kentkingery.com

Fusing faith, art, and technology

Energy & Movement

Kent — October 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

My house is a wreck. There, that’s off my chest. My wife and I have never been what you would call superb domestic engineers. Heck, we’re lucky if the kids got out the door to school with both shoes on and at least some of their books. Finding two matching socks was so hard that I was secretly thankful for the teenage trend of wearing mismatched socks (and flip-flops). We had so much clutter that I expected the producers of Hoarders to call us begging for a chance to put us on the show*.

Today I woke up with some sort of energy burst and started in on the house. My wife is out of town this week visiting friends, so this was a solo effort, prompted almost entirely by my belief that the clutter is killing my ability to create. Yah, yah, I’ve read it on every minimalist blog that I read. And I’m reasonably educated and know that my attention is zapped by piles of “stuff” all over the house.

So, I dug in. I moved stuff out, I threw stuff away, I made better decisions about storage, and I worked at trying for clean lines and peace in one room – what we call “the library”. The library is really our formal dining room that we have never had a dining table in because, hey, we’re not formal people (and we don’t expect the Queen to be dropping by for tea). I moved out some exercise equipment, some of the “stuff” that had been piling up, etc. And I found that the more I moved around the house working, the more energy I got. (Yes, I’ve read that, too, on a bunch of different blogs.)

Why am I posting this? Probably more as a reminder to myself that I need to get back into my old habits of organizing, paring down, sorting, etc. that I let slide during the last 18 months. A monument, if you will, to the fact that I do indeed know better.

Maybe I’ll work up the energy to tackle the studio tomorrow.

*Okay, maybe we’re not that bad, but still…

In Family, Personal

Finding Motivation

Kent — October 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

I’m usually a very self-motivated person. I bounce out of bed in the morning, full of ideas and plans, ready to take on the world again. But in the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a hard time getting my engine going.

Normally I’m not one to overanalyze myself or perform any dime-store psychological self-probing. At my core, I’m a pretty low maintenance person and just don’t see the point in spending a lot of time trying to “fix” myself if I’m not broken.

Today I ran a lot of errands, trying to plan the most effective route for all the things I needed to do while avoiding ending up with a car full of groceries only to have to stop somewhere. And when I got back home, I found my energy level up quite a bit.

I’m coming to the conclusion that working from home once again can be strangely demotivating. And I’m not sure why. My work output certainly hasn’t lessened. In fact, I probably do more work now than I ever did in cubicle land.

4th Quarter Comeback

Kent — October 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

I’m not much of a sports guy, but I know the term “4th quarter comeback”. In fact, if you search Google for “4th quarter”, an overwhelming number of the results are about football and quarterbacks leading their teams to victory against impossible odds.

Today starts the 4th quarter of 2012. In the last few weeks, I’ve left a good job and started a new company. I’ve made some major changes in my personal health situation. And I’m trying to regain the edge I feel like I’ve lost over the last couple of years.

I need a comeback. I need a resurgence of energy, motivation, and focus. I need a plan.

And I’m working on it. Today was spent mostly preparing as will be the next few days. I’ve discovered that I don’t do well without a plan. I can’t tell if I’m winning without a scorecard of sorts.

I don’t really pay attention to the statistics on any of my sites. It’s not that I don’t care about being read but more that I haven’t thought through what it might take to increase my profile. And so even if I’m in the only one who ever reads the posts over the next three months, they will be worth it to write.

Because I’m making a comeback.

In Personal

Photo Test

admin — November 4, 2011 — Leave a comment

Testing a photo fix…

In Uncategorized

Move Complete

Kent — December 15, 2010 — Leave a comment

It appears that all is correct with the provider move. I’ll test for a few more days and then shut off the other system.

In Uncategorized

Changing Providers

Kent — December 15, 2010 — Leave a comment

I’m doing some consolidating and moving my site to a new provider. I’m hoping this works…

In Uncategorized

Testing New Theme

Kent — July 28, 2010

I ran across the iNove theme today while engaged in some non-blog related activities and decided to give it a try. I’ve been searching for a clean theme to use after spending a while with Evan Eckard‘s amazing Notepad Chaos theme. Although I dearly love that theme, it is time to move on and go for something a bit more understated.

