31Aug 2012 by jay No Comments

Launch Day!

Announcement
After toiling away in (mostly) secret for a few months, I'm ready to relaunch Who Needs Normal?! This is mostly a personal shift away from focusing entirely on organizational consulting to focusing on what I do best - individual introspection and personal development.  In other words, if you're going to do something for free and only for yourself, then you should only do something that you are truly passionate about. So, welcome!  Feel free to take a look around, read some stuff, get a look inside my head, and join in on the journey.
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23Aug 2012 by jay 4 Comments

On Jesus, Chicken, and Rhetoric

Essays
Now that the national uproar over chicken sandwiches, gay marriage, love, hate, and free speech has moved out of the spicy rhetoric of the 24 hour news cycle, I’ve had a chance to process what has been rolling around in my head. While I may not be as angry about the whole affair as I was at the time, my opinions haven’t really changed much. In short, we really screwed up. All of us. My day job’s office is two blocks from the local Chick-Fil-A, which happens to be owned and operated by the university’s dining services (I find that to be a little ironic in this whole mess). I happen to frequent the establishment once a month or so because I’m a fan of both chicken sandwiches and milkshakes,…
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21Aug 2012 by jay 1 Comment

Care and Feeding of Your Introvert

Essays
I originally wrote this post for another site, but it remains to be one of my most commented / referred essays.  It fits in here. Myths About Introverts I was recently in need of some educational credits for a certification, and I decided to check out a book about introverted leadership. To my dismay, I quickly discovered that the book was written by an extrovert. I gave up about halfway through the small tome, feeling somewhat icky. After stewing on the issue for a while and writing a scathing review on Amazon, I decided to set the record straight regarding those whom society has judged based on their personality types. I have a personal hypothesis that geeky pursuits tend to appeal more towards introverts for a number of reasons, and…
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07Jul 2012 by jay 2 Comments

The Fall and Rise of Me

Essays
Why do I help people figure out who they really are and how to live authentic, often extraordinary lives? Because I’ve been down this road, and it can be hard and lonely. I want people to know that they don’t have to be satisfied with a “normal” life and that they don’t have to travel this road alone. I’m not normal. Never have been. Throughout my life, I have been nagged by a persistent thought that I must be on the wrong planet. Most “normal” situations usually leave me thinking “That’s not quite right. Is that really the way it’s supposed to be?” I’ve spent the last 25 years trying to figure out why I am here, why I have so many different passions in so many different areas, and…
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31Jan 2012 by jay No Comments

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

Musings
A few times a year, I get the chance to flex my preaching muscles by filling in when pastor friends and colleagues are away from their pulpits.  This last one was shortly after Christmas, and explores the challenges and opportunities of having many passions and uniting them within a single vocation or calling (I know - both redundant and repetitive). Here is the audio of that sermon, entitled What I Want To Be When I Grow Up. For some reason, there's an audio distortion that picks up about halfway through.  If I can figure out a way to filter that out, I will repost with a cleaner version.  
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21Jul 2011 by jay 1 Comment

What’s Good for the Goose, is Good for Her 7-Year-Old Brother

Projects
Since I made a wand for my oldest child when she became enraptured with all things Harry Potter, I knew it was only a matter of time before her brother was old enough to follow suit and I'd be making another one: For my daughter's wand, I actually included her mother's hair in the wand's core ("There's no stronger magic than a mother's love."). In this case, my wife was not available at the moment of assembly, so my own hair was substituted. We'll chalk it up to some kind of gender kinship and call it intentional. The whole affair is tied up with string, addressed according to wizard post standards, and will be delivered "by owl" tonight. I even have a (clean) feather to leave at the scene of…
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13May 2011 by jay No Comments

New Stuff

General Info
  I've done some long overdue content revisions. Mainly, I've updated the "About Me" section and I've installed a new and improved portfolio of creative work.  Check it out with the "My Portfolio" link on the right.  
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