Training

Erin and I are currently in a training class from Microsoft on some of their new technologies. The class is somewhat interesting, though currently I don’t see our company purchasing and administering the software for us to actually use some of this stuff.

Right now we’re listening to a lot of details about a product that is really interesting, and is something we definitely need to know about. It also helps that the trainer is pretty good.

To top it all off, I have power so I can actually do some development on this project while being in the training.

I used to think that sitting in the office with the door closed was the best way to concentrate and get some work done. I was definitely wrong on that front.

The way to get a lot of straight development done is to sit in training with a power cord and no Internet access. I’ve been working on this project for almost two hours straight, and made a bit of headway. To top it all off, I am grabbing some interesting tidbits about the tool I’m developing with.

I’ve got to say, I love training!

This really goes back to how more and more people seem to live today. We don’t really do any one thing. When we’re driving or walking, we have music or Podcasts in the background. When we’re on the phone I’ll often go around cleaning the house or doing something else mindless. Even in work meetings most of us will continue to check e-mail and IM. Heck, have you looked at many teenagers today? Even as you talk to them, they’ll have headphones on and listen to music at the same time.

Have we gotten to the point in our life where we need something going on in the background?

I know that while I work, if there is no music or any other “distractions” I will check my e-mail almost every 15 minutes. If it’s not e-mail I’ll start thinking that I should check for updates to software. If not that I’ll work on the youth minister search.

My brain doesn’t seem to follow a single line of thought; instead I have a jumble of things going on all at the same time. Everything is vying to be the “most important thought of the moment” (Hmm, I like the idea of having a MITOTM). Once the moment is gone, it’s time for another thought. It’s become so hard to focus on one thing without giving my mind some background noise.

Am I alone in this?

Peace,
Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 6:43 PM