Those of you who consume my blog via some sort of external reader will not be affected materially.

In General blog clean minimal theme wordpress

Best Gift of Christmas 2009

Kent — January 2, 2010 — Leave a comment

Although this could easily turn into another screed about the commercialization of Christmas, I’m restraining myself. Instead, I want to share with you the best gift I got for Christmas this past year.

Best Christmas Gift 2009

It doesn’t look like much. An old Christmas card cut up and folded into a crude box. Ragged at the edges where young hands weren’t able to quite make the corners work. Just like hundreds of other small handmade items from my kids over the years.

But this one came at a time when I needed it most. At the end of a particularly long week of working 18-hour days. On an evening when I was having a lot of self-doubt about my abilities and the meaning of my work. When I was ready to throw my laptop across the room in fury at myself, my company, and the world in general.

“Daddy…” came the quiet voice, usually loud and raucous, hopped up on sugar or television or some other external stimulant. The voice that usually was whining about one thing or another or crying because of some perceived hurt or ill. The voice that often brought woe or worry or other tidings of less than great joy.

“Daddy…” she said. “I made this for you.”

I took the box and gave it a shake, expecting to hear the sound of some pennies or rocks or other customary offerings. My heart began to break as I realized how I had denied my child her deepest desire, time with her Daddy, over the last few weeks. The box suddenly looked like something out of the fanciest catalog, the most lavish of stores, the best that money could buy.

“What’s inside?” I asked, wondering what it could be that didn’t make any noise but could be worth the obvious effort she had put into the box.

“I blew a kiss inside of it, just for you” she said.

And I wept. Tears of joy for the heart that beat inside my daughter’s chest. Tears of shame for the way I had behaved as a father over the last few nights. Tears of gratitude for the real gift God had given me in the form of this child.

Thank you, my darling, for the best gift I could have received from anyone this year…

In Uncategorized

I always look forward to New Year’s Day. The start of a new year (and a new decade) makes me smile. There’s promise in the air, opportunities that have yet to be written, a chance to start over in some ways. Life seems full of boundless possibilities.

I usually spend the first day of January looking over the past year. I’m tend not to dwell on the past too much, but I do like to remember accomplishments, significant milestones, and other events that seem to have meaning to me. Here’s a partial list from 2009 (in no particular order):

Seeing my elder daughter make first band both semesters of her senior year (she’s now third chair in first band!!!) and get her letter jacket
Seeing my younger daughter make the drum line in middle school and stay first chair for most of the first semester)
Another full year of being employed by only one company (a major achievement for those who know me well…)
Another year of singing with the choir at Community Bible Church (one of the true blessings in my life)
Another year of working with Puresound, our church youth choir (fantastic kids with a powerful ministry)
Business trips to Honolulu, San Diego, New York, Baltimore, and Las Vegas
Visiting with Tim Eagerton while in San Diego (one of the few benefits of business travel is when your trip takes you to places where your friends live)
Visiting with Bill Van Loo of chromedecay in the Ann Arbor area (Bill is a true Renaissance man and inspires me in so many ways. Thanks for the trip to the record store, Bill! Looking forward to my next trip up!!)
Seeing Star Trek reimagined and brought to the big screen again by J. J. Abrams (sure, not momentous for you perhaps but a huge event for this closet Trekkie)
Finally seeing my friend Gabe Gibitz’s CD “Spirit of Elijah” released! (Sorry it took so long, Gabe, but the end result was worth the wait for me! This next project should be even better!!)
Opening our new office in San Antonio (a big improvement over the old place) in June
Finally getting furniture for the new office (in December!)
Making new friends and renewing old friendships with so many people

There’s so much more I could say, so many more things that happened that are worth talking about. But I’ll close this post with the following observation:

No matter how great or poor a particular year has been, I thank God for the rich life and abundant blessings that He continues to pour down on me. I am truly a broken man but made whole through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for me, a sacrifice that I will never be worthy of nor able to repay. It’s my wish for 2010 that I am able to share that salvation and redemption with others.

Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010! Nice to see you, and I’m looking forward to another full year!!