11 items everyone should have in their car

Do you have air in your spare?  Why would I ask such a silly question?  You might say I’ve learned from practical experience.  I had a flat tire today.  But, there’s more to the story than that.  I went to replace the tire with my “donut” spare tire.  The bad part was the donut was flat too.  Fortunately the flat happened while I was in town, so I was able to resolve the issue without too much effort.  This incident, however, really got me thinking about safety and being prepared. Continue reading

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An interview with Matt Beckwith of PodcastStockton

A little while ago a colleague, Ray Bohmer, suggested that I listen to this guy named Matt Beckwith who has a podcast called PodcastStockton.  I listened to the show and was curious about what goes into a podcast production.   A week previously  Matt had read one of my blog posts about iPhone Apps on MrWes.net and left a comment for me.  Since this is the year of stepping out of my comfort zone, I decided to ask for an informational interview with Matt.

Matt agreed to meet with me and suggested we eat dinner at Panera Bread near Eight Mile Road & Trinity Parkway.  Panera Bread  is a wonderful little deli-style restaurant  that makes delicious sandwiches.  I plan to take my wife there for dinner some time soon.  The following are notes from the interview I did with Matt on February 5th, 2010. Continue reading

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Keys to successful communication

People communicate in so many different ways today. There’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, text messaging, email, phone, forums, comments, face to face, fax and written letter.

But sometimes we get so caught up in sending out the message that we forget who we’re sending it to. If we’re not careful the message might not be received or it might be misinterpreted. Continue reading

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MrWes celebrates 200th blog post

I’ve reached my 200th blog post.  It’s been a long road to get here, but the journey has been worth it.

Where I’ve been:

During this past year, I have done a lot of growing in my blogging and presentation skills.  I have written articles on personal networking and personal marketing plus several posts on technology and DIY. 

This last month I committed to becoming an iPhone and Mac OS X developer.  It has been a while since I last programmed a Mac, but it’s coming back to me.  The iPhone is something new for me.  If I had only known that the iPhone would be such a productive tool, I would have gotten one many years ago.

Where I’m going:

My interests haven’t changed from what I’ve been sharing over this past year, but they have expanded.  These days my attention has been directed toward podcasts, video blogging and podcast production. 

In fact, I have already arranged to do an informational interview with local expert Matthew Beckwith  to learn more about what it takes to be a podcaster.  Matt’s site is PodcastStockton.com

I have also started collaborating with a colleague, Donal Scully, on my blog.  Starting this week, he will be acting as my editor.  We’re talking about the possibility of creating another blog that has a more general theme based on local news and events.  I see Donal’s role expanding as a contributing editor. 

I’ve also been doing lots of reading, so I plan to write plenty of book reviews.  We’ll see how that goes.

Please provide your feedback:

If you have any suggestions regarding topics you would like to read (or hear) about, please give a comment in reply to this post.  I’d love to hear from you.

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7 necessary skills a student should master before entering college

Back in October, 2009, I wrote an article entitled “16 essential life skills students should know before leaving high school“. 

It was based on personal observations of high school-aged students I have known over the years, including my own kids. 

This post takes things a little further, itemizing the 7 necessary skills a student should master before entering college. 

Continue reading

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