubt.. But I’ve come to learn anything with Apple in a negative light will be touchy subject.

  9. Newborn – Luca’s newborn video. I was really pleased with the way this turned out.

  10. WWDC Predictions – My usual night before, WWDC predictions.

So there ya have it. I know this year was a slower year as far as post counts. But there encouraging news. The site traffic is continually growing. Not as much as in the the past. But still heading in the right direction.

Come 2017, You will see many more “think pieces.” I have many in the works and many more in the idea stage. Also you can expect some more videos and maybe some experimental fiction short stories.

Most importantly, more Nonni memories are definitely happening. I have enjoyed writing them and I will space them out accordingly throughout the year.

Like always, thanks so much for coming to my site and being a loyal visitor. I really appreciate it. Please keep the feedback coming via email. It really makes my day when just one person says just one nice thing about any of the posts I wrote.

There ya have it… This is me signing off for the year. Hope everyone had a great 2016 and I look forward to 2017.

Thanks for supporting the site and remember………wherever you go, there you are :)

-Danny

Family, Videos

New VLOG: Making Christmas

I have mentioned in the past I was going to do more with video production. Here is my first attempt. I always am fascinated with finding new ways to document my family life and keep things for memory. I wanted to try this and see how well it worked.

It was a fun little project. Its safe to say you can expect more to come. I’ve found they are a ton of work, but super rewarding.

Merry Christmas!

Deep Thoughts, Life

What If I Don’t Matter?

It’s an interesting concept, isn’t it? The idea that we matter so much. So prevalent because honestly, we all fully believe it. We all believe we matter. We all believe we count. We all believe our words mean something and we all believe we are right in the majority of issues. Whether that be the latest opinion on Facebook, or how you judge someone without getting to know them. Of course were right, because were always right. Right?

This thought came about during the most recent election. I’m not a republican, nor a democrat. So to me, election time is always a spectator sport. This year was different though. The divide between the two major parties was the widest gap I’ve ever witnessed. I started thinking; how can two large groups of people have such different views? Such different opinions on the same issues. It was a striking realization. All these people, everyone, felt like they were right. That they mattered. It was something I could relate to. Because quite honestly, I felt I mattered.

A short time after this I really started pondering why everyone (including me) felt we needed to be right. Why it means so much for us to be stamped with approval (others or our own). This led me down a long, dark hallway of self realization.

Some of the big characteristics I try to improve daily are open mindedness and better comprehending others. This election was many things, unfortunately not any of those traits, though. So with all that noise going on through the election I started to ask what is an effective way to understand people? As grown up humans, we sometimes think we come out of the box ready to go. This was one of those moments for me. I’m OK in this area because I’ve always done it (place your way here).

Now I want to be clear, I don’t mean “figure people out” and place them in a box. I mean truly understand where they are coming from. I also don’t mean accepting their views or changing to their stances. I mean just simply understanding them. By all means after the fact, if you resonate with something you should listen to that feeling very closely. But the idea wasn’t to go fishing for change, it was to just simply try and understand someone else.

After a while and a lot of thinking of past interactions and situations in my life, almost all of my answers came back to this one idea. The reason I feel so strongly about anything is because I think MY view matters. I perceive my view to be the ultimate. To be end game.

Speaking for myself, when my view takes up so much space, there is very little room for anything else. That kind of scared me, but mostly didn’t shock me. How could it be surprising? We live in a time when the only thing that matters is us. What we want, how we want it, when we want it. If anything, I would have been shocked if I came out thinking not enough of me was in my views. Of course I inhibit all my head space. The world we live in is a “me” world. Im not pushing back on that, it just is what it is. A good realization to keep in mind.

So, where from here? I’ve established my views are selfishly mine without room to breathe any fresh air. Is that it? We have our views, or opinions and we die? Sounds boring yes, but also horrific in a sense. Somewhere down the line I was speaking to a man at the fire department and in mid conversation it hit me like a ton of bricks. What if I don’t matter? Is it a scary thought? Sure! But is fear a righteous foe for self improvement? You decide.

