Personal Branding.

So I made this about.me page today: about.me/kemplyons

We live in a world where it's so easy to push your ideas and image out there.  My thoughts wouldn't be worth the paper they're printed on if this was thirty years ago, but, thanks to the magic of the internet, anyone can read my blather any time of day!

We have Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, LinkedIn, Instagram, Wordpress, and I know I'm missing some.  About.me claims to be able to be a one-stop shop for your online identity.

But why do we need an online identity?  Since when did Personal Branding become a thing?  What happened to buckling down and working hard at doing something - not just marketing yourself until someone hires you?

Sound off in the comments.  I genuinely want to hear some thoughts here.  Personal Branding: necessary evil in an information economy or penultimate egotism that takes away from our ability to create anything outside of our own image?

Points Project (round two).

Apparently a few people liked this idea of the Points Project.  I'd love to hear about your system in the comments.  Does it work for you? 

New Years.

I know I'm quite a bit late on the New Years' bandwagon, but I really wanted to do one of these posts (like everyone else in the world [that I read, at least]).

I'm still not finished processing through preparing for the year, but I wanted to chronicle what I've got (sort of like how Mr. Ransom did it; I'll do a follow up with some more specifics [mostly for myself and my records]) Here are some of my thoughts so far:

It's my senior year. That has so many ridiculous ramifications that it's... ridiculous. It is literally impossible to predict what my life will be like past June. Lord willing, I'll be in California doing a sweet internship. Or I could be in Grand Rapids, living with Buddy and Kyle for a bit doing... something. Or I could be in Albuquerque, living with someone and doing... something. Or I could be in Florida... You get the picture.

I have really gotten a lot of inspiration from the various blogs I've been reading and the movies I've been watching. God is really trying to tell me something. I think the credits song of Yes Man says it best: "It's time to man up." Of all my priorities and goals, it's time to actually start doing. Anything.

I want to establish my lifestyle this year. This has a lot to do with my reading on The Simple Dollar and The Art of Manliness, in addition to my convictions about how Jesus would have us live. There are so many dreams I have for the future, but they almost all involve how I live.

One of the things that I don't think I can commit to this year (but want to as soon as possible) is to spend one hour a day learning one thing for one year. (Again, I refer to the Simple Dollar link above.) There are so many skills and knowledge I want to have. For example:

• Learn French well enough to be conversational. Enough to watch a movie, for instance.
• Read music and play piano.
• Perform basic car repair.
• Draw locations and characters (for concept art).
• Program in C++ or C#
• Write. From blog-style to articles to screenplays to prose to...
• Photography.
• Cooking.
• Physics. I love physics and wish I could learn more.

I think I'll end this rambling and unfocused post with a question: If you could spend one hour a day practicing one thing (knowledge or skill) for one year, what would it be?

Just checking

So I'm working on a resume right now and the CEO wanted me to attach a picture. He says it makes hiring people and working with them online way easier. Unfortunately, the only somewhat decent picture I have is 2 years old and my hair is still way long.

Does anyone have any recent pictures of just me when my hair is not ridiculously long?

Question

What does it mean to be a man?
What is the journey from boyhood to manhood? When can one say that one has arrived?


This is pertinent in more ways than one. The reason why I'm asking it now is because Trevor and I are writing a story for class that's kind of about this.

So, yeah. Talk amongst yourselves.