The Musings/Happenings of Dan

Is your strategy at odds with smiling? (Mon, 21 Jan 2008)
Today I was perusing through my blog roll (which includes many game developers blogs), and one stuck out to me. The title is "Nintendo's Iwata 'Wouldn't Use A Strategy That Is At Odds With Smiling'". A strategy can be at odds with smiling??? The article has a terrific photo of Satoru Iwata with a wide (and cheeky) grin on his face. No wonder, his strategies (smile worthy) have pulled through for the company, and now they are a major player in the market... Are your strategies smile worthy? Do they actually make you cringe inside? If you were to share them with the rest of your organisation/church, would you be excited about them enough to smile? Interesting thought... At the end of the article Satoru finishes with the following: "Yes, I am super positive. In this business (being a company president) if you're not positive, you'll immediately get weakened and won't be able to continue."
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The Transparent Church (Mon, 01 Oct 2007)
Today I was perusing through a few sites and something struck me. It's a sculpture ('Cathedra Domine') by an acquaintance of mine, Rosy Harray. Here's her description of it: My latest work, Cathedra Domine, was an overt look at the state of Christianity. My aim was to undo some of the conventions that have long been established over history by exposing the hierarchal, hypocritical and political systems that are found within the architecture and religiosity of Christianity. The skeleton framework is a way of ‘taking down the walls’ of the church. To strip back the excessiveness, expose it and provide a transparency that makes it vulnerable. This cathedral stands more like a conduit than a container and allows the opposites of light and darkness, architecture and nature to exist simultaneously. The beautifully wrought skeleton of the church says “let all who wish to enter here be welcome.” There was no way this church could stop anyone from entering. The difference between the sculpture and the outside world dissolved since the wall-less structure obstructed nothing and the air, the grass, the plants, sky, path, and tree branches, were simultaneously inside and outside the church. This is a public work for a public park. The things that she said that stuck out to me were: " (it) stands more like a conduit than a container" and "There was no way this church could stop anyone from entering." The church should be a conduit. It should connect people to God, and allow him to be the power. It should also be a place where we couldn't stop people coming in if we tried, that there's so much transparency that you can see right through the church and all it's schemes. If your heart's in the right place, why wouldn't you let yourself be transparent? We must overcome insecurity, and have a see-through faith.
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Chilly winds in the sounds... still good times :o) (Thu, 12 Apr 2007)
Well, It's been another few cool days in the sounds, they've been a bit colder too, so it's been a bit less of lounging in the sun. Today especially had these biting chilled winds, but at least there was some sun in there somewhere! Dad and I went on a hunter/gatherer mission and collected masses of kai moana, mussels from the rocks around the point; Dad steered the dingy while I had my arm over the side pulling up the big ones. I'm still not into them that much, but the whole concept of going and grabbing and preparing your own tea made it taste delicious! Might be getting back down to dunners after tea on Saturday now. So not much time to waste! In the spirit of that, I'm going to catch another rediculously early night. Looking to be about 9pm tonight, oh yeah! The last week has been good for catching up on all the family traditions too, like having hot drinks everytime there's an opportunity, having a glass of wine with tea, and chocolate with milo before bed. mmmm.... chocolate before bed makes you not want to brush your teeth so the taste's still there ;o) (For all you dentists out there, just kidding) Got onto dry land today, and things kind of sway when you're sitting still. It's weird, because it feels very normal now to be rocking back and forth. Gotta boost, as it's getting late. Ciao!
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