What if I don’t matter? A big question. A scary question. But the more I kept pounding in my head when others were talking, the more things felt right. I would actually listen to people because frankly, I wasn’t thinking of some witty comeback to prove my point. It was enlightening. Refreshing even. If nothing else, the idea that I didn’t matter really assembled a healthy way to interact with people. I started to care for people more. Simply because, when you remove yourself, all thats left is everyone but you.

This practice was really, really effective. It made me an excellent listener and an even better solver for my own problems. Surprisingly, when you take yourself out of your own problems or scenarios, your next move or decision becomes a lot easier to navigate. You see, we inhibit so much thought and care about ourselves, we muddy up any clear water in the defense of us and our well being.

Living a life of me not mattering wouldn’t be easy, but certainly rewarding. There was a problem though…

I do matter. Maybe not to me in the sense of this practice, but to my family in CT I do. To my wife, and my 2 kids I matter and I’m thankful. You may read that and think it sounds idiotic or simple. But it’s the truth. They care what I have to say. They care how I feel. They care what happens in the my life. I also know, to be the best husband/dad for them, I need to feel self worth.

So like many other discoveries made, I find balancing has been the answer. Discern when to not matter. When someone is hurting because of a recent event, that exact moment is not the time to preach on how you would have done this or that. When you are driving home and see someone on the side of the road who needs some help, that exact time would not the best to judge that person. You’re not him or her, you don’t know what brought them there.

Do you see what I’m getting at? If you can accurately execute when to not matter, you can be a powerful force for good in this world.

I can understand how some would have a problem with this. Some would say you must stand for what you believe in. You must not waver to others opinions. But you see, you are the people I view every election fighting the other side with closed minds and clenched fists. I also see your finish line. If your party wins, you are happy for 4 or 8 years boasting the best option won. If your party loses you spend the next 4 or 8 years saying and thinking toxic, mind crippling thoughts about a person you’ve never met, but can only paint with broad strokes.

Like I’ve said in the past, I’m not saying throw away everything you believe in. I’m a firm supporter for standing for what you deem important. What I am saying is know when you could get real, real small. So small that you could convince yourself you don’t matter. It’s not easy, but when you can get there you can start seeing some beautiful things. Like people other than yourself.

Life, Thought of the Day

Presentations

Today Lindsey is taking an important test. I hope she does well. She’s extremely bright so of course she’s going to be fine. But her test and my past year of testing got me thinking lately about presentations. No, not like at school or work presentations. But presentation in the sense of arrival. Arrival of anything really; emotion, events, etc.

Its funny how things come into our life and present themselves. Opportunity, fear, joy and sadness. All major players. All emotions and events we are guaranteed to experience. But when they come, when they “present” themselves we are either surprised, nervous or doubtful. You would think by now we would have a handle on such things. Apparently not. Of course I am just talking about myself. Not everyone. One thing I’ve learned (the hard way) through this blog is everyone is different. Everyone experiences events and presentations  completely differently.

Maybe when life presents you with something, you’re ready, set and good to go. For me its always been the exact opposite. I’ve never been good at change. Even good change. Never been a change person. But change has also taught me that change is good. A presentation that now, is still difficult but a little easier.

I didn’t realize it, but change is a presentation in itself. Then it hit me. No one is good at presentations, unexpected opportunities, bad news, etc. We all are a working project. That comforted me. Comfort in numbers I guess.

In other news, I am almost finished with my next big  writing entry. I know some of you thought I forgot I had a blog. But I’ve been also doing some work with videos and that has taken up significant time. Hopefully soon I will be able show all of this.

Have a great day and DFTBA :)

 

Life, Videos

Frosty River

I am making another honest attempt at reviving my YouTube channel.  So to sort of connect everything I have changed the “videos” tab on the site to connect to my YouTube page. I have some interesting stuff planned, because honestly I really miss making videos.  So in 2017, I’m hoping to do a lot more editing and video work.

Anyways I posted a video I took awhile ago while living in Connecticut. I love it mainly for the “coldness” I feel when watching it. Reminds me of winter. Thanks for viewing and if you get a chance, check out my YouTube channel also! Thanks and happy winter!