On Veterans Day 2010

Since 1919, the United States of America have set aside a day each year to honor and remember the men and women of the US Armed Forces—heroes, all of them. What will you do today to remember and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifices to keep us safe? How will you thank those who were or still are willing and ready to do the same?

As you seek ways to pay respect to the people who deserve it more than any other in your church, city, state, country, and world, here are a couple excellent videos I want to share with you.




Yesterday was the 235th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. In honor of the Corps, and because that's the branch I plan to join, here is another video produced by the same group dedicated to our Marines.


Please consider visiting The Warrior Song Project's website, where you can get various media and apparel. All proceeds from the sale of "The Warrior Song" MP3 are donated to the Armed Forces Relief Trust on a voluntary basis by The Warrior Song Project. A portion of the proceeds from all other sales are also donated to the AFRTrust on the same basis. Those who have or still serve in any of the US Armed Forces can simply email them to receive The Warrior Song for free, and active or retired Marines can also receive the The Warrior Song - Hard Corps for free (details here).

And for those who are active or retired military and are going out to dinner tonight, here are some places to hit up where your service will be honored by offering you free food.

• Applebee's: Veterans Eat FREE November 11th (click for details)
• Golden Corral: Free "Thank You" Dinner Monday, 11/15 (5pm-9pm) for Veterans (details)
• Outback Steakhouse: Free Bloomin’ Onion and Beverage for active/retired military (details)
• Chilis: Veterans eat FREE (details (PDF))
• Famous Dave's: Veterans eat FREE (details)

More deals on things like clothing, electronics, or furniture can be found here.

To my civilian friends, please find ways to join me in doing things that say...

To my military friends, Thank you.

Fort Wayne Disses Local Social Media Experts, Hires Chicago Firm [Updated]

On 30 September 2010, the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana entered into a contract with Chicago-based social media firm Carolyn Grisko & Associates in a move to increase the city's use of social media as a means of providing information to and getting feedback from its citizens. Many approve of the goal, but there is a concern among some who believe outsourcing the job is a serious misstep.

[This entry has been updated twice: I added another Further Reading link and report on the City Council meeting I attended to the end of the post.]

Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy, who has worked in local government under Chicago's Mayor Daley's administration, has indicated that she desires to have a greater presence in social media despite previous efforts by the City to avoid entering that arena. I think most Fort Wayne residents who spend time on the Web would applaud the effort to finally "get with the times"; I sure do. I use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to keep track of all sorts of local, regional, and national news, including events and venues, weather, traffic, emergencies, and so on, so I would welcome an official city presence to the mix.

While discussing the benefits and uses of services like Twitter (especially Twitter) would merit its own article, one obvious positive is the interaction with other local people. I have a list of Twitter users from Fort Wayne (view it here), and similar lists are maintained by many of the people on that list. It has allowed me to "meet" some very intelligent people right here in my own hometown without even trying!

Among the folks I've "met" using social media are several people who are involved with small business, publishing, news, and even social media. I don't really know anything about media marketing, but I know Scott Howard (@ScLoHo) could help me with that. I've never started a company, but I know James Paden (@JamesPaden) could help me with that. I've never tried to make a plan for integrating social media with local government, but I know Kevin Mullett (@kmullett) could help me with that. Hey wait—what was that‽

Deputy Mayor Malloy spoke with News Channel 15 reporter Elizabeth Fields: "When I got here, that's what I asked about. I looked around and did some Googling and searching, and I wasn't able to find a local government that had actually procured someone to help with a strategy." Scott Howard, a local media and marketing expert, recently tweeted, "Reason Malloy couldn't find local expert 1) She's not from here. 2) Never looked or asked!!!" In what looks to be an even bigger sign of the lackadaisical effort the City put forth to find qualified personnel locally is the absence of any mention of this issue from Fort Wayne's Project Bidding webpage. I could've found somebody—in fact, I have—and I'm not even in the industry! There are many others qualified, too.

There are many concerns people have about this deal: that Malloy may be employing Chicago-style "cronyism" by giving the job to a friend from back home; that Malloy may have intentionally kept the price tag below the $75,000 threshold to avoid the requirement for approval from the Fort Wayne City Council; that $72,000 is too much for the city to be paying for this service. I don't know what is the truth about Malloy's history or motives, but she claimed she did not know Carolyn Grisko & Associates or its owner and that the deal was in the pipeline before the threshold was lowered from $100,000 to $75,000. But I do know that there are local resources who could fill the role.

