Live Free in an Unfree World

I begin this morning on my first real day as an Admissions Officer for Kaplan University, an online university owned by the Washington Post. The company is first rate regarding training new hires, creating a fantastic work environment, and focusing on the students.

With homeschooling and layoffs on the rise, more students will choose online education for college or as a way to retrain for the changing economy.

My own expenses are way up, and I have a daughter 2 years away from college. I need the regular pay and benefits a large company affords while building online business in the evenings.

I want this to be the last job I ever have, or at least the last company.

Charles Lamm
caketrust@gmail.com

In her book “Refuse to Choose”, Barbara Sher fleshed her concept of scanners. Scanners are hard to define, but as the Supreme Court once said about pornography, you can recognize it when you see it – especially if it’s you.

Here are a few clues to help determine if you are a scanner:

If you believe taking a tangent is the shortest distance between two points . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you can’t stand to do anything, or anyone, twice . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If focusing on only one thing is as exciting as a nap . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If your “to do” list is longer than your phone book . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you can’t commit to one checkout line at the grocery store . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you skim 6 books at once at the bookstore but never buy . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you think potential is a dirty word . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you goal list looks like a total work of fiction . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If the only way you can stick to one subject is with duct tape or superglue . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you don’t go to class reunions because you feel less successful than the class idiot . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you believe jack-of-all-trades should trump aces . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If perpetual student sounds like a perfect career . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you have every been called ditsy, Renaissance man, jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none, dilettante, flighty, dabbler, or generalist, and not in a good way . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you work at a series of job beneath your abilities . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you wonder why rich people seem so stupid, and why you are not one of them . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you feel you have a lot to offer but nowhere to offer it . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you can’t get to the most important goals in your life because you are just too damn busy . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If your last great passion seems so last month . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you change lovers more often than Julia Roberts before motherhood . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you believe that Barbara Sher should have played the Oracle in the Matrix . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If you believe in your heart you were placed on this Earth for a reason, but have no clue what that reason is . . .
~ you might be a scanner

If many of these scanner traits hit home, buy “Refuse to Choose” at your local bookstore and see for yourself. Chances are, you are in for an “aha” moment when your life finally makes sense.

Charles Lamm is a retired attorney and a lifelong scanner who recently discovered his “affliction”. You can read this and other articles – on a variety of topics, of course – on his blog at www.virtualjoefriday.com or contact him by email at focus@vitaclix.com.

Slowly but surely, the Internet world is drifting back to its roots. Free.

Open source software is nothing new. As an early response to Microsoft taking over the world, open source projects created the Linux operating system to counter Windows, OpenOffice to take the place of Microsoft Office, and WordPress to give people a more powerful blogging alternative to Blogger, owned by Google.

Wikipedia calls itself: “The biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet.”

Anyone who is an expert on any subject can add to the encyclopedia.

One good way to live free in an unfree world.

Charles Lamm
tritongamer@clixforbrix.com
www.playtriton.com