So I’m putting a lot of the final touches on getting out the door this weekend and heading to Colorado.  While I’m up there, I’ll be making a visit to the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods (one of my favorite places!), and basically roaming around in the mountains looking for good camera shots.

I finished up the Summer class a few days back.  This time, instead of letting the grading pile up, I managed to get most of it done within a day or two of submission from the students.  That made the class load a lot more bearable for me, and I didn’t feel nearly as rushed as I did previously.  So, I’ll keep with that format going into the four classes I am scheduled to be teaching this coming semester.  There’s a potential fifth class as well — but I’m still waiting for word on that.

Once I get back, I’ll probably tackle a few pieces of the podcast.  Not entirely sure how I’ll handle the topic this time around — but I’ve gotten both good feedback on the previous show, as well as some constructive criticism on how to make things better.  That’s always a helpful thing, as I’m not always sure what tinkering with the show works and doesn’t work.  As long as I don’t get into a rush to bring files from the Mac (where I record) over to the PC (where I mix the show), everything tends to work well.  Of course, that means I have to learn about being patient in getting things completed, something I’m not always watching myself on.  That’s when I corrupt the files….and I’ve done it more than enough over the past few years.  Enough that I’m wearing a spot on my skull where I slap myself in the forehead during my “doh!” moments.  LOL

During the last show, I posted a piece of poetry I did back in 2006.  I dunno, that’s what?  Five years and change?  Give or take a few weeks?  Anyways, it was interesting to look back and see how my outlook on Life has changed.  In 2006, I couldn’t see myself in any other job position than that of an Information Technology professional of one stripe or another.  Any job outside of that zone would have been unthinkable for me.  Now, here in 2011, I’m smack in the middle of a career I had never thought I would be in:  teaching.  I see Life in a very different light.  Oddly enough, I have the podcast to thank for that – at least to a certain degree.  Through the show, I’ve gotten comfortable talking about information from a topical perspective.  In a way, my listeners have provided a great platform for teaching me to explain Information Business Communications to a roomful of students.

This coming January will mark the start of my seventh year doing “From the Edge of the Circle” – and I have really come to enjoy it quite a bit.  Sure, I’m a little late with episodes from time to time (ok, most of the time).  I’ve even screwed over entire recorded segments because I don’t always pay attention to how I transfer files between two different operating systems.  But that’s small stuff ya’ll.  What I enjoy about doing the show is the chance that I get to share my own steps in my personal journey with others.  Providing my perspective on how I dealt with a particular portion of my walk.  And maybe that helps somebody else out on their own walk by providing them with a perspective that they hadn’t used yet — or even inspired them to look at things in a way that wasn’t even part of what they’ve done or I’ve said.

And the likelihood that I even know that I was even helpful remains rather low.  I don’t get (or even expect for that matter) very much listener feedback.  (And no, for the record, I’m not begging for feedback here folks, not even slightly)  The same actual goes for the classroom.  When I teach the material for the class, I relay to my students how I dealt with a similar situation and the outcome that I came across.  Sometimes the outcomes aren’t what I expected or desired, but as I point out to the students — I learned something from every single experience.  To date, I’ve taught slightly under one hundred students…only two have said anything to me about how what I taught them actually made a difference in the way they dealt with things in their lives.  Two.  And I personally consider that to be a VERY high return.  But knowing that I have  chance to touch someone else’s life in a positive way — whether that be through the classroom or the podcast — that’s why I do that stuff.  I may never hear from any of the people I teach or the few hundred that download each episode of the podcast — but I don’t need to either.  I enjoy doing what I do….