Now, I don't claim to be a person who could help with the implementation of social media to the Fort Wayne government, but as a currently unemployed recent graduate of a reputable science, engineering, a technology institute with a degree in computer science living in Fort Wayne, I can sympathize with the feeling that this job needs to go to a local resource before it goes to Illinois—especially Chicago! (Don't get me started on why I'm not a fan of Illinois, especially Chicago. And this news from the city only aggravates that distaste.) It is vital to the economies of the City of Fort Wayne, the Allen County, and the State of Indiana that jobs which local resources can accomplish are given to those local resources! (This isn't something Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana doesn't already acknowledge; haven't you seen the Talent Made Here commercials on TV and on your banner ads on Facebook?) I have seen, with my own eyes, comments from local social media experts who would have offered the service for free or at greatly reduced fees than the $72,000 bill we're now footing.

Tonight, my father and I are attending the Fort Wayne City Council meeting (5:30 pm in City County Building Room 128) to make it known we do not approve of this contract with an outside company when there are local companies who can do the job. Councilman Tom Smith is also displeased with the contract, so it is good to know that at least one representative shares our point of view.


Further Reading
My point in posting this blog entry was to summarize the matter for my friends and family who may not be aware of it, clarify why I am unhappy about it and why they should be unhappy about it, too. There is a lot more to read about the issue that local writers better than myself have already produced. For more information and more viewpoints, check out the following resources.


Opinion: The City of Fort Wayne and Social Media and ‘Talent Made Here’ — The AroundFortWayne Blog
This is an excellent post that breaks down the specifications from the actual contract and demonstrates point-by-point how they could have been handled locally.

Do We Really Want Talent that IS MADE HERE? — OurSpace Fort Wayne
This discusses the attitude of young unemployed people who may realize, why stay here?

Fort Wayne Deputy Mayor introduces Chicago style cronyism — Angry White Boy
Again, I don't know that it really is cronyism at work, but the suspicion is valid, in my mind.

Controversy over social media consultant — WANE-TV
This features video of the interviews with Deputy Mayor Malloy and Councilman Smith.

City spending $72,000 for lessons on social media use — News Sentinel

City hires social media consultant — Journal Gazette

Fort Wayne City Council meeting schedule

To follow the conversation on Twitter, use the hashtag #FortWayneSM.


Update 2: Even Further Reading
How Hiring a Social Media PR Firm Can Ruin Your Public Relations - .gov Edition — Social Media Infrastructures.com
The very tools the city wants to learn how to implement and integrate were used to tear apart the poor decision the city made about how to learn it.


Update: Attended the City Council Meeting
Well, I attended the City Council meeting tonight at the City County building with my dad. One of the local social media and marketing experts I mentioned in this post was also there, Scott Howard (@ScLoHo). He wrote a great response to the meeting, which you can read here:
Lessons in Local Politics (& Social Media) - The Political side of Scloho.

What came of attending the meeting? As it turns out, since I'd never been to a City Council meeting before, I wasn't sure of the procedures, and I definitely wasn't going to speak out or on a topic that would make myself the fool, so I ended up missing the time to speak on the matter. (They asked if anybody in attendance wanted to speak, but I didn't know if it was open for any topic or just for the matters on their agenda, so I held my tongue. Turns out that was the time to speak up. Oh well.)

And on reflection, it may not be a matter which warranted speaking up at the time. As Scott noted in the aforementioned response, this isn't really even within the City Council's jurisdiction since it didn't break the threshold. Or if there is a course of action open to the councilmen, I sure don't know it. I need to educate myself about the way our government works here in Fort Wayne before I think I can speak up myself, so that I can speak up at the appropriate times and to the appropriate people.

And so should we all.

On Reading the Bible

What started as a Facebook status update quickly turned into something worth preserving as a blog entry.

Caleb Allen finished reading the OT (from where I would've been if I'd started my annual goal in January), but is still a bit behind schedule. I've never spent this much time in the Word. It's so amazing how refreshing it is! To my non-Christian friends, "you've GOT to check this out!" How anybody can choose not to believe escapes me. …

I'm going to cut off the "status update" right there and now start in on making the rest of it into a more meaningful, well-written post.


Annual Bible Reading
If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you may recall me posting (Facebook status, via a tweet) about my new goal to read the Bible annually by reading three chapters daily.

I have long struggled with daily devotions. Like many people, I've started many a time, only to lapse after a week, two weeks, a month… it almost felt like, "Why should I bother? It'll only last a short time anyway." Nevertheless, it was an area in which I really wanted to improve… eventually. To be completely honest, my newfound resolution is due in no small part to the influence of my wonderful girlfriend, Amber (of whom I wrote last month), who has been reading the Bible annually using the 3-chapters-a-day plan for seven years already. It's a very simple plan: you start on the first of January at Genesis 1:1, read three chapters daily, and cheat occasionally by reading more than three if they are short (this is necessary because the ratio of chapters to days would require actually reading ~3.25 chapters daily).


Keeping Up
Still struggling, I improve.

It should be a surprise to no reader that one cannot easily go from not doing something at all to doing it perfectly overnight. To say I've not missed days, sometimes several in a row, would be to lie. Amber has been such a blessing to me in many ways; and one important way is that she has continued to gently encourage me to be faithful to my daily readings. When she invited me to join her in doing daily readings, she had just finished Ezekiel and was ready to start Daniel. Having maintained her habit, Amber is now several days into Matthew while I only finished Malachi tonight.

But the more I read, the more I WANT to read… it's a different response than I've felt in my previous attempts. I'm not sure why it's so different, but that it is different I am sure. Perhaps I'm more mature now than in my previous attempts (I should hope so!). Perhaps I'm more motivated (I think I am). But whatever the reason, I'm excited for it!


A Response to Worship
My heart yearns for more and questions those who reject Him.

As I've been reading over this past month, I've been compelled, forced, stretched to my limit, to question how anybody can reject Truth! I think of my friends from college: Chad Whitaker, Christine Price, and Mike Mrozek stick out in my mind. How can they seriously maintain that God is unreal or that He doesn't matter or care? Is there anything I could've done to make an impression on them? It isn't as though they haven't heard. Chad was raised in the church and ran sound, just like me, before leaving home for college. Christine quotes passages I've never read in order to make fun of them! Clearly ignorance is not the issue. I suppose I could've been more outspoken, though I don't even know exactly what that would mean.

I can't change what I didn't do in college, but I can make an ardent plea now.

To my non-Christian friends, "You've GOT to check this out!" There are many spirits out there, but only one of them loves us! The Bible is that spirit's attempt to tell us about itself. And what a mighty spirit it is! He is called many things: Yahweh, Jehovah, Creator, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, God Who Provides, God With Us, Lord of lords, King of kings, God Almighty, Most High, Lord of Heaven's Armies, Comforter, Living God, Holy One, I AM.

As I have been reading my Bible, I have been repeatedly overwhelmed with the thought of how much a blessing it is to know I have a relationship with the one spirit in all of that which exists who actually CARES about me! My friends, what a blessing it could be for you to know this spirit! This spirit is not absent from our world or from our lives, and it is willing that you would seek it. You may think you've been loved in your life (or you may not); you may think you've been blessed in your life (or you may not); you may think you have been comforted in your life (or you may not); but I tell you this, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET! The spirit who existed before he created all that exists, who so ordained cells to multiply in your mother's womb, and who breathed the very breath of life into your flesh has so much stored up for you that you cannot even begin to imagine it!

How could you pass up on this? Why would you want to‽

You can call me crazy for believing in something I cannot see, but I tell you the truth, I have seen my God! (An old hymn says, "You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart!") I have seen His works; I have seen His blessings; I have literally felt His strength holding me up when I was about to collapse (no, I mean, literally—when I stood in the hospital room where my beloved sister's soul-less body lay, I felt as though I was going to collapse, but a strength came upon me and physically held me on my feet! And it happened a couple other times that week, as well.); He orders the steps of the godly and delights in every detail of their lives (and I can attest to it!).

WHO IS LIKE MY GOD‽
There is none like you, O Lord.


Closing Remarks
Don't dismiss the opportunity to be a part of something worth being a part of.

My friends… if you don't yet call yourself a Christian, please… take some time to read the Bible. I really liked the end of the Old Testament; starting in Daniel may be good. If you have questions, just ask me!

If you do call yourself a Christian, please… take some time to read the Bible! It is so refreshing to read about the wonders of such a mighty spirit that bends the very laws of nature it created and yet concerns itself with the daily dealings of a creature such as I.


God bless you, reader.